Dear Mark,
My favorite number is
three. I was born on 3/3/1933. I regularly bet three on the roulette
table, make $33 dollar wagers in blackjack and always play the third
machine from the left on a slot carousel. Over the years it has paid
decent dividends. Is there such a thing as a lucky number? Freddy G.
Lucky charms, shooting stars and special
numbers, all are performance poetry, mystical rituals that give the
illusion of hope. Your belief that your number is lucky, Freddy, is a
way of asking fate for a favor. Because three out of four adults have at
least one lucky charm or ceremonial offering (mine is picking up pennies
with heads up), who am I to argue?
The number three has been considered the
luckiest number for thousands of years in cultures and religions all
over the world. "Of all the numbers in the infinite scale none has been
more universally revered than three," writes Philip Waterman in
The Story of Superstition. Christianity and the Trinity, China's
third day of a new moon, Egypt's three-sided pyramids, the list goes on.
In casino action, I've seen players stand
up from a blackjack game, turn around three times to reverse their luck,
then proceed to pulverize the house.
So, does the number three have any
supernatural powers that work like a charm? Well, it does remind me of
an old horse bettor's joke: "A guy wakes up at 3:33 a.m. one morning and
takes the number three as an omen. He gets into a taxicab numbered 333.
He goes to the track and bets $333 to "win" on the third horse in the
third race...and true to form...the horse comes in third."
Dear Mark,
Every time I touch my
money in the betting circle on a blackjack game, the dealer starts
yelling at me. Why does he have to make a federal case out of it? Kristi
A.
I learned the hard way that a dealer's
job, first and foremost, is game protection. Repercussion: a week on the
streets. I had a terrible habit of turning my back on the table layout
to chit-chat with whoever. Eventually, guerrilla military training
"Avoid game security being broached at all costs" was close-order
drilled into my finite brain cells.
The casino's anxiety is the deceptive
player who "pinches" or "caps" his wager. Pinching is when a card sharp
tries to remove chips or money from a losing wager just before the
dealer seizes losing bets. Capping is just the opposite of pinching.
Here the player has an excellent hand against the dealer's up card and
wants to add more chips to his wager.
Dear Mark,
In Atlantic City, they
do not offer a Big 6 & 8 bet like they do in Nevada. Are we being ripped
off here on the east coast? Alex G.
Quite the contrary, Alex. Thank your
state legislature for having the foresight to eliminate the 6 & 8 from
the craps layout through gaming statutes. By betting the Big 6 or 8, you
are paid even money by the casino. Bet $6, win $6. This gives the house
a whopping 9% edge over a Big 6 or 8 wager. By asking the
dealer to "place" the wager instead, the casino edge is reduced to
1.515% percent. You are betting the same $6, but your "friendly dealer"
will pay you $7 for the exact same wager.
