A Night At The Casino

Last night with nothing really planned I decided to ring up a few buddies and head into London. My two friends, keen West Ham followers had been on the beers all-day following a 2-0 win for the hammers at home to Sunderland. We met at Waterloo in the Sloe bar which happens to be one of my favourite watering holes. I love train stations, especially busy ones like Waterloo, the bars balcony overlooks the station platform and the hustle and bustle of commuters, I could sit there and watch people all-day. We ordered some drinks and decided on what to do.

After some debate we headed into Leicester Square to check out the Golden Nugget Casino in Shaftsbury Avenue. I’ve been a member here for several years. It’s nice in there; the staff are always very friendly and welcoming. We went straight to the bar and ordered a round of drinks, it’s a funny place, most of the clientele are Chinese people, who love a good gamble. My game of choice is always roulette, partly because I’m rubbish at Blackjack and have no idea how to play poker.

I always like to observe the table for a few minutes, see what people are betting on and look for any noticeable patterns. It’s important to limit yourself when you visit a Casino; otherwise you could easily find yourself a few hundred pounds down within an hour. We all agreed we were prepared to lose £20 and if we doubled our money we would leave.

I stuck £5 on red after waiting for a run on black, luckily enough the ball landed on red and I was a fiver up, my friend was not so lucky, managing to blow his £20 on the first spin of the wheel. The trouble with betting on the outside is the £5 minimum stake, a bad run and you can easily wipe your bank.

I decided to change tactics and spread my bets across single numbers with £1 stakes, covering four or five numbers at a time. It took two or three attempts but I finally managed to land a winner and a cool £35 return. After about half an hour on the table I was up £80 and loving every minute of it. I knew if I stayed any longer the casino would soon win it back and more, so, I decided to cash out.

All in all a fairly successful evening, we took our winnings and headed into Covent Garden where we indulged in a bottle of champagne, it’s important to celebrate your wins in style.