2007 Trip One

I’ve never been to this city before, although I used to play in this country regularly. I've just come on a social visit, but I've recieved some intersesting information from another card counter, who go it second-hand, so it's not the kind of info I'd have acted on if it I weren't coming here anyway, as it's a long way away for me. I check out the conditions in the various casinos. All fairly standard. Playable but not really worth a special trip for. However, the I haven't reached the specific casino I've been told about. Quite frankly, the information I got sounded rather too good to be true, even the friend who gave it to me was rather doubtful but having been here before he was confident I'd find some reasonable games to play.

I enter the place reported to have the good game. The information is on the whole accurate, albeit with a few differences which make it less profitable than the information indicated. nevertheless, the game looks very good. The only problem is that even midweek, the tables are crowded, so I won’t get many bets out. Those that I do make however should be very profitable. I sit down and the dealer is very sloppy, he admits that he is usually on craps rather than blackjack and it shows. Big hands, taking big handfuls when he shuffles. I get a lot of bets out and the cards I want are there but I lose.

Day Two

I need to check into a hotel closer to the casino where I’m playing. It’s the weekend and the hotel rates skyrocket between Thursday and Saturday. I find a fleapit place for two days. I won’t get comped if the game is really good in order to limit my exposure in the casino, so I want to keep those expenses low. The game is still crowded, even on the less busy shifts and I still can’t win.

Day Three

I decide to get comped. My win rate is not high enough to worry about being more exposed as a result. One bonus though, the pit boss misreads my ID and I end up with a false name. The cards are still against me and I’m not getting many bets out.

Day Seven

I’ve decided to play the graveyard shift in the hope that fewer players will mean more space and a better game. I’ve had one wining day out of six so far and on the terms of the game I’m significantly behind, although not much by normal standards. What a great game, with only one or two other players at the table, I am getting a lot more action and the hands are winning. I get back most of my deficit in that half-session.

Day 15

A very nice turnaround. Playing graveyard has been central to this. Even early on it can be busy because there are so few tables open, but there tends to be a period around 8AM between the late nighters going to bed and the day players getting up which brings a heads up game or one with just one other player. This golden hour or two sees me make lots of bets and hit a lot of good cards. This sets up my bet rate and EV for the day so it matters less that it’s less profitable later on. Of course, I’ve not won every time I’ve played early in the morning but with those conditions I’ve had some good wins and am well ahead now, having been significantly behind.

Day 16

I’ve had a few days of R&R out of town and I feel great and ready to play. I am aware that it has been a couple of weeks since I first appeared in the casino I’ve been playing most and wonder if I should do something to limit my exposure. I decide not to get rated so often and maybe only give in my card when I’m already losing on the session. I did this occasionally before I went away and the hope is that they may not have me marked down for all of my win so far.

My first session appears to contradict this however. I’m asked by the pit boss on the day shift if I want to be rated. I’ve been playing for around 30 minutes and tell him that I’ll probably be leaving shortly so it’s not worth it. On my next big bet I hit blackjack when the pit boss happens to be close by. “Ah,” he says, “That’s why you didn’t want to be rated- so when you cash out your 12,000 nobody will know who you are.” This takes me aback. That figure is very close to how much I’m up at that time. How did he know this? I’ve never seen him before, if he knows that I’m winning that much he evidently knows who I am, which makes his comment irrelevant. If that was anything other than a coincidence it also means that my efforts to disguise my win have not been altogether successful. On the plus side, if he does know all about me, it shows that they are cool with my action.

Day 19

It’s finally happened. I get on graveyard to find my favourite dealer alone on the table. This is a change from the last few days as there seemed to be at least 3 other players most of the time with averagely good dealers so the conditions haven’t been as good. Now I have the perfect situation but I can’t exploit it as I hear the command “Shuffle up” as soon as I put out my first big bet. I had a sense it was about to happen as a manager I had never seen before, possibly the shift manager, was loitering near my table, although it’s the pit boss that gave the order. It takes me by surprise because I haven’t won all that much in the past week (or indeed played as I took a break away after day 15) and I thought my exposure was still at a reasonable level. It’s the first time this has happened to me, usually you get a bad cut or get told to leave. Evidently they don’t think I’m counting cards. I decide to ask for a breakfast comp to see how the pit boss reacts and to give me an excuse to leave the table and to think how I will react. I play the next shoe in order to avoid making it too obvious. To my surprise he gives the comp without any hesitation or reluctance. I retire to the coffee shop to decide whether to go back to the blackjack again and how to react if I do and find them shuffling up on me once more.

I go back on the basis that it would look that I’ve been affected by their actions if I don’t, having played a minimum of two hours on graveyard each time I’ve played that shift previously. I play a shoe and they shuffle up on me on my next big bet. This time no command comes but the dealer simply takes the remaining cards out of the shoe and shuffles. I look around at the pit boss and ask why. He looks away but mumbles “ Management decision”. On the next shoe I have a bet early on and the shuffles comes again. There’s one other guy at the table and when he asks why I say I’ll let him play and that it’s no fun if I can’t raise my bet. I’m mildly irritated that this happened when I had great conditions and that if there had been a fuller table more comment would have come from the players.

I try the day shift. No problem! Maybe I’ll be ok on the swing shift as well. So it proves. It helps that the weekend is coming so there are more players and will be less easily noticed.

Day 20

Being the weekend hotel rates have risen and I decide to test the water by asking for a room comp. Amazingly I get it, so that must mean nothing is on the computer about me. Emboldened I go downstairs to play. Busy, but I’m against a good dealer and I’m hitting the aces regularly, although I’m not winning much. The other players have noticed too, start calling me “Mr Lucky” and one of them tells her husband that she is going to raise her bet the next time I do. Fortunately perhaps, I don’t get a bet for a while and she leaves for dinner before I bet again.

Day 22

I’m a moron. I’ve run into trouble on swing shift on my last night before leaving. Most frustrating. After the trouble on graveyard perhaps I should have played elsewhere for the final few days to be sure the game would be there for me when I came back. In my defence once I got into trouble on grave I had to find out if it was the same on the other shifts, if only to prevent me wasting a journey here the next time I’m in the country. Plus I’ve not won overall during the past week, and I’ve not played swing shift for days, so I thought swing of all shifts would be cool if the day shift was.

However, I made the mistake of coming back on the same shift a couple of hours after seeing the heat come down. Schoolboy error. Now presumably they have some good photos of me and will keep an eye out in future. What an idiot. Earlier on I had put a bet out, hit an decent hand but lost. The pit boss was eyeballing me and got on the ‘phone. I left after that but I thought the fact that I was losing on that session would give me the benefit of the doubt so I went back in later on. This time the same pit boss comes up to the different pat of the pit I was before and mumbles something to the dealer. I hear something about the shuffle but not much else. Next shoe lasts one hand only. The dealer had given me a wan, almost apologetic smile before it happened so I suspected something like this was about to happen. The next shoe is the same and the one after that. Annoyingly there’s only one other player at the table and he’s drunk so doesn’t make a fuss. Typical-usually the tables are crowded when I want to play and have a fast game. I ask the pit boss why and get “Management decision” again. I have no choice but to leave. A regular player would do the same so that won’t look strange. I think I may just have looked suspicious to that one boss as I’ve not seen him before and that it was just on that particular night that I got the heat, especially as I’ve won very little on Swing shift. At least I know to avoid swing shift now and they won’t be aware I’m back in town when I return and be able to tell day shift if they have not done so already.

So the trip ends frustratingly. However, without the graveyard shift the game is not that great anyway as it’s so crowded most of the time during the rest of the day. Still, one game less is never a good thing and it was the best one in town. At least it’s on a win, (even though I’ve won very little in the final week ) and I’ve made about as much as I should have over the trip as a whole.