What'$ gambled in Vega$, $tay$ in Vega$

This weekend I drove up to Las Vegas for a volleyball tournament with no real intention of doing any gambling. Yeah, right. Like that made a damn difference once I got inside what could only describe as a "classy" "resort."

So I sat down at a black jack table Thursday night (you can go ahead and ignore the fact that I'm not 21, because so did the casino) and got $20 in chips.

First hand, I cut the deck. The cards were dealt. Black jack. Already I'm winning. This is easy! Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight! Little did I know...

So I ended the night with $70 from that original $20 bill I put out on the table. Not bad. I was making all the right moves. Hitting when I needed to hit. Doubling down at the right times. I was making it work.

Up $50 after one night in Vegas, not too shabby. The only problem with that: I still had more time (and money) to "spend" while in town.

Friday night I went with some friends to the strip to check out some of the nicer casinos. I found a nice black jack table at Casino Royal, I think. Anyway, I put down at $5 bet, and first hand: BLACK JACK! I love this city!

Well, my friends who were at the table behind me playing craps were all crapped out and wanted to go back to our hotel to play because the dice weren't as nice at this casino. I left that black jack table (which only paid 6/5 on black jack) up $2. I was now at $52 in profit for the trip.

Then we went back to our hotel, a hotel that just one night ago had been very, very good to me.

Not anymore.

I sat down at a minimum $10 table and placed a $10 bet. First hand: BLACK JACK, again! I am not even joking. Three times when I first sat down at a table I got black jack. All three times I cut the cards (single deck black jack), and all three times I won. At that point, I was up the most I would be the entire trip: $67 in profit!

I eventually moved to a $5 table (there were no seats available when I first got there) and continued to play. Hand by hand, though, everything I had worked to win was slipping away. I'd have 8-3 and double down with the deal showing a 6. She'd then flip over a 5 and hit a ten, and I'd be stuck with an ace that didn't help the 11 I had.

It was probably the worst string of of luck I've ever had at a black jack table. I couldn't win a hand. It was insane. And it's not that I was playing the cards wrong, but every single time the deal just had 21 after 21 after 21 with an occasional 20 here and there.

I ended up losing all the profit I had made since arriving in Vegas along with an extra $20. Total trip earnings: -$20.

Let that be a lesson to anyone planning a Vegas vacation:
What you win in Vegas somehow stays in Vegas!