Photo Courtesy (Nevada Casino History)
I make money playing blackjack because I count cards. However, I've been very lucky at the craps table too. Ever since I got my first crash course in the game at a casino at Lake Tahoe I've loved the game. Blackjack is cerebral, craps is gritty - aggressive and imminently more exciting.
The first time I ever played the game was at Harrah's. There were a few players, but I stepped right into the next shooters spot and the dealer gave me change for my $20 bill (20 $1 chips) and offered me the dice.
I picked two and gave them a little roll down the table. All right, a wimpy roll. One managed to hit the back roll and the other didn't. The sickman said, "Second roll yo bets are lucky now, two way bets are lucky bets."
I had no idea that "yo" was short for yo-leven or eleven. Harrah's teaches their dealers to enunciate some calls so their is no confusion between seven and eleven. I also had no idea what a two-way bet was (a bet that includes something for the dealers).
As luck would have it, I hit my number and got paid. Then I rolled a seven, than an eleven, then mad a number and hit it too. In all, I held the dice for 15 minutes and made 13 straight passes.
Since I was just 17 years old and a newbie, I didn't change my pass line bet from $2. I won 13 times, lost once, and raked down $24. I was pretty happy until the inside dealer said, "You know, if you let that ride you would have won over $1000."
I didn't say anything, but a guy at the other end of the table (who now had a pretty full rail of chips) took pity on me and tossed a $100 black chip down to me. Awesome!
I walked straight to the cashier's cage and got $144 for my chips. I stiffed the dealers and the cage because I didn't know about toking the dealers. Then I walked through the snow to Monk's Pizza by the Greyhound bus station and ordered a pizza.
I was younger then, I ate the whole thing myself and washed it down with a pitcher of Pepsi. I had found heaven on earth. Craps - a game that can get you free pizza.
Comments
Poker is best game i have ever played. the best thing about poker is the excitement in the game. There are many types of games in poker like texas holdem and blackjack are famous.
You played craps in a casino when you were 17?
Isn’t that illegal in Nevada?
I hope that pizza was vegetarian!
Great Article – I resemble it – You cut craps short – It is very cerebral – If you have ever done statistical analysis on dice you will find that randomness does indeed have order. Even chaos does. Check it out!
Nothing gets my adrenline going and my hands sweaty as a game of craps. There is nothing like it. If you can’t make money at craps, you aren’t trying. Unlike poker or blackjack,
craps is much more of a communal/social game, even if you are playing the don’t pass.
Craps can be simple or complicated depending upon how you personally feel you need to play on any given day.
Some days it is very easy to win and I NEVER feel guilty by regularly taking the casino’s money.
Keep up the good articles.
Yeah, let’s just say that casinos were not as diligent about kicking out (or even acknowledging) underage gambling a few years back before Title 31 got rolling and large cash fines became possible.
Good story. It seems most of the hooping and hollering comes from the craps players at the casinos I frequent. Used to play but it has been awhile. Got to get away from Caribbean Stud and back to the excitement.
I also played in a casino when I was 17. I graduated from High School in 1975 and hitchhiked to Los Angeles via Las Vegas. I was playing nickel machines in the Four Queens in the middle of the night and getting served free beer until my cash ran out. I tried to cash a traveler’s check for $20 at the cashier’s cage and had to show an ID, which showed that I was only 17 years old. I didn’t think much about it until the cashier motioned to someone behind me and I turned around to find three Very Large Men behind me. The cashier said “You have to be 21 to gamble here” and the Very Large Men motioned for me to follow them. They led me out to the sidewalk and said “Come back when you’re 21.” They were nice about it but nobody in their right mind would have argued with these guys.
I cashed the traveler’s check and had an early breakfast in a restaurant somewhere downtown and continued my journey to Los Angeles later that morning.
I didn’t return to Las Vegas until about 1990 but discovered that I love that place and I now return an average of once or twice a year still.
Good luck to all of you!
Pete,
Your story sounds similar to mine. When I returned last month after 34 years, I wondered why I had stayed away so long. Downtown is a low-cost place to re-hone one’s skills.