I love chess

@hakima said
I had more than doubled what I had arrived with and my friend could hardly believe that it was my first races, let alone my first wagering.

This is quite possibly the worst thing that can happen to you at your first attempt!

Quit while you are ahead!

@wolfgang59 said
This is quite possibly the worst thing that can happen to you at your first attempt!

Quit while you are ahead!

I did. Haven’t seen that guy for years 😉

@hakima said
My grandfather was a jockey but he died before I was born and I had never been to a horse race until a couple of years ago when I briefly dated a trainer.

One day, I showed up at a race decked out with hat and heels, sunglasses and binocs, and $100 in my handbag For wagering. My friend spied me from the paddock and directed me to his personal box seat telling me to order ...[text shortened]... ved with and my friend could hardly believe that it was my first races, let alone my first wagering.

While in college, a bunch of us came up to Phoenix from Tucson to spend a day at the racetrack and drink mint juleps. It was like a debutantes' ball, lol! None of us won very much, but we had a blast.

@hakima said
I did. Haven’t seen that guy for years 😉

So, it sounds like "Dover" moved his bloomin' arse!
Great story!

I've never had that kind of luck.
I always have trouble understanding why some of those beautiful animals are called "long-shots". I guess I'm just a sucker for 36 to 1 odds.

@wolfgang59 said
I play blitz (on another site) most evenings.
Try and play some OTB quick play tournaments when I can.
Gave up Bridge as it clashed with tabl-tennis night.
Gave up table-tennis when I had shoulder problems.

Children's activities take up a lot of my time and I'm on various committees to do with that.

My real passion is dance but sadly we don't have as much time for that as we used to.

Still enjoy cooking.

I'm available for a game on Russ' new site at 0900EST today. Though I prefer a game a little longer than Blitz, usually 10 minutes per side.

I'll be there about an hour and a half from this very moment.

https://www.blitzchess.net/

@hakima said
I did. Haven’t seen that guy for years 😉

I have/had family members who owned and trained those horses that pull a two wheeled cart behind them. I can never remember what they're called. Anyway a bunch of us went to see one of their horses race and while waiting for the "big event" we decided to spend some time in the attached casino. I had never been in one and was only prepared to spend $10. We entered the place and split up, some wanting to play poker, others Black Jack and I, the slots. I watched some others playing and thought what the hell. I went over to one of the machines (I think it was a quarter machine because I put in a quarter and it kept returning the coin. I asked the person beside me what was going on and she informed me that I had to buy special coins. I did so and in a matter of , what seemed like seconds, I was down to my last coin. I thought, this machine sucks so I moved on to another. I inserted the last coin and it returned. I put it back in and again it returned. I thought to hell with this and pulled the handle and low and behold it worked. I though wow how cool. I did it again, with the same result when I went to try for the third time a lady tapped me on the shoulder and said that that was her machine and showed me that she had inserted some kind of card into a slot on the machine. I told her that I was sorry and that I was a newbie at this and she said not to worry. I tried to give her the fifty cents but she refused saying no problem. I went back to the races, bet on the family members horse to win and did, not much because it was favoured to win.