Hobbies, I live in New Jersey

Hard eight

May 9, 2005

As per Mom’s wishes, this afternoon was spent at the Borgata. Again. (The gambling gene runs straight up my Mom’s branch of the family tree…we are unrepentant.) I had a twenty dollar bill to play with. I was going to do slots and nothing else, then meet MomnJohn for a dinner in a half hour.

I meandered by the craps tables and to my surprise found two with a $10 minimum bet. Usually I see tables at $25 and up…way out of my price range. Immediately I scampered to the ATM and took out $100.

My stomach shook. I’ve been watching Thor play for years. The past few times we’ve gone to Atlantic City I played a few chips next to him. The action is fast and the patrons and dealers are quick to chastise you when you make a mistake. Some of the bets are difficult to remember. I relied on Thor to make sure I was doing things correctly.

Today I was solo. I found a space at the table (the only Lady there who was actually playing) and got $100 in chips. Forty-five minutes later (late for dinner!) I walked away with $212 in chips. On only one shooter (person who has the dice…shooter status rotates around the table…once someone rolls a 7 after the point*, their turn is over). That guy was magic…he hit all my right numbers. I am in love with craps.

*Kim’s rules of craps in a nutshell: The easiest number to roll with a pair of dice is a 7. That said, in right betting craps, you’re betting on a number to be rolled BEFORE a seven is rolled. On the first roll (the come out roll) I put down my bet and I’m wanting a 7 or 11 to be rolled. Then I’m paid one to one. If a 2,3, or 12 is rolled, I lose my initial bet (those numbers are called craps. As in “Crap! I lost the rent money!”). Any other number that’s rolled becomes the “point.” Say it’s a six. Now I place another bet down behind my initial bet…betting that a six will be rolled before a seven is rolled again. If the six is rolled, I’m paid evenly on the bet in the front and 6 to 5 on the bet behind (varies depending on the point…sixes are more common than fours…so they pay lower). I can also place bets on the numbers other than the point. There are also a huge number of OTHER bets…but I don’t bother with them much.

Thor was quite proud/frightened of his new craps-playing wife. Tomorrow the money goes back into the bank and I’ll have to satisfy myself with free online craps until I get back to AC.

Still sniffly. Nyquil time!

(Google no longer indexing my pages…must find out why)

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