2007 Trip 7
(Last here trip4)
Day Two
Last night was bad, I finshed over $5000 behind. I get in early but the one table they have open is already quite busy so I ask for a $25 to be opened. This isn’t as good for me as the lower limit as I usually go to lower stakes than that minimum on negatives but I’ll probably get a game alone for an hour or two at least.
That is how it turns out. At the other (now closed) casino I played on my last trip here a table at this limit would get me a solo game for most of the night. Not here. Some early evening high-roller or other is always likely to make an appearance. After around 2 hours I get company. I’m about $2000 behind. This guy isn’t just playing the minimum, he’s a black chip bettor and I decide to leave him to it and go for dinner.
After dinner I go to this place I saw yesterday which was advertised as having blackjack. It looked mainly like a slot machine place rather than what I would term a “proper” casino, so even if the game is half decent the limits are likely to be low and with crowded tables. This is what I find. What I didn’t expect however, was to find at the table one of the dealers from the place that has just closed. As a result I get an interesting piece of information.
He recognises me and tells me that he has recently been employed as a manager at another casino in the city. I have not played there much because a) I have been told that it is mafia run and b) the rules were not as good as almost every other casino in town. Knowing me as a high roller he encourages me to play there, telling me of their good rules. According to him the options that had been stopped have now been re-introduced and one or two others, including resplit aces, unknown anywhere else here.
Back at what is now for the moment my only casino in the city, I go back to the $50 table, which is now empty. It doesn’t stay that way for long though and at one point, not only are all spots being played, but my two hands of $250 make me the smallest bettor on the table! I see big bets and crowded tables all the time but not usually together. While the fact that a high minimum table can still be completely full has implications for the kind of game I can get and thus my win rate, it’s good that the casino gets this kind of action. It’s never good to be the biggest player in the casino and I’m happy that this is not remotely the case for me here.
I also seem to be the only player on that table to be losing. I was behind before I got company and it didn’t improve on that table. I find better luck elsewhere in the casino though and manage to limit my night’s losses considerably.
Day Three
Another day full of high rollers. One of the pit bosses mentioned to me that the high limit table yesterday with all those big players lost a fortune. And that was with me having lost over $5000 on it! One of those guys is back, probably seeking to parlay his win. He should have taken the money and run. It’s not going well for him, he gets drunker and drunker, bets bigger and bigger and loses more and more. He temper deteriorates as well. He moans at me occasionally for what he sees as some bad move by me (and is told not to by his friend), but generally doesn’t bother me. His grizzling is directed at the casino in general. I understand the frustration of a bad run but nobody else made the bet. Anyhow, the casino fills up again so I take a break.
I elect to wait an hour or two before going back in. I use some of this time to check out a couple of other casinos in this place. The first one I was told about on Day 2 and it is indeed the case that a few options that the rules have improved. This must be the only place in town with resplit aces. The drawback is that it seems rather quiet and it remains to be seen if they will take the action.
I get back to the other casino. For about 4 different dealers across more than one table I get a bad cut. Most of these dealers I’ve not seen before so it’s difficult to see whether I am being deliberately cut back or not. Despite the poor penetration I get a few thousand ahead but fall victim to the Curse of the Last Shoe. When you’re thinking of leaving, the one more shoe you intend to play before going home turns out to be a stinker. A massive count accrues, during which time I lose, followed by the count coming in, during which I also lose. Splitting pictures costs me this time, I keep getting a small card then another picture, so I split again, the count not having decreased. I end up with mainly stiffs and then the dealer finds an ace on the six. All the same I leave with a nice win and I’m not far off level on the trip so far.
Day 4
Just when you thought it was safe. I got a good start to the night in that I won the first few bets on the first big shoe- I had to be around $2000 up mid-shoe. One of those situations where you win all the hands as the count goes up because all those small cards coming out mean that you get a lot of splits and doubles and the dealer happens to find a big card at the right time to bust. Then, as the count comes in again, you lose all that money back as the dealer gets all the 20s and blackjacks. I finish that shoe back at break even and that’s the best I get all night. $200 behind soon becomes $1000, then a bad shoe (where I lose both as the count keeps increasing and then when the aces and pictures come out) sees another loss of $4000. I break for dinner as the table gets crowded and after another poor shoe, at $7000 overall. Another damage limitation night.
After my meal I rally to $5000 down largely thanks to hand where I split 10s mulitiple times and the dealer bust . However, I then get nibbled away, 500 down on a shoe, then another and another . The casino is getting busy now and I decide to leave and come back later. Typically the after the shoe during which I decide this sees me at my lowest point of the evening- $8000 behind. The game is good, my fears of being cut back have gone, I’ve not had a cut worse than 1.75 decks in contrast to the same time last night when I was getting 2.5 at times (and winning!). The not-so-happy drunk from last night is back, better behaved tonight, sober for the moment at least and does allude to his intoxication last night and his poor conduct. He’s not playing as big either, although last night his bet action did rise with his blood –alcohol levels so it may be the case again tonight.
I return about an hour and a half later to find a table with only one player and my new favourite dealer. She typically gives a cut of a deck and a quarter and I’m alert again after my break. The first couple of shoes on which I bet big are break even for me, more or less, then it starts to go wrong. The count goes up and up so I receive low cards on my doubles and lose, then goes down, down and the dealer finds better totals than me. No resplit aces costs me two hands in a row, the second one seeing me get an ace on each split. When that rule costs you, it really does cost you. All my chips have gone and I’m pulling notes out of my pocket every hand. I cross the $10,000 buy in barrier and pretty soon I’m struggling to be only that much behind. I don’t think I’ve failed to win on so many doubled 20 and 21s in one night before. We are into the last hour of the night and the dealer changes but the cut stays the same. No benefit to me though, I lose another few thousand. Hand of the night: 9-9 and 7-2 against dealer 9. Split the nines, picture, ace. Hit the nine for another ace. A picture when I want one for two wins and a push? Don’t be silly. 3, 9 to make 21 and a 3 bet loss for me rather than a two bet win a picture would have brought, or a 3 bet win if that 3 hadn’t gotten in the way. That’s blackjack for you, sometimes a 3 gets in the way when you want it to, other times when you don’t. This little three has cost me a six-bet swing just at the wrong time.
They have called the final shoe of the night. One last chance to grab some back before the end. Just me and another player, good cut. Count goes up, my maximum bets go out, I bet a split, I double each of them but don’t find a big card, dealer fails to break. The pit boss is getting his daily exercise by continually coming back and forth to my table to check my high value banknotes and the chips I’m given for them. I can’t claim to finish at my lowest point of the night as I have a $1000 dollar chip when I leave the table so I did win a hand or two from my worst point in the shoe. However, the absence from my pockets of its many friends does mean I end the night at my lowest post shoe point and a record loss of $15000. Plus I’ve never lost anywhere near this much with a cut this good. Ah well, the next time I get irritated by the stresses and subterfuges of carrying large amounts of cash, I can remember that sometimes it’s reassuring to know you’ve brought along with you as much as you have. I’ve made an observation to this effect before but it’s worth repeating: there’s a very good reason why we have bankrolls. Blackjack can be a cruel game at times and those reversals of fortune can hit hard. Taking the end of the last trip with the start of this one, I have lost over $30,000 in less than a week, which included a substantial winning session in the middle! Thankfully I had that good run the week before which has cushioned the impact.
Day Five
The weekend is coming and there’s no place at my current hotel so I have to change. I do get some luck with the new hotel, however as a room has become available for Saturday. This at least means I won’t have to change hotels two days in a row. It being Friday, it is “Amateur Night” at the casino. People on a night out pitch up at the casino late on and having had a few drinks, tend to be very slow in their playing decisions. You also get people jumping in right in the middle of a shoe, almost always it seems when the count is huge. A while later, the dealer convinces another player to open another spot with an extra hand. Now even the dealers are making the table crowded and slowing my game down! I finish $2500 behind.
Day 7
It’s a quiet night but the quality of my game us vastly reduced due to a guy jumping in and out all the time between various tables. Admittedly, a couple of times he does jump in towards the end of the shoe when it is really negative allowing me to drop out. The second time I do it though, he takes it as a slight on him and when he comes in on a high count refuses to wait. Naturally, as seems always to be the case when things are going badly, the interloper is rewarded for his lack of courtesy with great cards, while I get stiff after stiff and lose more money. Towards the end of the night I finally find a heads up game without interruption. Then the dealer changes, someone I’ve never played with. The first time he cuts out 1.5 decks. I make a bit of money back and the dealer raises his eyebrows. Whether it’s because I didn’t tip him or because he was suspicious of the big bets, the next shoe has 2.5 decks cut out. All night waiting for a game alone then I get stuck with this. I play for a little longer and leave on a small loss.
Day 9
Yesterday was a welcome respite from the string of losses I’ve suffered since my third day here, but I’m still worse off than I was just after the huge loss on day 4. I therefore need an unprecedented win in order to finish level on the trip but I don’t get much action on this final night before I leave. I turn a small loss into a small win late on and finish the trip there. Looks like I’ll be back here before long in order to benefit from the fresh memory the casino management will have of my poor run.
(Last here trip4)
Day Two
Last night was bad, I finshed over $5000 behind. I get in early but the one table they have open is already quite busy so I ask for a $25 to be opened. This isn’t as good for me as the lower limit as I usually go to lower stakes than that minimum on negatives but I’ll probably get a game alone for an hour or two at least.
That is how it turns out. At the other (now closed) casino I played on my last trip here a table at this limit would get me a solo game for most of the night. Not here. Some early evening high-roller or other is always likely to make an appearance. After around 2 hours I get company. I’m about $2000 behind. This guy isn’t just playing the minimum, he’s a black chip bettor and I decide to leave him to it and go for dinner.
After dinner I go to this place I saw yesterday which was advertised as having blackjack. It looked mainly like a slot machine place rather than what I would term a “proper” casino, so even if the game is half decent the limits are likely to be low and with crowded tables. This is what I find. What I didn’t expect however, was to find at the table one of the dealers from the place that has just closed. As a result I get an interesting piece of information.
He recognises me and tells me that he has recently been employed as a manager at another casino in the city. I have not played there much because a) I have been told that it is mafia run and b) the rules were not as good as almost every other casino in town. Knowing me as a high roller he encourages me to play there, telling me of their good rules. According to him the options that had been stopped have now been re-introduced and one or two others, including resplit aces, unknown anywhere else here.
Back at what is now for the moment my only casino in the city, I go back to the $50 table, which is now empty. It doesn’t stay that way for long though and at one point, not only are all spots being played, but my two hands of $250 make me the smallest bettor on the table! I see big bets and crowded tables all the time but not usually together. While the fact that a high minimum table can still be completely full has implications for the kind of game I can get and thus my win rate, it’s good that the casino gets this kind of action. It’s never good to be the biggest player in the casino and I’m happy that this is not remotely the case for me here.
I also seem to be the only player on that table to be losing. I was behind before I got company and it didn’t improve on that table. I find better luck elsewhere in the casino though and manage to limit my night’s losses considerably.
Day Three
Another day full of high rollers. One of the pit bosses mentioned to me that the high limit table yesterday with all those big players lost a fortune. And that was with me having lost over $5000 on it! One of those guys is back, probably seeking to parlay his win. He should have taken the money and run. It’s not going well for him, he gets drunker and drunker, bets bigger and bigger and loses more and more. He temper deteriorates as well. He moans at me occasionally for what he sees as some bad move by me (and is told not to by his friend), but generally doesn’t bother me. His grizzling is directed at the casino in general. I understand the frustration of a bad run but nobody else made the bet. Anyhow, the casino fills up again so I take a break.
I elect to wait an hour or two before going back in. I use some of this time to check out a couple of other casinos in this place. The first one I was told about on Day 2 and it is indeed the case that a few options that the rules have improved. This must be the only place in town with resplit aces. The drawback is that it seems rather quiet and it remains to be seen if they will take the action.
I get back to the other casino. For about 4 different dealers across more than one table I get a bad cut. Most of these dealers I’ve not seen before so it’s difficult to see whether I am being deliberately cut back or not. Despite the poor penetration I get a few thousand ahead but fall victim to the Curse of the Last Shoe. When you’re thinking of leaving, the one more shoe you intend to play before going home turns out to be a stinker. A massive count accrues, during which time I lose, followed by the count coming in, during which I also lose. Splitting pictures costs me this time, I keep getting a small card then another picture, so I split again, the count not having decreased. I end up with mainly stiffs and then the dealer finds an ace on the six. All the same I leave with a nice win and I’m not far off level on the trip so far.
Day 4
Just when you thought it was safe. I got a good start to the night in that I won the first few bets on the first big shoe- I had to be around $2000 up mid-shoe. One of those situations where you win all the hands as the count goes up because all those small cards coming out mean that you get a lot of splits and doubles and the dealer happens to find a big card at the right time to bust. Then, as the count comes in again, you lose all that money back as the dealer gets all the 20s and blackjacks. I finish that shoe back at break even and that’s the best I get all night. $200 behind soon becomes $1000, then a bad shoe (where I lose both as the count keeps increasing and then when the aces and pictures come out) sees another loss of $4000. I break for dinner as the table gets crowded and after another poor shoe, at $7000 overall. Another damage limitation night.
After my meal I rally to $5000 down largely thanks to hand where I split 10s mulitiple times and the dealer bust . However, I then get nibbled away, 500 down on a shoe, then another and another . The casino is getting busy now and I decide to leave and come back later. Typically the after the shoe during which I decide this sees me at my lowest point of the evening- $8000 behind. The game is good, my fears of being cut back have gone, I’ve not had a cut worse than 1.75 decks in contrast to the same time last night when I was getting 2.5 at times (and winning!). The not-so-happy drunk from last night is back, better behaved tonight, sober for the moment at least and does allude to his intoxication last night and his poor conduct. He’s not playing as big either, although last night his bet action did rise with his blood –alcohol levels so it may be the case again tonight.
I return about an hour and a half later to find a table with only one player and my new favourite dealer. She typically gives a cut of a deck and a quarter and I’m alert again after my break. The first couple of shoes on which I bet big are break even for me, more or less, then it starts to go wrong. The count goes up and up so I receive low cards on my doubles and lose, then goes down, down and the dealer finds better totals than me. No resplit aces costs me two hands in a row, the second one seeing me get an ace on each split. When that rule costs you, it really does cost you. All my chips have gone and I’m pulling notes out of my pocket every hand. I cross the $10,000 buy in barrier and pretty soon I’m struggling to be only that much behind. I don’t think I’ve failed to win on so many doubled 20 and 21s in one night before. We are into the last hour of the night and the dealer changes but the cut stays the same. No benefit to me though, I lose another few thousand. Hand of the night: 9-9 and 7-2 against dealer 9. Split the nines, picture, ace. Hit the nine for another ace. A picture when I want one for two wins and a push? Don’t be silly. 3, 9 to make 21 and a 3 bet loss for me rather than a two bet win a picture would have brought, or a 3 bet win if that 3 hadn’t gotten in the way. That’s blackjack for you, sometimes a 3 gets in the way when you want it to, other times when you don’t. This little three has cost me a six-bet swing just at the wrong time.
They have called the final shoe of the night. One last chance to grab some back before the end. Just me and another player, good cut. Count goes up, my maximum bets go out, I bet a split, I double each of them but don’t find a big card, dealer fails to break. The pit boss is getting his daily exercise by continually coming back and forth to my table to check my high value banknotes and the chips I’m given for them. I can’t claim to finish at my lowest point of the night as I have a $1000 dollar chip when I leave the table so I did win a hand or two from my worst point in the shoe. However, the absence from my pockets of its many friends does mean I end the night at my lowest post shoe point and a record loss of $15000. Plus I’ve never lost anywhere near this much with a cut this good. Ah well, the next time I get irritated by the stresses and subterfuges of carrying large amounts of cash, I can remember that sometimes it’s reassuring to know you’ve brought along with you as much as you have. I’ve made an observation to this effect before but it’s worth repeating: there’s a very good reason why we have bankrolls. Blackjack can be a cruel game at times and those reversals of fortune can hit hard. Taking the end of the last trip with the start of this one, I have lost over $30,000 in less than a week, which included a substantial winning session in the middle! Thankfully I had that good run the week before which has cushioned the impact.
Day Five
The weekend is coming and there’s no place at my current hotel so I have to change. I do get some luck with the new hotel, however as a room has become available for Saturday. This at least means I won’t have to change hotels two days in a row. It being Friday, it is “Amateur Night” at the casino. People on a night out pitch up at the casino late on and having had a few drinks, tend to be very slow in their playing decisions. You also get people jumping in right in the middle of a shoe, almost always it seems when the count is huge. A while later, the dealer convinces another player to open another spot with an extra hand. Now even the dealers are making the table crowded and slowing my game down! I finish $2500 behind.
Day 7
It’s a quiet night but the quality of my game us vastly reduced due to a guy jumping in and out all the time between various tables. Admittedly, a couple of times he does jump in towards the end of the shoe when it is really negative allowing me to drop out. The second time I do it though, he takes it as a slight on him and when he comes in on a high count refuses to wait. Naturally, as seems always to be the case when things are going badly, the interloper is rewarded for his lack of courtesy with great cards, while I get stiff after stiff and lose more money. Towards the end of the night I finally find a heads up game without interruption. Then the dealer changes, someone I’ve never played with. The first time he cuts out 1.5 decks. I make a bit of money back and the dealer raises his eyebrows. Whether it’s because I didn’t tip him or because he was suspicious of the big bets, the next shoe has 2.5 decks cut out. All night waiting for a game alone then I get stuck with this. I play for a little longer and leave on a small loss.
Day 9
Yesterday was a welcome respite from the string of losses I’ve suffered since my third day here, but I’m still worse off than I was just after the huge loss on day 4. I therefore need an unprecedented win in order to finish level on the trip but I don’t get much action on this final night before I leave. I turn a small loss into a small win late on and finish the trip there. Looks like I’ll be back here before long in order to benefit from the fresh memory the casino management will have of my poor run.
posted by The Jugador at 5:28 AM
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