5 Weekends=1 Blackjack Report

For the last 5 weekends I have been in Vegas,
playing Blackjack with my hard earned bankrole.
Stayed at the lovely El Cortez each time,it's me,
I just like it there?

This report is going to be a little different
than my others because I can't remember what days
I did what? Sooo..it's going to be like this...

I would arrive via Greyhound at around midnight
on Fri.,leave Mon. morn at 1:30am.In between
those times is sort of "fuzzy".This trip was a
feeling out trip for me,to see if I could handle
playing more money.
So I decided I would play green Downtown and
if I was ahead I would play black on the Strip.
I just wander around,look closely at the games,
pick one,play for 45min-1hr,win-lose,move on.I'll
do this for 2-3 rounds then take a break.Go eat
or play some slots or VP,Geez,I even lost $40 at
roulette at the ElCo,BAD!,Booger,BAD!If I'm up
some money I head to the Strip and start looking
around.I hav'nt play much on the Strip so it was
all new for me,I was a little uncomfortable at
first, got a little better as time went on,very
little.I guess "my" kind of people are Downtown
more than on the Strip.Anyways,that's about it.
nothing really exciting.Out of the 5 weekends,
Booger-2
Casino-3
But,My wins were BIGGER then than My losses,so
we had a good trip.
Now for some of my notes of games for the strip

Bally's-6/5 single deck...BOOO!!
But a VERY GOOD double deck gameOA,S17,DAS,
good pen,$25min.

Bar-u-Coast-Double deck:decent game,but they
watch very close there!

Bellagio-Great double deckOA,S17,DAS,70-80%pen

Caesars-Great double deckOA,S17,DAS, also
has good 6 deck gamesOA,S17,DAS,RSA up to 4

Mirage-Great double deckOA,S17,DAS,75%pen
They also had a decent 6 deck games with auto
-shufflers.

NYNY- Good 6 deck games;DOA,S17,DAS,RSA,80%pen
Some of the games are hand shuffle,some machine.

Slots-o-Fun- Wanna-be counter heaven!!Lousy game.
The only reason this in my good list is,it's so
much fun to watch all of the people practicing
counting there.It's like "counting class"

"TI"-Decent games,good pen,2-6 deck games.

MGM-good 6 deck games,60-80%pen.The rest of the
games suck.Had csm's on 4 deck games.

Sahara- LOTS of $1 tables,lousy game but fun to
play.Also have a decent 6 deck game.

Harrah's- Only so-so games there but is in my
good list because they allow mid-deck entry
so you can "wong-in" games there.(Wonging-in is
to count the game from the crowd then enter only
when the count is in your favor,then get out when
the count goes down)This is normally done on 6/8
deck games because the count tends to stay high
or low in those games for longer periods of time.

This is a list of the games I played while there
I played double deck,playing black(BIG money for
me)and spreading 1-3or4.Gotta say,it's a little
troubling having 4,5,6,8 bills on the table on 1
little ol' bet!I think I'll stick with red and
green play for while and just dable in the black
zone for a while.

Here's my list of games NOT worth playing:
Alladin-6/5 single deck

Bally's-6/5 single deck

Circus-Circus-BAD single deck,decent double deck
but are watched very close there.

Excalibur-lousy games,50%pen or less!Dealers have
trouble with soft hands!

Paris-6/5 single deck,csm's on $5-$10 games.

Hilton-6/5 games BOO!!:Lots of BIG MONEY changing
hands around here,6/5 or not!

Imp Palace-Decent double deck games but lousy 50%
pen,cutting off a FULL DECK!

Luxor-Not good,dealer are very afraid of counters
here,always backcounting cards.PARANOID!!!

Tropicana-They didn't have a single game that I
would play,counting or not.

The HO-decent game but LOTS OF HEAT from the pit
for green play,worse that the ElCo.I think if I'd
of continued playing green there I would have
been 86'ed.Another pit crew that keeps close
tabs on the discard tray!

There's many more but that's enough for
now.You're probably bored to tears by now!

Well,that about wraps it up.Sort of weird report
but if the shoe fit's wear it,right?All in all it
was a great learning experience and I can't wait
until I'm more comfortable with the higher play
so that I can really enjoy it. THE END

Booger

[ April 28, 2003, 10:20 PM: Message edited by: Booger ]

 

Hey Booger...thanks for the updates...

How about a quick reminder on all the abbreviations so that we don't have to go look them up...

(I've forgotten what DOA is.... )

Mikey

 

I hope Booger doesn't mind me taking the liberty to explain some of the abbreviations.

DOA means you can double on any 2 card hand you are dealt. In some casinos you can only double on, say, 10 or 11. DOA = good for the player.

DAS = double after splitting, also good for the player. For example, if you are dealt 4's and are allowed to double after split, you should always split them. However, if DAS is not allowed, you would not split them.

RSA = resplit aces (usually up to 4 times I think) which is obviously also advantageous to the player.

S17 means the house has to stand on all 17's, which once again, benefits the player.

Finally, Booger mentions the percentage penetration (i.e. 75% pen). I believe this indicates how deep ino a deck or shoe a dealer deals before reshuffling. The higher the percentage, the better it is for the player since he/she can get a more accurate count. If you are not counting, the penetration is not important.

Hope this helps.

 

A couple corrections I would like to make:

"DAS = double after splitting, also good for the player. For example, if you are dealt 4's and are allowed to double after split, you should always split them. However, if DAS is not allowed, you would not split them."

You should always split 4's against a 5 or 6 when allowed. From my statement above, it implies you should split 4's against anything; not true!

Also, I believe I said that in some casinos you can only double down on 10 or 11. I meant that in certain games like single deck will one see this rule.

 

I get so nervous playing green (very rare) that it looks like I have palsey. Can't even start to imagine playing black and having to split but of course I don't count. And I sure couldn't do a good count playing that kinda loot. More power to ya!

 

Thanks for posting, Booger. I'm going to be hanging around mid-strip in June, now I've got a list of double-deck games to hit.

 

Well Andsen,to tell you the truth,these last
trips were the first time playing all black for
myself.I've played green and had 1 black in
before and have gotten used to that but it's a
whole new thing to have half a weeks pay check on
the line for one hand.Whenever I have more than 1
chip in the circle,I know I have the advantage,so
I'm expecting to double/split,but it's going to
take some more "practice" before I'm convinced
the counting works with Black chips also!! Ha!Ha!

Booger