A Swindle, of Sorts... pt. 7

In the real work, the three members of the enterprise arrive at the table at different times, usually staggered by five or ten minutes. The first member to arrive on the live game is the Fat Man.

The Fat Man is called the Fat Man because he is fat. His beer belly extends forward a distance of one or two feet, and when positioned correctly, it can block out the sun. Because of the height of the railing on the dice table and the size of the Fat Man’s girth, when the Fat Man leans over the table’s rail, his belly can block the stickman’s view of the entire half of the table onto which the dice are thrown. To do this effectively, the Fat Man plays the position on the table directly at the Stickman’s right-hand side. The Fat Man stands close enough to the Stickman so that their elbows would touch were they both to extend them.

While the Fat Man’s waist measurement is of considerable interest, it’s his style of play that defines his expertise and contribution to the enterprise. The Fat Man plays Place Bets on the Inside or just the Six and Eight. He also raises his bets on “last-second hunches.” It’s his action of raising his bets at the “last-second” that allows him to use his belly to block the Stickman’s view of the dice as the land on that side of the table. Just as the shooter is releasing the dice, the Fat Man leans across the table with a handful of chips and yells, “Raise my Six and Eight!!!” and slams his chips on the layout in a messy pile. The Stickman cannot see the dice being tossed, as the Fat Man’s belly blocks his entire view, and the baseman is too concerned with the Fat Man’s last-second, slapdash demand to pay any attention to what the dice do, or rather, what the dice don’t do.

What the dice “don’t do” defines the second member’s expertise and contribution to the take-off enterprise.