country musicians love blackjack
Cowboy Blackjack

During Sunday’s Academy of Country Music Awards, Reporter Alison Bonaguro asked the singers/cowboys a great question about gambling.

On April 3, Academy of Country Music Awards (ACM) took place in Las Vegas. For those of you unfamiliar with country music, as I am, the ACM is one of the top award shows in the country music industry. At least that’s what I am told.

The only reporter who had a good question was Alison Bonaguro (on whose report this article is based), a journalist covering ACM for CMT. Instead of asking a bunch of cowboys who their favorite interior designer is, she asked each to share their gambling strategies. Those singers/cowboys took their time talking, at least those who made some cash, and gave some sound advice about their blackjack strategies from the previous night.

I personally have no idea who these people are but they are all apparently huge country music stars, and if they love blackjack, they sound like my kind of people:

Singer/Songwriter Josh Kelley won $1500 at the blackjack card games the previous night playing for only 15 minutes. He said that he had bigger wins in the past but claims that he isn’t much of a gambler because his wife keeps him under wraps. His wife must be a mighty fine lady, because she is wearing a new necklace today.

Singer/Songwriter John Rich said that the blackjack table was super kind to him. His advice is to leave the table when you are up and immediately buy something, otherwise you’d come back playing and give it all back. He must have had a really nice hit because he bought a $40K Ford pickup truck with his winning. He said he wasn’t betting large but played for a very long time, slowly building up his bankroll. To this reporters ears it sounds like Mr. Rich knows some smart strategies. Congratulations.

Musician Jake Owen said that he did well the past night and admitted that he enjoys playing blackjack. He said he was winning at blackjack last night and is up ‘a few hundred’, and advised blackjack players to walk away when they are up. According to him, the overall goal is to come out with more money than you walked in with, even if it’s just a few dollars more. That way you have a good time and come out on top.

Singer/Songwriter Justin Moore loves gambling and especially blackjack. He said that this year he just learned craps and was up $2000 but his wife roped him in at that point. He said that he once played blackjack in a high roller room at $1000/hand, but left after two hands or perhaps the wife got there in time.

It’s nice to see that those singers/cowboys don’t just talk the talk but also walk the walk. It just seems that instead of marrying cowgirls they married Wall Street financial planners who keep them on a short lasso. However it was nice to hear that in this age of political correctness there still some real men around who aren’t afraid to admit that they enjoy unwinding at the best casino game around – blackjack.

[Based on a cmt.com report written by Alison Bonaguro. I felt our readers will enjoy reading this. Alison Bonaguro did all the work and I did the paraphrasing and added my own spin and a word or two. She can be contacted at www.alisonbonaguro.com]