True Casino Stories on Blackjack 1

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Blackjack Wonder: "I won't quit 'till the chips hit my chin."

Copyright © 2006 -by Frank Michaels, former Blackjack Dealer, Sam's Town

      The man wasn't at my table. But I wish he had been!
      Just one table down, a rather inebriated gentleman of about 40 years old was playing high-stakes Blackjack out of an 8 deck shoe, courtesy of a somewhat nervous dealer. There must have been over $35,000. where he sat at his center spot, as I coming on for my evening graveyard shift. And believe me, all the floor managers were quite attentive to his action. Even the shift Pit Boss saundered over to make sure things were OK.
     The guy kept betting "limit up", which is to say, he bet the table maximum on every hand. Many times, on several spots at a time, too. As is usual with tipsy players, they usually start pressing too hard, and lose whatever stake they had created. Quick to make a buck, but quick to lose it , too. But this guy was different. It seemed like his stacks had force fields around them. Over 10 slightly wobbly piles of black chips, growing higher and higher with every turn of the card. He also kept one of the cocktail girls very busy (and very happy) with a one-hundred dollar drink tips.

Usually, a crowd would form on the elbow of a high flying player like him, and cheers would go up on every win. But it was a bit unusual on this Tuesday night; not a single kibitzer was around. Even as folks walked by, they scarcely gave him a nod. Very unusual. As time wore on, the drunker he got. "More scotch!" he ordered. "Lemme have another ca-card!" he mumbled to the dealer. "I ca-can't q-quit now!" he announced.

"In fact... I won't quit 'till the ch-chips hit my chin!" he shouted, for the whole pit to hear.

In nearly two hours of later action, the piles finally did "hit his chin!"

This unnamed gentleman "colored-up" about $70,000. Too drunk to walk properly, the floor supervisor had to help him over to the cage, because he had so many purple ($500.) chips. Uniformed security guards were there, too, to make sure the occasional purple chips he dropped didn't make it into the wrong hands. I often look back in wonder about this super-lucky player. I later found out from the dealer that his buy-in was only $200. An impressive run-up, and the luckiest streak I ever saw that year.

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