Vegas, Baby!

In honor of Cindy, I am going to promote reckless gambling and game play. If there was one thing that I learned from Cindy, it was to take chances.

During one of our many trips to Vegas, Cindy and I were strolling around the casino floor in the wee hours of the morning. It had to be at least 3am, but if you've ever been to Vegas, you know that sleep is not a worthy distraction from gambling or drinking. We were in the Paris Casino and came across an Asian man betting huge stacks of chips on a single number in roulette.

Now, roulette is one the harder games to employ a strategy against. It's not like black jack where you can count cards or poker where you can bet the odds or bluff. In fact, Albert Einstein is rumored to have once said "You cannot beat a roulette table unless you steal money from it." Roulette is a crapshoot. You just throw your money down on a square or series of squares and hope for the best.

This particular gambler caught our attention because he was dropping a stack of thirty $10 chips on a single number on each spin of the wheel. Normally, people try to increase their chances by spreading their money across a range of numbers. But, not this guy. We thought after the first time his number did not hit that he would stop. But, he bet again. And again. And again. On the 5th time, Cindy pinched my arm:

Cindy: Do you have any cash?

JM: Are you crazy?

Cindy: Do you have $50?

JM: This guy's losing money left and right. I'm not going to be that stupid.

Cindy: We have to bet with this guy. He knows something that we don't.

JM: I don't know. $50 is a lot of money to lose.

Cindy: We have to bet with him. He's Asian! Asians know table games better than anyone.

JM: If that's the case, put your own money in.

But, before we could toss our money onto the table, the croupier waved his hand across the table and announced "No more bets." I tried to pull Cindy away from the table because I didn't want to be there if the crazy man's number actually hit. But, then a second later, the croupier shouted "14!" and placed the glass marker on top of the man's bet indicating that his number had hit. Straight-up bets (which is what this kind of bet on a single number is called) pay 35 to 1. This man had won about $10,000. And although Cindy and I did not technically lose any money, it felt like we had lost our entire house in a bad poker hand.

Cindy and I walked back to the room with our heads held down. I didn't know what to say to her to make her feel better. Finally, she broke the silence and proclaimed "If you don't play, you can't win."

Since I couldn't turn back the clock and have us throw our money onto the table, I did the next best thing:

JM: Want to do the buffet at the Mandalay Bay tomorrow morning?

[Cindy lifts up her head]

Cindy: Can we go right at the tail end of breakfast?

JM: Why the tail end?

Cindy: That way we can have the breakfast and then be there when they set up the lunch food. Two for then price of one, lady!

JM: I like the way you think.