By the time I got to the Luxor at the end of the Strip I was truly buzzing and I liked it in there straight away; there was a certain atmosphere around the gaming tables…it really felt like a Casino should do. There was noise and winners and I was itching to get involved.
I got a drink and looked around, feeling the wedge of cash bulging in my pocket and almost shaking with the excitement of finding a game.
I stood and watched a $15 minimum table for a couple of hands and a moustachioed guy who was playing the first two boxes had about a grand and a half in chips in front of him and as I watched I could really tell that he knew what he was doing. There was one other guy at the table that was very quiet and just playing the minimum. I squeezed between two spectators and sat down on the end box, tossing $500 across to the dealer.
‘Hey, how’s it goin’?’ Enquired the man on the first box raising his Beer bottle to me.
‘Good…good. You?’
‘Not bad buddy…takin’ care of business, you know?’
‘Cool’
I got my chips and started off betting carefully just at the minimum but after starting off well it didn’t take me long to raise my bets to around the 50-100 dollar mark. The guy on the first boxes was loud and drunk but I didn’t mind really, especially as I was winning; it created an atmosphere and a buzz at the table. He was playing between 100-250 dollars a box most of the time and he soon had about three grand in front of him as we started to get a roll going on the dealer. The Hispanic girl that was dealing didn’t look like she was enjoying herself a hell of a lot and never smiled the whole time she was there. The moustachioed American on the first box might have had something to do with it as his volume went up in a crescendo as he continued to win against the house, and as I moved to over $300 up I started to feel good and join in with the banter.
One thing soon started to annoy me at the table and that was that the loud guy – when he got a double – he was asking for the third card dealt face down; the idea of this being to heighten his excitement or maybe just to amuse himself; but I didn’t like it. I like to see all the cards that are out and it was irritating me. I didn’t, however, want to point it out for risk of spoiling the mood at the table or to upset my playing partner.
I got up to about $500 profit but then we had the inevitable dip in play and I was soon back to $350 up as I considered the possibility of quitting the table while I was ahead. I put $100 down, figuring that if I lost I would quit $250 up or if I won then I would play on for a little while and take a more substantial win.
That next hand I got nine and the dealer had a three; If ever there was a tempting but risky double then this was it. I heard some noise from my friend at the other end of the table and looked across to notice that he also had two doubles. He went for both, excitedly and the dealer dealt him both cards face down and then it came around past the other quiet guy and onto me. Now…I didn’t know what to do and I felt like I needed to see the face down cards to help with my decision.
‘I want to see those cards,’ I said, pointing in the direction of the doubled-down boxes. The dealer half-smiled and made no effort to turn them over, obviously presuming that I was joking.
‘No…I want to see those cards. Can I see the cards please?’ I gestured again.
‘Oh…I don’t think so,’ said the dealer nonchalantly
I shook my head in disbelief. I knew that I had a right to see those cards, especially as I had a possible $200 hand sitting on the table.
‘I can see those cards if I want to…I’m playing on the table as well and I know the rules,’
‘He’s playing more money than you,’ she said gesturing weakly to the first boxes, ‘so I don’t have to show you.’
I stood up now, shaking with anger and adrenaline.
‘Listen, don’t tell me the rules – I know I can see the cards if I want to! Let me speak to your manager.’
I was absolutely furious. What she’d just said was the biggest load of bullshit I’d ever heard in my life. I hadn’t wanted to cause a scene but this was Vegas and I figured that they’d be professional and know what the fuck they were doing.
‘Look, I don’t mind if you turn my cards over. Turn them over,’ added moustache man, his hands up neck high, palms pointing towards the dealer as she leaned back whispering in her Supervisor’s ear.
‘Do you want to see the cards?’ Moustache man mouthed silently to me pointing to his boxes.
‘Yea,’ I mouthed back nodding my head gently.
He looked up at the Dealer and Supervisor and while they weren’t looking he quickly turned each card up in turn to show me without looking at them himself. The first was a two and the second was a seven. Bad news for him.
‘What were they?’ He asked quietly, but then the Supervisor was stepping my way.
‘OH NO! He didn’t seem too impressed! I’ll bet they’re a load of crap!’ I could hear the drunk guy shouting to his pal as the Supervisor leaned towards me.
‘What’s the problem sir?’
‘Yea…I’ve got a double here – but I want to see those cards and the dealer’s telling me that because he’s playing more money than me that I can’t!’ I said, my voice getting more animated as it went along.
‘Okay…calm down sir. We’ll let you see the cards okay? But please don’t raise your voice to the dealer.’
‘I was only explaining the rules to her. She doesn’t understand the rules! It’s Bullshit!’ God, I was mad.
‘Okay, well she shouldn’t have said that…but please calm down.’
Meanwhile, what seemed like the Casino manager was speaking with the moustache guy.
‘Okay, listen – from now on, you have all your doubles dealt face up,’ he told him.
‘Listen, I don’t mind at all if this gentleman wants to see them face up this time or whenever he needs to, but the Pit Manager said that I could have them dealt face down and now you’re telling me that I can’t!’
‘I understand that sir, but now it is affecting other people at the table…so I can’t let you do it I’m afraid.’
‘Listen, I stay here every year and I’m in the Penthouse Suite. You put me up in the Penthouse Suite and you can’t talk to me like that!’ He was fuming as well now.
‘Calm down Sir.’
‘I’m not happy at all!’ He said angrily, waving his index finger at the Manager and then turning his back on him. The same Manager then came around to me.
‘Sorry sir,’
‘That’s okay,’ I raised a hand up, ‘I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble.’
So the hand was then played out, which everyone had almost forgotten about. I decided to double foolishly, more to try and prove a point than anything else. I pulled a ten to make nineteen but the dealer made twenty and I slammed my stack of chips down on the table. I was now down to $150 profit and as I was thinking what to do the dealer changed and we got this grey-haired guy with glasses, obviously sent on to rescue the Hispanic girl.
I was still furious about what she had said to me and I couldn’t concentrate on the game now at all. Meanwhile another Manager had come over and was speaking in moustache’s ear while he was playing. They argued for a little while and then he seemed to grudgingly except the decision. I wondered if it was all a ploy by him to get comped a free dinner or something.
The table went disastrously after that and I was soon running low on chips.
‘Man, this is shit!’ I said angrily, slamming my shortening stack down on the table after another loss.
I ended up running out of chips and doing an extra two hundred out of my pocket, losing $700 in total. I was sick, utterly sick. I sulked around for a while, feeling like such a sucker for letting my emotions get the better of me on the table.
I grudgingly decided that it was time to stop playing for a while and get drunk instead.
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