Credit Card Roulette

This is part 2 of a trip report detailing my latest Las Vegas adventure.

Credit card roulette is a game that my brother, Brian, his friend Paul, and I play whenever we go out to eat together. It’s pretty simple. Instead of divvying up the check based on who ate what, or agreeing to take turns on who pays each bill, we prefer to leave it up to chance. The game is quite simple. At the conclusion of the meal, after the waitress drops off the bill, we each throw a credit card under a single napkin. When the waitress arrives, we make her decide our fate by reaching under the napkin and pulling 1 card out. Voila. We have a “winner”.

The great part about the game is how big the bills tend to get. Why eat light when you know there’s a better than average chance that you won’t be the one paying for the meal anyway? Plus, you want to improve your overall EV. I mean, if everyone else orders $100 worth of food, but you only order $50 worth of food, that is some serious -EV. On the other hand, if you go over the top, and order $150 worth of food to their $100, then you’ve increased your edge, and in the process given yourself some serious +EV.

Now that you understand how the game works, let’s fast forward to last Saturday, when Paul, Brian and I were joined at Tao (a swanky restaurant/nightclub in the Venetian) by Paul’s friend Umesh, Umesh’s girlfriend who’s name I cannot recall, his college friend Nicolleta, and her roommate Jennifer. As we were ordering, I wasn’t really sure if we would be doing credit card roulette at the end of the meal or not, since there were 4 others there who’d not likely wish to participate. Nonetheless, I have trouble going to Tao and not ordering the Kobe beef, which is almost as good as it is expensive ($15/ounce). So Paul and I ordered 5 ounces each of that, along with a number of appetizers, and some drinks. All told, I think my portion of the bill was probably around $125 before tip. Paul’s was about the same. The total for all 7 of us was $546 before tip.

I had pretty much expected to pay for my portion only, but Paul was quick to suggest credit card roulette, and of course, I was on board, as was my brother. Umesh decided to risk his luck and throw in his card as well. We were willing to give the 3 ladies a free pass, which 2 of them were more than happy to accept. Nicolleta, however, had the balls to throw in her card along with the rest of ours. Paul, who had been trying to get with her all weekend, explained quite clearly that if her card was picked, she would be expected to pay for the whole bill. I wonder if he was afraid that his chances with her might be hurt if her card was the one picked. In any case, once he was convinced she understood the game, he allowed her to throw her card under the napkin beside the rest of ours.

Luckily for her, when the waitress came back, she reach under the napkin and picked out Paul’s card, leaving him with the responsibility of picking up the tab.

I’m kidding, of course. That wouldn’t make for as good of a story.

You should have seen the look on Nicolleta’s face when the waitress picked out her card. It was a look of panic and anxiety that seemed to be begging, ‘please tell me this is all a big joke’. I felt bad for her. I considered offering to cover my portion of the bill, but I’m fairly certain she would not have offered the same if it was my card picked, so I made no such offer. Luckily for her, my brother, Jennifer, and Paul all felt sufficiently bad enough to help her out a bit and take her bill paying responsibility down to a level she was more comfortable with.