Degerate Gambling - Post your best story
I don't think I've ever seen a thread where we all come clean about some form of a generate gambling story.. I know I enjoy reading about other peoples flagrant abuses of money, so I'll post my own. Feel free to add your own.
Anyway, I recently joined a new consulting company and was down in Vegas to present at a conference where I could actually meet 'n greet people I'd never see on a regular basis (Directors of this and that).. Naturally, young consultants are ridiculous with money. The first story that I heard from them was spending about 4K at the Rhino the night before (he had the CC receipt).. So I shoulda knows it would be one of those trips.
I know the house edges of the various games in the pit, so I feel comfortable playing whatever stakes they were playing and whatever game. That turned out to be $50/hand blackjack at the Rio with some of the worst rules ever (6-5 blah blah). I drop about $500 in an hour winning like 25% of my hands. At around 11pm, the same guy who blew the wad at the Ryhno goes Busto and is waiting for midnight so that his credit card daily limit renews. A discussion ensues of whether it's midnight eastern time or pacific. He tries it at 11:15 and gets his new bankroll. Blackjacks for losers so they head over to the $100/spin high roller slot machines. Did I mention that they all have platinum mirage cards? I tell them that I just can't have that little respect for money and sit out the round, but I'm dazzled as hundred after hundred rolls into the machine (2 coins/spin natch).
My new degenerate friend comes up with a system to keep himself from losing all his money again, he puts the 'fresh' hundreds in one pocket and the cashed-out tickets in the other. When the cash pocket is empty, he goes to the cage and starts the process again. He does this for about 4-5 times. After the 5th time he annouces "Hey, I'm ahead!" Me: "Ahead from the start of the night?" Him: "No, ahead on this run through the pockets!" Me: "lol".
So as the week progressed, we'd spend the nights playing hours and hours of $50/hand blackjack. I caught a run of cards that would make mother Teresa curse, flip the table over and trash her hotel room and go down around $2K. Flat betting $50/hand, never more, never less, standard strategy. Not a "Believe it or not" run of variance but once that hurt none-the-less.
Then I start playing three card poker in a vain attempt to go robusto. Doesn't work, and I'm down another K. 3K total. lol.
I tell myself that it's the cost of making ties in the new company (which actually it has paid off).
So, I'm in vegas to give this conference. I'm not exactly excited to present, but it's the cost that gets me a free expense paid trip. So of course, the night before, me and the head of the northeast drive down to the old strip to play some 'good rules' blackjack and shoot dice. Naturally, we do this until 5am (presentation at 8am) I win like a hundred bucks which means nothing anymore. I guess I was lucky. My presentation timeslot is friday morning and theres about 7 people in the room that seats a hundred, so I bullshit my way through it like any good 'expert'.
Conference is over, degenerates go back to their drunken road travelling ways. I stay in Vegas the weekend, win back 1K playing 8/16 at Bellagio and go home 2K lighter. I was tempted to move up to 15/30, but I think if I went home 5K lighter I'd really be wondering if I have a problem.
It's funny. Previous to poker, I probably would have killed myself over losing 2K but the de-senestization to money is a killer. I mean, I still respect it, but if it's under say $200, I don't have any issue with compulsively purchasing or friendly betting (or flipping).
Maybe not the most degen story (not slapping of a stack on benjies on double zero) but one that I'll remember forever.
Edit #1: Oh, as for the degenrate.. He landed up hitting a 10K jackpot on the $100 slot and broke even :-) .. The other guy (who I havent mentioned) was on fire with a 4K $100slot jackpot and about 2K in table games.
Edit #2: My colleagues did buy me a massage at the blackjack table which was easily worth the $2k lol.
Anyway, I recently joined a new consulting company and was down in Vegas to present at a conference where I could actually meet 'n greet people I'd never see on a regular basis (Directors of this and that).. Naturally, young consultants are ridiculous with money. The first story that I heard from them was spending about 4K at the Rhino the night before (he had the CC receipt).. So I shoulda knows it would be one of those trips.
I know the house edges of the various games in the pit, so I feel comfortable playing whatever stakes they were playing and whatever game. That turned out to be $50/hand blackjack at the Rio with some of the worst rules ever (6-5 blah blah). I drop about $500 in an hour winning like 25% of my hands. At around 11pm, the same guy who blew the wad at the Ryhno goes Busto and is waiting for midnight so that his credit card daily limit renews. A discussion ensues of whether it's midnight eastern time or pacific. He tries it at 11:15 and gets his new bankroll. Blackjacks for losers so they head over to the $100/spin high roller slot machines. Did I mention that they all have platinum mirage cards? I tell them that I just can't have that little respect for money and sit out the round, but I'm dazzled as hundred after hundred rolls into the machine (2 coins/spin natch).
My new degenerate friend comes up with a system to keep himself from losing all his money again, he puts the 'fresh' hundreds in one pocket and the cashed-out tickets in the other. When the cash pocket is empty, he goes to the cage and starts the process again. He does this for about 4-5 times. After the 5th time he annouces "Hey, I'm ahead!" Me: "Ahead from the start of the night?" Him: "No, ahead on this run through the pockets!" Me: "lol".
So as the week progressed, we'd spend the nights playing hours and hours of $50/hand blackjack. I caught a run of cards that would make mother Teresa curse, flip the table over and trash her hotel room and go down around $2K. Flat betting $50/hand, never more, never less, standard strategy. Not a "Believe it or not" run of variance but once that hurt none-the-less.
Then I start playing three card poker in a vain attempt to go robusto. Doesn't work, and I'm down another K. 3K total. lol.
I tell myself that it's the cost of making ties in the new company (which actually it has paid off).
So, I'm in vegas to give this conference. I'm not exactly excited to present, but it's the cost that gets me a free expense paid trip. So of course, the night before, me and the head of the northeast drive down to the old strip to play some 'good rules' blackjack and shoot dice. Naturally, we do this until 5am (presentation at 8am) I win like a hundred bucks which means nothing anymore. I guess I was lucky. My presentation timeslot is friday morning and theres about 7 people in the room that seats a hundred, so I bullshit my way through it like any good 'expert'.
Conference is over, degenerates go back to their drunken road travelling ways. I stay in Vegas the weekend, win back 1K playing 8/16 at Bellagio and go home 2K lighter. I was tempted to move up to 15/30, but I think if I went home 5K lighter I'd really be wondering if I have a problem.
It's funny. Previous to poker, I probably would have killed myself over losing 2K but the de-senestization to money is a killer. I mean, I still respect it, but if it's under say $200, I don't have any issue with compulsively purchasing or friendly betting (or flipping).
Maybe not the most degen story (not slapping of a stack on benjies on double zero) but one that I'll remember forever.
Edit #1: Oh, as for the degenrate.. He landed up hitting a 10K jackpot on the $100 slot and broke even :-) .. The other guy (who I havent mentioned) was on fire with a 4K $100slot jackpot and about 2K in table games.
Edit #2: My colleagues did buy me a massage at the blackjack table which was easily worth the $2k lol.
Comments
I did the standard black chip on black last time in Vegas and won. But the mentality of the bet went something like this:
I pissed around at $10 min bet Blackjack for like an hour, ran myself up like $250, and basically broke even in the end. I had to run back to the hotel to meet my friends for dinner, and decided breaking even wouldn't do...
Essentially it was a "I'm bored" bet.
Desensitisation to money is awesome (unless you're a degenerate gambler maybe).
And btw, $15-30 at the Bellagio is full of donkeys...
Our seeming favorite though is betting on baseball games... and no, I don't mean Toronto over New York, I mean, "Okay, line drive double to left centre field" "Okay, I'll give you 3:1 on that! But I'll take ground out to shortstop".
Good times, unless you get a real uppity b$#ch in front of you
Mark
stp
Best after the game Hot-dog ever.......mmm......free street meat.
Also Royal Cup flipaments....need I say more?
He'd leave for work and I'd have to make double what he did before he got home.
sidenote: When it became a 'ship the laundry to hubby' situation more often than not we separated....
meh eff laundry.
After making it to the second day final table of a 60-player WSOP league, I was eliminated in fifth place when my QQ got wiped out by the weapons of mass destruction (AA). There was a rake-free tournament in the area so I decided to try it out. I made it to the money again. I wanted to play a 2/5 NL cash game, but it was too long of a snowy drive to Seneca Casino so I decided to stay in the club and play 1/2. The game was juicy, with a couple of maniacs always straddling and re-stradding. There were a few pots where UTG would straddle for $4, then the next player would re-straddle for $8, then $16, then the maniac would re-straddle for $32. I would then raise and win $63 in blinds without even seeing a flop! The 1/2 game just kept going and going, with everybody but me having busted out at least once and usually kept rebuying. There must have been over $6,000 in the table. The three dealers and four of the original players stayed and played for over 30 hours! While my AA and KK both lost twice, I managed to be the survivor of the degeneracy and never busted out. I had played poker from Sunday 1 PM and finally cashed out 36 hours later on Tuesday morning!
When I read about poker players playing for more than 24 hours straight, I thought they were crazy but it had now happened to me. I swore that it would never happen again....
Until last week when I went to Seneca Casino! All 20+ poker tables were being used that night, which is amazing for a weeknight. Unlike Ontario casinos, Seneca knows how to treat its poker players by providing free food at dinner time and having prize draws every half hour, with $1,000 cash given away at midnight. While waiting for a 2/5 seat to open up, I played 1/2 $200 max. It was a fishy table and I now understand how my friend has such a high win rate at Seneca 1/2. It wasn't too long before my name was called for 2/5, so I left the 1/2 table as the biggest stack. I basically had a freeroll to the 2/5 game with max $400 buy-in. I also won at the 2/5 before two of the tables were closed down. With the single remaining 2/5 $400 table full, I decided to play in Seneca's "big game" with $1,000 maximum buy-in. It is supposed to be a 5/10 game with a session fee, but because the -EV gamblers in Seneca prefer paying for the bad beat jackpot with a rake instead of a session fee with no BBJ, Seneca makes the big game 2/5. If you want to call, the "bring-in" is $10 instead of $5. The comparable game at Fallsview Casino will charge every player exactly $14/hour session fee and you will have to pay at least $45 in blinds/hour, while less money/hour will be drained away from the table at Seneca and you only have to pay $21 in blinds.
There were also a couple of fish in the big game, but unfortunately, I was too card dead to share in the huge pots before the table was also broken up. One of the maniacs challenged me to a heads-up $10/10 match. Seneca is flexible with reducing the rake and we negotiated a session fee of $5/player per half hour, which is only 1 big blind per hour. My opponent had committed to playing until a specific time, but the scumbag quit early just because he was ahead.
I returned to a 1/2 $200 table. Even though I was sleepy and played the fewest hands, I became the biggest stack again. I cashed out and took a short nap before playing in the $120 noon tournament, which surprisingly had a bigger starting stack than the $580 main event. I finished in 14th place but was not in the money. My poker degeneracy lasted "only" 17 hours this time.
My latest degeneracy happened this week. I played in a tournament where there were a couple of WPT millionaire champions and other sharks who had cashed in at the Ultimate Poker Challenge and WPT NAPC. An online pro from Ohio who knows SirWatts made it to the top two. The weather had turned bad outside but rather than driving straight home, I decided to stop by Casino Rama just like a few of the other players.
Highway 12 is very isolated, and I remembered the news stories of drivers who had driven off snowy roads and were not found until it was too late.
With the treacherous roads, I now had an excuse to have another degenerate episode and stay at the casino until daylight when the snow would be paved. I had planned to go to a CIBC ATM to withdraw more cash after midnight, but I didn't want to drive around in the snow. Since I didn't have the proper session bankroll to play 2/5, I played the 1/2 with $200 max. I won several pots early and had more than doubled up, but went on a steady decline. In a struggle to keep from nodding off continuously at the table, a couple of players ignored the warning label of not drinking more than one energy drink per day. Players complained about getting charged as much as $4.50 by the Rama waitresses for a Red Bull which was the only choice given, while bigger energy drinks were available at the bar for only $3. Seneca charges only $3 for a Red Bull. I cashed out ahead less than 11 hours later, so maybe I'm slowly returning from a Fred Flinstone "bet, bet, bet" degenerate back to my normal conservative self.
It's definately a concern to be playing that much, but I think it falls more under the title of addiction than degeneracy.. Good story nonetheless.
who is the hoe ???? I dont remember you taking me to any casino other then rama and brantford once.. LOL...
This sounds like a cry for help Joe. Purge yourself of your sins while I drink coffee on the clients dollar
Winning is masking my addiction but I'm addicted.
POTD.
Joe, out with it man!
Let's hear it Joe!
/g2
This is my vote for POTD
I'm beyond help...... I gamble way to much.......
Played for about 48 hours straight while drinking JD on the rocks (It started as JD but who knows after the first 5). I made just over 1K over my time playing BJ. I then headed over to the stardust sports book and bet $500 on the jays. Dave steib was pitching and they were huge dogs. Cashed that bet. I still haven't been to bed yet. I head over to the desert inn play some craps, drop about $400 playing craps it's now something like 4 or 5 in the morning I"m not sure. See a hot little number singing in the bar in the desert inn. I go into the bar and order a drink, first drink I"ve paid for since hitting vegas.
Listen to the cutie sing with some geek playing piano. This girl walks in and sits beside me. I ask if I can buy her a drink. She looks and smiles at me and whispers to me "Honey you can buy a lot more than a drink from me". I look her square in the eye and go you got the right idea baby, I just have no intention of paying for it. She says I'll take the drink then. This is the first few days of a month of debautery that takes place.
I go back to the hotel knowing that I can pay my way in vegas for the next week or so. My buddy doesn't understand the disappearing for 48 to 72 hours at a time. I sleep for about 18 hours or so, wake up jump in the pool and go at it again. Did I mention it's a long drive to vegas especially in August with NO AC.
If you're a losing player. You recognize that gambling is bad for you and you try to quit.
If you're a winning player ... your gambling addiction can go unrecognized and untreated.
Blowing $600 in .50/1 NL in about 2 orbits.
Blowing through 11K in Let It Ride and another 6.5K in craps at The Plaza in about 5 hours.
Losing over 4K in about 5 hours at Brantford with Special_K and James...
There are tons.
We were supposed to go to California after vegas. I drove back to denver and borrowed money from a friend to get home. I have no clue how much I bet during my time in vegas but it was a lot. Craps and drunken BJ ate up my sports betting winnings.
were you giving or getting drunken BJ's?
(to Northred, obv not Joe if he had an 'nh' the post in question would not have happened.)
I wasn't giving....... but I did eventually get the chick in the bar for free........