So this weekend I made my first trip to Atlantic City, aka “The Bank,” with some other GT alums. This was my first visit to a real casino, and the good news is that I still have my house. In fact, I walked away from the $15 tables with $50 extra, so my hours spent Friday night cramming on Blackjack basic strategy seems to have worked out (also, I got lucky). What is remarkable to me is how many people were playing by superstition rather than by statistics, and how prevalent is the spectre of gambling addiction. How anyone can enjoy feeding quarters into the one arm bandit for hours is beyond me.
Anyway, we spent most of the time at Trump Plaza but also walked up the boardwalk a bit. I can’t say that the gleam of golden buildings and electronic symphonies of the slots has filled me with any more desire to spend the rest of my weekends working out a flawed system to beat the house, but now I am at least slightly more inclined to visit the tacky wasteland of neon that is Vegas someday.
Saturday afternoon we went to see the Boardwalk Bullies take on some other unknown regional hockey team. It was a great game as minor league hockey goes, except in the defensive arena as the final was 5-4 in overtime. There was only one fight, no blood, but plenty of good checks against the glass.
Congratulations to Wake for managing to not lose to NC State and giving Tech the first round bye. The tournament is up here this week; I don’t think I’ll be able to secure a ticket but I am going to a party at Dream on Wednesday for ACC fans. It should not be on the hook.