JIM “PAPPY” MOORE: My Night in Vegas with Chuck Norris

I do not recommend that anyone play gambling games of any kind. The odds are ever against you. It is very thrilling to be UP, but quitting while you are ahead is something most who are delirious at the moment are incapable of doing. I was never one to bet more than I could afford to lose, but I was also one who could build up a nice run of good luck and hang around until I had lost that and had gone into my own pocket further. Again, don’t do it unless you can afford to lose it.

Having said all that, my best gambling story involves none other than Texas Legend Chuck Norris. Now, he didn’t know me from Adam and might not even remember this. It was 1982. I was riding a wave of good fortune on Houston real estate. I had money to burn, and I did some of that. My wife and I took a trip to Las Vegas and did it up right. We stayed at a fancy Casino/Hotel and lived high on the hog for a few days. She wasn’t much to gamble, but she loved the whole scene. We had earned it. She was a well-known horse trainer of fancy horses like Arabs and Saddlebreds. I was her biggest fan.

Craps was a game that intrigued me. It is nothing but hunches and percentages. You have to feel it, but mostly, you have to be lucky. I have a lifelong friend who has often said “Jim, you can step in a pile of horse manure and come out smelling like a rose.” Not always, but sometimes, that has been true. If you step in enough horse manure, you WILL come out smelling like horse manure sometimes.

This was one of those times.

I was at a casino across from the big casino hotel where we were staying. My wife was back in the room sleeping. I was betting $100 a roll back when $100 was a lot more money than it is now. I was on a hot streak. I had the dice and I was killing it! Making my number time after time. After making my number and winning about the 7th time in a row, I looked up at the guy standing next to me and it was Chuck Norris. He was out in Vegas making a movie. “Forced Vengence.” He had a couple of people with him. One looked like he might be someone connected to the movie shoot. Looked very much big city. We were all having a good time. I kept rolling them bones and hitting my number. I had just won the 15th time in a row, betting $100 each time, so I was UP $1500 in a few minutes. About that time the pit boss was tired of seeing me win and others betting behind me winning. The pit boss said I touched my bet when I wasn’t supposed to, and booted me from the game. I squawked about it, to no avail. Two big fat goons from the Tony Soprano family came over and escorted me out of Barbary Coast Casino. As I left I yelled “I’ve got your $1500 and I’m taking it to another Casino!” Yeah, I was full of myself, but this time I had good reason.

I did just what I said I would do. Went to another Casino and lost it all. Went back to the room where my wife was sleeping. She awoke and asked how I did. “I broke even,” I told her, which was true. I’d tell her the full story later that day. I never bet more than I budgeted to bet. You have to do that. If you don’t, you’ll end up like Chevy Chase’s character in 1997 film National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation movie. Betting the family’s money, I mean.

Oh, if I could get in a time machine and go back and talk to myself in 1982. I would have some sage advice for Jim Version 1982. But as former cop turned singer Ed Money sang in 1986 covering the song of another “I wanna go back, and do it all over, but I can’t go back I know!” Lord knows that song fits me. Sometimes life has to punch you in the face to get your attention.

Still, what a great memory that was. The story alone is worth $1500 to me! Ya gotta love that.