Chapter Two: Afternoon Gambling
Michele Bravo dressed once more in her fat suit, not forgetting her cheek pads, and then took the stairs down to the lobby. The lobby opened out into the Casino, which flanked the hotel on both sides.
First, Michele wandered around the building, just getting the lay of the land and scoping out all of the exits. White-shirted security guards were stationed at regular intervals. Not enough of them to cause discomfort to the thousands of people in the building giving their hard-earned money up to the machines, but enough where they could take action if they needed to.
Most of the square footage was given over to slot machines, but there were several pits where people were playing blackjack, with live dealers working with real cards. And everywhere, everywhere you went, there was incessant noise…the burble and beep of all the slot machines, with probably a little seminal messages mixed in…. don’t leave, bet more, don’t leave, bet more.
Michele took a few minutes to walk through the blackjack pits…each pit had one table with a $2 minimum, most of the rest were $5, and some were $10. She passed an alcove where the high-stakes blackjack tables were, $100 minimum per bet. The tables were crowded with well-dressed men and women, probably gambling with their mortgage money.
Michele sighed. This was not her scene at all…except….yes, over there. She walked over to a computer roulette game, the only game she ever played in a casino. The only game in which one was guaranteed to win, if they exercised patience and money management, and had the sense to get up and leave with their winnings.
Michelle tugged a hundred dollar bill out of her pocket and fed it into the slot at her station. The machine consisted of a large screen on which a croupier stood, telling people to “Place there bets,” and then “No more bets,” and then spinning the virtual wheel, and finally announcing the winning number.
Below the vertical screen, extending horizontally, was another screen on which the numbers were laid out, three rows of 12 numbers each, from 1 to 30, alternating from red to black. It was an American roulette wheel, so there were two Greens – 0 and 00. Players could bet as many chips as they like, up to 99, straight up on a number, splitting it in half with an adjacent number, or in the corners of four numbers, or on the sides to take in one row or two rows. The more conservative players could bet on red or black, odd or even as well.
There were three other people playing the game. A middle-aged Asian woman had several hundred dollars in her credits, and was spinning her roller ball and placing $10, $20, and $30 bets with abandon. Another was content with scattering bets over the board for a $20 total bet. And a young woman, down to her last five dollars, was betting a dollar at a time on red or black, and not having much luck at that, either.
Michele scanned the screen, which showed the last 20 numbers that had hit. Almost ready to go off the board, she saw that the number 4 had hit and after it the number 31. The last spin, it had also hit a 4. Michele put $2 bets on the 31, and on the 18 and 19, the numbers on either side of the 31. But the little ball went into the 0 slot, and her bet was swept away.
After a 0 or 00, always bet the same numbers, was Michele’s motto. She replaced her bet, but also added $5 on the two green numbers, which were situated at the top of the screen so it was easy to split the two. (On the wheel, one was located at the top and the other directly opposite it.)
The ball hit in the 18. Michele watched as $72 appeared in her credits. She glanced at her watch. She’d give it an hour, or $72, whichever disappeared first.
Michelle continued her pattern….waiting until the computer itself developed a pattern, and betting on it to repeat. Twice more, in the course of the hour, a pattern emerged but did not repeat. Since she was betting conservatively, she was only down $12.
The Asian woman won every spin, but since she bet so much money, her actual winnings were very slight. She could have won the same amount by betting just a quarter of what she bet…but if the ball ever landed on one of the few numbers she left blank, she’d lose over $300 at a time or more. Stupid.
Gradually, the stations filled up. A man sat down opposite Michelle. She noted that he fed in a $20. Then he sat and watched as everyone else played. A newbie to the game, Michele deduced.
She checked the board. A pattern was repeating itself. 17 to 35. She’d bet two such patterns and lost… time for a pattern to reassert itself. She placed $5 bets on the 35, and the two numbers on either side of the 35, and dollar bets on each of the other 5s – the 5, 15 and 25.
The wheel spun, and the ball fell into the 35 slot. $180 appeared in Michelle’s credits. She nodded, satisfied. Over $200 for an hour’s work, not bad.
She cashed out, then, smiling, placed another $20. Why not give it another hour?
She’d won all she’d wanted, but it was fun…if a little sad…to sit there and watch the rest of the players, fritter their money away. The Asian woman’s luck finally ran out, and her considerable supply of money vanished in three unlucky spins. The woman down to her last $5 had left long ago, and a young man had replaced her. He too was one who believed in quantity over quality, scattering his bets all over the screen.
But she noticed that the man opposite her… was betting as she was betting… waiting for the patterns, and then betting on them to repeat. She’d dropped her bet down to dollars only, and he was following her lead.
When they both won $36 when the 7 hit after the 14, they exchanged grins.
Michele pondered the board. She liked to bet 21 after the wheel went 7 – 14, but did she want to set a bad example for the neophyte, who appeared to have the brains to notice who was winning at a game and follow their lead? No, she would not bet.
The patterns let her and the man down the next three times.
Then came a fourth. “Well, I’m almost out of money,” she told the man across the way. And she bet as much money as she had left, $10, only on the number that should hit.
And it did.
She cashed out again, richer by $360 more. She sketched a farewell to her compatriot, and left the table.
Michele returned to her room, took the cash (when one cashed out at the machine, one received a slip of paper, which one took to a cashier for the real money) and placed it in a money belt, which she wrapped around her waist, before pulling her padded sweatshirt down over it.
The money belt had an interesting clasp, a bulky clasp. It was a two-shot Remington derringer.
Then she glanced at her watch. It was time to go meet….Mr. Largo.
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