Atlantic City Man Who Has Been ‘About To Quit’ Since 2011 Says He Is Very Close Now
Walt Fennimore has announced his retirement from blackjack fourteen times. The casino has thrown him a farewell party for nine of them.
ATLANTIC CITY. Walt Fennimore, 66, a retired pipefitter, has been about to stop playing blackjack since the spring of 2011. He tells me so at a five-dollar table at the Bellwether Grand, where he has a favourite seat, a favourite dealer and, since 2014, a small brass plaque.
“This is my last season,” he says, and then, because he is a fair man, he adds that he has said that before.
The farewell tour
Fennimore’s retirements are well documented, mostly by the casino, which has marked nine of them with a farewell dinner, a commemorative chip and a voucher to come back and play the following month. A partial record:
- 2011: “After this shoe”
- 2013: “When I hit twenty-one five hands in a row”
- 2016: “If they ever move my seat”, which they did not
- 2019: “On my birthday”, which the casino marked with a cake shaped like a chip
- 2024: “Before the new carpet”, which went in without him noticing
I want to go out on top. I just need to get to the top first.
Asked what the top looks like, Fennimore said he would know it when he saw it, and that he had come within one hand of it in 2017, before the dealer drew a five.
Our investigations desk has looked at cases like his and found that the most reliable sign of a farewell is the arrival of the next voucher. Fennimore’s comes on the first of the month. He says that this time he is going to frame it.
