AC Baby!

My friend Big Balls Robbie (BBR) and I went down to Atlantic City yesterday morning to partake in some 3-6 limit poker at the Trump Taj Mahal. It was a crazy day and let's just say that by the end of the trip, we weren't talking about poker.

We took a bus ride early yesterday morning down to AC for $8. After waiting for a few minutes for a seat we sat down at the same $3-6 table. The table was chock full of fish, androgynous humans and crazy old men. Early on, I was up $50 or so dollars and was catching some great cards. After awhile though, I started to catch a string of crappy cards and really bad beats from some amateurs who played subpar hands to the river and sucked out winning hands on me.

We got up from the table around 1:30 p.m., went to lunch, and then headed to a blackjack table to play a "$250 Match Play" that BBR got through a promotion through Taj. He's a ridiculous high roller so he gets comps like this all of the time. All he had to do was put up $250 of his own money and the casino would match that. Problem was he had to foot that $250 on a single bet. After thinking it over and not wanting to leave AC down $80, I agreed to give him $50 for the bet. If we won, I would be getting back $150, so it was pretty decent odds. That didn't make it less nerve wracking though.

Even more nerve wracking was the fact that we picked a blackjack table that had just opened up. No one was sitting at the table and the dealer was waiting for people before initially shuffling the cards. We stood at the table for 10 minutes as she shuffled the cards every which way. I was literally shaking in my boots, saying the Our Father, crossing my fingers and toes as my stomach did death defying somersaults only seen performed before by the most malnourished Olympic gymnasts.

And then we got down to playing the only blackjack hand of the day...

The first card the dealer dealt us was an Ace. We let out a big yelp and starting yelling for a blackjack.
The dealer dealt herself a down card. ....
And the dealer dealt us......ANOTHER ACE!
And she dealt herself a dreaded face card.

At that moment, BBR asks me for an additional $50 and I say "no way in hell." His belief is that you always have to split Aces no matter what the dealer is showing face up. Not my belief though. Especially when there's $50 of my own money riding on the hand.

So BBR goes into his wallet and pulls out another $250 to split the Aces. And there's $750 on the friggin table...$500 in chips and $250 in the match play.

The dealer splits our Aces and deals us.....ANOTHER ACE on our first Ace....and a 2 on the initial Ace we split. I haven't played blackjack in such a long time that I actually forgot that when you split Aces you can't split them a third time and you also don't get another card...So, I was confused when the dealer went to play out her hand.

Before I knew it, the dealer plays out her hand and flips over a 3, giving her a 13. She then deals herself a third card and ..... BUSTS with a 23! We were screaming at the table and attracted quite a crowd when the dealer paid us out $750. $150 for me and $600 for BBR.

The next thing I know, the crowd of people lift me and BBR off the floor and start chanting our names. I felt like Rocky Balboa after he knocked out Drago in Rocky IV...