A sad but true gambling story that happened 25 1/2 years ago
I was in LAS VEGAS 25 1/2 years ago to do some serious gambling .
I brought along my wife and son along figuring I could last through the last 3 months of College basketball .And I did barely .
Well anyway, I was coasting along really well,probably up several thousand before the College playoffs were here .
Then LAS VEGAS suddenly had a Casino employee strike !
I wasn't thinking about this at the time, but all the Casinos had to hire people from all walks of life to fill in for the workers on strike,and many of those unskilled people worked in the Sportsbooks .
Could this be an edge for the "sharp gamblers" ?
Like I said I was doing really well at what I was good at at that time in LAS VEGAS .
And that was "hustling my rear off " in order to reach the best betting numbers .
I loved playing at CAESARS PALACE ! If you have been there in the Sportsbook then you know why any Sports fan,especially a gambler ,would love it .
They had these huge Sports Screens ,probably 15 to 20 ft. rectangles,and I believe they had about three of these running all kinds of sports pretty well 24/7 !
They also had a HUGE financial backbone !
They were taking from $1000,to $5000 plays like it was nothing,left and right, across the Sports counter !
So like I said ,it was strike time and I walked up to the betting counter to make a large play [large for me] on some College team .
I knew exactly what team I wanted and I could see that the points spread was "right" what I was looking for ![yummy yummy]
I walked up to the betting counter and "very" carefully explained to this new employee precisely [do you see it coming ?] the number of the team I wanted .
Well this substitute guy looked "dumber" than owl sh-- and had rotten teeth to boot,so I was extremely careful to read him the correct number representing my College team .
Meanwhile, I knew I was going to have to hightail it across and down the street before post time and get a $500 play on the exact "opposite" College Team I was going to play at CAESARS. It was late too ,probably 12 minutes to post .
Okay ,I play $1000 on the "real team I loved " with this "birdbrain" guy !
I then looked at the ticket and rushed out the door to the Book down the street,probably 2 blocks away .
Alright,I made it and bought the $500 College play, then took some time to praise myself and hope for the best ,like a middle, where you can win both ways ![Believe it or not that was commonplace happenings back in the eighties ]
Damn ,I was felling good,because I knew my College ball pretty darn good in those days, and I felt like a winner !
I go back to CAESARS to get some of their "quality" food and drink ,relaxed for a while, but not long enough to see scores on those gigantic screens .
There was a reason for not looking ,I would be a "nervous" wreck !
If you ever watched scores coming in and you start seeing ugly results,which I have had plenty of experience at in the past, I purposely ignore the big "dramatic" scores til the next mornings newspaper ,and then I would take a deep breath and "very gingerly" put my hand over the ball scores and slowly work my hand down to the winners side of the scores ,and still slower,squeeze out the first letter ,hopefully,of the team I need to win the game .
I did this many many times ,so I got to be highly skilled at this,almost like detective work !
Okay great news,I see my favorite teams first letter,then the second letter and so on until the almost overwhelming climax,you start
squezing out the first number of the score ,then the second number ,on to the "scariest" thing on EARTH ,the first number on the losing team !
Now I see the first number of the losing team and I know it going to be a close call by the that first number I saw ! After pausing a few seconds I reach back in my sole for enough courage to expose the "all telling" SECOND number !
EUREKA ! I win the big play and tie on the losing teams numbers !
As close as you can get to perfection !
After a cup of coffee ,I pulled out the ticket on my $1000 winner !
MY GOD ! That "toothless SOB" has giving me the opposite team that I wanted !
Holy @%5$$*** !
All I had to do when I made the play at CAESARS was double check the ticket for accuracy,and actually I did ,but I only noticed that it was a $1000 ticket !
I told that fool[me too] the correct number twice ,yet he still gave me the bogus wager !
I went to CAESARS PALACE that morning and begged the Sportsbook manager to refund my losing ticket !Well,you can imagine his symphony for me[right ?] ,but no dice anyway .
I'll never get over that killer mistake !I still have the ticket ! The really bad thing is, all I had to do was take 3 seconds and look closely at my wager ticket !
I
I brought along my wife and son along figuring I could last through the last 3 months of College basketball .And I did barely .
Well anyway, I was coasting along really well,probably up several thousand before the College playoffs were here .
Then LAS VEGAS suddenly had a Casino employee strike !
I wasn't thinking about this at the time, but all the Casinos had to hire people from all walks of life to fill in for the workers on strike,and many of those unskilled people worked in the Sportsbooks .
Could this be an edge for the "sharp gamblers" ?
Like I said I was doing really well at what I was good at at that time in LAS VEGAS .
And that was "hustling my rear off " in order to reach the best betting numbers .
I loved playing at CAESARS PALACE ! If you have been there in the Sportsbook then you know why any Sports fan,especially a gambler ,would love it .
They had these huge Sports Screens ,probably 15 to 20 ft. rectangles,and I believe they had about three of these running all kinds of sports pretty well 24/7 !
They also had a HUGE financial backbone !
They were taking from $1000,to $5000 plays like it was nothing,left and right, across the Sports counter !
So like I said ,it was strike time and I walked up to the betting counter to make a large play [large for me] on some College team .
I knew exactly what team I wanted and I could see that the points spread was "right" what I was looking for ![yummy yummy]
I walked up to the betting counter and "very" carefully explained to this new employee precisely [do you see it coming ?] the number of the team I wanted .
Well this substitute guy looked "dumber" than owl sh-- and had rotten teeth to boot,so I was extremely careful to read him the correct number representing my College team .
Meanwhile, I knew I was going to have to hightail it across and down the street before post time and get a $500 play on the exact "opposite" College Team I was going to play at CAESARS. It was late too ,probably 12 minutes to post .
Okay ,I play $1000 on the "real team I loved " with this "birdbrain" guy !
I then looked at the ticket and rushed out the door to the Book down the street,probably 2 blocks away .
Alright,I made it and bought the $500 College play, then took some time to praise myself and hope for the best ,like a middle, where you can win both ways ![Believe it or not that was commonplace happenings back in the eighties ]
Damn ,I was felling good,because I knew my College ball pretty darn good in those days, and I felt like a winner !
I go back to CAESARS to get some of their "quality" food and drink ,relaxed for a while, but not long enough to see scores on those gigantic screens .
There was a reason for not looking ,I would be a "nervous" wreck !
If you ever watched scores coming in and you start seeing ugly results,which I have had plenty of experience at in the past, I purposely ignore the big "dramatic" scores til the next mornings newspaper ,and then I would take a deep breath and "very gingerly" put my hand over the ball scores and slowly work my hand down to the winners side of the scores ,and still slower,squeeze out the first letter ,hopefully,of the team I need to win the game .
I did this many many times ,so I got to be highly skilled at this,almost like detective work !
Okay great news,I see my favorite teams first letter,then the second letter and so on until the almost overwhelming climax,you start
squezing out the first number of the score ,then the second number ,on to the "scariest" thing on EARTH ,the first number on the losing team !
Now I see the first number of the losing team and I know it going to be a close call by the that first number I saw ! After pausing a few seconds I reach back in my sole for enough courage to expose the "all telling" SECOND number !
EUREKA ! I win the big play and tie on the losing teams numbers !
As close as you can get to perfection !
After a cup of coffee ,I pulled out the ticket on my $1000 winner !
MY GOD ! That "toothless SOB" has giving me the opposite team that I wanted !
Holy @%5$$*** !
All I had to do when I made the play at CAESARS was double check the ticket for accuracy,and actually I did ,but I only noticed that it was a $1000 ticket !
I told that fool[me too] the correct number twice ,yet he still gave me the bogus wager !
I went to CAESARS PALACE that morning and begged the Sportsbook manager to refund my losing ticket !Well,you can imagine his symphony for me[right ?] ,but no dice anyway .
I'll never get over that killer mistake !I still have the ticket ! The really bad thing is, all I had to do was take 3 seconds and look closely at my wager ticket !
I
