Monday, July 18, 2005
The Great Gambler
This is an inspiring story of an absolutely normal guy (lets call him TL) who, through his gambling-acumen, became a thorn in the flesh of many big-time seasoned gamblers. The story starts with TL standing in front of the entrance of Casino Genting at Genting Highlands (which, incidently, is in Malaysia, 1.5 hrs drive from KL). TL was no gambler; infact he had never been to a casino before. "I don't even know how to gamble", he thought. He was afraid of loosing the money he had. But, after a lot of deliberations, he decided to atleast have a look inside and come back without playing.
Cautiously, he stepped inside the casino, fearing that the vultures inside would mercilessly squeeze all his money out of him. The casino was huge; he had never seen something like that before; he was blinded by the glittering interiors. There were thousands of people inside and amazingly there was no noise. Everyone was engrossed in the games. No-one (except the many CCTV cameras) even noticed TL entering. "Oh God!! How would Vegas be like!!" was his first reaction. He saw endless rows of people sitting with cards and plastic coins in front of them. He recalled the many scenes of casinos in the Hollywood movies he had seen. Like in the movies, girls were sitting on the laps of smart suit-clad gamblers. "What ... is there a shortage of chairs in this place?" he said jealously to himself.
The card-games were hard to learn simply because nobody showed their cards and everything happened very quickly without a word being spoken. So, he moved forward to the game of roulette. This seemed to be an interesting one. He remembered of a Dev Anand starrer movie where the protagonist starts with a 50 Paise coin and wins many lakhs of Rupees. Inspired by Dev sahab, he made up his mind to play roulette. "Let me learn this first by seeing a few bets" he told himself. On the table, there were around 8 people sitting, most of them were women in their late 60s (they all were writing the results on a piece of paper just to know the trend of the machine). The Casino-guy used to slide the marble in the roulette machine with great adroitness and used to make some strange gestures with his hands, which at first seemed funny to TL. The game was simple->because of gravity the marble would fall into one slot with a number written inside and if you had placed a bet on that number you will get some more money.
The moment of truth came when TL took out a 50 Ringgits (currency of Malaysia: 1 RM equal to 12 INR) note out of his pocket and showed it to the Casino-guy. Casino-guy did some gestures with eyes. "Coins for 50 Ringgits please", TL demanded. But the Casino-guy was trying to tell him something. An uneasiness descended on the table (like somebody had thrown a stone in the calm waters of a pond) and an old lady gambler broke the silence "He wants you to put the bill on the table". KL understood the Rule 1: "Thou shalt put all the currency on the table". The Casino-guy gave him 10 coins of 5 RM each. Thinking it to be lucky, TL thought of bidding on his birth-date first; so he placed a 5RM coin on the number. The Casino-guy gave him a dirty glance and TL realized that he had broken another protocol as everyone on the table was looking at him. As the Casino-guy threw the coin back to him, he heard a feeble female voice telling him that the minimum bidding amount was 10RM. Rule 2:"Thou shalt not bid less than 10RM". Without looking at anyone of them, he placed two coins this time on his lucky number. His heart began to thump as the marble circled around the machine.
Some would say that it was "beginner's luck" and others "just plain luck", TL saw the marble falling into the slot of his bith-date. He had won!! He could not believe it!! The Casino-guy passed on 20 more coins to him. No-body on the table cared for this feat of TL. Now, TL placed the bet on few more numbers to increase the probability. He won again. After a few bets more, the coins were not fitting TL's pockets and hands. So, finally he sat down on the table (yes, he was standing like a novice all this time) like a veteran arranging all the coins neatly in front of him like the manhattans. All the gamblers were amazed to see this tyro's booty; some even gave him loathing glances. The wheel started again and TL won more and more, much to the discomfort of his co-gamblers (some of them started leaving the table).
TL was basking in the winning glory when he suddenly realized that the last bus to KL was just 10 mins away. Sadly, he decided to leave the place. But where to exchage the plastic coins for cash? He went here and there with the coins in his hands and pockets but didn't get a clue. Upon asking an Indian Casino-guy, he found that the coins were exchanged at the table itself. He went to his hallowed table and asked the Casino-guy for money. Everyone was shocked. He didn't realize that there was an unwritten Rule 3:"Thou shalt not leave the casino until and unless thou loose everything". Relunctantly, the Casino-guy gave him 500RM and asked him to depart. So TL had won 10 times the amount he betted in less than 20 mins. "Thats cool", he thought.
On the way back TL was thinking of buying something special from that money. He was very happy; not on his triumph but on having broken the Rule 3 of that casino.
Epilogue: Taking inspiration from this story of the great TL, I decided to try my luck. I followed the footsteps of TL and started by betting on my birth-date (i.e. number 13!!!). But alas, after a few rounds, I lost all my 100 RMs and I am still skipping my meals to make up for the loss !!!
Cautiously, he stepped inside the casino, fearing that the vultures inside would mercilessly squeeze all his money out of him. The casino was huge; he had never seen something like that before; he was blinded by the glittering interiors. There were thousands of people inside and amazingly there was no noise. Everyone was engrossed in the games. No-one (except the many CCTV cameras) even noticed TL entering. "Oh God!! How would Vegas be like!!" was his first reaction. He saw endless rows of people sitting with cards and plastic coins in front of them. He recalled the many scenes of casinos in the Hollywood movies he had seen. Like in the movies, girls were sitting on the laps of smart suit-clad gamblers. "What ... is there a shortage of chairs in this place?" he said jealously to himself.
The card-games were hard to learn simply because nobody showed their cards and everything happened very quickly without a word being spoken. So, he moved forward to the game of roulette. This seemed to be an interesting one. He remembered of a Dev Anand starrer movie where the protagonist starts with a 50 Paise coin and wins many lakhs of Rupees. Inspired by Dev sahab, he made up his mind to play roulette. "Let me learn this first by seeing a few bets" he told himself. On the table, there were around 8 people sitting, most of them were women in their late 60s (they all were writing the results on a piece of paper just to know the trend of the machine). The Casino-guy used to slide the marble in the roulette machine with great adroitness and used to make some strange gestures with his hands, which at first seemed funny to TL. The game was simple->because of gravity the marble would fall into one slot with a number written inside and if you had placed a bet on that number you will get some more money.
The moment of truth came when TL took out a 50 Ringgits (currency of Malaysia: 1 RM equal to 12 INR) note out of his pocket and showed it to the Casino-guy. Casino-guy did some gestures with eyes. "Coins for 50 Ringgits please", TL demanded. But the Casino-guy was trying to tell him something. An uneasiness descended on the table (like somebody had thrown a stone in the calm waters of a pond) and an old lady gambler broke the silence "He wants you to put the bill on the table". KL understood the Rule 1: "Thou shalt put all the currency on the table". The Casino-guy gave him 10 coins of 5 RM each. Thinking it to be lucky, TL thought of bidding on his birth-date first; so he placed a 5RM coin on the number. The Casino-guy gave him a dirty glance and TL realized that he had broken another protocol as everyone on the table was looking at him. As the Casino-guy threw the coin back to him, he heard a feeble female voice telling him that the minimum bidding amount was 10RM. Rule 2:"Thou shalt not bid less than 10RM". Without looking at anyone of them, he placed two coins this time on his lucky number. His heart began to thump as the marble circled around the machine.
Some would say that it was "beginner's luck" and others "just plain luck", TL saw the marble falling into the slot of his bith-date. He had won!! He could not believe it!! The Casino-guy passed on 20 more coins to him. No-body on the table cared for this feat of TL. Now, TL placed the bet on few more numbers to increase the probability. He won again. After a few bets more, the coins were not fitting TL's pockets and hands. So, finally he sat down on the table (yes, he was standing like a novice all this time) like a veteran arranging all the coins neatly in front of him like the manhattans. All the gamblers were amazed to see this tyro's booty; some even gave him loathing glances. The wheel started again and TL won more and more, much to the discomfort of his co-gamblers (some of them started leaving the table).
TL was basking in the winning glory when he suddenly realized that the last bus to KL was just 10 mins away. Sadly, he decided to leave the place. But where to exchage the plastic coins for cash? He went here and there with the coins in his hands and pockets but didn't get a clue. Upon asking an Indian Casino-guy, he found that the coins were exchanged at the table itself. He went to his hallowed table and asked the Casino-guy for money. Everyone was shocked. He didn't realize that there was an unwritten Rule 3:"Thou shalt not leave the casino until and unless thou loose everything". Relunctantly, the Casino-guy gave him 500RM and asked him to depart. So TL had won 10 times the amount he betted in less than 20 mins. "Thats cool", he thought.
On the way back TL was thinking of buying something special from that money. He was very happy; not on his triumph but on having broken the Rule 3 of that casino.
Epilogue: Taking inspiration from this story of the great TL, I decided to try my luck. I followed the footsteps of TL and started by betting on my birth-date (i.e. number 13!!!). But alas, after a few rounds, I lost all my 100 RMs and I am still skipping my meals to make up for the loss !!!
