Misha at the casino

On Wednesday or Thursday after work, I can't remember which, I went to the casino. I went to the baccarat area first to see if Misha was there, and spotted her playing at a table "downstairs". She looked like she was sitting on the edge of her seat, appearing a bit anxious, which I took to be a not very good sign (usually indicates someone is losing and desperate for a win).

I went to the roulette tables and played there. I won $300 then went back to the baccarat area. I was trying to win $100 to give to Misha, thinking I could maybe quickly slip it by her side, nod and walk off.

However, I lost the first hand immediately and only went down from there. I must be the WORST baccarat player in the world. Can't even use $2300 to win $100.

I was down to about $1400 and wondered what the hell I had gotten myself into. But I started go to on a bit of a winning streak, and managed to walk off with $2700 when the shoe ended.

I saw Misha playing at another table downstairs and went to sit opposite her. She didn't notice me at first, but when she looked up and saw me, I gave her a cheeky smile and she did the same. She had $200 on banker and I put $100 on player. There was a guy next to her who also bet on player.

He squeezed the cards and it came out as 4 and 5 - natural 9.

Misha lost and then nodded for me to go outside with her, so I followed her out to the smoking area. She asked why I bet against her and I said insurance. She asked me for money and I gave her $100, then she asked for more so I gave another $100. I could tell she had lost for the night. She wanted $300 more but I said I needed to play with it. We talked a bit more as she smoked but it was clear she wasn't in a very talkative mood, and she nodded for me to go back in so I did.

I walked around a bit, watching Julie work as she dealt with some very angry Vietnamese lady (she is such a good natured person) and keeping an eye on where Misha was. After a while, I lost track of Misha and decided to go home with a $500 gain.

On Friday I went to the casino during lunch because I was bored out of my mind. I won a bit of money and left. After work, I met up with Jim for the gym, and then we went to dinner at Hokkaido.

Yesterday morning I went for a jog around the park as I was still angry from Thursday night's loss which ruled out any minuscule chance we had at making the playoffs. After that I went to basketball as usual. I was pretty tired after about two hours but kept playing and hung around a bit, when some girls wanted to start a half court four on four game.

The girl I was marking was actually pretty good, and she was quite pretty too. She was sticking close to me and had an arm in my stomach most of the time, so I did the same, and I could feel her abs. I wonder if she thought I was flabby or abby?

After that I went home, had a shower, then went out to the casino. I played roulette, won $300 then went to the baccarat tables, won $100 and left.

This morning, I went to the courts for a shoot around, then came home and went out to the casino. Starting with $2000 at roulette, I slowly made my way up to a $100 gain before losing pretty much everything. It got pretty ridiculous as it landed in 0-3 like five times in a row and three of them was 9.

I cashed out the last $200 I had and went to try my luck at baccarat. I somehow managed to claw my way back up to $1600 before losing $600. I went back to roulette with $1000 and saw that for the last 11 spins it had landed in 1-2. So I thought, one more right? Nope. It landed in fucking 0-3 for the next four spins as I lost everything else I had remaining. Fuck.

I caught a taxi home, and for some reason the dumbass driver took me the long way through the tunnel even when I questioned him about it, saying there wasn't a toll involved. It turned out to be a few dollars more than usual and I didn't give any tip at all.

I then drove out to pick Daniel up for basketball and when I got to Stratty he told me he had lost his wallet and couldn't come. That familiar sense of disappointment swept over me and I felt like crying for some reason.

I went to basketball without him and had some pretty good games. I was on Paulo's team and figured we could win all games. We won the first, then lost the next few. I realised that we won when I played good defense and ran the court on fast breaks. When I couldn't be bothered, we would lose.

After that I drove home, feeling very lonely and depressed. I showered and changed, then decided to go see Misha, even though I had decided earlier I would give her a ban of one week for taking my money and then telling me to go away. But I was depressed, and lonely, and waned someone to talk to. I was also hungry and really felt like one of her noodles.

I booked  and went to see her. The receptionist guy had a small dog for some reason.

I waited a bit because I was early, and then saw her 15 minutes before my booked time. When we went into the room, I gave her a piece of Turkish Delight and asked if I gave that to her, would she make me noodles. She said no, and I sat down on the bed, and asked "chincha?" and then she said ok. She came back to tell me there was no cling wrap left so she had to boil the water which would take a few minutes longer.

Anyway, she came back with it and I ate it as we talked. I asked if she had been and she said she can't go anymore. I asked why and she didn't want to say, and she walked out before coming back with a small pack of biscuits. I asked if she lost and she said yes. She said her total loss was now $20,000.

Ouch.

She said this happened on the night I saw her. I laughed at her losing to a natural 9 and she asked why I bet against her and I again told her it was insurance and I gave her the money back anyway.

The noodles I was eating was very good lol. She had some kimchi as a side dish this time, but the green-ish type, not the yellow-ish type.

I told her about my day at the casino, and she told me to just focus on one "major", and not play both roulette and baccarat.

We both talked about the addiction and quitting. She said she was going to have one more go to win half of her debt back. I asked if she wanted to go together and she said no as she needed to focus. She then told me about the guy friend she was with the night she saw me, and said he was bothering her and borrowing money from her, which made her really moody and lose. She said she messaged the guy to not talk to her for a while.

She said something in passing about if she stayed in Australia, she could work in the casino. I wondered if she was actually contemplating staying, and whether that was some sort of subliminal message for me?

She also told me she had a Korean customer who lost $98,000 in the VIP area and invited her to go, but she said no after I told her that you needed to show ID.

As I was eating she had laid down on the bed with her feet on the wall. After I finished eating I joined her by laying next to her and we continued to talk, sometimes holding hands. It was only when she got excited she sat up to talk.

She said I was a lawyer and asked why I gamble. I didn't say anything. She asked when I started gambling and I said around 2008-2009, but there were times when I stopped, like when I had a girlfriend or when I hurt my leg.

I said I wouldn't gamble for the next fortnight, and she made me do the pinky handshake to promise. She said if she saw me in the casino within the next fortnight, she'd add 10% interest to my "debt" (which stood at $1100), and she'd take all my chips. I asked if I could at least go in and watch and she said I couldn't even go in to use the toilet lol.

She asked if I won in basketball tonight and I said yes. She asked what do I won, implying there was no money to be won.

Just before the buzzer went, she said time was up, which was pretty good timing on her part. She asked me to carry the bowl and utensils back for her which I did, and when I handed it over at the girls waiting room, she put her cheek out for a kiss and I kissed her on the cheek.