Mikey C.
Yelp
I know how improbable this story may seem, but I swear it is 100% true.
There's a classic Twilight Zone episode (A Penny For Your Thoughts, Season 2, Episode 16) where a man paying for a newspaper at a news stand flips a coin into the vendor's cashbox. The coin miraculously lands on its edge. The man suddenly gains the ability to read people's minds.
As Rod Serling's narration notes: "Flip a coin and keep flipping it. What are the odds? Half the time it will come up heads, half the time tails. But in one freakish chance in a million, it'll land on its edge."
That one in a million thing happened to me here at Joker's Wild, back when they still had a crap table.
I had been at the table for ten or fifteen minutes. The minimum bet at the time was $1. I was standing in the first space to the left of the Stickman. The table was packed, the dice were choppy as they usually are.
Even though I know better, I always cover the Any Craps bet on the Come Out. It's a sucker bet, surrendering an 11% edge to the House. But like many gamblers, I'm superstitious. For good luck I always bet the Any Craps on the Come Out.
There was a new Shooter coming out, so I announced my bet and I flipped the Stickman a buck to cover the Any Craps. Incredibly the chip landed right in the little Any Craps circle, right on it's edge.
The chip just stood there on its edge. It didn't wobble. It was stuck like glue.
Everyone saw it. The whole table went nuts. People were shouting WTF dude? Did you try to do that? How did you do that?
I was dumbfounded. I stared at the chip. I couldn't believe my eyes.
The crew all looked at each other, then at me. The Pit Boss sized me up.
The Stickman pushed the dice to the Shooter who proceeded to roll a six. My Any Craps bet lost.
Before the Stick could remove my bet a player at the other end of the table shouted, "Dude, you've got to keep that bet up!"
Instantly I knew he was right. There was some powerful magic happening and I needed to see where this was going.
I dropped another buck on the felt and told the Stickman, "Back up on the Any Craps." Several people voiced affirmation of my decision. The Shooter got the dice back and rolled a 4. The Any Craps bet lost again.
I had to throw in another dollar to keep the Any Craps bet live. The whole time this is happening, the chip continued to stand on its edge.
The shooter rolled a six, then a five. With each roll I had to pony up another dollar. By now I'm down four or five bucks on this weird situation. The chip stood there unwavering.
I hung in there for one more roll and then I finally let the bet go down. The Stickman picked up the coin and racked it. I heard a few players murmuring I should have kept the bet up, but I was ok with my decision.
It was such a surreal experience. I didn't win any money, and unlike the guy in the Twilight Zone episode, I didn't gain the ability to read minds.
It took me many years to actually understand how deeply this experience affected me. In fact, it wasn't until after I wrote the previous version of this review that I finally put it all together.
See, I used to be obsessed with gambling. And I was oblivious to the fact that I was bad at it. Really, really bad. I would gamble away 5 or 6 hundred dollars every trip to Vegas, and I went four times a year, every year. I never came home with more than a few bucks in my pocket.
But in the year after this crazy Twilight Zone experience that all changed. I suddenly came to realize how bad a gambler I was. I realized how stupid it was to spend so much money on something I truly sucked at.
I still go to Vegas four times a year and I still gamble, but only for the lowest possible stakes. I almost never play craps or any table game. I have way more fun spending $20 or $30 playing penny slots than I ever did blowing hundreds at the crap table.
But for this crazy experience at the crap table I would have probably never changed. I'd still be wasting thousands of bucks every year.
It was an impossible thing, but sometimes the impossible happens.
"Flip a coin and keep flipping it. What are the odds? Half the time it will come up heads, half the time tails. But in one freakish chance in a million, it'll land on its edge."
Mikey C says: one freakish chance in a million!