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First Time Baccarat Players.......Oh Yes!.....Sit Riiggggghhhhhtttt on Down!!!!!

Like the title says.  After many many years of playing, there is one phenomenon that pretty much held true from property to property. 

There is one such player I remember to this very day.  That was at the old Bally's Grand in Atlantic City.  Shortly after Steve Wynn sold his property it became Bally's Grand.  I am thinking this was in the very early 90's.  We were playing in the high limit pit, big baccarat table.  We were all pretty much losing.  Pretty miserable, no in fact....downright nasty.  It was very late at night.  You know the mood, you would be betting on Banker and the dealer would flop over a natural and you peek at the cards, 2 face cards, LOL.  Yeah, for hours on end.

Here comes this young kid, probably early 20's.  Had on blue jean jacket and a motorcycle helmet tucked under his arm.  You know back in those days, the casino attire was a tad bit different than today's.  People actually wore slacks, shirts, jackets, dresses, etc., especially to the high-limit rooms.  Anyways, the kid comes up and it was a full table, both sides.  Someone blurted out, after the kid asked a few questions about what the game was about, 'hey newbie want to sit down and play'?

So now this guy gets up and the newbie sits down.  A few of the regular players are mouthing, 'follow him-follow him'.  The kid places his helmet on his lap and starts playing.  Just about everyone follows him and you can just feel the renewed anticipation in the air!  He starts winning and he keeps winning.  Every hand other players are throwing the cards in face down and telling the dealers to give the cards to that kid to turn over, etc. 

Now we are winning like 7 or 8 wagers out of every 10.  Every player is stacking up money like crazy.  The kid keeps shoving all his winnings in his helmet.  The pit boss comes over and tries to give the kid a plastic rack to stack his chips, he refuses.  Claims his helmet is his lucky charm.  He was betting 1 or 2 or 3 blacks, most others had orange (which in AC at the time was $1k) bets or better.  This went one for the remainder of that shoe and the following shoe. 

I saw this many times since.  It might not have been on that scale but first time players are usually pretty lucky.  At Bally's Grand, which was a small casino and held many of the same dealers and floor people for years, the kid with the motorcycle helmet became kind of legendary.