Vegas Vacation Recap, Part 4 – The Pink Chip

On the night of my Vegas all-nighter, I found myself at the Aladdin Casino at the darn-near south end of the Strip. I’d played there over the years, but not since they’d completed their total makeover, including the Desert Passage (shops and restaurants) It is quite a fantastic property now, and well worth a visit.

I was playing at one of three Craps tables operating at 2am. I’d selected a table that had many of the prerequisites I described in my “I play Craps” post, with an overabundance of noise and energy. Note that I’m typically the quietest person at the table. It’s not fear or lack of confidence: it’s just not my job to entertain or provide commentary.

I played at the end of the table next to a cheerful black man and his companion. He had a row of chips of varying small denominations, signifying he’d been playing for some time and had been pulling money off the table. Of all things, I noticed he we betting only the Field (a one-roll bet that pays on the 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 and 12, with 20 ways to lose and only 16 to win), and yet he was well ahead, sending his companion to cash chips in twice after I arrived.

Then, a young Asian kid came up and dropped $1,000 onto a Field bet; he had another grand on the Field bet on the table immediately behind me. He won both bets, with the dealers commenting on the preponderance of Fiend numbers coming up. It was a great time to be awake and at a table.

I started as I always do (see my “I play Craps” post), and very quickly had all the numbers covered. The Aladdin allows the 3x-4x-5x odds, so I was able to start with a $5 flat bet with double odds and press the odds as I got money ahead. It was a great time to be awake and at a table (or did I say that already?)

After 20 minutes, I was up enough to take the full odds allowed and started pressing my flat bets. The dice were hitting all the numbers on the table, allowing me to take only a little money off the table (using the balance of the winnings for odds) for another 10 minutes. Meanwhile, the Field guys were still raking it in, missing only a few here and there (I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many 9s rolled in a Craps session).

At the point I had too many 25-dollar chips, I asked to “color up”, and lo and behold, was given a $500 chip. It was pink.

I’d only seen them before (I usually color up to 100-dollar black chips) when the Asian kid was pulling dough out of the Field earlier that night. I pocketed the chip, looked at a little less than $200 in 5-dollar chips on the table and set my walk-away point. That point came only a few minutes later as we couldn’t seem to get anything started, so I took my leave. The night had cleared a fair amount of dough: enough to fund the ‘dome and incidentals for the trip.

This is part of five articles. While I saw / did enough for ten, these remained a part of my memory by the time I got to the keyboard. Links to all the articles follow:

Vegas Vacation Recap, Part 1 – The Venue and the Kids

Vegas Vacation Recap, Part 2 – The People and the Strip

Vegas Vacation Recap, Part 3 – Sunrise on the Strip

Vegas Vacation Recap, Part 4 – The Pink Chip

Vegas Vacation Recap, Part 5 – I play Craps