play here anymore, are you?” I said something brilliant like “Huh?” Actually, it probably is about the best thing you can say in these situations; but that was accidental. He said, “You have been pressing your bets too hard. No more Blackjack. You can play Craps all you want.” I had never played Craps. I asked if I could flat-bet Blackjack (bet the same on every hand). He said no. I had managed to burn out the Horseshoe on my first trip. No more Greek Goddess.

I walked across the street, reserved a flight home and left the next day without playing another hand.

Losing the Horseshoe was a disappointment. Benny Binion used to loudly proclaim that card counting did not work and they would never bar anyone from playing. It was not until a few years later that Binion famously barred Ken Uston after a challenge. However, I always suspected that this was a phony challenge worked out between Binion and Uston. Binion’s management knew full well that counting worked years before Uston was officially barred. I came out ahead, but clearly was doing something wrong to get thrown out of three casinos on my first trip. While chatting with the other counters, they had all mentioned Lawrence Revere’s book and the Gambler’s Book Club. I had one last stop before leaving.

Jumped in a taxi and headed for the GBC. How was I supposed to know it was a Sunday? I had been oblivious of time for the past eleven days. GBC was closed. The taxi driver asked what I was looking for. I said Revere’s book. He said they have the book at the Sands. Did this cab driver know more about card counting than I? Let’s go. This would be my first visit to the Strip even though I had lived in Vegas now for eleven days. He drove me there, parked, walked me to the books and found the book. Before I could thank him, he was gone. Vegas was a very friendly city in those days.

At home, I threw the money on the bed. Really. I know this is campy and sounds like a bad movie, but it’s obligatory after your first win. I started with $400. Ended up with $1,100 profit after living off my winnings for eleven days. Not much, but inflation adjusted, $4,200 in 2008 dollars. There was only one problem. I did EVERYTHING wrong.

(to be continued)

 © 2009 Norman Wattenberger