You Have to Spend Money to Make Money

            It was the beginning of 2013 and Larry  was looking forward to the year.  People always say the previous year was tough, but Larry had the numbers to prove that 2012 truly was for him.  It was the only year since he had started working that he had less money at the end of the year than at the beginning.  He originally attributed this deficit to moving, but after reviewing his detailed log of his monthly profit and loss, he found that even with his new higher Manhattan rent, he had still turned a profit during the first few months following his relocation from Bay Ridge.  He concluded that the broker fee, as well as the security deposit of an extra monthly rent payment, in addition to his trip to Europe, put him in the red. Despite this, his bank account was hardly something to complain about.  He had no worries about paying his monthly bills and he paid his credit cards in full every month.  By any objective standard he was still okay.  Larry also took comfort in knowing that his vacation time had finally been renewed.  He had taken his last vacation day at the end of June, which meant he could not miss a day of work for five full months.  Super-Storm Sandy had technically given him a week away from work, but in his opinion that did not count, as every day he did not know if power would be restored to his work place.  Because of this uncertainty, he did nothing but sit around his apartment watching movies, waiting for the phone call that would bring him back to work. With renewed vacation time, it was again up to him when he would and would not work.  Perhaps 2012 was not so tough for Larry, but somehow he knew 2013 would be better.

 

               A couple of months before the New Year, Larry met up with his friend Samantha while she was visiting New York.  He mentioned to her that he was going to visit her in Fort Myers, Florida – where Samantha lived – in either January or February.  The following morning, he slightly regretted telling her this.  On one hand, he knew that by January or February he would be sick of the cold New York winter.  On the other, the idea of paying for a flight to Florida, especially when considering Samantha’s dislike of the beach, did not seem so enticing.  He had not visited Samantha for close to four years, but he prided himself on being a man of his word.  Samantha really could not care less if he came or not, but Larry tried to never renege on things he told people he was going to do, so he set his mind on Florida and thought of ways to make the trip a success.  Shooting a handgun was an item on Larry’s bucket list for quite some time, so he called Samantha and told her he wanted to do this with her during his visit.  He could stay in New York and do this, or even drive to New Jersey and shoot a gun, but he was going to Fort Myers now anyway, so he needed to ensure that he would accomplish something with this trip.  Larry looked at prices for flights.  The cheapest weekend to go was February 1-3, so he confirmed with Samantha that she would be available those days and booked the flight.  As Larry referred to Samantha as his “poker buddy,” he expected a trip of poker and gun shooting.  

               It would be generous to say that Larry had low expectations for his trip to Fort Myers, but it would be this very trip that gave him high hopes for the year.  Before the trip, he and Samantha had various debates about whether “The Secret” was real.  Larry was against it, but Samantha was all for it, as she had just discovered it.  Larry wrote a story about his trip to Fort Myers in which he wins the “High Hand” with a 9 high straight flush, just in case Samantha was right about “The Secret.”  Late Saturday night, when they planned on going to the dog track to play poker, they called up to see what the high hand was at the moment.  Sure enough, it was the 9 high straight flush.  Larry took this as evidence that could support both his and Samantha’s position.  On one hand, Larry’s story did accurately predict the high hand, but since Samantha and Larry had packed so many activities into Saturday, they did not make it to the dog track till after someone already won it.  Had they arrived earlier, perhaps it would have been Larry who won the high hand that night.  By the time he arrived back at the airport, Larry had made $500.  Obviously, some of it he spent over the course of his time in Fort Myers, but anytime a person goes on a gambling trip and comes back with more money than he left with, the trip was a success.  While in Florida, Larry also began thinking of very ambitious trips for 2013.  Shortly after planning them in his head, the people he planned to visit or travel with started calling and the trips began to fall into place.  Most notably, his cousin that was being stationed in Hawaii had a block leave in June and his friend whom he goes on an annual Vegas trip was planning on going to Vegas in June.  Now, Larry could combine the Vegas trip with the Hawaii trip and save $381.

               Larry wished he had one more day with Samantha, but his return home was far from disappointing.  Early Monday morning, as he was getting ready for work, he received a text that gave him pause.  Before leaving for Florida, he had asked one of his friends if she wanted to go to Thailand with him because it was on his bucket list and he really wanted to go. Larry laid his heart out, which is not something he normally does.  She told him that CFA studying was taking up most of her time in the beginning of the year, and she was using all of her vacation days to help out her brother, so she would not be able to swing Thailand.  Larry was disappointed, but understood.  That same friend was texting him now; one of her friends called her for her address to send her “Save the Dates” for her wedding in Thailand.  She was inviting Larry to go.  Larry responded: “I just got back from Fort Myers where I spent the weekend shooting guns and making $500 and you just topped it.”  Things were beginning to fall into place.  A year that started with Larry thinking he was wasting money on a trip to Florida had already become profitable and now a previous disappointment had been rectified. He smiled meekly because “The Secret” was starting to happen.  A week after getting back from Florida, Larry’s boss called him into his office to inform him that they decided to give him a Christmas bonus.  Given that it was February, this was unexpected.  He also informed him that they were giving him a raise, but were retroactively initiating it from the beginning of the year, so the extra money he was owed would be included in the next paycheck.  When he arrived home from work, Larry checked his mailbox and found a mail-in rebate he thought was a scam when he sent it in (it was not).  A few days later, his accountant called him and told him he would be receiving $1,039 more in tax returns this year compared to last (also unexpected considering federal and state taxes went up).  Larry texted Samantha: “There’s something to ‘the Secret.’”

 

Larry sat down at his computer.  He knew what was going to happen, he was about to spend an obscene amount of money.  He had one more trip he had to take because the filter from his brain to his mouth didn’t work properly.  He had learned that his sister was getting married in March.  This worked out for him because he was thinking of going to Portland to meet his niece for the first time around that time but now they would be coming to Cleveland, so he saved on a trip to Portland.  When his Sister-in-law randomly texted to invite him to Portland, he told her that he would meet the new addition to their family at his sister’s wedding so therefore didn’t need to book the trip.  Larry knew that his sister had been engaged for 7 years and the wedding had already been moved twice so it definitely wasn’t a sure thing.  Larry’s Sister-In-Law told him that if the wedding is moved again, he has to come to Portland in March.  Sure enough, as the date got closer, the wedding was moved and Larry once again found himself thinking he was wasting money by booking a trip simply because he told someone he would visit.  In November, when his niece was born, waiting till the Christening in May seemed way too long but now that it was February, it really was only two more months.  Still, it looked like he would have to go to Portland twice this year.  That would be later, right now, he was booking Vegas and Hawaii.  A couple days later, after coordinating with his Sister-In-Law and his mother, he booked Portland.  A lot of money spent but given the 8 days following Fort Myers, he wasn’t too concerned.  

 

Larry and Tom, the friend he was going to Vegas with, communicated frequently about their trip.  They would be starting their trip with a side trip to the Grand Canyon and Flagstaff.  Tom invited his cousin Fredo to accompany them.  Larry was suspicious of this because every time either Tom or Larry brought a friend to Vegas, one or both of them turned against the friend.  Larry had more to be wary of this time because Larry, Tom and Fredo had gone on a poker trip to Pittsburgh the previous year and it was the only time Larry and Tom ever got into a fist fight.  Larry mentioned as much to Tom but he didn’t think it would be a problem and Larry didn’t want to be contrary, so he decided he would invite a friend to act as a buffer.  He immediately texted Samantha and his friend that lives in Arizona to see if they wanted to come.  Both of them gave non-committal answers and Larry started doubting either would come, Samantha didn’t really have money to travel and his Arizona friend may not be living in Arizona anymore when they go.  As the days progressed, Larry less and less wanted to have a buffer friend especially since they wouldn’t be staying in Vegas the whole time. Then Larry got a crazy idea.  He called Tom and asked him if he was crazy to be thinking to pay for Samantha’s plane ticket to Vegas since he believed her to be a good luck charm after Fort Myers.  Tom responded that it was Larry’s money he could do what he wants.  The next day, Larry came to his senses and realized that it would be a lot of money to make up so it didn’t really make sense.  Tom told him that he thought it was kind of silly.  Larry didn’t say anything but he really wished Tom would have said that the day before.  He knew, however, that Tom wasn’t the type to be stern.  He subtly hinted at things but Larry would prefer if he was like, “Dude you’re fucking retarded.”  I mean, that’s how Larry treated Tom.

A few weeks later, Larry and Tom finalized their itinerary.  Larry once again started getting that itch to pay for Samantha’s ticket. Larry checked flights from Fort Myers to Vegas and there was no way Samantha could arrive when Larry would arrive.  This was a problem because Tom would be picking Larry up from the airport and heading straight for the Grand Canyon.  It took a few days but Larry found a very easy solution to this problem; have Samantha fly in when they got back from Arizona and were going to spend the rest of the trip in Vegas.  Larry’s brother always told him “You have to spend money to make money.”  Larry always thought that there was truth to it but the problem is it doesn’t provide a clause of how to avoid bad investments and cutting your losses.  The quote never tells you what and how exactly to spend your money to make more.  Then again, if it did, society would collapse because everyone would be successful and mediocre to low-paying jobs wouldn’t exist.  Larry looked at Fort Myers in multiple ways, but one was the fulfillment of that quote.  If he didn’t spend the money on the flight, he wouldn’t have garnered more than double the cost of the flight.  Also in Fort Myers, Samantha gave him a poker book.  Aside from the introduction, Larry found it very common sensical and didn’t know if he could apply it.  He knew the information was sound, he knew that if he actually did apply it, he wouldn’t do as bad at the poker table, but for some reason, the application always eluded him.   The introduction told him that he should love it when people draw out on him and when he got “bad beat” because in the long run that won’t happen and he’ll make money.  Larry really was frustrated that of the last eight times he got pocket aces, he lost 7.  The book likened it to a casino that has a lot of bells and whistles when people win the jackpot on a slot machine and sometimes immortalize him or her with a plaque on the wall.  A “loser” mentality would be like “Man, the odds of that happening are so low, yet I lost all this money because it did” but the winner’s  mentality, that of the casino, is “Glorify him, make others see that it’s possible so they all chase the same dream and in the long run we make more money.”  Larry saw this logic to be sound and in an instant not only didn’t mind losing the pocket aces seven of eight times but he was happy that when he gets them, he gets action despite  his aggressive style all eight times.  In the long run, it’ll pay off.  He loved it now. 

Larry was a superstitious person.  He had been to Atlantic City and other casinos and Vegas once without Tom.  Although he didn’t have the numbers, his most successful trip was the time Tom didn’t come.  It was also the time he enjoyed the least.  To Larry, gambling was really not about the money, it was about having fun, passing time and the camaraderie.  The successful Vegas trip he was with his childhood friend, his friend’s parents, his fiancée and her friends and family.  The one thing that brought Larry a lot of luck at other casinos didn’t help him in Vegas with Tom.  He was trying to figure out what made the trip without Tom different from the trips with Tom.  Suddenly it hit him, Larry spent a lot of money on that trip and not so much when he went with Tom.  With his childhood friend, they took limos between casinos, went to clubs with 15 dollar drinks and sat at $25 minimum bet blackjack tables.  They were trying to spend money, but Larry kept winning it back in blackjack and only spent a total of $11 on the trip.  Since he couldn’t remember exactly how much everything costs, he didn’t know exactly what his profits were, he estimated $500 but his friend told him it was at least a thousand.  That was a pretty large range, but the point was, it is indisputable that he won.  Once he tried a $25 minimum blackjack table with Tom but he lost miserably.  Still the only thing going through his mind was, “You got to spend money to make money.”  That quote was true for that trip.  Maybe that’s what he was doing wrong.  As Larry continued to rehash his gambling trips, he remembered a couple minor ones.  One in which he sat down at a $15 blackjack table and won $250. It is fairly uncommon to make 1.67 times your buy in at the same table.  Yet he did.  He thought back to that trip and realized that on that trip, he wasn’t gambling with his money.  He was in Florida and needed to fly back to New York but didn’t have a job or money so he called his brother.  His brother transferred the funds and he wished to pay him back so, after booking the flight, said he wanted to make the money to pay his brother back, which is exactly how much he won.  His brother, however, didn’t accept the repayment so it was profit.  He thought back to cruises and other trips he’d taken with his brother that had casinos.  Every time his brother gave him money and every time Larry won, though nominally.  He won gambling his brother’s money.  He was going to Portland before Vegas, so his new plan was to bring cash he was going to use for Vegas to Portland, make his brother take out the same amount and just switch envelopes.  He wasn’t sure if this would count as it still seemed like his money if he merely traded, the other way, his brother gave him the money without wanting a return.  The sum he was bringing to Vegas was too much though.  He briefly considered asking to borrow it and just pay him back, win or lose, after Vegas but he didn’t know if his brother could do without the money for a couple months and his living in Portland made it harder for him to transfer him the cash freely and quickly.  

The time came for Larry to fly to Portland.  His brother was amused by his proposal but they discussed terms and his brother’s financial situation and negotiated a settlement to work on Larry’s superstitious Larryry without hurting his brother financially.  Larry would now put aside the money he got from his brother in a box he had marked for traveling items.  If this worked, it would really complicate his trips to Vegas because he would need to get his money from his brother rather than his bank but he’d make it work. 

The time finally came to go to Vegas.  Larry had bought Samantha a ticket.  For whatever reason, Larry never attributed any credit for good financial news to himself, it was always someone else.  His primary explanation was that he hated to feel arrogant.  In the back of his mind he feared the consequences of being wrong about “You have to spend money to make money.”  It would mean being out a lot of money but he figured so long as he didn’t break his only rule of gambling “Never bet what you can’t afford to lose” he was fine.  He was in a decent enough financial situation.   He could lose all the money his brother gave him and still pay him back and have enough for his monthly expenses.  He landed in Vegas and Tom picked him up and he, Fredo and Tom headed to Flagstaff for the first part of their trip.

They all enjoyed their trip to Arizona but now it was time for the risky part of the trip.  They arrived the night before Samantha was set to fly in the following day.  As she wouldn’t be arriving till late afternoon on Thursday, Tom didn’t want to pick her up at the airport.  Larry understood and offered to rent a car for the day to pick up Samantha.  Samantha refused, however, and told him that since he paid for the flight, she can pay for a cab to the strip.  Larry couldn’t believe he did what he did but money never was very important to him.  He told himself repeatedly that if he lost, not to blame Samantha, Samantha only gets credit for his winning, not for his losing.  He chuckled to himself because he’s setting terms that make it that Samantha can’t lose.  The one day they were in Vegas without Samantha, Larry was remiss to play higher games; he stuck to the low buy-in poker tournaments and low limit blackjack tables, which forced him to wait a long time for a seat.  Larry was up about a hundred dollars when Samantha contacted him to let him know she landed.  He was going to meet her at the hotel because he didn’t want to be forced to wait in a casino waiting for her.  He had a lot of will power, but why test it unnecessarily?  Casinos did everything they could to keep you on the floor so they can keep you gambling and increase the likelihood that they would win.  Larry used this time to be happy he was up.  He saw this as confirmation that he was right about playing with his brother’s money.  He even was keeping his profit money separate from his starting money so he would ensure that if he sat at a table, he’d be using his brother’s money.  This strategy had a flaw that if he sat down at a table, he exchanges money for chips, when he exchanged the chips back into cash; he’s not receiving the same bills.  So when it comes to his brother’s money, no matter what happens when he sits down, he loses it all.  So, if he couldn’t finance every time he sat down at a table and lost everything with only his starting money, then he’d have to tap into his profit bills.  He reconciled this with if his theory was right, it wouldn’t Tomer because he’d be up enough and if his theory was wrong, it doesn’t matter whose cash it was, the odds were the same.  So far it was working.  Larry would never consider himself a science guy but he was raised by one.  That means that his mind often reverted back to the scientific method.  He isolated one variable, his brother’s money, and found it yielded profits, just how it had previously.  Now he’s adding the other variable he wanted to test, Samantha, so based on the results, he could see if that variable worked. 

Samantha arrived at the hotel and put her stuff in the hotel.  Tom suggested that they use this time to eat, so they went to chipotle, their normal spot, and got dinner.  Then it was back to the tables to start playing.  All four of them bought into a decent sized tournament and sat down to play.  Larry was eliminated pretty early.   He didn’t read into it too much, you can only expect to make it to the money 15% of the times.  He was overdo based on previous success the last day.  Normally he watched people play but he got the urge to play a cash game.  He told Tom, Fredo and Samantha where he would be.  With Samantha he purposely tapped her on the shoulder and slid his hand down her back and put his face directly to her ear, while the men he merely tapped them to get their attention and told them.  Larry didn’t do it for any flirtatious reasons for he was trying to see if her luck would rub off.  This was a very thin line he was crossing because he knew Samantha wasn’t affectionate.  Nor would his buying her plane ticket make her sacrifice her principles.  She jumped a little bit when he did this but said nothing.  He sat down at a cash table and started playing conservatively.  As always he paid very close attention to the way people were betting.  He focused on two people that he thought he had the best read on.  There was one extremely loose player and he was happy to be sitting to his left, that means the loose player acted first and Larry could have him force the action when he had a big hand, which would encourage more people to call since he raised with napkins.  Most people hate playing with these people but Larry knew his style of play helped against these players.  Sure, he may lose big sometimes, but in the long run, he’d probably win.  Sure enough, it was working.  When he picked up a good hand, he let the loose player force the action before he raised him on the river and the man called him nearly every time.  On one particular hand, Larry took $500 off him.  It was in the beginning and Larry used his first few rounds to observe, so played very little.  If he didn’t catch he folded, this gave anyone paying attention that he could be bluffed off hands.  He then changed his strategy.  Although he noticed two of the players it worked for, he knew instinctively that it was probably more.  He had more than doubled his money and nobody seemed to notice.  In the big pot, Larry bet the normal bet that every table wordlessly chooses, which was 15 dollars.  The loose player raised to $200.  Larry smiled, he had the best possible hand and there was a flush draw.  Even to a normal player, the bet made sense since you wanted to make it difficult for someone to chase the flush.  Larry called for he was looking down at a full house.  He wanted nothing more than for someone to pick up the flush.  He wished the loose player didn’t make it that large because some people may have called a lower raise just because it was him.  The turn came and it was the flush.  Larry smiled to make it seem like he liked the card because it gave him a flush, really he smiled because he hoped the loose player picked up the flush.  Larry bet $50, and the guy raised to $100.  Larry called.  Larry only had $185 dollars left in his stack.  He sat down with $200.  The river came out and Larry bet the minimum, a move he never would have played on any other player because the pot was big enough that any sane person would just call and showdown.  This guy saw it as weakness, which Larry wanted.  He pushed all in.  Larry immediately called and turned over his full house.  The guy turned over a middle pair.  What happened next was quite predictable, groans from other players as they all were thinking, “Why would he bet so much if he didn’t have the three-of-a –kind or the flush.”  Larry wanted to say back to them, “Because all of you folded your flushes or three-of-a-kinds.”  The guy smiled and shook Larry’s hand and congratulated him on his hand.  Larry took the win graciously, there were four people who saw that flop because pre-flop two other people called the raise to fifteen simply because the loose player raised it.  Larry continued his aggressive play.  Nobody thought that hand changed anything because Larry had the nuts.  What they didn’t know is the only reason he could afford $500 to gamble on that hand was because he had taken more money with his tight reputation.  The fact that he didn’t lose it, made him continue his profits.  .Now when Larry went heads up against the loose player, Larry noticed a nervous twitch.  Larry then did something that you should never do with loose aggressive players; bluff.  The betting was standard for a pot with this guy till it got to the river.  Larry bet big with absolutely nothing.  The guy folded and said, “Man, you just catch everything.”

Larry flipped over his cards and said, “Yup”

The guy turned to Larry with astonishment and yelled out, “Wait a minute, you missed.”

“I did”

Now, Larry’s tight reputation took a knock.  He knew this was a one-time move.  There was no way the loose player would let him bluff him off a winning hand on the river again.  Larry tightened up with him as he was obviously gunning for him.  This played right into Larry’s hands as he only played with monsters.  He rarely played but when he did, he won and he won big. 

Samantha and Tom had both made it to the money of the tournament and came over to Larry.  Larry said to wait for the blinds to pass him then he’d leave.  The last few hands were uneventful and when he was the big blind, he asked them to get some trays.  Samantha was the first to notice that although his stack wasn’t filled with chips, they were high quality chips.  Samantha said, “Larry, how much are you up?”

Larry smiled, picked up two $100 chips and said, this was my buy-in.  Samantha noticed a $500 chip under the small pile of $100 chips.  The other stack was $25 with his pile of $5s and $1s.  Normally a poker table, people have large stacks of low denomination chips.  What had happened was people ran out of their low ones and had to throw in higher ones. The dealer even cashed in some higher denomination for Larry’s lower ones so he could make change for other players.  Larry didn’t know how much he was up because he didn’t want to bring any unnecessary attention to his stack.  This is a tell for a loose player and he played tightly so it gave off the opposite image and may confuse anyone paying attention.  The fact that he cradled his chips and kept them in nice stacks indicated he was a tight player so he had that going.  The button passed him and Larry told the dealer to deal him out.  He loaded up his tray and walked away from the table.  Samantha had been around casinos long enough to be able to count as he put them in.  Larry knew he was very bad at counting when he won.  He went to a ledge and counted his chips.  Samantha told him the answer, 20 chips fit in a row, not hard math.  Larry counted and didn’t come to that answer.  Tom counted and came up with Samantha’s answer.  He reasoned that Samantha and Tom were right and he was wrong….$1,245.  Larry had just made $1,045. 

Larry really wanted to go to a steakhouse but it was late and they were closed.  Larry asked if anyone wanted shots, all three people agreed.  He bought three rounds, one to celebrate him and the other two to celebrate Samantha and Tom making it to the money.  Samantha only participated in one shot but took a rum and coke for her celebratory round.  As they were inebriated now, they decided to play blackjack.  Samantha kept drinking and was becoming subtly flirtatious with Larry.  Internally Larry was amused by this.  Tom and Fredo were waiting for a $ 5 table.  Larry sat down at a $25 table and started playing.  Samantha sat down as well.  They played and Larry was grinding his way.  He had a strategy that all wins go into a separate pile that he’d walk away with.  If the walk away pile equaled his buy in, he used the winning chip and asked the dealer if he/she wanted it or wanted to gamble with the tip.  He hated when the dealer said, “Whatever you want” because he would feel bad if he lost their tip but that is what he decided on.  Since he was doing well for the trip, he decided that if he lost the hand, he would tip the dealer half of what he would have.  He put the $25 chip on the top part of the circle indicating a tip for the dealer if he won.  He lost so he exchanged one of his $25 chips for four five-dollar ones and five 1-dollar ones and threw the dealer $12.  He then doubled his bet for now he was doing better than 50% so wanted to leave as quickly as possible before the table evened out.  He had already tested the strategy and through 10 trials it was better than the most common strategy and any one he could devise.  This was Tom’s strategy, which Larry noticed Tom broke in lieu of staying at a table longer since he had to wait so long to sit there.  Normally Larry would watch Tom, but today he didn’t.  It seemed like this tip despite losing thing seemed to trigger something because Larry won the next four hands.  He always split his winnings between his playing pile and walk away pile if he already had more than his buy in in his walk away pile.  Samantha was up $300 so decided to quit.  Larry liked this table because although there were only four people at the table, they were loud, cheering and joking around with each other.  Samantha put her hand on Larry’s shoulder as the table filled up and she couldn’t sit if she wasn’t playing.  Before long, Larry had once again earned his buy in so his walk away pile represented twice his buy in.  He now put $50 on the tip line.  He won the hand giving the dealer $100.  Tom and Fredo came over to watch as they were done playing.  Both won some money at their table.  He looked over at his playing pile and it had grown since the last time he tipped.  He started with $75 now.  He kept slightly below 50% of wins and left the table up $400. 

Tom and Fredo went back to the room to go to sleep.  Samantha was used to staying up all night playing poker online and then sleeping at 5AM at the earliest.  She got a late start in Vegas so she wanted to continue playing.  Larry obliged.  Samantha stopped drinking and they jumped around from blackjack table to blackjack table.  Samantha stayed longer than Larry given his strategy.  Larry hovered right around even picking up a nominal profit here and there but cumulative, he had made another $250.  Larry didn’t stop drinking as they were table hopping, Samantha had sobered up and decided she wanted to play poker.  Late didn’t even begin to describe what was going on, it was now just morning as people who worked were probably waking up to get ready.  Larry sat down at a poker table visibly inebriated.  He looked around and saw a lot of old people, which made sense, they were the early risers.  They didn’t much care for Larry but he couldn’t care less.  Larry was light hearted with them and actually came away up $50.  Samantha, on the other hand, killed the table.  She won $900.  Larry respected Samantha’s poker playing ability, he would freely admit that she was a better player than he was but that had nothing to do with her winning so much.  She won because the old men at the table were no longer playing poker; they were paying to keep an attractive young girl at the table. Larry wasn’t even sure if his winnings were a result of his skill or the old men losing to him since they saw he was with her.  This wouldn’t be the first time it happened, though the last time the old people mistakenly thought he was with the girl.  They left the table at a time when fast food restaurants start preparing to serve lunch.  Larry got breakfast but Samantha didn’t eat.  When they got back to the hotel, Larry and Samantha argued about the bed.  Larry knew Samantha hated sharing a bed with guys she wasn’t dating so Larry offered to take the floor but Samantha said she felt bad.  In the end, Larry won and he slept on the floor.  They caught a couple hours of sleep than Tom and Fredo woke up and Larry and Samantha headed out again.  Larry took out his next day’s bills.  He had spent over $100 on the shots, but he more than made up for it at the blackjack and poker table afterwards.  He decided he’d buy lunch.  Samantha fought him since she won as well but Larry was up about $2,000 so she conceded easily.  Larry knew that Tom liked seafood and before the trip he just happened to check the best seafood place in Vegas; Joe’s Stone Crab was the first one that came up so they went there for lunch.  Larry paid the bill, he contemplated using his card because after the Vegas trip with his childhood friend he wanted a computer to keep track of his spending rather than his memory, which was often adversely affected by sleep deprivation and alcohol.  But, the idea of feeling like a high roller by paying a huge bill in cash was too much to resist.  Larry looked at his watch, it was a little after noon.  He had already seen signs advertising $100 if your aces get cracked before 2:00.  He announced he was going to do that.  He made the same announcement a year before and it worked.  He sat down at a very low limit poker table and started playing.  All four sat down at the table.  Before the stroke of 2, Larry had his aces cracked three times.  He bought in for $200, so that alone made it profitable.  By the time they left the table, he was up $500, including his three aces cracked. 

They once again started looking for poker tournaments.  They roamed around between casinos playing poker tournaments and then hit up Casino Royale for blackjack switch, Tom’s favorite game.  Samantha wanted to watch for a while before playing just to see how it worked.  Larry historically never did well with this game but it was fun.  He stopped thinking about money, he had made the money in the poker tournaments and even won one.  Blackjack switch proved to be Tom’s game once again as he picked up over a hundred dollars.  Larry also won at the table.  Larry played another small poker tournament where they all made the money, which was a little odd.  They decided to play blackjack once again.  Larry and Samantha went off to $25 table while Tom stayed at $5 ones.  Larry and Samantha sat at separate tables as there was only one seat available.  Larry grinded his way through the table and was winning about half the hands.  A little while later, Samantha came to Larry and wrapped both arms around him.  Larry was surprised for he knew Samantha was not too affectionate.  He had a strange feeling she was trying to manipulate him.  In truth, Larry was afraid of Samantha, she seemed to love manipulating guys and he had been to a casino when she was engaged with her fiancée.  Her fiancée was up $900 in poker and Samantha had lost.  Samantha then used his money to sit at blackjack table after blackjack table till she lost all her fiancée’s money.  Larry took this to be direct jealousy that he won and she didn’t.  Larry was beginning to think Samantha was a good luck charm but he decided he would not give her money to play blackjack.  Samantha put all confusion to rest when she whispered in his ear, “These guys are hardcore hitting on me at the other table, I had to leave, just pretend we’re together”

Larry nodded.  At the table, Larry won the next five hands since Samantha wrapped her arms around him.  He had reached his buy in so tipped the dealer and doubled his bet splitting the winnings between his two piles.  He told Samantha not to let go because she was good luck.  Larry stayed well above 50% and before long, had double his buy in in his walk-away pile.  He put the $50 he won to put him at double on the tip line and raised his bet to $75.  He told Samantha, “Kiss me on the cheek, see what that does.”

Samantha smiled, she had been drinking while Larry was at the table always keeping an arm around him.  She decided it was innocent enough.  She kissed him on the cheek and Larry got blackjack.  He won the next 7 hands.  This meant that he was 2.5 wins from having to increase his bet to $100 and his playing pile was rising too.  Before long, it was time to go to $100.  He took the last $75 he won and asked the dealer what she wanted.  The dealers had been switching on and off but she noticed what Larry noticed; Samantha was his good luck charm.  The dealer said, “I want to play, but she needs to give you a real kiss of the French variety.”

Larry looked at Samantha who said, “Nah, we’re not together we’re just friends”

Larry responded, “Come on Samantha, we’re both adults, and you know a lot of dealers, you like them”

Samantha smiled and went along with it.  They French kissed briefly and Larry turned to the table pretending he didn’t enjoy it as much as he did.  He put the $75 on the tip line and the cards came out two aces.  Larry put in another $100 and split them and put another $75 on the tip line.  The cards read another ace.  Larry repeated the betting to split them again.  Dealer turns over a Queen, Blackjack, Larry goes to the other ace picks up a 10, another blackjack.  The third ace, she flips over an ace.  Larry splits them again.  At this point he had $725 in his walk away pile.  On this one hand he’s put in $400 in bets and $300 in tips.  He doesn’t realize that he’s not going to make much of a profit on this one given that he keeps putting another $75 on the tip line.  He could’ve lost all his profits on one hand.  He, however, is not thinking about that right now.  The dealer flips over a jack, he turns toward his last ace and takes the hit.  It’s a deuce.  At a blackjack switch table on one trip to Vegas a dealer told him to double down in this situation against a low card.  He saw the dealer with a six.  The dealer’s reasoning was you can’t bust but an 8,7,6 would be very big for you. He doubled down and got an 8.  Larry screamed after every win but after this he literally got up from the table and raised his arms and yelled loudly.  The rest of the table followed suit as they were all cheering for each other throughout their time at the table.  The dealer had just been tipped $600.  Larry yelled over to the craps table, “Hey craps guys, you guys are supposed to be the loudest table, but we got you beat now.  Bet on hard 8”

The dealer ended up busting when she drew a 9 to her 15.  The dealer paid Larry the last of his $200.  In that one hand Larry won $650 but since he spent $300 on tips, he only had $350 in profit.  He had to tap into his walk away pile significantly to pull off the betting.  He paid back the money he took and then split the remaining money between the two piles. As he counted he, for the first time, realized he didn’t win nearly as much as he thought he did but $350 is nothing to complain about.  A short while later, the craps table erupted.  A guy turned toward him and said, “Hard 8 hit!”

Larry laughed hysterically.  He had no idea what possessed him to say that but he did and apparently the craps table bet on his word.  Larry looked at Samantha and they both gave each other a weird look.  This was getting kind of ridiculous.  Larry continued to play and his bets were up to $125.  After the big hand, he did tighten up a bit.  He only put $25 on the tip line when he matched another buy in.  If he would have lost all four, he would have squandered all of his profit on one hand without giving him much of a chance to win.  It really was a stupid bet but it paid off.  Finally, Larry ran out of money in his playing pile and walked away with $1,100.  It was dinner time so Larry said, “Hey, let’s go to Palazzo, I hear they have the two best steakhouses on the strip.  Larry knew Samantha’s favorite food was steak and so was his.  He felt he owed it.  He knew it wasn’t cheap but the last blackjack table where he won $850 wasn’t his only profitable table he sat at that day.  He could afford 4 people to have steak.  They sat down at Carnevino, all dressed extremely casually but none of them cared.  Larry kept looking at Samantha not seductively but in disbelief because he kept getting confirmation that she was his good luck charm.  It was really getting ridiculous.  Larry paid the bill with his card, for he was in a gambling mood and they walked into the casino area of the Palazzo.  Larry asked about $100 minimum blackjack table.  He was in the mood to feel like a high roller.  They directed him to one and he sat down.  He was surrounded by men in business suits and he sat there with a T-shirt and shorts.  Samantha kissed him softly on the back of the neck just in case.  Tom and Fredo watched this time.  Larry grinded away and came away with a $200 profit.  He looked at his watch and determined that given that Portland was an hour back from Vegas, it was still early enough for his brother to get to Western Union.  Larry called his brother and was relieved when he picked up.  Larry went to the hotel and grabbed some cash.  He purposely only carried his starting money at the beginning of the day so that previous days profits couldn’t be tapped into.  Now he may need it.  He told him in Greek how he was up thousands of dollars but he wanted $1,000 to play craps tonight but it would be his money so asked if his brother could wire him the money.  He even offered to pay him the fee western union charged.  Larry took out $1,400 and gave it to the western union guy to wire to his brother and cover the fee.  Bill gave him the information and where to send it.  Bill drove to the Western Union place and picked up his money. Larry said in the phone in Greek, “There, now that is your money because I’m paying you back.  We’re not exchanging.  Can you give me $1,000 let me know what they charge you and I’ll pay you back?”

Bill chuckled, Larry’s superstition was getting kind of silly but he agreed because there really was no reason not to.  He made about $350 on this exchange.  The Western Union employees in both Portland and Vegas were really confused on what just happened.  Moreso the one in Portland as the Vegas guy had seen some weird shit all the time.  Larry put the $1,000 in a separate pocket and went out.  It was time for the late poker tournament so they went.  They lasted quite a while; Larry made more than his buy-in with bounties.  He didn’t make it to the money but he didn’t mind, it was profitable.  Samantha won the tournament and then complained about the bounty system because then her payout would have been higher.  Larry wanted to tell her to stop bitching but given how much money he attributed to her winning for him, he said nothing and Tom was too nice to say something like that.  Fredo, however, obliged.  Samantha wasn’t offended.  They all went to the blackjack tables and hopped around from table to table rarely at the same ones.  Larry was playing lower limits for now; he wanted to save for his craps run later.  Craps is one of the worst games you can play statistically.  Larry knew this.  Larry also knew that it’s most exciting in the early morning hours because people are nice and drunk.  Larry would be no exception.  Larry won at a couple blackjack tables, lost at others, but in the end he was up about $75.  Larry looked at his watch and saw 2:30AM.  He turned to his friends and said, “It’s time to play craps”

Tom was up as well so he decided he’d go play too.  Larry wasn’t planning on playing conservatively.  Larry stepped to the craps table.  He waited until the dealer let him buy in.  He dropped 10 $100 bills on the table and said, “25 dollar chips please.” 

 

The man handed back 40 green $25 dollar chips.  Larry placed one on the pass line.  He would be the shooter very soon.  For the first time while playing with real money, Larry wasn’t nervous nor did he feel out of place.  Normally craps moved too fast and he was confused but he had gone over the game time and time again and it slowed down for him.  He understood it better and it got more automatic.  It was his turn to roll the dice.  Samantha was standing behind him and Tom had decided to play as well.  He turned to Samantha and told her to pick the dice from the five.  Samantha said she’d pick one and he’d pick the other.  They each picked a die and Larry took Samantha’s from her.  He shook them in his hand and then held his hand out to Samantha and said, “Blow on them.”

 

                Samantha smiled and blew on the dice and Larry threw them and hit a seven, meaning he won his pass line bet.  He stuck to the same routine before throwing and threw again.  He rolled a nine putting the place bets in play.  Larry was here to gamble, he took out nine 25 dollar chips and called out the amounts, putting 25 on each of the hard number (doubles of 2,3,4,5) and odds on 4,6,8, and 9.  He knew that given the denominations he had to bet since the payouts weren’t to 1, he should get a chip back and only $224 was in play.  Sure enough the dealer made the change for him and threw him back chip and placed his bets the way he wanted them.  Larry picked up the dice and had Samantha blow on them and threw.  Loud cheers came out.  Larry continued the same way knowing that if he rolled a seven, his $224 was taken off the table. Larry never changed his routine nor his celebration when the dice didn’t read “7.”  He had watched his brother play craps and he wished he had his charisma.  His brother makes everyone at the table never stray from the celebration they had the first time he rolled on a place bet and didn’t get a seven.  Larry would roll 36 times before he finally rolled a “7.”  Larry had won $ 1,351. Larry knew that he should leave the table.  Tom had taken his profit and left.  He played less denominations and less numbers but he won.  Larry’s argument was he was up when he got to the table, he was up even more now, he could lose some money for the fun of playing craps.  The dice moved around the table and Larry grinded his way.  He had lost $857.  It was time for him to roll again.  The five die got pushed to him and he told Samantha to choose one.  She did and Larry did as well and Larry took his from her.  Samantha was standing to his right.  Samantha is left handed.  Larry said, “This time you’re going to hold my hand as I throw.”

Samantha thought it was cute, but had a sneaking suspicion that Larry was working his way up every time.  Larry threw the dice with his left hand since his right was holding Samantha’s so it went the opposite direction he threw last time but hit a place number.  He put out his $224  He threw it again and got the same number.  He said, “It’s weird throwing left-handed” and told Samantha to switch sides. 

Samantha said, “But I’m left handed, and I’m the one giving you the luck.”

A man at the table shook his head and said, “Better do what she says man”

Larry chuckled, grabbed the dice with his right hand, switched them to his left and held Samantha’s hand while he threw again…hard 4.  Larry would get used to throwing left handed for he had to 60 times yielding a profit of $3,514 before he hit the seven.  Larry wanted to stay at the table.  He told Tom to get a bucket, they’re going to need it for the chips.  This isn’t really true because you can color up but he said it anyway.  Larry’s chip rack was multicolored now.  Tom came back with an empty large coke and Larry put $2,000 in chips in it.  No Tomer what he was leaving this table with twice his buy in.  As the dice made their way around the table, Samantha said, “so, what are we doing next?”

Larry said, “You should kiss me on the cheek before I throw”

“You’re pushing it sir”

Larry hesitated thinking of a solution.  For some reason, he didn’t want to bend on this point.  He said, “What if I chant ‘Ally’ as I throw”

‘Ally’ was the name of Samantha’s 22-month-old niece.  Samantha smiled and said, “That’s a fair compromise” 

When the dice got to Larry, he could literally feel the mood change.  He wasn’t the only one catching heaters.  The dice’s journey around the table had earned him $ 2,215.  Still, everyone wanted to know if he could do it a third time.  He felt it was time to see if he could garner the charisma his brother exuded.  He decided to raise his promise to Samantha, He said, “Alright, this time you all need to help.   Before I throw, we all are going to chant ‘Ally’”

He heard a lot of chuckles and nods.  One asked if “Ally” was Samantha’s name, he said “No, it’s her baby niece.”

Samantha picked one die and Larry the other.  Larry took the dice in his hand and started chanting “Ally” hoping he’d get a following.  It worked, the table started chanting ‘Ally’ and Larry bent down to see if Samantha would fulfill her end of the bargain.  She rolled her eyes and kissed Larry on the cheek and he threw the dice.  He hit the seven giving everyone their pass line wins.  While the payouts were being administered Larry said, “Now, when we get to the place bets, after we hit one and we all celebrate, remember how you celebrated and you have to do that every time.”

Everyone nodded playfully.  Larry hit a couple more sevens and elevens each time following the same chant and kiss routine.  He finally got a place “five” with a place bet.  He liked when he got the button on a number he didn’t play because it gave him more options for numbers in case he hit when he backed up his pass line bet.  Samantha handed Larry $225 and said she wanted to play if they’re going to be playing with Ally.  Larry doubled all his bets.  This roll he would have to split with Samantha.  Larry’s first roll was a hard 10 he pumped his fists and hugged Samantha instinctively.  With $50 on the hard 10, $350 came to Larry.  Larry’s cheek would become rather damp, because after that hard 10 hit, Samantha kissed him on the cheek 83 more times, which meant $ 2,562 for him and Samantha.  Larry knew he should’ve left the table a while ago.  Three straight heaters was unheard of.  But he wanted to try one more, he wasn’t really about maximizing profits.  He could handle another round and if he seven-out with no wins for all 19 other players, he would still leave the table with a significant profit.  The dice got closer to him and Samantha said, “Be careful with this one.”

Larry said, “Spank me”

Samantha glared at him “What?”

“No more love, now we need violence, spank me.”Samantha felt she would rather enjoy this so agreed.  Larry said, “But this time we’re chanting my niece’s name.” 

The person to Larry’s right seven-out and the casino personnal cleared the table of all the chips.  A guy asked, “So what are we going to do now?”

Larry said, “Before I roll, we’re going to say “Arianna” splitting it up into three syllables to make a chant.  Since it was three syllables they couldn’t chant the way they did ‘Ally’ but Larry was a sports fan and knew how crowds solved this.  You chant then you clap slowly twice and quickly three more times.  He demonstrated that for the table and they instantly knew the pattern.  Samantha chose one die and Larry chose the others just as they had before.  Larry was quitting after this one no matter what.  The last rotation around, Larry had won $643.  He’d been at the craps table a long time.  Larry couldn’t participate in the clapping since he was holding dice but the rest of the table more than obliged.  Tom had started playing a couple shooters before Larry for he was beginning to believe.  Larry hit a place bet and Samantha gave him the money to double the bet again.  Fredo did the same for Tom.  Larry was rolling for all four of them now.  The chant happened and Samantha smacked Larry hard on the ass.  The first time Tom bet on Larry’s numbers he didn’t play the hards but he was now.  Tom knew that online and all the experts say it’s a bad bet but he was beginning to believe in Samantha’s magic.  Larry got on six.  Larry rolled a hard six.  The button was on six and they had odds.  That meant they won their pass line bet, the odds on bet and the hard way bet so $ 303.  He was so happy that he hugged Samantha then ran to Tom and hugged him  when the hard six hit.  Tom punched the air and Fredo gave him a hug.  Tom saw Larry coming and gave him one too.    He pointed to two people who chuckled after Samantha spanked him and said, “You gotta chuckle after she spanks me every time now.”

                Larry rolled and hit another place number and Larry did his same hugging routine.  He got back to the table and said, “you gotta chuckle after she spanks me every time now”

                The guys smiled for they knew that this was his superstition so he would say that every single time.  They had won a lot of money on Larry’s strange superstition so they obliged and chuckled and said nothing when Larry told them they had to chuckle, for nothing could change.  Every time ‘Ariana’ was chanted and Larry was spanked and the two people chuckled and every time Larry hit a profitable number.  Larry’s butt and Samantha’s hand would become sore because Samantha spanked him 133 times.  The last time, someone else chuckled and said, “She’s hitting you pretty hard man.”  Larry ignored the comment but realized that someone finally broke the routine.  Samantha had told him as payouts were being handed out a while ago that she had to go to the bathroom but Larry told her she wasn’t allowed to leave.  Sure enough, Larry rolled a six and a 1.  All the money was taken off the table.  The table sighed then they remembered how much money they won.  Larry immediately colored up.  The Arianna rolls yielded $5,520 for both him and Samantha.  Most of the table followed suit and left and offered to buy him a drink.  They all wanted pictures of Arianna and Ally, the two babies that had made them an obscene amount of money.  Samantha and Larry obliged.  There were about 16 people around them and he laughed and said, “Dude, I was drinking that entire time and all day, I can’t handle 16 shots right now.  Some people compromised to buy food for them to take with the shots.  All in all one person during the runs bought something for the group.  Larry said, “I feel bad, I won too man, I need to buy a round” but he was met by stark opposition. 

He didn’t know the etiquette but he was taught that you make people turn down money twice to see if it’s legit. He insisted but they insisted harder.  He then backed off and thanked them all and they laughed and thanked him.  The group split up and Larry, Tom, Fredo and Samantha went back to their room.  It would be Larry’s last day in Vegas as his flight was 1:40AM the next night so obviously wouldn’t be spending the night in Vegas.  Larry made up his bed on the floor and lied down.  He might have been up thousands but he still didn’t get a bed.  Samantha said, “Larry you can sleep in the bed.”

                “No, I’m still a gentleman”

                “Oh I’m sleeping in the bed too, just don’t try anything.”

                Larry got up and said, “Obviously, I’m too hammered anyway”

                Larry lied down and turned his back to Samantha.  Samantha grabbed his arm and pulled it toward her.  Larry turned around and Samantha wrapped the arm around her waist and rested it on her thin stomach and nestled herself into Larry’s body.  Larry slipped his other arm under Samantha’s neck as an extension of the pillow.  They both fell asleep very quickly. 

                After a couple hours of sleep, all four woke up.  Tom and Fredo got ready first than Larry did as well.  Samantha stayed in the bed not willing to get out of bed.  Tom and Fredo took a look at Samantha and saw her eyes trailing Larry.  Fredo said, “Yea, me and Tom are going to go gamble a little bit.”

                Larry said, “Yea, I’ll go with you, give me a sec”

                Tom subtly shook his head.    Fredo wasn’t so subtle and said, “No, you’re not.”

                “Why not?” Larry responded angrily.

                Fredo grabbed Larry and dragged him into the bathroom.  When there, he said, “Because you and Samantha need some alone time so you can properly thank each other for last night.”

                “No man, we’re just friends”

                “Maybe before but not now”

                “Fredo, I know guys believe guys and girls can’t be friends but trust me on this, she doesn’t want to hook up with me.”

                “Okay fine, we’ll do this a different way.  Tom and I will leave for an hour, if Samantha doesn’t hook up with you, I’ll give you $100, if she does, you owe me $100.”

                Larry stuck out his hand, “Deal”

                Fredo shook it and said “Great, you’re an idiot, and that was the easiest 100 dollars I’ve ever made”

                Fredo walked out and said, “Come on Tom.”

                Larry looked over at Samantha and saw her smiling.  As the door closed, Samantha walked up to Larry and rubbed her hands across his stomach and to his back.  Larry remembered how Samantha’s friends made fun of her because this is how she hits on guys in bars.  Samantha was embracing him.  For as long as he’d known Samantha, she had never held an embrace this long.  Nor, as far as he noticed at least, was she looking this expectantly in his eyes.  Larry leaned in and closed his eyes.  Samantha closed her eyes and turned the opposite way and they kissed.  Samantha jumped up and wrapped her arms around Larry’s neck and her legs around his waist.  Since Samantha is 95 pounds spread across a 5’5” frame, Larry hardly felt her weight.  He carried her to the bed and lied on top of her kissing her neck.  Samantha immediately shifted her legs indicating for Larry to turn over.  Larry obliged and Samantha straddled Larry and kissed him passionately and repeatedly.  Larry lowered his hands to her buttocks and squeezed.  In the back of his mind he still thought she was doing this to manipulate him.  He knew Samantha wasn’t the type of girl to hook up with a guy just because he had spent a lot of money on her.  It never really occurred to Larry that Samantha simply liked him.  Samantha sat up still straddling Larry and took off her T-shirt.  She ran her hands under Larry’s shirt and pulled it off him.  She started kissing his lips down to his neck to his tattoo over his heart of the Greek flag down his midsection.  She unbuttoned and unzipped his cargo shorts and pulled them off with his boxers.  Samantha got off of Larry and stood next to the bed.  Larry sat up facing Samantha’s groin.  He pulled down her pajamas and slid his hands around and under her panties grabbing her bare buttocks and pulling her toward him as he kissed her stomach.  Samantha put her hands on the back of his head and yanked him toward her.  Larry pulled her pants and panties all the way to her ankles and Samantha stepped out of them.  Larry slid his hands from her butt to in between her inner thighs resting his hands on her hamstrings.  He pulled Samantha toward him while lifting causing Samantha to be straddling Larry’s face.  He could already feel the liquid emulating from Samantha’s vagina.  He licked around her clitoris and Samantha started moaning.  Larry stood up and Samantha let out a small scream as she wasn’t expecting this.  Her legs instinctively wrapped around Larry’s head and squeezed it into her groin but Larry didn’t relent.  A short while later Samantha achieved orgasm and screamed out loudly.  Larry pushed Samantha off his shoulders and she nailed the Tomress hard on the back of her head and neck.  Larry immediately regretted this and said, “Shit, I’m sorry.”

                Samantha gave Larry a stern look. Larry knew that Samantha had a very large fear of rape and hated physicality and being manhandled.  She can’t even play tag with a guy as she starts hyperventilating if a guy is chasing her even if she knows it’s playful.  Larry sat on the bed at her feet and lifted her left leg.  Samantha was planning on resisting but the rest of Larry’s body made no advancement.  Instead he pulled her leg into his lap and gripped her foot in both his hands and massaged it.  Once he gripped her foot, Larry could feel the tightness and tension. He knew that almost half of the muscles in the body were located in the feet and it connected to the rest of the body more intimately and directly than any other part except the brain.  This made it a perfect indication for someone’s mood.  Also, Larry never knew why but he liked feet, he truly enjoyed giving foot massages.  Not all his female friends appreciated this but he made a note of the ones who hated having their feet touched and Samantha wasn’t one of them.  He actually remembered when she teased one of her past boyfriends about it.  Samantha sat up upon Larry’s first contact but when she realized his motives she lay back down flat.  Larry shifted his body so that he was facing Samantha.  He could feel her foot relax and took it as a sign that he was being forgiven.  After a short while, Samantha kicked her right foot over into Larry’s lap and Larry smiled and shifted his hands to her right foot.  When he felt that relax completely, he crossed her legs gently indicating she wanted her to turn over.  The front part of the body doesn’t have many nerves and good places to massage while the back does.  Larry started rubbing her left calf and worked his way up to her temples before retreating back the way he came this time to her right leg.  Samantha moaned sporadically and Larry loved feeling her relax in his hands.  He moved his hands up and massaged each of her arms starting with the bicep and working her way to her hands.  This was the first time Larry had ever seen Samantha’s legs.  Even though she lived in Florida, Samantha never wore shorts.  He always assumed it was because she had thin legs commonly known as “chicken legs.”  Larry was right but he didn’t react.  He had a crush on Samantha when he first met her.  Old feelings came back to him.  When he finished he pulled his hands off her and leaned back. Samantha took a deep breath and turned around.  She sat up and wrapped her legs around Larry thrusting her groin into his pulling Larry into her.  Larry’s penis immediately hardened inside of her and Samantha yanked Larry’s head into her small breasts.  Larry caressed her breasts with his mouth and Samantha pulled Larry up to her face and they made out as Samantha propelled her groin toward Larry and Larry drove back.  Samantha placed her hands on Larry’s chest and shoved his upper body to the bed.  She remained seated and shifted her upper body back and forth riding Larry hard.  He leaned forward and kissed Larry’s neck as Larry reached around and squeezed her buttocks and jerked her toward him.  Samantha continued to ride Larry hard and Larry climaxed.  Samantha got off of Larry and slid her legs to the right side of his body and rested her head on his chest.  Larry cradled her against him as he breathed heavily.  This was only the second time Larry had ever had sex.  They remained like that for about 10 minutes until Samantha said, “Let’s get ready” as she got up and walked into the bathroom to take a shower.

                Larry contemplated going in after her but didn’t.  He had no idea what to think of what just happened.  He knew that Samantha was trying to get him to move to Florida but she wasn’t promiscuous enough to resort to this.  The entire reason she wanted Larry to move to Florida was because her roommate had left and she wanted someone to rent out the other bedroom in her house to.  She preferred a male for protective purposes but didn’t want someone that would hit on her.  Larry was the perfect candidate for this but now, it appears he wasn’t.  Larry thought maybe he was being tested; in which case he failed.  He dismissed that because, again, Samantha hated promiscuity and wouldn’t have sex with someone merely as a test.  He really was at a loss.  Larry put his boxers back on and Fredo and Tom came back before Samantha was out of the shower.  Larry reached into the pockets of his pants and took out a $100 bill and handed it to Fredo without saying anything.  Fredo pocketed it with a smile.  Finally Samantha came out of the shower and Larry showered as well.  Both Fredo and Tom acted normally but Samantha knew they knew what happened.  Larry got out of the shower and dressed in about 15 minutes and they left.  Larry recommended they go to the Cut, the other famous steakhouse in the Palazzo.  Larry again paid and they left to go gambling.  Originally Larry planned on not gambling as much because he was up near $18,000.  The problem was that if you deposit more than $10,000 into a bank, it can be taxed as income.  The casino also didn’t cash more than $ 9,000 in chips.  He knew the night before he had cashed in for $ 9,000 and he kept the rest of the chips.  Today, he could do the same but he actually felt like he had to lose money since he didn’t want to risk losing the chips between going to Hawaii and home nor be carrying around that much cash.  He sat down and played blackjack starting at $ 100 limit.  The table didn’t accommodate him as he made $1,000.  When they sat down, Samantha asked for $1,000 so she could play.  Larry now really thought he was right about the manipulation but gave her the 1,000 and told her that if she lost it, she wasn’t getting more.  Internally Larry dared Samantha to bring up their morning as an excuse why he should because he would fire back that she was treating herself as a prostitute then.  Samantha didn’t, she won $200 and gave Larry back his $1,000.  They spent the rest of the day playing poker tournaments and cash games for Samantha and Larry and blackjack for Fredo and Tom in between tournaments.  Larry lost $300 overall in poker but Samantha accumulated $ 3,000.  That didn’t stop Larry from paying for dinner at a nice seafood restaurant that a dealer recommended to them.

                After dinner, Larry called his brother to find out the closest chase bank.  He told him and Tom offered to drive him as dinner sobered him up.  Larry said, ‘No, I’m not going to make you do that.”

                Tom said, “it’s not a problem, we’re all up really big from that craps run.”
                “Nah Tom, I need to off load some money before the I.R.S. takes it.” He said with a smile.

                “What does that mean?”

                Larry flagged down a limo and told it to drive him to the Chase.  Tom, Fredo and Samantha followed suit. Larry made sure they had a bottle of Vodka in it and they drank in style.  The nearest chase bank to deposit money was six miles away.  Larry went there and deposited $ 9,000. He got back in the limo and told him to take him somewhere where they could try rattlesnake.  The limo driver knew of a place and Larry paid for it.  Samantha didn’t want to try it but Fredo and Tom obliged.  Larry gave the limo driver a nice tip after they got back to the strip.  They spent the rest of the time at poker tournaments, black jack and cash games before Larry had to leave.  He took out $5,000 and handed it to Tom.  Tom worked for a bank that gave much better interest rates than chase but it only existed in Cleveland and Pittsburgh.  He told Tom, “When you get back to Ohio, open up a savings account for me at Dollar bank.” 

                Tom told him what else he would need and they decided to mail documents back and forth.  Technically the I.R.S. could still charge you and catch you for separating your money between two banks but it was harder to catch as banks automatically informed people of cash deposits over $10,000 but this was an easy and low risk way to hide it.  Since Larry already wired the money he brought to his brother, he only had his profit on him. After his riding in style spending for dinners and the like, he was carrying about a thousand dollars in cash on him to Hawaii.  He boarded the plane and flew to Hawaii for the second leg of his trip ecstatic.

                 

The next day, Samantha, Fredo and Tom went to the airport and took their respective flights back to their homes.  Tom and Larry decided to wait a full month before opening the account to further hide it from the government.  In the end, Larry just rented a car and drove to Cleveland to open the account in person rather then mail things.  He normally didn’t increase his spending habits just because he had more money but an influx of $14,000 tends to change that.  After opening the account, Larry went back to New York.  Samantha and Larry kept in contact and remained plutonic friends.  Samantha still hinted that she wanted Larry to move to Florida but Larry refused.  All Larry could think about was if next year he would bring Samantha on his annual Vegas trip with Tom to see if he could do it all over again.  First things first, he had to make sure that Tom got along with Samantha.  He hadn’t said anything but Larry still wanted to ask him point blank.  In New York, Larry went back to his old routine and lived within his means not the increased means of Vegas.  This helped him save up his money.  Next year, Larry would be turning 30.  He wasn’t sure if his trip with Tom would be to Vegas for they went to Vegas every year.  Larry’s sight was somewhere else. He briefly talked to Tom about going to Monte Carlo this year for their gambling trip but when they looked into it, all they saw was Monte Carlo, Italy and Monte Carlo, France.  Larry could have sworn Monte Carlo was in Monaco, which means he’d get to see a new country, which he tried to do every year.  Larry refused to ever step foot in France again so the trip deteriorated as quickly as it began.  When he relayed this to other people he found out that he was right, there are three Monte Carlos but the one with all the gambling, the one nicknamed “the Vegas of Europe” was in Monaco.  That’s where Larry wanted to spend his 30^th, now he just had to convince Tom.