Reply #11: Professional casino craps dealer ruminates on implications of McCain's gambling habits

[mloutre]

As posted in a Daily Kos diary on the topic...

I was surprised that Steven R's diary on McCain and craps was the first I'd heard of this, and the only reason I'm writing a new diary is because, as a former craps dealer, I may be able to offer fresh insight. (I wrote a piece about my career as a casino dealer for GQ in January, 2001.)

{snip}

McCain's habit is hardly new, nor is the belief that it might make useful political hay. In 2000 (NY Times, Feb. 27), Maureen Dowd noted that Bush's "Pioneers" had invested "$800,000 for private detectives to hunt for McCain bimbo eruptions and to stake out casinos to catch him shooting craps."

No word as to what they uncovered...

More recently, The New Yorker offered a profile of McCain gambling with someone he was in bed with politically, though it's not that part of the story I can offer insight on:

"The moment the car stopped at McCain’s hotel in downtown New Orleans, he set out at his usual fast clip for Harrah’s, across the street. McCain is an avid gambler. Wes Gullett, a close friend who worked for McCain for years, told me that they used to play craps in Las Vegas in fourteen-hour stints, standing at the tables from 10 a.m. to midnight. "Craps is addictive," McCain remarked, and he headed for the fifteen-dollar-minimum-bet tables. At the most obvious level, the game is incredibly simple -- players rotate turns throwing the dice, and you either win or lose depending on what number comes up. But McCain’s betting formula makes it much more complicated. "Uh-oh!" he cried, as a player accidentally threw the dice off the table. "This is a very, very superstitious game," he said. When his turn came to throw the dice, he picked them up and blew on them first. He had placed chips on the number 5, so (envisioning a combination of 2 and 3) he called, 'Michael Jordan! Michael Jordan!'"

Now, as a former dealer, this is annoying in all kinds of ways.

{snip}

The first thing that strikes me here is the 14-hour stints that Gullett describes. That's hardcore. That's not craps for fun -- that's craps thinking you might actually win, even though you know (or should know) that the house shaves the odds or forces you to take bad bets to get to good bets. It's beyond social. In fact, one of the questions on questionnaires for those who worry they might be addicted to gambling asks whether you've indulged in long binges like this. It's a red flag. To call McCain an "avid" gambler, if Gullett is correct, is to engage in a bit of euphemistic generosity.

But let's give him the benefit of the doubt. Gullett was drunk, doesn't remember right, whatever. Still, McCain hurries directly to the casino, and says "Craps is addictive."

Duh. Gambling is addictive, senator. For a guy who has opposed Native American casinos, this is curious. You'd think at some point he might have entertained the possibility that blackjack, or pai gow, or poker, for that matter, might also be addictive. Plus, I don't get the sense that this is his don't-do-this-at-home-kids warning. The tone the writer is conveying here suggests that for McCain, this vice is fun. And if his aides are still tearing him away from the table, then you have to wonder.

The next bit of important information we find is that McCain plays $15 tables. Don't be fooled by this: that's not cheap. Everyone admits that McCain will play with a few thousand dollars (Cindy's money, I dare say), and the $15 game isn't inconsistent. If you intend to last any length of time on a $15 game, you better have a solid bankroll. (The short explanation for this is that craps players generally make not just one bet at a time, but several or many, and each of them must be at a minimum of $15. It's much more if you want to try to get to the "true odds" that are supposed to make craps a good game for the player.)

{snip}

McCain's system of betting is a little troubling. There are many systems of betting in craps (and if anyone knows anything more about McCain's, please let me know), and they're all bad. That is, they all lose, in one way or another. Here's what concerns me about this: you don't bother devising a system unless you're going through the process of really trying to beat the bank. This was Dostoevsky's problem with roulette -- and it's just as dumb. One shouldn't make the mistake of thinking that McCain's having a complicated system means he has a complicated mind, either. Most craps players have a system they've played for many years, and they know that one small aspect of the game backward and forward. Indeed, some of the social element of the game is showing off in this regard. But the truth is that once you know your system, playing it becomes as brainless as playing a slot machine. (To Barack's credit, poker, by contrast, exposes you to an endless set of strategic decision-making situations.)

When McCain becomes worried when the dice leave the table -- well, that's ridiculous, too. "Craps is a very superstitious game" is actually a nonsensical non sequitur. It implies that you have to be superstitious in order to play -- that it's a valid part of the game. Again, the contrast to poker is stark. Poker players strive to take the luck out of the game, McCain wants to revel in it.

Hmm, hmm, hmm. I don't know about y'all, but I for damn sure don't want a President McCain playing high-stakes craps with *my* country's future...