The one that got away

Inspired by the worst beatdown, how about that one monster win that you missed? Maybe it was a brain fart and you forgot to put any chips on the sucker bet. Maybe you took a break just as things were heating up. Placed the wrong bet, stood/hit when you should have hit/stood, didn't have any money to double down/split, etc.

Mine is a two-parter. Bear with me.

The Titans were on fire going into the playoffs in the 2019 season and their first opponent was the Patriots in the wild card round. The Patriots' offense was bad but their defense was great. Still, they were 4.5 point favorites and the Titans were +183. That was crazy, as the Titans were killing it. I had $4k that I was going to split between the spread and the ML. I was going to take the winnings and put it on the Titans vs the Ravens the following week in the divisional round.

That Saturday I had agreed to work for a coworker in what should have an easy 7 or 8 hours. Afterwards, I'd jet up to the Trop Evansville, place the bets, come home, and get ready for our trip to WDW that we were taking the next day. But no.

That easy 7 or 8 hours turned into 10.5 hours because Randall (the guy I subbed for) had a habit of letting everyone else slack and then doing a bunch of their work for them. I was HOT. Didn't get off in time, didn't place the bet, and didn't collect nearly $5500 in winnings after the Titans won outright and beat the spread with a pick-six of Tom Brady's last pass attempt in a Patriots uniform.

Plan B is to get home from WDW the following Saturday and jet up to the Trop and at least make the bet against the Ravens. The odds were more lopsided for this game than the prior one, with the Ravens favored by 9.5 and the Titans ML at +360. What happens? Traffic, traffic, and more traffic. And then some traffic on top of that. We barely got home in time for kickoff, I didn't bet a dime on anything, the Titans beat the sh** out of the Ravens, and I don't win. One. Red. Cent.

Had I been able to place my bets, I would have won over $17,000 and it still irks me to this day!

 

When Delaware started taking football parlay bets in 2009, my buddy and I took the 90 minute drive to Delaware Park to get some bets down on the first week of games. We each bet a few tickets, then bet a 10 game ticket together that would have paid us $1600 total.

Fast forward to Monday night. On Sunday, we got all 8 games we picked correct, and now need Buffalo to lose by less than 10 pts vs New England and San Diego to beat Oakland by 6 or more. Buffalo does their job in the early game, and now $1600 rides on San Diego to cover 5.5. We're practically giddy! We can't lose! San Diego kicks off to open the game, and Oakland returns the kick to the other side of the 50. I call my buddy and say "We're fucked. I know it."

San Diego won by 4. We did not win $1600.

 

I looked at Bitcoin fairly early, it was $212, I'm like nah...it was five digits before I got in....

 

I’m fairly big into crypto. I ended up buying this one (xor) this summer. It was around $2. Only put in $1k. It went up to $6 and was kind of stuttering around so I just took profit. Not bad for a short timeframe trade. Well a few hours later it was $13.... was upset but didn’t want to buy back and lose my profits. The next week it went up to $120. It’s now $635. I finally had enough and bought back a few weeks ago. Burns that the $1k bet would have turned into $300k

 

At the GN in downtown Vegas I was playing $5 WoF and hit the spin bonus for $200. Got up and moved to the next seat to play and a woman sat right down as soon as I moved. About 3 spins later she hit THE jackpot which would have paid 1.4 million, but she was only playing single credits. I was sick for me and her.

 

Myself and two friends buy in at a craps table in the Bellagio. Friend 1 rolls point 7 out, I roll a bit longer but ultimately a losing roll. We're all down a few hundred in a matter of minutes, friend 1 wants to go see the end of a game. I tell him he can't leave when friend 2 has the dice. He returns 30 minutes later and friend 2 is still rolling. All kinds of numbers, points, smashing hard ways. I was a very conservative gambler at the time and I turned -$300 into +$1500. Friend 2 was up over 3k. High rollers at the end of the table had racks filled with purples/yellows. When he finally threw the 7 several people got their picture taken with him, haha. And now I get to razz friend 1 about it for the rest of his life, haha.

 

I was playing at MSS a few years ago. Table was lukewarm and up and down. My friend came by and started playing. After a while I was hungry so I decided to leave to eat at the MSS buffet (I had a comp meal), telling my friend "good luck" and left.

After dinner I went to check out the tables and the one I was on was hopping! It was about an 1 hour 15 minutes later. I saw my friend who had the biggest grin on his face. He now had a rack of green and black chips. I moseyed up to my friend who said "man you missed it all". I asked him what's up and he said that the guy who was shooting when I left for dinner......was still rolling!!!!! Groan! Not only that but he was hitting all the numbers and the hard ways so everyone was howling. The guy shot for another 10 or so minutes and he finally crapped out. My friend ended up making a huge chunk of money.

Oh well, the one that got away.

 

One other that I forgot. Some guy at the Interblock craps machine sat next to me and bugged me with so many dumb suggestions and questions that I forgot to place my Lucky Shooter bet (which had been hitting to one degree or another all night) and it hit. Would have paid me 999 to 1 on a $5 bet. The Wifester showed up a few minutes later and watched us play for a few minutes before signaling that she was ready to leave. I was bitching about my new friend and she did her usual "You're so negative, he seemed nice" bit until I told her he cost me five grand. Then SHE started bitching about him and considered going over to him and giving him an earful.

 

Mine is actually the Fantasy side of the one that got away. Included in this group would be my parents, may they rest in peace. Best example would the the three reelers when the third symbol comes a quarter turn away from the jackpot. At one time I tried to explain how the RNG works to no avail, especially with my dad. "When you're due to win the jackpot, it's set (not programmed) to stop a quarter turn too soon! I could go on and on. I've tried to tell people time and again, casinos don't need to cheat you. They just need you to walk in the door, particularly if you play slots, roulette or keno. But they know better. I actually had one friend explain his slot strategy. Yes, slot strategy. P.T, Barnum must be smilin'!

 

My lord, there have been so many. Like the blackjack sessions where the dealer busts like 15-20 times and my biggest bet is $10. Or a horse race card where I crushed every race with a win or exacta bet but didn't have a dollar on the vertical wagers that ended up paying five figures.

 

My most infamous one was at Gold Coast, playing 3-card... I played the $1 mini-royal progressive sucker bet ten times & was out of $1 chips... dealer asks if want change & I tell her no... she says, "You know what's gonna happen, don't you?".
Me: "Yeah - I know... I dare you to deal it to me"... sure enough, A-K-Q of spades on the next hand. Every other player gets the $100 envy bonus... I get 40 to 1 on my $5 pair-plus bet, missing out on a $3K+ progressive.
For the next two days, at blackjack tables & UTH, I'm hearing from dealers & other players, "Hey - did you hear about the guy who hit the mini-royal at 3-card but didn't bet the progressive?"
Me: "Yeah. It was me."
Them: "Oh...sorry."

Years earlier, I sit down at a $5 6-deck shoe at the Imperial Palace, dealer had just finished the shuffle...so, you know, I'm just killing time, flat-betting and playing basic strategy.
For the first and only time in my life, I win or push every single hand in a full 6-deck shoe... not a single loss...but I only won about $200.

 

...and then there was the Buster Douglas-Mike Tyson fight... me and 4 other guys are making noise about all of us throwing in $20 for a $100 bet on Douglas to win (he was getting 99+ to 1).
Nobody wants to make the trek to the Mirage sports book, so no bet made...

 

A group of family and friends used to go to the Belmont Stakes together every year. At the start of the day, we’d each put a few hundred dollars into a pool, we’d pick three random numbers, and we boxed that trifecta for every race. Occasionally it would hit with a longshot or two somewhere in the money, and it’s a fun way for everyone to have the same side bet and win together.

In 2008, we had chosen the numbers 1-4-6. In the big race, Big Brown was going for the triple crown…and he was the 1 horse. Well, if you remember that race you know what happened. He was eased and finished dead last. The other two numbers finished first and second at huge prices. If a horse that should have won the race easily had finished anywhere in the money, we would have cashed an enormous ticket. (I’m still convinced that Rick Dutrow fixed the race, and you’ll never convince me otherwise.)

 

First time in Vegas in was the last morning we were there and flying out at 2pm. I woke up early and wanted to walk around the forum shops as I hadn’t done that yet. Waiting for some of the stores to open I sit down at a WOF progressive and am playing for 20 minutes about even. Then I hit on reel 1 and 2 the progressive symbol and the third is spinning and stops. One click away from the third progressive symbol. Would have hit $1.5 mil. The cocktail waitress stopped by right after and I was in disbelief and goes “oh god I’m sorry, what do you need?” My response was “a big ass Bloody Mary and $1.5 million” I was 25.

 

I was playing 3 card Poker at MSS -
I was doing okay......but had to hit the bathroom.
The table held my spot
When I returned......some " on looker " tells me
" Hey ! You shouldn't have gone to the bathroom cos
the lady next to you was dealt your cards and she hit a........."
I cut him off !
" I don't believe in that stuff ! ".........I didn't want to hear it from
some Sideline Bench Jockey.
I was disappointed.......but not in front of that jerk.
I never asked what she was dealt........but she had a HUGE smile the rest
of her play.
Hey ?......ya gotta go ?.......ya gotta go !

 

I had a friend who was in Vegas in March Madness a couple years ago when #1 seed UVA lost to number #16 seed UMBC. He was getting killed on his March Madness bets and had lost close to 2k already. As he was sitting with friends, he told them he was going to do a money line bet on UMBC for a $100. If UMBC won, he would be out of the red. He chickened out at the last minute. He decided he would use the $100 at a BJ table instead. He quickly lost $500 at the table and was mortified as UMBC crushed UVA.

 

Selling 100 shares of AAPL sometime in 1991 at the equivalent of about $.50 a share. Its about $122 today.

Another kick in the nuts? Glad you asked.......not buying Priceline (BKNG) for the equivalent of $25 back in 2004 when I started booking around 30 rooms a year and was active on another message board. I would estimate that I made 250 Priceline transactions (hotel bids, car rental, buy it now). It opened at $2420 today. Sigh.

I don't bet large sums, so my gambling tales of the one that got away are modest. About a month ago, my PointsBet account was up to $145 and I lost the last 10 bets in a row, mostly college hoops. It got to the point that I was thinking about picking the opposite of my first selection. I just won two parlays and I'm back to $95 which is close to where I started after they matched my $50 initial deposit.

But I did get lucky, the one that didn't get away is my wife of 30 years.

A fun thread.

 

Reading all of these stories actually makes me nauseous lol, I love to gamble but am very habitual about it. No side bets at all except Pai Gow (that way I can never miss), round robin a lot of parlays and hedge the living crap out of my sports bets.

 

Dutrow was a crook, plain and simple. He ended up being suspended for 10 years by NYRA. They cited a long list of racing violations. His suspension may be up by now but doubt any owners will touch him, especially after what happened to Servis and Navarro recently.

 

My niece's husband started using servers to generate bitcoin about 3 years ago. He wanted an investment. I hesitated and he never brought it up again. Stupid.