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In a message dated 10/24/2004 12:49:03 PM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>Moscow is the fourth-largest city in the world in terms of population, and is riding an economic boom that is now in its fifth year. Moscow has everything.<
Comment
Yea . . . but in my mind, probably incorrectly a distinction was drawn between "gambling halls" and the Western and Vegas type Casino's with ultra centralized management, rules, prodders and pay off. I tend toward centralization and standardization of process and production so that I know what I am getting and events meet my expectations.
This does not mean I support Putin or any other bourgeois leader or communist leader for that matter. It means I have worked in a large Casino - MGM, and frequented Vegas as a young man and the "small joints and gambling halls" tend to steal your money. I do not do slot machines, although someone is going to win and prefer to play roulette, only in places with a union. After spinning the ball a half million times any worker gets a sense of the section of the wheel the ball is going to land in. With a Union and workers who support the union, they simply do not care about the "Pit Boss" standing on their backs.
I do play black jack and Poker and would love to hit the "World Poker Tour." I was a "black Jack dealer" and know a little bit about the game. However I got beat by a dealer in a small joint in old Vegas that rent stalls to individuals and hold the cards in their hand double dealing. I notice that security was standing behind me and the reason was because I bought into the game for $100, which is insignificant in one of the majors.
I saw what he was doing and lost about $30 and told the dealer we could have split the "take."
The guy says to me "I own the stall, do you want your money back." Security is still standing behind me.
I say "nope but you know the beers on you." We laughed and I moved on.
I went to the roulette wheel and a young guy was spinning with about four other players. All of them where my children ages and having a good time. It was an inexpensive table with minimum chip denomiation of .25 cents. I never ever play along at roulette. The temptation of the spinning to analyze the game and your chip placement is to great and Casino wokrers tend get into their work and wonder if "I can beat this guy" and "help them win."
I would tell my customers - mostly Chinese, when the cards where running bad and the majors allow the dealers an extraordinary degree of flexibility and interactions with customers.
What am I talking about? OK the roulette table and the young guy at the wheel in this two bit joint I love to venture into.
I ask for $100 worth of chips in a dollar increments. At a . 25 cent table this brings the pit boss down on everyone shoulders and the spinner is looking at me. The kids, pardon . . . young people are looking at me and I bet twenty bucks the first spin but really like to bet $100 a spin in a game that pays 35 to 1, with only 38 numbers . . . ok.
If you bet every number you are going to lose $3 a spin. You put out 38 chips covering every number and get back 35, but the winning chip stays in place and do not count. I do not count the winning chip for other reasons of the math of the game.
I hit them up for about $450 over my $100 buy in, tipped the spinner generously, and the pit boss had been asking "where did you learn to play roulette" and every now and then he would gently bump into the spinner to break him out of his cycle.
I say "I'm just a lucky guy that got tired of the up town high class folks and wanted some old fashion gamble."
"Bullshit, I watched you at the Black Jack table and you knew when to leave. You one of them Detroit guys trained in Canada? Your shoes say you aint California or New York."
I grinned loving guys that pay attention and know their work. We talked and he gave me some passes and asked was I against bringing the brothers to the joint and he would guarantee me a good black jack table.
I say, "just passing through but you got a card so I know who to ask for?"
Centralization of task, process, political and everything else is not an abstract thing.
There was the first time I went to Vegas and was staying at the Mirage and gambling there, that is unbelievable. I was in between wives and my cutie pie - girl friend or rather women, was a gambler in her own right. We sitting at the $5 black jack table but the table we choose sits in an aisle where you can see 6 roulette tables. After thirty minutes I see one of the tables has the numbers 36, 27, 18 and 15 as a sequence. I jump from the black jack table to play "3" as a sequence and placement of the number on the wheel - American wheel with two zero's.
I am up about 38 bucks from the black jack game and walked up to the table as if I was a by passer and not a player, and after the dealer spins the ball - I plunk down two quarters - $50 bucks on the number "3."
The dealer waves across the table to indicate "no more bets."
"Blame" . . . number "3" but I had also covered number "24" and the pay off is "1750.00" and yes I am smiling like the cat that ate the mouse.
Now this women that I am with between wives is defacto the wife and she is on me like a tight pair of pants and I like her on me . . . a lot. The next table we go to have Russians at it and this is 1995. Remember we in the Mirage and staying there, so the "pit Bosses" get my card when I step up to the table because I want all the perks.
Anyway the Russian betting like there is no tomorrow, with $25 chips. I buy in for $500 with about $1200.00 in the defacto wives pocket, who is telling me to buy in for $1000.00 and stop bullshiting.
I look at her and she look at me.
She looks at me and I look back at her ass.
The Russians look at us and we look at them.
The dealers looks at all of us and we look at him as the pit boss looks at the dealer and all of us.
"Place your bet" states the dealer and he looks me in the eye gently.
"I am going to place a couple bets after the spin if that is all right."
The dealer nods "ok" and the Russians shakes their chips in the hands and politely move away from me. I don't give a fuck and me and the old lady got on $300 shoes and my cardigan came from Neuman Marcus. Her fucking purse she spent $600 for . . . which is none of my business in the first place.
The ball spin and I bet. The dealer spinned the ball from the number "19" and I am betting he stays the same or jumps the table. Next to "19" is "8" and "31" and "12" . . . a side of the table the Russians are not covering and across the board is "26," "9," "28" and before that "2" and "0" but I am betting "9," "28," and "30" hard. I put $100 on "28" and quarter it with "26" and "29" and split it with "31" and "25" and cover the "7, 8 & 9" line splitting "9" and "12" because twelve is by "8."
Blame!
28 comes in like it had eyes on it. The hundred dollars straight up pays $3500 and the split with 28/31 pays $1750.00 and the split with 28/25 pays $1750.00 and the quarter number pays eight to one or $800.
One of the Russian call me a "bastard" - in English and smiles. I am thinking we have a language problem or something. The story does not end here but his is enough for mow.
Do Moscow have Casino's or gambling halls because I might have to live with your ass or your friends for three months, before I can make my pension catch up with the rent and food?
I have been watching this oil thing and Greenspan and the counts of proven reserves keep rising world wide . . . not lowering.
Peace
Melvin P.
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