Days can start off awfully bad in Las Vegas. But if you have gumption, you set yourself to the task and decide to try again and never give up.
It was Friday morning in Las Vegas and my buddies Wayne and Roger were about as broke as could be. I had $5, Roger had $3 and Wayne could scrape together $2. Just enough for a $10 buy-in to the $1-3 stud game at the Union Plaza.
I proposed they give the money to me and I would split three ways whatever I won.
They both agreed to the proposition and a few minutes later I was headed down the road to the Union Plaza. I bought my $10 worth of chips and settled down in the game.
I played well and carefully and my chips began to accumulate. By noon I was up over $200. by 4 p.m. my winnings had skyrocketed to $600.
My winning streak went on and on. Finally, I cashed out at $1,200 and went home and distributed the winnings to my friends.
With my $400 I was able to buy into a $60 tournament at The Orleans. I shrugged when I should have and ducked when I needed to and before I realized it, I was the winner of over $1,400. I celebrated by drinking and dancing in casinos along the Strip. I met a sloven-eyed beauty at the Hard Rock Casino who claimed she was from New Orleans.
That set us to talking since I had lived just across the causeway in Mandeville, LA. I asked if she had ever shot dice and she said "Never."
We followed the casinos along the brightly lit Strip until we found a dice table. It almost sat on the sidewalk. I placed $5 chips on the pass line and on the five, six, eight, and nine. I rolled a six and tripled the bet. Two rolls later I hit a six. My numbers were coming.
The beauty from New Orleans said her name was Brenda. I began pressing her bets and hit two numbers in a row. The red chips became green chips and they kept flowing in.
I had most of the numbers covered and Brenda kept throwing winner after winner. I was up over $1,400 and I decided the winning string had gone far enough. I collected all my bets and Brenda sevened out.
"How's that for timing?," I said, giving her a kiss.
We moved to another casino and passed Big Bertha, the biggest slot machine on the Strip. I fed it a couple of $20 bills and hit it for $500.
Nothing made sense. We would try wild bet after wild bet and kept hitting them. As we passed the Riviera, I noticed a poker tournament was about to begin.
"Deal me in," I said, peeling off a bill.
The whirling lights of Las Vegas. The sounds and spins of a million machines. Trusting lady luck as Brenda threw the dice. And now facing my peers across a poker table where the odds would prove true and the winnings went to the luckiest.
Brenda sat near me, supporting me with her luck. I kept us well supplied with good wine and my chips kept accumulating. I made the final table that night and collected over $600 for my investment.
Brenda stayed with me until sunup in the desert.
