how does blackjack work?

I won't say I've won big, but I am ahead. My first "big win" was $350 ($20 investment) and I bought a dress from the ship's shops (gown it was back in the formal days) and a spa treatment; so Carnival got it back but I got something from it. I play the slots and I tend to put in $20-50 per cruise and then hopefully bring home more. If not. I've had that many dollars worth of fun.

We were in a bar (because where else would we be), during peak garage sale season, and happened to mention that we were looking for a lawn mower. the guy next to us said he had two. One, he was selling for $35 and it worked okay. The other was $20 and good for parts. I dickered him down to $20 for both, which he promptly donated to a video slot machine. Took him about 5 minutes.

The last time I gambled was Superbowl XXXI. I won $500. Adding up all the wins and losses previous to that, maybe I broke even. Maybe.

You can use your card but they charge a percentage so better to bring cash.

Yes, I won the 500 in one sitting. In the next 10 sittings, I lost 100 each

They don't call that dicing table the craps table for nothing

Right you are jbenham. I had a great year at the casino a couple years back. I'm not married and no kids so I had a little of my own money to "invest". Seemed like I couldn't lose. Won $300 here, $400 there, and I even won enough to pay my rent one time. However, the following couple years up until now, I bet I gave them back at least 5 times what I won that year. Why don't we ever learn? That's great that you don't gamble. It can be fun, but it can also wreak havok if you let it.

Be aware that there is smoking in the casino and it infiltrates the bar and restaurants there.

We don't gamble at all, so we win on our taxes every year. Most older folk probably don't do it like my mom did, so I wonder if they can afford to lose their own. I see people bragging about winning, but never mentioning the amount they have lost over the years. We were sitting in a bar up here some years back and there was a guy with a huge pile of pull tabs. Hope he didn't have a family to feed.

BDRebel, wow! Even a $500 win is more than I ever would expect to win on a ship. Thanks for the confidence boost! Wink wink, nudge nudge. Lol! Kidding, but it gives me a little hope, anyway. I wonder what would happen if we all got statements of our "investments" at the end of each year. Aaaah! I think people would cry.