Tears began to roll down his eyes instead of smiles of satisfaction.
“I weep, because riches beget enmity and mutual bitterness” – Omar (second Caliph after Prophet Muhammad, after looking gravely at the piles of gold from the spoils of war of conquering Persia)
The meaning of life not 42. The meaning of life is 6.
I was at the Roulette table last night and my first bet was about RM 1,000 worth of chips spread out over the table.
I thought I had put a RM 100 chip on the number 6.
I didn’t. It was a corner/square bet (covering 4 numbers in the photo above with my RM 50 chip for an 8:1 payout – 5, 6, 8, 9). I did have RM 100 on the number 0 though.
Thus, the amount that I won from that bet didn’t even equal out my RM 2,000 buy-in. I stacked more chips on the second bet and lost.
I did put chips on the number 6 this time but it came out as 16 instead. I didn’t bet on 6 the third time and that was my loss coz that very same number came out again!
Yup, it was 6 – “my number”.
I would have won RM 1,750 after covering my RM 2000 buy-in (total of RM 3,750) if I had gone for that. It’s not a large amount, but I would have left.
Instead, I lost about RM 2,200 and then decided to stop and go get an early dinner.
I then went into the International Room and withdrew RM 1,000 using my credit card, which incurs an administrative charge from Genting as well as the bank’s 5% charge.
I walked to a Baccarat table where there’s a really nice and professional croupier (couldn’t remember her name) – my original intention was to double up until I recouped my losses.
It’s a good thing I didn’t coz I lost on the first round – I had split my bet to RM 500.
I won on the next round, doubled up and then doubled up again. I wanted a sequence of Player, Banker, Banker and that’s exactly what happened.
Thus, with my last RM 1,500 bet on Banker I had netted RM 4,000.
It’s a technical win since my buy-in was about RM 3,200 + credit card charges. However, I don’t consider it a win. I had to cover my room at Awana (all other hotels were fully booked) which was about RM 250 per person after splitting the cost – the room was about RM 500 (!!!). I also had to cover the trip costs and a celebratory drink at Cloud 9 (live band watering hole with a cover charge of RM 25 for cardholders) after that.
I could have won an additional RM 1,500. I wanted to hit Banker one last time (and even stayed to watch) – it was a natural 8, an automatic win. I didn’t bet though, I told myself I’ll quit after recovering and I did.
I cashed up after that – I only had RM 3 in my wallet at that point, the rest is the stack of notes from the RM 4,000 cashout.
I immediately banked in RM 2,000 to my credit card account so I wouldn’t get hit that hard by the bank charges (it should cover the RM 1,000 cash out) and went shopping for clothes.
Time from credit card cash withdrawal to payment: Less than 1 hour (much of it spent lining up at the CDM)
It’s a good thing that I went up this weekend – I bought all my clothes from the same store coz it had an additional 30% discount for Genting card holders. I’ve been a Silver member since end of 2007, not too long after I got out of rehab.
I got two pairs of shirts and pants each – I don’t always buy new attire for Chinese New Year, but this time I wanted to.
I also make it a point to buy one shirt that looks horrible on me each year…but a friend and the sales promoter stopped me. Haha!
I went for the blue version of this instead. It looks much better. I spent about RM 600 on clothes and a new pair of shoes! Technically, this is from my nett winnings. ;)
It was a fun trip – the drinking, the early morning burger run before sleeping and waking up at 9 am to sing impromptu karaoke at the balcony.
I also told myself I’ll stop hitting the casinos after this. I intend to honor it this time.
“The only easy day was yesterday” – SEAL team mantra
