After a quick dinner at Margaritaville I convince Sandra that we should make a stop at the craps table before heading home. I take her to the table where young George hit his triple when he was in town with his girlfriend Lauren. I even take up the same position on the table that I was in on that day.
Unfortunately it started out as a typical stop at the craps table. I cashed $200, put $10 on the line, picked up the dice and established a point of 10. Took $30 odds, placed $30 on the outside numbers and proceeded to Seven Out on the next roll. Down $70 in about 30 seconds, so what else is new?
Next up is Sandra and she has the start of a great roll. She makes 2 points, I cash a couple of place bets and things are looking good. But while shooting for her 3rd point she misfires, throws the dice into the pile of place bets and we all know what the results were – Seven Out. At least she helped me win back my initial loss.
So the dice work their way around the table. Almost no one makes a point and the sound of Seven Out is echoing across the table. I am next in line to shoot. However my rack is just about depleted so I pass the dice to Sandra and tell her to give it her best shot and then we can go home. She was very happy about that (the going home part)
So she picks up the dice and begins to roll of her life.
Here is the sequence of events:
- Comes out with a point of 5 – throws a couple of numbers and then hits the 5
- Comes out with a point of 4 – comes right back and hits it the hard way. I had a $4 bet on the hardway and like a good dice club member I shout - Parlay
- Comes out with a point of 6 – this one takes a little more time and I am collecting on some of my place bets. Then after about 6-7 rolls she hits the 6. The table is giving her high fives, knuckle bumps and generally doing the winners dance
- Comes out with a point of 10 – I remind her of our fire bet and that hitting the 10 would make us a winner. Sure enough, after throwing a few other numbers and cashing a few place bets, she hits the 10 and she is officially on fire.
- Next she comes out with a point of 9 – this would be 5 for the fire bet. She is afraid to ask me how much she would win if she hits the 9 and I don’t volunteer that information to her. So she’s shooting for the 9, hits a few numbers, one of them is a hard 4 – so I take the bet up to $100 with visions of triples dancing in my head. Unfortunately on her next roll she throws a soft 4 – Fortunately on the roll she hits the 9. We now have a 5 number fire bet in the bank
- She is now sweating with her winter coat on. But as the wife of a dice club member she knows that you cannot change anything while you are on a roll. So she keeps her feet planted in the same position, leaves the jacket on and sweats through another roll.
- And as if it were destiny she comes out with a point of 8 – the final point in the fire bet. She is afraid to ask me how much the fire bet is worth for all 6 numbers. And I don’t want to change anything by telling her. She teases me with a few ancillary numbers, I collect a few place bets and then Bam – she throws the 8 (and a hard 8 at that)
- She did it, a 6 number fire bet. I had $5 on it and had $1 for the dealers. We were the only players up on the fire bet as the table had been pretty cold. And I finally tell Sandra that she has just hit for $5,000 and earned $1,000 for the dealers. But she has to power on and keep on shooting before we can get paid.
- Just to keep me waiting, she makes another 2 points before the inevitable Seven Out. But who can complain. I have over $800 in my rack and now need the pit boss the pay us the $5,000 for the fire bet.
The rest is kind of boring, I need to provide ID, they need to review the tape, they need to fill out the W-2G and after about 15 minutes they finally pay me. And consistent with the lore, the table goes ice cold with those foolish enough to continue playing giving back much of their hard earned winnings.