How Do These Joints Stay in Business?

Saturday morning started about 8 a.m. with me heading over to Albertson's to pick up some groceries, including salad fixings, flavored water, fruit, yogurt, pasta and other items.

By 9:15 or so, I was home unloading the groceries and wondering which casino to visit today. I targeted Bally's, since I haven't had much luck in the MGM poker room in the past two days. So I drove to Bally's and checked out the poker room. It was busy, with a waiting list of 7 names ahead of mine, so I wandered over to a $10 blackjack table and began to play.

The first couple of shoes was up and down. No real profit or loss. There was one other guy playing at the table with me and we were both staying even. Then the cards turned in our favor. We both started winning and the dealer started busting for us. Eventually, I pressed my bets up to $15, then $20, then $25 a hand. One key hand happened when I bet $25 and I was dealt a pair of 3s to the dealer's 6. The proper play here is to split the 3s and hopefully catch a 6-7-8 to double down. Instead I got another 3, so eventually I ended up with 3 hands (13, 13 and 14) with $25 bet on each. Luckily the dealer had a 10 in the hole and slapped an 8 on top for the Bust - $75 in one sweet hand!

Another fun hand happened when I bet $25 and received two Aces - against the dealer's 7. I split the Aces (at $25 each) and received two face cards for a $50 hand!

I quickly tallied my profit and walked away with $325, vowing not to give any of it back today. So I wandered to the Paris sports book and made two hoops bets for myself, winning one and losing one. I also made some bets for my friend Terry, who wanted a 6-team hockey parlay and a bet on Mark Martin in tomorrow's Nascar Race. Good Luck on those, T!

While I was at Bally's, Helen was on the phone with her sister Natalie. She also did some reading and watched some TV.

We just finished dinner - two hefty salads with organic mixed greens, roma tomatoes, Greek feta cheese, and avocados. Now we're relaxing in front of the TV and wondering what our next adventures will be...