Question of the Day — 29 Mar 2007

The superstition surrounding $50 bills (known as "frogs") in casinos was the subject of the QoD for 08/11/2005. (You're correct that they're considered unlucky by many, though as with several superstitions, for other people the opposite is true.) Similarly, back on 07/04/2005 we discussed how many casinos skip certain floor and room numbers to cater to different Asian superstitions, particularly surrounding the number four (unlucky), along with the use of the number eight (propitious). Caesars Palace skips the 15th floor in the Roman Tower, because Caesar was warned to, "Beware the ides of March," prior to his murder on the 15th, and the number 15 remains unlucky in Italian gambling culture.

There are probably as many superstitions as there are gamblers, even (sometimes especially) among the pros -- witness World Series of Poker champion Johnny Chan and his ever-present "lucky" orange, for example -- with different supposed dos and don'ts present in different cultures and for different games, particularly craps and poker. Working on a similar principle that was the basis for the (terrible) movie The Cooler, some Asian card rooms feature people who are acknowledged to be lucky or unlucky ("black cats") and are paid by players either to stay close or go away. And just walk into any bingo room to survey all the trolls, trinkets, elephants, photographs, and other lucky charms and talismans that players surround themselves with.

Here are some of the other superstions we've heard of, none of which, of course, has any basis whatsoever in reality:

Do:

• Wear red, especially underwear (originally a Chinese superstition, but now widely recognized).
• Check into a room with 8 in the number.
• Stack your chips neatly.
• Sit on a handkerchief.
• Carry a snake's tooth.
• Sit astride your chair.
• Switch on all the lights at home before you go out to gamble. (At least you're less likely to get burgled, but luckier at the tables?)
• Keep a horny-toad toenail on your person. (First catch your horny toad.)
• Gamble with borrowed money. (Hmm, doesn't sound like such a good strategy to us)
• For crap players: Blow on the dice to breathe life into them/seal in the good luck during a winning streak; give the dice to a woman who's never rolled them before; or rub them on the head of a redhead.
• For slots: Wait until someone gets up from a machine that hasn't paid out in a long time and play that one, as it's now "due" to hit; play a coin with a hole in it to change your luck.
• For women, gamble while you have your period.
• For men, stay away from sex and females.
• If you're Filipino, bring your wife to the game if she's pregnant, or they let a pregnant women play for you.
• If you're Chinese, stay away from monks and nuns before gambling.
• Change machine/dice/cards if things aren't going your way.

Don't:

• Wish a player good luck.
• Lend money while gambling.
• Pick up cards with your left hand.
• In poker: Count your chips/money at the table; or allow anyone to look over your shoulder; or sit at the #10 seat; or drop a card during a game.
• In craps: Play at an empty ("cold") table, or say -- or even think -- the word "seven"; or allow a male who's never rolled the dice before to roll; or allow the dice to roll off the table; or speak to or touch someone who's having a good roll.
• In blackjack: Cut the deck (or you might get blamed for a "bad shoe"); or look at your double-down card (although for some people, to look is lucky),
• Let dogs anywhere near a gambling table.
• Touch someone's shoulder while he/she is gambling.
• Enter a casino through the main door.
• Talk about books around Chinese gamblers (the word "book" sounds like the word "lose").

If anyone knows of any of any other superstitions, surrounding the fifty-dollar bill or gambling in general, please write in and enlighten us.