I only have one fun hail mary story ... this was a few years back, on a buddy's bachelor party. I was at the end of a three-day bender. I had fallen asleep early the first night, but I resolved not to go to sleep again after that. So I pulled all-nighters Friday and Saturday, with an early Sunday flight. My bankroll was only $500, but I found myself down $700 at about 4 a.m. I needed to leave for the airport by 6 a.m.

In a moment of pure Vegas clarity, I hit the ATM one more time for $100. Hit a $10 craps table at Mandalay Bay. If I can't make this work, I'll just crawl home, tail between legs, and tilted out of my mind. There are only four of us playing at this table -- my buddy, me, and a man and woman very much acting like a couple except for the fact that they're married ... not to each other. The lady gets on a hot streak. Rolls for 30 minutes. I'm up $250 or so. This feels pretty good. I should walk away. But I stay. It's only 4:30 a.m. Between points she hits, the guy is actually spanking this woman at the craps table. It's hilarious.

Fast forward another hour, I'm up $600, almost back to even. I look up, and it's 5:30 ... 30 minutes to pack, get a cab, and hit the airport. Real-life clarity hits, and I color up, cash out, and run. That's the one time, taking off from McCarron and seeing the Strip fade away one last time, that I didn't quite feel so melancholy. The relief was such a rush.

Now if only that had happened any other time

 

could have surrendered playing the shoe?

 

The best Hail Mary I've ever had was pretty epic, and wound up being a double Hail Mary. At the time I was bringing around $10k per trip to Vegas (this was relatively early in my gambling life). I was staying at the MGM, and I was down to the last $400 of it.....lost probably 80% of the hands I played for 2 days straight. I went over to New York New York, because I liked their Chin Chin restaurant. After dinner, feeling dejected, I was walking through NYNY back to the MGM and saw an empty double deck game not far in front of the escalator to the bridge. This was going to be my last stand. I threw $200 of the remaining $400 down. It was a double down hand, so I figured great...this one hand is going to finish the trip. But I won the double, so I had $800 sitting in front of me. I add about half to my bet each time I win, so the next hand I bet $300. Then $500 etc. Within about 10 minutes I was at the table max, which was $2k. I wound up winning about $15k at the table. But I wasn't finished and I was feeling the rush.

Nyny had a high limit DD game with a $5k max. I figured I'll play one hand at $5k, and if I lose I leave Vegas even. I won that bet. I kept going, and wound up leaving there with a total of $50,000 - $10k in cash and a $40k check, that I vowed to take home with me. What had happened sort of blew my mind, so I walked from NYNY all the way down to the Mirage trying to figure out how I could lose for so long and then win so much in such a short period of time. I sat down at the Mirage DD game, and figured if I blew the $10k cash, it wasn't that big of a deal, as I still had the check. I immediately began losing, and within 20 minutes the $10k was gone.

I went into the bathroom to collect myself and try to make myself realize that I had still had a great trip and I had a great story to tell. But alas, I am a gambler. I walked up to the Mirage cage to see if I could play against the $40k check I had...I didn't know if they would because I had never done such a thing before. They were unsurprisingly very accommodating. My first $10k marker was gone in 5 minutes. The next one lasted a bit longer, but also met with the same fate. I decided now I'm in this deep, I'm going to take a marker for the last $20k, do one last Hail Mary with a $10k bet, and if I lose immediately go cash in the remaining $10k and leave even for the trip.

I won the $10k bet. And the next one and the next one. In a few minutes, I had $120,000 sitting in front of me - when I had been down to my last $400 just hours earlier. The dealer was shuffling, and I decided that I should either quit or start playing 2 hands of $10k and see just how far I could ride it. I actually had the 2 $10k bets sitting out there for the next round. As she offered me the cut card though, the reality of situation hit me, and I started thinking about how horrible it would feel to give all of it back after such an amazing night.

So, I took my chips, cashed in $20,000, grabbed a taxi, and went back to my room at the MGM. After some sleep (and more than a little contemplation about maybe taking another run at it), I went back to the Mirage and left town with a $100,000 check and $20,000 in cash.

I have had times where I have won more than that, but never from even remotely close to such a low starting point (except for once from a $500 buy in, but that wasn't a Hail Mary). I have of course had many failed Hail Mary's since, but that was the best one that worked out.

 

Just reading that was exhilarating. Balls to the wall, man! Epic!!

 

I only clicked on the "like" because you took a MASSIVE risk....too bad it didn't work out. That's gambling!!!!

 

That's phenomenal!!!! What a roller coaster..thanks for sharing.

Those are the Vegas stories I love to hear about the most!!!!

 

They say that zero is the greatest number....it was that night!!!

 

I've never appreciated it so much before or since! Yet ...