An activity S and I enjoy is checking a casino out.
My very first casino visit was none other than in Toulouse. The casino city of the world. Okay, not quite. But where I come from, the locals have to pay S$100 just to even get in, before we can make any gambles. The S$100 is considered lost before I make my first step. Therefore, fancy as they are, I’ve never been to a casino in Singapore.
Finally, while flying to S’s in Toulouse, we decided to pop by a casino. It was such fun seeing everybody in action, finally understanding how Roulette works, and losing everything I had (read: 20-30 euros).
We visited it once more, that same casino in Toulouse, and this time we both won enough to pay for our (budget) hotel stay the next day, as we had planned a trip out of the city.
Last Saturday night, we visited the one in Berlin. Again, we had fun though I lost everything I had (read: 30 euros). It is already highly frustrating when you lose everything you have. They were 2 euro chips; how could I have such terrible luck?!
But at the very same table, a man came along, sat down on the chair, completely comfortable like he knew every corner of this casino, and he calmly handed a 500-euro note to the Roulette employee, and requested for 100-euro chips. If you play Roulette and you have 100-euro chips, you typically place them on small/big, even/odd, red/black, or on one of the rows/dozens. One doesn’t put 100-euro chips on the numbers, because god knows the chances of winning your 100-euro chips back is so tiny. He had 5 chips, and he calmly placed 3 (read: 300 euros) on one number, 1 on another and 1 on another.
The ball was rolling and landed on a number he hadn’t chosen. Gulp. The bank eats up all the chips. He remained calm. He proceeded to whip out what looked like ten 100-euro bills and requested for 100-euro chips, and did the same thing, placing them on his random lucky numbers.
The ball rolled and landed on yet another number he hadn’t chosen. Chomp chomp. The bank eats up all his chips. He remained calm and thought of how many more bills to whip out and what to do next.
While he was obviously a rich man from his bets (and not from his clothes), or a guy who is clearly in need of a gambling rehabilitation center, that was absolutely an unacceptable way of squandering money! S and I talked about it – some day we’ll win big enough to behave like some of them, and tell the bankers to keep some chips as tips when collecting our winnings, but we’ll never ever be stupid enough to do what he did. And I’m not calling him stupid out of jealousy for his wealth.
I mean, I’m sure he’s won big at least once, because those numbers pay out like crazy. But man, I had only observed him for 5 minutes. I’m sure he spends more than an hour in that casino. I’d love to find out how much he walks into the casino with, and how much he walks out with…
kaya toast 