Ever Been To A Card Room?

[+ Avalon]

I heard an ad on the radio for one. With all the Indian casinos I was surprised they still exist.

 

I remember an episode of the old "Dragnet" about a man with a gambling addiction who frequented card rooms. He stole from the company he worked at. Lied to his wife about having an ex wife he had to send alimony to.

[BSR]

I heard an ad on the radio for one. With all the Indian casinos I was surprised they still exist.

 

I remember an episode of the old "Dragnet" about a man with a gambling addiction who frequented card rooms. He stole from the company he worked at. Lied to his wife about having an ex wife he had to send alimony to.

 

What's a "card room"? Does that mean a poker room? I can't think of what else it could refer to.

[+ Avalon]

What's a "card room"? Does that mean a poker room? I can't think of what else it could refer to.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardroom

 

"Though traditional poker variants such as Texas hold 'em, Omaha hold 'em and seven-card stud are by far the most popular games offered by card rooms (and sometimes the only games), others may offer games such as panguingue, pai gow, Chinese poker, and variations on blackjack. These so-called "California games", or "Asian games", may resemble such traditional casino games as blackjack, baccarat and even craps, but have rules that comply with various state restrictions."

 

It doesn't list solitaire but I'd think that would be an appropriate game for a card room.

[Smurof]

The stereotype is real. Thick smoke, lots of Asians, and nobody smiling. The commercials couldn't be more inaccurate, with attractive young white people laughing and throwing their chips in the air with joy! It's like the places Wheel Of Fortune send people these days : remote island nations you've never heard of, where one step off resort property can mean certain crime victim or statistic status.

[BSR]

I've lived half my life in poker rooms, or so it seems sometimes. All traditional poker rooms in the US are non-smoking. Most rooms, unfortunately, are adjoining the main casino, so a lot of smoke does drift in, but at least you don't have to put up with the guy next to you chain-smoking. I've never been to the other type of card room, where games like pai gow are played.

[+ Avalon]

My father's game was blackjack. He even bought a book on it.

 

I remember one time he and I were in a casino. I don't gamble - I'm too cheap. My father was at the blackjack table. At another seat was a drunk guy. While my father played I walked around the area. In the alley behind the casino was a pawn shop. Looking through the window I saw the drunk guy trying to pawn his watch. Sad.

[BSR]

My father's game was blackjack. He even bought a book on it.

 

I remember one time he and I were in a casino. I don't gamble - I'm too cheap. My father was at the blackjack table. At another seat was a drunk guy. While my father played I walked around the area. In the alley behind the casino was a pawn shop. Looking through the window I saw the drunk guy trying to pawn his watch. Sad.

 

You see and hear a lot when you live in Las Vegas, especially if you go to the casinos as often as I do. I once met a guy who was, at least for a time, a professional card-counter. He paid his entire way through UC Santa Barbara by playing blackjack. When I said that I thought the MIT guys ruined it for everybody, he said that you could still do it but had to be super careful. He works a day job now and plays blackjack just for fun and for some pocket money.

 

If you're ever in the unenviable position of trying to pawn your watch for gambling money (or money for any other purposes), be advised that if you bring in a brand new Rolex to a pawn shop, they'll probably offer you only 10% of the retail price. Yikes!

[RM]

There are two card rooms where I live and about four Indian casinos within 50 miles. I went to one Indian casino once for dinner. Haven't gambled anywhere else except a little in Reno, Las Vegas and Atlantic City. I played blackjack in all three Trump casinos and won in each. The last one I played for about 15 minutes and quit as soon as I was ahead.

[BSR]

One of the most interesting characters I met on the Strip was an elderly Chinese woman who was a card-counter almost her entire adult life. She moved to Las Vegas in 1961 with her two children. Her deadbeat husband had left her, and in those days, getting child support through the legal system was impossible. She couldn't get a regular job in the casinos because she claimed "I have slant eyes." So she figured out how to count cards. Back in those days, "the boys" ran the casinos, not big corporations. Since Las Vegas was more of a small town back then, everybody knew who she was and what she was doing but tolerated it because they knew her situation. She did get banned, all the time and by every casino in town, but back then all she had to do was stay away for a couple of months, and then they'd let her play again, not like today's lifetime bans. By counting cards, she raised two kids, bought a house, and sent the kids to UNLV so that they wouldn't have to end up as card counters. Now the two kids support their mom because she doesn't do much card-counting any more. She's the one who told me that those MIT kids ruined it for everybody else.

 

She told me about her wildest night. She went to the casino with three hundred bucks (remember, this is 1961, so factor in inflation). She had a bad night and ended up losing it all. She kept eight quarters in her purse as emergency money. She played a slot with the quarters and ended up hitting one for a hundred bucks. With that hundred, she went back to the tables, had a rollicking night, and ended up winning $5500! I was born in 1964, but I'm pretty sure $5500 was more than the average annual salary back in 1961.