Trip 6
Day one
Well, it's been a while since I was last here and I'm not sure what I'll find. The great rules in my favourite place were changed months ago, which is why I didn't come back here sooner. It does look like they've been hit too, the cut is even worse than it was before. I'm not surprised as it was a card counter convention last year,
So many players found the game that it was unlikely to last for long. One of the other counters told me that the casino had lost around $300,000 on blackjack in the previous few months. I don't know if that's true and I didn't see many players playing very heavy but it 's possible with the rule that they had. They had started barring players though, so I hoped that the casino management would keep those rules a little longer. I had escaped being barred despite being well ahead, probably because of a nightmare start on my first trip there. Alas, they evidently decided they'd taken too much punishment and I got word shortly after my last trip there that the rules had been changed.
I've flown in here quite late so I'm not going to play tonight. I'll just check out a few places to see what the conditions are.
I go into casino A, formerly of the great rules. I sit down at the only table open and play the minimum allowed. They don't seem to have recognised me, which
is good since I'm playing a lot smaller than usual in order to find out the extent of the rule changes. Wow, the cut card goes straight in at the half-shoe mark. No manager has come over to the table to tell the dealer to do that and he didn’t seem to recognise me so this must be the standard cut in this place now.
I play for a short time; the rules are the same except for the best one. I'll come back tomorrow to see if other dealers are cutting the same amount of cards out of the shoe.
With the rule change the game is borderline playable for me. There must be better conditions than this elsewhere in town. The cut is generally bad all over town. There are several casinos here but the competition does not appear to improve the cut anywhere. Some places give a reasonable cut until they see any kind of money on the table and change it as a knee-jerk reaction, rather than through suspicion of the player.
Others give a bad cut to everyone regardless. This is now the case with casino A. They obviously don't want too take any risks with blackjack, even though this may cost them profit because they now shuffle more often and therefore spend less time actually dealing the game. With the rule change the game is borderline playable for me.
I walk a few minutes to Casino B. I fully expect them to give me a bad cut once the big bets come out as I’ve seen them do it to someone who was betting big but who was an awful player. In the event I don't get the chance. The professional's nemesis: Shuffle machines! Fortunately they only seem to have one machine so if I opened a high limit table I'd probably get a regular shoe. Since they are likely to worsen the conditions on a normal game I'm not too worried as it's unlikely I'd have a good game there for long in any case but the presence of machines threaten to start a disturbing trend in a city that was previously free of them.
Day Three
I've checked out a few more casinos now and I've found one with a cut a little worse than 2 decks out of 6. Not ideal but better than the others. They were
quite tolerant yesterday as they didn't worsen the cut when they saw the big bets, as I had expected them to. It's rather quiet and for much of the time I am the only player in the casino. This is good in that I'm heads up against the dealer but it does mean that the managers have little to do besides watch me play. If they see my bet jump up too much they could get suspicious. Fro this reason I tend not to bet quite so aggressively and won't go from a small bet to my biggest one if they are there, especially if I've been betting small for some time before or if it's near the end of the shoe
As there is awareness that card counters bet big nearer the end of the shoe, by which time a profitable accumulation of high value cards may have occurred. This manager has seen me a bet big a few times now and any variation in the cut is coming from the different dealers rather than any management decision. I have a nice win tonight and leave at around 2AM.
Day 5
I have decided to explore another town, since the conditions available in the capital could be better than they are. I had a small win last night and I don’t know if the casino will take much more action if I keep winning. I’m still the only player in the place most of the time, although the management still appear friendly enough. In addition, I haven’t booked any accommodation in the capital and it will be more expensive than the rate on the Internet. Outside the capital, you can probably get a decent room cheaply for the walk-up rate.
The town I visit is only a short train journey away. I got a tip from a dealer in another country who is from this town that there are 4 casinos here, so I’ve come in the hope that at least one will have a game at least as attractive as any in the capital. I don’t know what any of them are like as the dealer wouldn’t be drawn by my casual enquiries and I didn’t want to insist for fear of showing myself too interested in BJ rules in other countries and jeopardising my game there. It’s always something of a gamble visiting these places and often you’ve made a wasted trip but you find a good game often enough to make it worthwhile. Some information can be gained from the Internet, but in my experience none of the casino listing sites are completely accurate and some can be seriously out of date. Even if the information is accurate about a casino there is rarely any information about the rules or conditions so there is no substitute for checking out the place yourself unless you receive reliable information from another player.
Well, the information I got from the dealer in another country is sort of true. There are indeed 4 casinos if you include two places that are actually slot machine halls, which happen to have a roulette or two and blackjack table. In the event neither of these places seem to be using those tables in any case but I get the names of two other places from the employee in one of them. The first name he gives me I know about and have already checked and is not really favourable: fairly standard rules, small maximum. The second one I check out and it looks like a slot machine place as well. It has 2 roulette and a blackjack and I’m asked to come back later as not open yet even though we’re already well into the evening. I don’t hold out much hope in any case, small places like these rarely have good conditions.
Then again, there are always exceptions. To my surprise the maximum is quite high, greater than the main casino in town. I notice from the chips that it is part of one of the smaller casino groups in this country, so they may be able to take the action. They obviously aren’t used to many big players however because as soon as I put fairly small amounts on, way short of the maximum, one of the managers almost rushes over to see. I envisage really getting some attention when the big bets go on and sure enough, I’m playing to the gallery before long. Three managers are watching me. I start winning, not massive amounts, only about $2000 but enough for them to go to get a new fill of large chips as the tray isn’t really equipped for bets of this size, the biggest chips they had in the tray to start with were worth around $30. They are sweating the action a little.
An hour in and I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable. I’ve had managers sweat the action before but not as blatantly. I have a bad shoe and they relax a little. This is soon followed by an even worse one, the count went up and up, so the big cards I was betting for didn’t come out until later on in the shoe, then the dealer kept getting the tens and aces. I’m behind, only one manager is watching me now. The luck goes back and forth. At one point I’m losing $3000, then recover to evens before falling back. The atmosphere in the pit is now fine, one manager in particular is quite talkative, he makes a few comments about the game and we have a laugh and a joke now and then. The cut if anything has improved they’re happy enough to see me bet. Because of the late start, tiredness begins to catch up with me and I decide to leave having worked fewer hours than I normally would in a session. I end up $2000 down. I hope that I have established myself as a wild player in the minds of the managers, so that the conditions I had tonight can continue for a few more days.
Day6
They seem comfortable with me now, perhaps because I lost last night. The young guy who seems to be in charge was very friendly all night, even when I started winning. Early on he even asked me (in a very friendly way) how and why I decided to increase my bet. I told him I increased if I felt it was going to be a good shoe depending on whether the early hands were good or not, trying to spot a lucky streak. He seemed satisfied with that and didn’t push for anything more specific.
I can’t work out if all those guys are managers are just pit bosses. There are a lot of them for such a small place if they are managers, but they dress fairly casually, no tie, no suit except for the one who does seem to be in charge, so I don’t know if they are pit bosses. I had four them watching me at one point. I pretended to do look around a double take at them all watching the game but they just thought I needed another drink and called the waitress. I wonder if they realise that even normal players can find this attention disconcerting, I imagine not. I’ve known cases however where big losing players have stopped going to a particular casino due to such scrutiny. People like to feel comfortable after all, and not feel they’re doing anything suspicious simply because they bet big.
Anyhow, the money goes back and forth, I’m playing in local currency and at one point I have to change some more. After about three hours I get another player at the table. He subscribes to the to the suicide box technique beloved of some idiot players whereby a minimum bet is placed in addition to one or more larger ones. The player then uses the hand with this small bet to attempt to change the subsequent cards the dealer receives, often by crazy moves, such as hitting on hard 20, or splitting 10s against a 10. Having said that, this guy was not afraid of hitting soft 20 v 10 on his big bet.
The manager has replaced the dealer a few times. He says he likes to do it because I play an exciting game. Amazingly, he gives the best cut in the place, a deck off the back! This seems to have an effect on one of the other dealers but not all. I finish strongly and end up winning slightly more than I lost the day before.
Day 7
Managers all very friendly as I walk in, smiling and shaking my hand despite the fact I’m now winning a little against their casino. YM deals quite a lot, still with the great cut. Evidently thinks I play on “feeling” rather than any particular system but does tell me I’m a “dangerous player” because my bet goes up and down so much. I’m not worried since he says it with a smile on his face. It’s just a pity that some of the dealers don’t follow his lead and I’m surprised he hasn’t told them to cut like him. Perhaps he would rather them all deal a standard way to everyone and not think about that should have a better cut or not. It would have made a nice change nevertheless, since casino managers and pit bosses are quick enough to spread the word if they think I should get a worse cut than everyone else, so to have one hold the opposite view is extremely welcome. I have a couple of bad shoes near the end and finish $2000 down.
Hand of the day: big count, 2 x $200, YM sees I have big bets out and comes over to have a look. I get 20 and 77 v 5. I split the sevens, YM says “ two doubles!” “Do you think so?” I reply. “Yes” he says, “ two ten doubles”. Picture on the first hand, 7 on the other. Split the sevens again. 3 for 10 double. 10 on the double for 20. On the third seven I catch another 3. “How did you know?” I say laughing to YM. I double the 10 again for another picture. So I have a 17 with 200 on and three twenties, with 1000 on between them, for 1200 in all. Dealer draws: ace, eight, two, five. Her 21 beats everything, YM shakes his head in sympathy. “Did you know that would happen as well?” I ask. YM walks back to the roulette chuckling at my comment and leaves me to my six-bet loss on one hand that shows the difference one little card can make. If the last card had been a six or higher I would now be 12 bets better off. Only a 4 or 5 could have resulted in a loss on the hand, with a 4 much more preferable. Such moments show why this life is not for everyone, think about such things and you’ll go crazy.
Day 8
YM not in, the other managers/ pit bosses are there and also another guy, who appears to travel between different casinos of the group. Unsurprisingly, he is at my side all night, dealing to me occasionally (but unfortunately with a worse cut than YM). A bad start, I have to change more money up, but then a good run gets most of the night’s deficit back. Then the upswing comes, a few shoes where the dealer cannot make a hand, and is busting whatever the upcard. They get a new fill then another. The stack is growing, to deplete it a bit I go and buy back my currency I changed with the chips I have won.
Hand of the day: big count, 2x $200, I get 2,2 and 6,2 against a five. I split the pair of twos. Ace on the first one, double for another ace. Ace on the second one, I double for a picture. The count is high enough to double the eight so I do so, for a six. Not a decent hand amongst them. Dealer Draws: picture, picture for a $1200 win. Good to get a bust when you need one on a big hand like that.
Day Nine
I decided to check out another town.I originally intended to stay where I was for another night but with that big win I thought I’d leave it, a small casino will hurt from that result as it is and I don’t want to get barred from there if it means losing the one in the capital as well. In addition I felt rather exposed playing with big in a small place, especially when cashing out when it took a long time because they didn’t have many high denomination notes. You stand out and I didn’t feel 100% safe. After my big win word could get around a that I play with lots of money and someone could be waiting for me when I leave. So on the train I go, but there’s not much there, two places are quite interesting but the limits are too low.
Day 10
Back to the capital as I fly to another country tomorrow. Unfortunately it takes a lot longer to get there than I was led to believe on the internet. The departure times are different which means I arrive at the station much too early and have to wait, rather than staying in bed a little longer. The journey back is arduous, as I change trains in time to see my connecting train leave costing me another hour. At least I get to have lunch. Finally at my destination, I check in a try to get some sleep but cannot drift off. I'm not in an alert enough state to play so that’s another day gone. An early night then.
Day 11
Sometimes you get small signs that it won’t be your day. Checkout at my hotel is at 11AM, not the usual 12PM and my plane doesn’t leave for a few more hours so I try to negotiate a later departure at reception but they are intransigent. I pack, leave my bags and check my email before having lunch. Now it’s more or less time to leave. When you take as many flights as I do you try to avoid spending too much time at the airport so I tend to check in a little later than the recommended 2 hours before, especially if I’m near the airport and any delay is unlikely to cost too much time and make me too late. However I have nothing else to do so I might as well go now. Naturally, there being absolutely no time pressure, I make it to the airport in super quick time. I check in, wander around the concourse, look at the duty free, read my book, take my place near the gate, see that it’s nearly time to board and then almost immediately that the flight is delayed. Half an hour and we go through to board, but have to wait in the tunnel outside the plane doors for about 10 minutes. Nobody is going in at all. Then we get called back to the gate and have to wait some more. I’ve never seen this before. When we are allowed to go through again it’s quite chaotic because some of us have already given our boarding cards and only have the counterfoil. Some people just wave this at the boarding staff who try to make everyone show their stubs but can’t really inspect them as those who gave their boarding passes before are just strolling through.
At the other end it takes an eternity for the bags to appear on the carousel. Mine finally come and I go through to be approached by a taxi driver. This is where I nearly get fleeced. I should really have known better, since the taxis usually pull up and you get in , but some airports have accredited taxi drivers standing by, and he appears to have airport ID. This only my second time to this airport and the first at this terminal so I’m not certain about the system and agree to go with him. He’s parked nearby. We get in, he turns on the radio and I wait for him to turn on the meter but there doesn’t appear to be one. I ask him to turn it on but he says “it’s just one fixed price to the city” I ask him how much. “One fixed price anywhere in the city”. I ask gain. He casually gives me a price which is the equivalent to $50. The normal rate from the airport is less than $10. I leave the car as if it’s on fire and I’m round the back taking my bags out in an instant, at which the driver complains that I had got out when the door was locked. I suppress the urge to ask him why I was in that caseable to get out or tell him that I wouldn’t have done so were he not a robbing so-and-so. I cross towards the legitimate taxis and see the bus ready to leave for the centre. In a fit of frugality I get on. It’s crowded and I can’t really see out. I recognise a landmark close to my hotel but I can’t gauge how close I am since the view is obstructed. The only way is to get out and see. I do of course I am about two stops away for where I want to be and have to walk the rest of the way with my luggage. With everything I get to my hotel significantly later than intended.
A few hours sleep, a shower and a meal later and I’m ready to play. It’s past midnight but the casinos here are open particularly late so I’ll still get a decent session in. The first place I go to is busy, they have some kind of function on, lots of people all dressed up. One blackjack table becomes empty so I sit down and ask for the limit to be raised. To my surprise they refuse, probably because they don’t want to price a lot of people off the table. At that limit it isn’t really worth it especially since there probably will be other players on it who will slow the game down. I walk 15 minutes to the other one. More time lost. At least they open the table, and I have no luck. On my first big hand I get a pair of aces against a ten. I split them, for an eight on each. The dealer makes 20. That’s the closest I get to being in profit on the night. By the end I’m $9000 down. As I said, sometimes your luck just isn’t in whatever you do. Oh well, better to have a bad one at the start of your time at a place rather than at the end. This way there is plenty of time to recover and the management will be more relaxed if they see you lose first. Plus it feels much better to recover a loss than to get ahead early then lose it back.
Day 13
The last two days have been much better. I’m nearly level since I got here. The cut has started to move, which is especially irritating because I’m still losing against this casino this trip. I’m not sure whether the management have decided this or just the dealers wanting to protect the game. They still open another table when I want it in any case. Some dealers are much worse than others but perhaps they have been told to cut at a certain level and estimates of this vary.
Day 14
I change hotels as it’s rather noisy (and expensive) in the centre. As is often the case, the quality rises and the price decreases the further from the city you get. I play the other casino for the first time this trip. It’s smaller than the other one so I didn’t play here much last time. I play and start winning a little. Very soon a manager starts watching, quite rare for this place. What’s worse, he doesn’t seem friendly at all. At one point he leaves the pit only to sit at one of the empty tables and watch some more. I don’t get to put any more big bets on for a long time and still he watches. Then another player comes and really slows the game down so I leave. I say goodbye to the manager and meet with only another vaguely hostile stare. What is irritating is that I lost there on my last trip, so it can’t be the case that he remembered me winning from then. He just appears to have taken an instant dislike to me on very little evidence.
At the larger one (casino C) I have a reasonable win. I have dinner then go to casino D. As it’s later now, the shift will have changed and that hostile manager will probably have left. This is the case, and they are just opening a table as I walk in. I sit down and play. It goes back and forth but after a couple of hours I get a bad run. I’m tired now and leave having lost around half my win from Casino C. I can’t seem to get a decent run at this place and I’m getting heat. Not exactly the best of all worlds.
Day 18
It’s been more of the same here. Casino C is giving me a much better game and as a bonus they give me a private table without me asking for it. I’m getting frustrated though because I can hardly win a big bet if I don’t hit an ace.
Day 20
I’m walking a great distance between the casinos trying to find a decent dealer. When I do it makes it worthwhile but I’m spending more time than I intended looking for a decent situation.
Day 22
I’ve decided to head out of the capital. The problem I found last time I went to another city in this country was the low limits. I’m going to a tourist town so I hope there’ll be enough money around for there to be higher limits. I miss the first train I want to catch despite allowing a reasonable amount of time to buy a ticket because the queues are so slow-moving at the station. They aren’t particularly long as all the kiosks are open (quite unusual in my experience), but everybody in front of me seems to have a particularly complicated enquiry to make. Not for the first time I find myself thinking that they shouldn’t allow this, especially with the internet, or at least have one booth where such enquiries aren’t permitted. I saw such an arrangement in Germany once and it worked well. This is why I bought my ticket at a travel agent the last time I travelled outside the capital, but I decided to leave late last night when everything was closed. Not to worry, I find a café and surf the net for a while. The journey is fine. Direct train to my destination, short taxi ride to the hotel. I catch up on my sleep.
I walk into the first casino. Good news: there is a sign for a higher limit. Bad news: no sidebet on the second table. This sidebet is what makes this game good (NB A sidebet is an optional bet that may be played in addition to your main blackjack bet. Uusally there is a rule limiting the amount to that bert on the main blackjack wager or a specific, smaller set of limits). I sit down and play and after a shoe ask for the higher limit. The manager agrees and tells another dealer to open the other table. I assume this is for any players who come in later wanting to play smaller, but it turns out they want me to change tables. I am surprised and of course disappointed as there is no sidebet on that one. I ask why he can’t just raise the limit on the one I’m already playing on but he says others may want to play small. I tell him he could then open that table but he said that the float is different. I have never heard this before and have no choice but to stay where I am and player the middle limit they have. After a few hours I get another player. With the game slowed down and the lower limts I leave for dinner.
After my meal I get back to see the first table empty but the second being played. I ask for the limit I played earlier but now can’t even have that since they are playing that limit on other table. I go to the next town over, 15 minutes away. I enter the casino fully expecting to be turned away since I’ve had trouble casinos of the same group in the capital and although I was never barred I had been told not to play blackjack when I went to another city in another of the group’s casinos. To my surprise I get in and they open a high limit table for me without any problem. The game is good. After an hour I’m about even and the manager comes over and says, “We’ve had information you’re not to play blackjack in this casino”. I’m surprised that it took an hour. Presumably my name is flagged on their computer system so if it didn’t come up when I went in, how did it come up later? Did an alarm go off somewhere in their headqaurters in the capital? I don’t say anything, just pick up my chips and go to the cage to cash them in. The manageress and a couple of heavies are still looming near and the atmosphere is distinctly uncomfortable. I don’t know what they expect me to do to warrant this type of measure. A pity, I reckon I could have had a good few days there at least. I’m didn’t even win much from them in the capital. They just panicked because there was another professional around at the time. It shows sometimes it doesn’t pay to play a place too long if they appear nervous at your play. Even so, for a group that size, they’ve scared very easily.
Day 23
Two down, one to go. The last and smallest of the three places in the area is left. Same situation as the other one: only one table with the sidebet but a big limit on it. This time I do get the limit I want on the table I want. What a great game. I have a nice win. I leave early as I’m tired. Normally I would have dinner but I didn’t want to risk someone else coming and lowering the limit, so I played longer in one stretch and tired myself our much more quickly. I’m not sure how long they’ll take this action as it is a quiet casino but I’ll stay for a couple more days at least if I can.
Day 24
It’s amazing how many dealers can’t shuffle properly. I hit a lot of good cards and have a nice win.
Day 25
I’m still in the town with the smaller casino and I go in early to try to get the bigger limit on the table I need with a different manager. If not I can always play smaller and then take a break before going to the other one. As it happens I don’t even get the table at $5 because before they even open the table someone else arrives wanting to play small. If he had come once the game was in progress they wouldn’t have lowered the limit but as it hadn’t started they can’t raise it for me now. If I make a fuss they’ll probably give me the other table without the sidebet. So it’s an early dinner for me. When I finish my meal there’s still some time before the other one opens so I got back to the one I tried earlier. The table is empty now but they still won’t give me the big limit so I play the middle limit and spread to 4 spots at high counts. I lose around $1000.
I go to the other one and get asked what limit I want. When I tell the manager, she tries to give me the other table with the bigger float but no sidebet and am forced to tell her why I want the first one. The game goes pretty well, quite steady. After 3 hours someone else comes and am forced to count. This coincides with a terrible run. I get tired so I take a taxi back to where I’m staying. I decide to look in on the larger one to see if I can get a quick hour’s play before going to bed as it’s nearby and if there are players on it ( especially with the lowest limit) I won’t have wasted much time or effort checking it out. Since I’m leaving to stay near the other one this will probably be the last time I play here, so I may as well try to get some of the money back I have lost against this casino. With today’s result so far I’m about level against the other one so I’m down since I arrived in this area.
When I walk in the table is being played on the lowest limit but with just one player at the table. I decide to back count and jump in for one shoe and then leave. As it happens, the one player leaves before the end of the second shoe just as I’m thinking of leaving. I have the limit raised to the middle maximum and play that shoe out and get a high count on the next one and win a few big bets. The cut is so good I’m getting some high counts near the end of the shoe. After an hour I get another high count.The dealer busts on the last hand of the shoe, I have four boxes at the maximum with a few splits and doubles so it’s a big hand. This forces the dealer to pay me in smaller denomination chips as I’ve emptied the float of all the biggest ones (they refilled it after the first full shoe I played). Their biggest denomination chip is worth about $25 so I’m not that far ahead. Other places in the same casino group have lager value chips so I don’t know why this place doesn’t. I have some trouble taking the chips to the cash desk, in various pockets, you’d think I’ve broken the bank at Monte Carlo rather than had a reasonable run for an hour.
Day 26
I move hotels back to near the smaller casino which gives me the bigger limits. Despite the late opening this is the one I should focus on. I find a reasonably priced hotel just around the corner. I turn up at opening time to be told I can’t enter. I ask why and he tells me “It’s special”, apparently from the capital. How annoying. You lose on the day and still get barred. Admittedly not by the place where I lost the money yesterday but it’s still irritating. Why the casino in the capital should bar me almost a week after I played there is strange but not unheard of, sometimes the managers at a casino have a meeting at which they decide such things rather than acting straight away. Even so, I wasn’t winning much and I had felt no heat whatsoever. It crosses my mind that my good run at the bigger place here last night could have had an affect, but the win wasn’t big at all, especially since I had lost in the afternoon. I decide to go there to see how they react. I remember that I have some small value chips that will have to be cashed in, so I may as well try to get in.
Any doubts as to the origin of the decision to bar me disappear as soon as I hand over my ID to get in to the larger place. The receptionist takes one look at my passport (I had used this ID rather than the one I normally use in the faint hope that the computer would only pick up the number rather than the name) and says I can’t go in, unlike at the other place where everything seemed fine until my details were entered on the PC. She had obviously been told to look out for my name. I explain I have chips to exchange and eventually one of the managers comes. He’s very friendly and while I’m cashing out I ask him why I have been barred and straight away he answers “Because you’re counting cards”. I say something about seeing a few low cards come out and betting and he replies that it wasn’t his decision but that of his boss. I ask if I’m barred from any others without mentioning I’d already been to the other one in the next town and he says he thinks it is a group barring As he’s escorting me to the exit I mention that I’m curious why I was barred since I had lost in the afternoon before having that good hour at the last. He says he knows I lost in the afternoon and also that I had lost at the other one. “Yes” I reply, “ a lot”. He repeats that it wasn’t his decision. It just goes to show that one paranoid manager can cost you many more games than the one at their casino. With the two main groups closed to me in this country there’s not much left here for me now. Time to consider my options over a consolation beer or two.
Day 27
I take the train back to the capital slightly hung over. I only had three of those beers but the local brew is evidently strong stuff. Worse, I’m prevented from sleeping because the compartment is full so there’s not much room adjusting to adjust my position. I can see the attraction of first class now, it’s nothing great in comparison to second but you’ll almost certainly have more room. As it is we are eight people and a dog ( who fortunately is sufficiently small and well behaved to lie under the seat, except when the Alsatian from further up the corridor passes by later on). For over four hours we are like this, I do actually manage to drop off briefly but sleeping upright is rarely satisfactory. Even if I were able to play tonight I wouldn’t be in a state to play for long.
On the remote chance that it’s only a local barring I try to get in to the casinos once I’m back in the capital. I try my little trick again with the passport but of course the name is enough. “You can’t come in” is becoming something of a theme. At least this receptionist is fairly sympathetic about it. “I thought so” I reply with a smile.
That’s that then as far as this country is concerned. The only thing to decide now is whether to go back to the country where I began this trip or to go home. Home it is. I only had a few days left here in any case due to commitments elsewhere and I feel I’ve done enough miles this trip already without another journey for the sake of a day or two. It’s a sour end to what has been a good trip in terms of the win. I’m still slightly annoyed at myself for getting barred from a whole group of casinos with a potentially great game for one lousy hour at the blackjack table. Spreading to four hands does look suspicious but in my defence I didn’t win much and I wouldn’t have returned to the larger casino- win or lose- because I was changing hotels and towns the following day and I wouldn’t have risked pointless taxi rides for the game they were giving me there. You don’t usually go from zero heat to barring that quickly especially since I was losing at that place up to then. Ah well, no use thinking about that now, I have a week or two in which to relax and not think about blackjack.
Postscript
In a rather fitting end to my time in the country where I finished the trip, I get a parting shot of a 5 hour delay to my flight to send me on my way. And then it doesn’t even land where it was scheduled to because of bad weather. Certainly a trip that could have ended more pleasantly.
I have a couple of nights in my stopover city and more in hope than expectation decide to check out some of the casinos here. This new country has never been known for its good conditions but things do change, so an hour or two out of my day could be worth it. There’s a different layout than normal due to a sidebet. I’ve not seen this one before so I ask about it and because the minimum is quite high I take this opportunity to inquire about it and the blackjack rules without playing. In this situation I normally play the minimum and ask about the possibility of various options as they arise so as not to arouse too much suspicion if I come in soon after playing much bigger. Due to the high minimum however I would rather not risk losing a significant sum in order to find out it’s a normal game. Straight away I see a bonus not normally offered. It’s worth a huge amount. I ask the staff many questions in order to discover what the drawback is. One is that the sidebet which is unfamiliar to me is compulsory but the amounts wagered on that and the blackjack do not have to be related. This apart all other rules are regular. My instinct is that a minimum wager on the sidebet would still result in a large advantage for the player betting big on the normal blackjack. I decide to play a few hands at the minimum to check out a few more rules since I don’t want them to remember me as the guy who came in asking lots of questions without playing when I come in the following day betting big. First shoe: the count goes up, as you would expect I lose the bets as the low value cards come out. I resist the temptation to increase my bet as it’s not worth showing them a betspread with small stakes when it’s almost certain that the rules are so good I’ll be flat betting off the top if I play it seriously. In any case it is a risk to play big before having seen the cards spread in a new casino. The count continues to rise. It gets to +16 by the end of the shoe and doesn’t decrease much. The second shoe goes much the same way. I’m now a little suspicious as I don’t know this place. The mimimum is relatively high so I’m burning quite a lot of money for just a reconnaissance session. When the count starts to go up on the next shoe I decide to stop and just back count as there is now another player. Same thing happens, small cards all the time and the dealer hardly busts at all, and very few blackjacks, count stays around its highest level. I stick around for one more shoe. No change on that one either. I leave the casino with a heavy heart, fabulous rules but do they deal an honest game? I have been in situations when the count has gone up and up for several consecutive shoes and the game has been fine, but it’s rare. Then again, so are casinos that deal incomplete or incorrect shoes. The only thing for it is to arrive at the casino before it opens so that I am sure of seeing the cards spread before the first shuffle of the day. Once I see that all the cards are there, that there are as many high value cards as low value ones I will be reassured.
The Next Day…
I arrive just before the place opens. I get onto the gaming floor and only the baccarat table has dealers at it. I ask when the blackjack will open and am told to wait about 15 minutes. After half an hour there is still no sign of blackjack being opened. The Baccarat has now started and the stud poker is almost full. I ask the pit boss again, he tells me to ask the manager. I do so and he says he’ll only open it when there are more players. I ask him if he would open it if I agreed to play at higher stakes. We agree a minimum level and he goes to summon a dealer. The dealer comes out and takes the cards out of the shoe and begins to shuffle. “Don’t you spread the cards at the beginning?” I ask. “No, we don’t do that here.” He replies.
-“Why not? Other casinos do it.”
- “That’s just the way we do it here”
- “Well, can’t you show them to me anyway?”
- “No, I can’t do that.”
- “Why not? I am the only player here. No one else will be affected if you spread the cards?”
- “They’ve already been checked.” A blatant lie, the cards were already in the shoe before the table was even opened.
I request the cards be spread yet again. The manager, becoming increasingly agitated asks me to lower my voice, even though it is he who has raised his. He is evidently anxious that this doubtful (at best) practice remain largely unknown. He then claims that the table has already been opened and the cards checked then. This is an obvious untruth since it contradicts his earlier comment about blackjack being opened when there are more players who want it and because the casino has still only been open an hour. I point out that I’ve in the place since before the gaming room opened and he realises he has been caught in a lie and simply stonewalls. He does however follow me out and I think he asked the receptionist who I was just as I was leaving. Thus I may have got myself barred without playing a serious hand of BJ. I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t keep my composure enough to refrain from making it obvious that I knew he was lying, and by extension cheating, so perhaps incurring an unnecessary barring, but then again if as seems likely, it’s a cheating casino, it doesn’t matter anyway. It still leaves a sour taste though. I’ll research whether I could report them to anyone for cheating.
posted by The Jugador at 4:40 AM
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