Stupid High School Stories - Gambling Ring

In a previous bulletin, I brought up the fact that I (kinda) started a gambling ring when I was in high school. Really, this was more of just one group that would play blackjack or poker at the lunch tables. 

There was a lot of dumb within that era of high school that for some reason lasted from the first few weeks of sophomore year, all the way to graduation. So I really let this thing be a big part of my life for three years lmao

This also kinda doubles as how I started hanging out with most of the people I was with throughout high school.

Whole thing started over the summer, entering sophomore year.  I was in a discord server with some of my friends. It was kind of awkward, like, I knew maybe three of them personally. The rest, I had basically met online. 

Over that summer, I started collecting playing card decks, for whatever reason, and I started learning how to play card games like poker, blackjack, and caravan (which I still *barely* understand). 

So school starts and I’m still really awkward around these people. Thank God I had my two best friends who really helped me open up to these people. A few weeks into the school year passed and I really got along with my new group of friends. I made the suggestion of playing card games, which no one knew how to play. After some explaining the rules to blackjack, we got to playing and that’s how my dumb gambling ring got started. 

As I said before, we pretty much never bet any real money on gambling, and if we did, we used quarters. And even if I did bring actual poker chips, they were basically there just for funsies XD 

It was kinda funny, I spent most of my classes and lunch periods playing blackjack with different people for three years. I know some of my teachers didn’t like it. I remember hearing “would you PLEASE put the cards away” so many times, especially in 7th period sophomore and junior year. 

First story, 

I got card games banned in JROTC at my school

I don’t even know why, but I was in JROTC my first three years of high school. It wasn’t really JROTC, but it’s easier to just call it that. Anyway, COVID lockdown ends, my sophomore year and the gambling ring starts, and I start playing card games in almost every class. This was fine with most of my teachers, even the JROTC instructor. I still got my work done and passed most of my classes. First semester goes on and everythings fine. Second semester starts and that’s when the card games become a problem. I still pass my classes, and even do better than the previous semester, but I guess that wasn’t good enough for the instructor, cause she started giving me shit over the cards. No matter, I still do my work and play my games. I still passed that semester so I think things were okay. And then I made the mistake of signing up for JROTC for a third year. After summer ends and junior year starts, within the first week I notice that the instructor became a lot more strict. I’m pretty sure after the first time I tried playing blackjack that school year, I would constantly get threatened to have them confiscated, which sucked. So I, and I assume everyone else, was banned from playing card games :( 

I think the dumbest thing that happened in this gambling ring took place in senior year. This took place in March, I think. I was in third period and the teacher was absent that day. Because our school was broke and treated its teachers and substitutes like shit, no one subbed in for my class, so we ended up sitting in the student union building (which was basically our cafeteria). I was with another group of friends, who I’d also play card games with. There were other classes that were missing teachers and substitutes, so there were about five total classes in the SU that period. My friends brought in some other dude from another class, we were all playing card games for the whole period. This time, we actually made bets, but with quarters and snacks, for whatever reason. At some point, the dude who my friends got along just decided to be a little shit and steal my deck of cards. I mean, I had another deck, so we could keep playing, but what was even the point of being an asshole to someone you just met? 

This next bit might be a bit petty, but I was feeling kinda pissy, plus we all sorta messed with each other in that friend group anyway, so I thought I may as well keep it consistent. Because I knew he wasn’t gonna give me my deck back, I thought it’d be funny if I took something he had. I don’t even know how I even got away with it, I’m like the least sneaky person ever. I opened his backpack and took his lunch. Soon as I grabbed it, instant regret, the thing smelled like ass. I ended up just giving most of the dude’s lunch away to my friends, and then put his lunch bag in the lost and found. This story barely had anything to do with the gambling, I just thought it was stupid and it was probably the most recent story.

Thinking about it now, I don’t think I would have been as close to my friends as I was, had I not introduced them to card games. The way I connected with people the easiest was through games of blackjack. Card games had brought me close to so many people throughout high school and even introduced me to new friends !! ^_^

 An ex-friend had said *he* was the reason why I even had friends in high school (my whole thing with that is a story for another time), but it was really the card games that helped me connect with so many people in high school.