I have invited my collector friends and anyone that is involved in our hobby to send in any stories about their wayward ways and collecting of chips. Please be concise and very descriptive. Being weird, funny and crazy is up to you. Thanks guys for all the stories you have sent in thus far. Reggie

A GUEST AUTHOR’s HARVEST STORY]

VALLEY VIEW CASINO VALLEY CENTER, CA

STEVE GOBEL

I did the grand tour of the Northern San Diego County casinos on my way out of town. They are all more or less on the same road through the hills that loops around off of I-15. Took all afternoon and one just seemed like the other after several hours. Kind of like doing the Las Vegas strip, only with the casinos 5 or 10 miles apart, and situated in Farms and Orange Groves instead of the middle of a neon desert.
Valley View was a pretty standard casino. I won my first $15 Pai Gow hand from a disinterested sourpuss dealer. It was about time for me to have a winner for the trip. On my way out I saw that a $5 BJ table was still empty. It had caught my notice earlier, but I'm just so enamored of Pai Gow that I passed it by, as it was one of those extra bet of some sort game that I wasn't interested in learning the rules of, just to play a quick hand. Those extra bets scream “Sucker Bet” to me, having I'm sure, a much higher house advantage than well played blackjack. Cruising by on the way out, the 21young looking dealer nodded to me and said hello. I had a good feeling about him and the table. (Usually a sure sign of an impending loss...) He explained the $1 Lucky bet. Well the Lucky bet hit: $1 to $1 paid off before the play of the hand. I stood my 14 against the dealers 5. Dealer's 15 became 25 and gave me a $5 win. As usual, I've played my one hand time to run. Tipped the dealer the $1 that I'd won on the Lucky bet, as I was getting up. Kid flashed a huge smile at having made a buck, and thanked me. That just made my day (along with 2 winning hands finally)! If they could hire more dealers like this kid, instead of the sourpusses, that seem to be the only folks who want a dealing job in the middle of nowhere, spending time in a casino would be much more fun.