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I’d be naive if I claimed that there aren’t some people who simply won’t know when to call it quits. We can all get drawn in by various casino games and it’s important to be able to draw the line under proceedings if you’re having a bad run. My game of choice is roulette but how I play it isn’t exactly excitement central, I make it more workman-like if anything, and so I while I have a fun time, I wouldn’t say that I’m every truly captivated, or under some kind of spell.

I’d say it’s similar with cards, sure who doesn’t get drawn into a lengthy poker or blackjack session from time to time,but it’s somewhat self limiting  by fact that you do have to constantly make decisions as you go, which involves a  level of effort.

The most mesmerizing casino game, in my view, simply has to be the slots. Those bright lights and enthusiastic sounds bring back memories of childhood amusement parks and fun times. The potential for that often elusive big win is a draw too. Slot machines makers I feel know this, and online and offline slots alike now tend to have an ever growing number of reels and ways to win. As such, with a large number of spins you’re winning ‘something’ and this keeps your interest, and keeps you holding out for that big win that’s surely just around the corner.

Sometimes of course it is, other times not so much, but in either case, it’s the one casino game that people drift off into a trance when they’re playing!

I tend to take a slow but steady approach to roulette. Admittedly many would simply call it boring and wouldn’t be at all interested in emulating it. To quickly explain, what I tend to find myself doing is sticking to a couple of numbers and placing chips on those come what may – along with occasionally variations of nearby numbers that include them.

There’s no particular reason why this is some kind of winning approach, it’s more a weird trait or stubbornness and allegiance being channeled into my play. If my luck is in that night and it’s one of the lucky numbers coming up multiple times, then I’ve had a great time. If, instead it’s like a ghost town, then oh well it wasn’t meant to be and it’s a case of ‘better luck next time’. No harm done.

While it’s not a matter of ‘better’ or worse’ my approach is a marked departure from the chip happy approach of some. As soon as they’re allowed to put their chips down there is a mad clamber to the point where they’ve covered all but every number on the table until the croupier states, ‘No More Bets’. Of course, generally they ‘win’, as in they have chips on the winning number, but how often do they actually win overall? At best it seems like a way to very incrementally increase your winnings, which if anything sounds more boring than my one number approach!

The real disaster scenario for the chip happy crowd is when one or the two or three numbers they didn’t manage or bother to cover comes up. It can be a real wipe out when that happens! In any case, it’s interesting to watch peoples different playing styles, so no judgement however you choose to play!

In a casino that I attend a few times a year and which shall renamed unnamed, I would often see a man named Graeme on the roulette wheel. It wouldn’t matter if it was weeks or months since I’d last been there, just like clockwork Graeme would always be present and accounted for. Sometimes he’d be winning, sometimes losing (mostly losing tbh) but he was a, or the, regular fixture.

Graeme wasn’t alone though…  Graeme’s wife was always by his side, and always drinking a cup of steaming hot tea. I could not ascertain whether it was flavoured as I couldn’t get close enough to inhale the aroma without drawing undue attention to my fascination with Graeme and his other half. Of course the tea was free anyway so maybe she’s the real winner here, but I never quite understood her role in what was unfolding.

Was she the browbeaten wife with no option but to tag along, was she the mastermind behind a betting system that she forced Graeme to carry out over a period of many months, was she bored and just fancied seeing Graeme’s finances fly off the rails? We never did get to the bottom of it and one day Graeme stopped showing up so we had nothing more to go on. My ideal post  Graeme scenario would be for his wife to have continued to sit at the roulette table drinking tea (but not gambling), so sadly that didn’t happen either, and so on this occasion it looks like we all lost out.