Winning Big!

So I have had a good evening. Started out with a nap right after the last post about Skype. Then I got up, showered and went to Brent's place and grilled out with his classmates. Then on my way home about 9:00 I really didn't have anything to look forward to so I decided to stop at the Grand Casino in Gulfport. I knew it was a risky idea but one of my roommates is gone and my other roommates' wife is here so I didn't feel like going back to the house just yet. Anyway... I had planned on only getting 20 dollars out of the ATM when I first went in and that is exactly what I did. I already had 7 dollars in my wallet and that got spent in like 2 minutes at the slot machines and I didn't win a dime. Slot machines are evil.

So I walked around for awhile just watching the hustle and the bustle... Casinos are kind of a strange place... mostly older folks it seems like, sipping their free drinks and smoking cigarettes. I saw people just walk up the the rullet table, lay down 100 dollar bills on red, loose and walk on to the next table. I'm thinking, "these people have way to much money or no brains." It's likely the no brains is more accurate.

Anyway, I watch a 5 dollar minimum bet rullet table for about 10 minutes and I start thinking... "twenty bucks isn't going to go very far," so against my better judgement (this is where the lack of brains comes in) I went and got another 20 bucks out of the ATM, (I am just glad my bank, USAA, pays my withdrawal fee) went back to the table and started playing rullet.

I was doing well for about the first ten bets winning more than I was loosing... I suppose I got about about 15 - 20 bucks up at one point... but I had only been there for like 15 minutes tops so I didn't want to leave yet. Well about that time I started loosing... the ball hit black about 10 times in a row and I kept betting on red. I was also putting 5 down on Black 24 about every single time hoping it would hit. Well, I played for about another 20 to 25 minutes and I was down to 8 bucks. I put 5 on Black 24 and split the 3 dollars on 0 and 00. If I lost that I decided I was going to get up and leave and feel sorry for myself. But the roller said, "BLACK 24, we've got a WINNER!!" Take 5 times 36!! What do you get?! That's right 180 bucks!! I won 180 bucks!! Now, subtract the 8 dollar tip I gave the roller, the 7 dollars on the slots and the 40 I took out of the ATM I still came out with 125 dollars and I had only been in the casino for about 45 minutes. I cashed in my chips and left right there. Didn't even think about putting another bet down. This was the part my brains came in handy. I took my money and ran. Now I am 125 dollars richer... and it will be a really long time before I set foot in a casino again, if ever. I won. I beat the casino!! But there were 1000 other smucks there tonight who lost twice as much as I won... but do I care... not really. Now I know that gambling can be bad. But I think just about anything can be bad if you don't do it in moderation. So for me, one night at the casinos was not a bad thing. Even I would have lost. I would have left even if I hadn't of won. It's when you keep taking more and more money out and telling yourself... just one more time... that it starts to be bad.