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Writer's picturegpleland

Have You Ever Won Anything?

I won a bicycle when I was in the fourth grade, but I have already written about that.


I have, on three occasions, walked out of a casino having won more than I lost. All the rest of my casino gambling have been losses.


The first time I walked out a winner was with Robert Terrell. Robert and I were on a road trip. We had driven down to Key West and then back up the gulf coast. Before returning home we continued around the gulf to Biloxi, Mississippi to do some gambling. We stopped at the first casino we came to in Biloxi, the IP (Imperial Palace).


Robert had never been in a casino and had never gambled. I had gambled a few times but I didn’t know much about how to play the games (and I still don’t). I decided we had better just find some cheap machines. We found some penny poker machines in the center of the room and started playing draw poker. Even on the penny machines the minimum bet was five cents. I was following the machine suggestions on which cards to hold and how many to draw. I think we had put a couple of dollars each in our machines when my machine started dinging and it dinged for a long time. Then it gave me about ten dollars worth of credits. I cashed out.


I told Robert: “Let’s go over to the bar and play. They give you free drinks as long as you’re gambling.”


There were draw poker machines on the Bar. If you put $10 in the machine they will give you drinks. They were quarter machines. I put in my $10.00 ticket from the penny machines. We played long enough to drink two beers. Robert lost about $2.00. My $10.00 was up to about $20.00.


Then I took Robert to the blackjack table. He just watched. I lost $20.00 and won it back and quit.


So, I was still up about $20.00 over all.


I said: “Let’s go play roulette.”




The roulette was $5.00 minimum. I bought $100.00 worth of $5 chips. I played black 35, $5.00 at a time. I lost five times and then won. I cashed out.


A man sitting next to me, a stranger, said: “Do you do this a lot?”


I just smiled and said: “No, first time.”


- Up $20.00 when I left the bar

- Even at blackjack

- Won 35:1 x $5.00 = $175.00 at roulette

- Minus the six five-dollar bets = - $30.00


I was now up $165.00. I quit.


Robert said: “You could make a living doing this.”


We took our winnings and got a nice dinner at the buffet and a nice hotel room.


The second time I left a winner was at my granddaughter Brittany’s wedding. The wedding was in New Orleans. It was a pretty extravagant affair in the Quarter. While we were there we had to go to the casino. I went and I went straight away to the roulette table. Guess what. Wendey and Ted and their kids were dominating the table. They were betting all over the table at random, or with some system known only to the individual. Wendey was winning and Ted was losing. I joined them and bought $200.00 worth of chips. The table minimum was $10.00. I played black 4.


Wendey said: “You play the whole $10.00 on one number?”


I said: “Yeah, that’s the best odds. It pays 35:1 and the odds are 38:1. That’s about as close even as you are going to get.”


I lost a couple of times then waited. After a couple of rolls I played my black 4 again. I lost. I passed a couple of rolls and played again. I won.


The table went wild: “Dad just won!”


I quit. I bet four times at $10.00. I won $350.00. I walked out $310.00 ahead.


What a wedding!


The third time I quit a winner was in 2019 when I was driving home from Yellowstone. Terry Butler, my good friend who I met in Yellowstone, rode with me as far as his sister’s place in Oklahoma. After I dropped Terry off I drove on to Shawnee, Oklahoma. I told Terry I liked to gamble and he told me there was a casino in Shawnee. I found the casino, parked and went in. I walked around looking for draw poker machines. I didn’t see anything interesting. Then I looked for a bar with poker machines. I played a couple of games at the bar, but they weren’t giving free drinks. I cashed out and found the roulette table. It was $5.00 minimum. I bought $100.00 of $5.00 chips. I played red 27. I won on the fourth bet. The roulette operator’s face lit up. He smiled at me. He was so surprised. I tipped him $5.00 and cashed out.


I took my $155 dollars and had a real nice dinner at the casino buffet. Then I tried to get a room but they were booked up. I went to the car and got back on Interstate 40 and stopped at the first nice motel. It was a lovely room with complimentary breakfast.






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