Chapter 120 The Peach Picker

The Wizards' cold win in Los Angeles didn't affect the casinos in Las Vegas at all.

Cards slid across a long green table. Aces, Kings, Diamonds, Spades—all losers. The man sitting at table 23 had been losing for over an hour now, shedding what for most people might be a lifetime of savings.

"Keep 'em coming, deal me in, deal me!" Michael Jordan commanded, pushing another $5,000 chip forward. He loved the game, but even more, he craved the intensely exhilarating brand of gambling. He reveled in moments of soaring adrenaline, an intense rush inaccessible to most mortals.

After being sidelined for the season, the thirst for thrills drove him to the blackjack table on the night the Wizards were challenging the Lakers in their own court, here in Las Vegas, where he sought to forget about the minutiae of life in the city that never sleeps.

"Deal me in," he continued to the attractive dealer.