Judy Holiday and Dave Simmons in Mexico. Photo provided.
By David Simmons
NORCROSS, Ga. | Recently my girlfriend, Isabel, and I went on a cruise to Cozumel and Progreso, Mexico over the Fourth of July Holiday. We had a great time and got to see some interesting sights on our excursions. There were lots of comedy shows and stage productions onboard in the evenings. Of course there was more food than any human could ever eat. This being my second cruise, I was able to modify my first cruise limit of six swirl ice cream cones per day to only two per day this time. Ahhh, maturity!
Another sign of maturity was that I kept myself out of the casino until the day before debarkation. Oh, I walked through the casino lots of times and meandered over to the table game area. I watched some craps and black jack, but never played; instead I wisely got my wallet out of there.
Finally, late afternoon the day before the cruise ended seemed like the right time. So I bought it for $200 and sat down at a $10 table where three people were playing. I held even for about 15 minutes when the dealer got hot and just wiped out the other three players whose bankrolls were sparse to begin with. All three bailed out at once, and so did I. I think I was up about $15.
I moved into the only open spot on another table just as they were changing dealers. The brand new dealer, a woman, dealt the cards and dang if she didn’t start off with a blackjack. And I thought, oh no, here we go. But after that, things were pretty normal except for one thing. I played for about an hour and I never got even a single blackjack. First and third base had at least five blackjacks apiece during that time, but none for me, but I was steadily winning, pulling ahead.
Finally, I pointed out to the rest of the table that I had been playing 45 minutes without a single blackjack. And started rooting for one. Several ace and face card starters came around but still no blackjack.
I was starting to lose hope. Then I got an ace of hearts, and I started rooting again as she kept dealing. Then I just felt it. I shouted out, “Come on baby, queen of spades.” And boom, the queen of spades gave me the blackjack. Me and several players jumped up and we high fived, going crazy.
Then reality set in. The dealer had the king of spades showing, and she checked it and showed an ace. Blackjack! I lose!
After several expletives I finished by saying “I quit” and shoved all my chips to color up. I had been bookended, the dealer blackjacked on my first and last hand at the table. I took my chips and cashed them in, finished for the trip.
And as I told several people there, “The only way to win at gambling is to quit when you are ahead.” So I did. It was a nice cruise. But I got a blackjack and bookended on the last hand!
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