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Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and Rockford legend Rick Nielsen won the first hand of blackjack ever dealt at the Rockford Casino on a remarkable hand, but at my table, a little ways away, carnage ensued.
I was sitting at a table that included state Sen. Dave Syverson, his wife, Lori, and WIFR-23 news anchor Mike Garrigan. We were among the invited guests Monday night to what was an Illinois Gaming Board-monitored test of new table games at the Hard Rock Opening Act.
Hey, it’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it.
Hard Rock Casino Rockford President Geno Iafrate said that since the day the temporary casino opened, the No. 1 most requested additional amenity has been table games. Well, starting Wednesday, the Rockford Casino is offering live blackjack, Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em and Three Card Poker.
“This is a big step,” Iafrate said. “I think it’s exciting to get it open here because we are going to have a big table game operation at the big joint. Being able to start getting experienced dealers through here and an experienced table game operation on a smaller scale, we’ll be able to just scale it up when we move it down the street.”
More:Live blackjack could be in cards for temporary Rockford Casino
The addition of live table games resulted in more than 20 new jobs at the Rockford Casino, bringing the current count to about 300.
On Monday night, the players waited for Nielsen to have the honor of the inaugural hand before Hard Rock allowed cards to fly. Nielsen was dealt a pair of 10s with the dealer showing a four and flipping a face card for 14. The dealer took two more cards and ultimately busted.
A crowd that gathered around the rock star unleashed a raucous cheer.
Finally, we could play. Only problem was we couldn’t win a hand at our table. The first two hands dealt, the dealer hit 21.
“He almost cleaned us out,” Syverson said.
No matter what was dealt, the dealer seemed to have the table beat. Even a blackjack on one hand was a mere push. We must have lost the first three or four consecutive hands of the night and my meager chip stack was disappearing fast.
I lost $10 on a Q-5 when the dealer dealt himself 2-5-2-2 and then binked a 10 for 21. Garrigan — who as a blackjack player is an excellent poker player — busted out, losing when he placed what looked like $30 or $40 on a single bet.
Being a novice blackjack player myself, I frequently asked Syverson for advice.
I realized that I didn’t know what hand motions to use to signal whether I wanted another card or to stand pat. Just saying “stay” or “hit me” wasn’t good enough, we had to use the hand signals.
When I pointed out that a card had a bent corner, and tapped it to demonstrate, the dealer was apoplectic. He snapped at me not to touch the cards. He told his supervisor all about it, the bent card and, accusingly, how I had dared touch it.
Sorry, we touch cards all the time when we play poker, my favorite casino game, and we throw the dice in craps, another favorite. Blackjack is foreign territory for me.
But I soon felt I was learning the ropes and was having fun.
I was playing $50, what the Rockford Register Star was willing to reimburse if I lost. And, even though it seemed a long shot, we had chosen to donate any winnings to the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois, a friend of the newspaper and an organization that supports numerous good causes in the Rockford region.
That fifty bucks, which started as a stack of 10 brand-new, red, $5 chips was nearly gone. There was a $10 minimum bet. I may have won one or two hands at most in the first twenty minutes and in my head was drafting the version of this story in which I had to explain losing at record speed and failing to make any money for my chosen cause.
But then, after 30 minutes of playing, things changed. I won a hand here and there. I was up, I was down and then I was up again.
And once I was up past $50, I put the profit chips in my pocket. I kept $50 on the table, but anytime I made more than that, I put the profit in my pocket. There were tough decisions all the time. Do you stay or take a hit with 15 and the dealer showing a King? I still don’t know the correct answer, but trying to figure it out was fun.
I split on 7-7, putting down a second $10 bet, and won on both when the dealer busted. It started to feel like there were a lot of chips in my pocket.
When my stomach eventually started growling, I dug the chips out of my pocket and stacked them on the table.
There was $140 there.
Not too shabby: That’s my $50 back for me, a $5 tip for the dealers and $85 for the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois.
Playing blackjack at a casino in Rockford was a moment Syverson had worked toward for two decades, believing in its power to attract tourism, create jobs and produce tax revenue for state and local governments.
“Seeing all the people coming here and having fun, knowing the impact it’s having on the economy, it’s truly doing everything we anticipated and more,” Syverson said.
Jeff Kolkey can be reached at  (815) 987-1374, via email at 

jk*****@rr****.com











 and on Twitter @jeffkolkey.

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