'Bullet' shows a knack for blackjack

WALLY HALL
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

LAS VEGAS -- With the Razorbacks players and some of the coaching staff off to hear the colorful comedian Carrot Top, it was the sportswriters' chance to get a little down time.
Bob Holt, Scott Cain and others had flown in Sunday morning to pick up this newspaper's coverage, and by the time we finished filing stories we were ready to get something to eat.
It was while eating some rather poor Mexican food -- the joint was highly recommended, but the fact that it was almost empty should have been a clue -- Bob, "Bullet" as we like to call him (as in Bullet Train), asked: "What's the least amount you can play blackjack for?"
Downtown, finding a $3 table is as easy as hearing the chiming of a slot machine.
So Bob, Scott, Robert Yates and myself crowded into a table.
Do, the dealer's name, or at least that's what it had on the name tag, had had a very successful personality bypass, and he quickly and convincingly kicked our tails.
Fortunately, after three losing hands, which is my personal limit at a table, he was relieved by Ming.
Ming claimed to have a sore throat.
However, as the game and conversation became more involved and a few tips were placed as bets for her, she was miraculously cured.
She firmly and quickly reprimanded Bob when he picked up the cards and held them in his lap, out of her sight.
It should have been obvious that Bob was not a card shark, but the house rules were they had to stay on the table, and after the second warning Bob got the message.
For some reason, it took him a little longer to get the idea that if he wanted a card he had to make a short, sweeping motion toward him with the cards or with his fingers.
Bob kept making the sweeping motion away, like "Get these losers out of my sight." Maybe it was because he's left-handed.
Robert lost about $10 and disappeared. Scott decided to try his luck at another table.
As soon as they left, Bob got his first blackjack and it was explained that all he had to do was turn them over. It was almost an automatic winner and never a loser.
Bob blackjacked four times and never quite got the idea he couldn't lose with that hand.
For a guy who asked if he should split the pair of kings he drew on his first hand, to the guy who was doubling down with confidence an hour later, Bob caught on to blackjack really well.
So well, in fact, that after Ming was replaced by another dealer and we lost three hands in a row, Bob said, "This deck's colder than a well-digger's behind in Anchorage. Let's cash."
And we did.
We got back to the hotel about the same time the team did, and it was obvious most of them had liked the foul-mouthed Carrot Top some, but as Fa'Quan Harris put it, "not as much as Jeff Foxworthy at the Cotton Bowl."
Just to finish off the diary entry, the Hogs had their last practice in pads Monday morning and it was another spirited get-together, especially when the veterans left the field and the freshmen went at it.
Pat Winn was almost unstoppable for the defense, and on the offensive side Brandon Mayweather is going to have an easy transition to tight end.

This article was published on Tuesday, December 19, 2000

RETURN to main page

Copyright and permissions
Copyright © 2000, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.
This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.