This is what playing BJ is all about.

Thunder

Well-Known Member
#1
I was grinding away all night not getting any really good counts and was slowly bleeding chips, down about 30 units. It didn't help that I had the world's greatest ploppies at my table. From players who took whole minutes agonizing over whether to hit 15 vs. the dealer 10, to ploppies who wouldn't split aces and stood on soft 17's, this table had them. I had been enduring this for a while all in the name of good penetration but I had had enough. I decided while penetration is great, it's useless when you're getting a whopping 20 hands an hour. I decided to switch tables for a change of scenery and faster game play even though I knew it might mean losing this great pen.

Well I did some scouting and found a table with few players at it. Moreover, they actually were about as good as a ploppies can get without knowing BS 100%. At first, there was nothing new. Same old back and forth with the dealer. I thought to myself that this is like bashing your head against a wall. No matter how hard you try, you're never going to break through this wall. I was seriously contemplating at this point whether to go play some poker or not. Luckily the hopeful part of me kept me in my seat. After all, getting a game with better than 80% pen and LS is nothing to sneeze at.

The second shoe started like the first, but the count immediately began taking off. Even before 1/2 a deck went by, it was already getting good. This continued and before long the TC was at +5. I was smiling because this is what every counter waits for. A good count and some good variance and before I knew it, I had made 60 units by the time the shoe was over. It helped too that the rest of the table was winning as well and instead of the usual grumbling about the dealer, people were in good spirits. I thought to myself well gosh darn, it took over 10 hours for me to get to a decent place but here I was finally. I was getting exhausted but something told me to stay for another shoe.

I did and then something amazing happened. We could not lose. The count again raced up only this time it reached an excellent +7 TC. I had my max bet out of course and kept winning and winning. The dealer shook his head in disbelief not believing what he was witnessing. No matter what we did, we couldn't lose.
This is when BJ is the most fun. We were all high fiving and whopping it up. Even when the dealer would pull 11 and I thought for sure he was going to have 21 given how high the count was, he'd pull a 5 and then bust for a glorious 26. Well several hands of max bets out and along with the rest of the table winning and a glorious thing happened. We WIPED OUT THE DEALER!! It happened so fast that they couldn't even refill his chips. No red or green chips were to be found. Even the pink chips were getting depleted from him having to use them as a substitute. As if this wasn't good enough, I got the casino down to its knees begging. I guess they hadn't experienced a "thunder.. storm" in a while. The dealer didn't know what to do and called the pitboss over. They stopped play right then and there. Since I had by far the most chips at the table with chips stacked and lined up stack after stack, they actually asked me in the middle of the shoe if I could color up. I smiled and complied handing over a big chunk of my chips for black and purple. I was having fun now at the casino's expense and they knew it. After winning some more after exchanging my chips, I knew this was going to be my last shoe of the night and foreseeable future. I waited until the count came back down to earth and I actually lost a few hands. Then I colored up and took off, not wanting to take a chance that I might get the tap on the shoulder. I felt like I had just committed robbery as the cashier spent what felt like forever handing me Benjamin Franklins. My wallet was full and I certainly was going to be having pleasant dreams.
 
#3
Thunder said:
I was grinding away all night not getting any really good counts and was slowly bleeding chips, down about 30 units. It didn't help that I had the world's greatest ploppies at my table. From players who took whole minutes agonizing over whether to hit 15 vs. the dealer 10, to ploppies who wouldn't split aces and stood on soft 17's, this table had them. I had been enduring this for a while all in the name of good penetration but I had had enough. I decided while penetration is great, it's useless when you're getting a whopping 20 hands an hour. I decided to switch tables for a change of scenery and faster game play even though I knew it might mean losing this great pen.

Well I did some scouting and found a table with few players at it. Moreover, they actually were about as good as a ploppies can get without knowing BS 100%. At first, there was nothing new. Same old back and forth with the dealer. I thought to myself that this is like bashing your head against a wall. No matter how hard you try, you're never going to break through this wall. I was seriously contemplating at this point whether to go play some poker or not. Luckily the hopeful part of me kept me in my seat. After all, getting a game with better than 80% pen and LS is nothing to sneeze at.

The second shoe started like the first, but the count immediately began taking off. Even before 1/2 a deck went by, it was already getting good. This continued and before long the TC was at +5. I was smiling because this is what every counter waits for. A good count and some good variance and before I knew it, I had made 60 units by the time the shoe was over. It helped too that the rest of the table was winning as well and instead of the usual grumbling about the dealer, people were in good spirits. I thought to myself well gosh darn, it took over 10 hours for me to get to a decent place but here I was finally. I was getting exhausted but something told me to stay for another shoe.

I did and then something amazing happened. We could not lose. The count again raced up only this time it reached an excellent +7 TC. I had my max bet out of course and kept winning and winning. The dealer shook his head in disbelief not believing what he was witnessing. No matter what we did, we couldn't lose.
This is when BJ is the most fun. We were all high fiving and whopping it up. Even when the dealer would pull 11 and I thought for sure he was going to have 21 given how high the count was, he'd pull a 5 and then bust for a glorious 26. Well several hands of max bets out and along with the rest of the table winning and a glorious thing happened. We WIPED OUT THE DEALER!! It happened so fast that they couldn't even refill his chips. No red or green chips were to be found. Even the pink chips were getting depleted from him having to use them as a substitute. As if this wasn't good enough, I got the casino down to its knees begging. I guess they hadn't experienced a "thunder.. storm" in a while. The dealer didn't know what to do and called the pitboss over. They stopped play right then and there. Since I had by far the most chips at the table with chips stacked and lined up stack after stack, they actually asked me in the middle of the shoe if I could color up. I smiled and complied handing over a big chunk of my chips for black and purple. I was having fun now at the casino's expense and they knew it. After winning some more after exchanging my chips, I knew this was going to be my last shoe of the night and foreseeable future. I waited until the count came back down to earth and I actually lost a few hands. Then I colored up and took off, not wanting to take a chance that I might get the tap on the shoulder. I felt like I had just committed robbery as the cashier spent what felt like forever handing me Benjamin Franklins. My wallet was full and I certainly was going to be having pleasant dreams.
I hope you cleaned out your wallet to make room for the benjies. Last time I saw you it looked like it was going to explode.:eyepatch::laugh:
 

Friendo

Well-Known Member
#4
Action: nice when you can get it

I liked the part where you emptied the chip tray.

I endured a 6-hour stretch without making a maximum bet: Mediocre shoe, execrable shoe (Wong), mediocre shoe, just above neutral shoe, bad shoe (Wong), and so on from around 10 a.m. through 6:30 p.m., encompassing 6 hours of actual table time. I believe I was near even, but I was ready to tear my hair out.

Even a big losing shoe, with maximum bets all over the place, is better than hours of garbage.
 

jaygruden

Well-Known Member
#5
Good work Thunder! Those are the times you feel invincible.........until of course variance sneaks up behind you are smacks you right back to reality.:grin:
 
#6
Thunder

Thunder said:
I was grinding away all night not getting any really good counts and was slowly bleeding chips, down about 30 units. It didn't help that I had the world's greatest ploppies at my table. From players who took whole minutes agonizing over whether to hit 15 vs. the dealer 10, to ploppies who wouldn't split aces and stood on soft 17's, this table had them. I had been enduring this for a while all in the name of good penetration but I had had enough. I decided while penetration is great, it's useless when you're getting a whopping 20 hands an hour. I decided to switch tables for a change of scenery and faster game play even though I knew it might mean losing this great pen.

Well I did some scouting and found a table with few players at it. Moreover, they actually were about as good as a ploppies can get without knowing BS 100%. At first, there was nothing new. Same old back and forth with the dealer. I thought to myself that this is like bashing your head against a wall. No matter how hard you try, you're never going to break through this wall. I was seriously contemplating at this point whether to go play some poker or not. Luckily the hopeful part of me kept me in my seat. After all, getting a game with better than 80% pen and LS is nothing to sneeze at.

The second shoe started like the first, but the count immediately began taking off. Even before 1/2 a deck went by, it was already getting good. This continued and before long the TC was at +5. I was smiling because this is what every counter waits for. A good count and some good variance and before I knew it, I had made 60 units by the time the shoe was over. It helped too that the rest of the table was winning as well and instead of the usual grumbling about the dealer, people were in good spirits. I thought to myself well gosh darn, it took over 10 hours for me to get to a decent place but here I was finally. I was getting exhausted but something told me to stay for another shoe.

I did and then something amazing happened. We could not lose. The count again raced up only this time it reached an excellent +7 TC. I had my max bet out of course and kept winning and winning. The dealer shook his head in disbelief not believing what he was witnessing. No matter what we did, we couldn't lose.
This is when BJ is the most fun. We were all high fiving and whopping it up. Even when the dealer would pull 11 and I thought for sure he was going to have 21 given how high the count was, he'd pull a 5 and then bust for a glorious 26. Well several hands of max bets out and along with the rest of the table winning and a glorious thing happened. We WIPED OUT THE DEALER!! It happened so fast that they couldn't even refill his chips. No red or green chips were to be found. Even the pink chips were getting depleted from him having to use them as a substitute. As if this wasn't good enough, I got the casino down to its knees begging. I guess they hadn't experienced a "thunder.. storm" in a while. The dealer didn't know what to do and called the pitboss over. They stopped play right then and there. Since I had by far the most chips at the table with chips stacked and lined up stack after stack, they actually asked me in the middle of the shoe if I could color up. I smiled and complied handing over a big chunk of my chips for black and purple. I was having fun now at the casino's expense and they knew it. After winning some more after exchanging my chips, I knew this was going to be my last shoe of the night and foreseeable future. I waited until the count came back down to earth and I actually lost a few hands. Then I colored up and took off, not wanting to take a chance that I might get the tap on the shoulder. I felt like I had just committed robbery as the cashier spent what felt like forever handing me Benjamin Franklins. My wallet was full and I certainly was going to be having pleasant dreams.
Congrats, so :cool:,,gotta love that.

I had the same thing go down, but this one went on for 3 1/2 hours until the casino had enough and closed the table, magical.:grin::)

CP
 

johndoe

Well-Known Member
#7
Well done!

I've been a couple of standard deviations high myself the last few sessions. It's a lot of fun when it happens, though the joy is often tempered by elevated heat concerns, especially when the rack is visibly depleted.
 

Ferretnparrot

Well-Known Member
#10
Iv come to learn over the years....

You can only fit about 7500 in one normal sized wallet

Bring two, for the times like this when you clean up shop and dont buy using a money clip, they can hold far less money.

Lately I am a fan of the "folded wad" method as it can get to about 13000 before you need another pocket.

And lastly be sure to break at least one bill for the toll plazas on the way home, they dont like 100 dollar bills.
 
#11
Give a toll taker a $100 bill around here toward the end of their shift and you might get all ones as change. They save time counting their money before they go home if they have big bills.
 
#12
congrats & beware

Winning real big is a happy but dangerous time.

A player may get drawn into letting big bets ride, even if the count is dropping but still positive. This may lead to overbetting which is always bad! One can lose these bets or even if won the win is burned up by the extra heat. If winning big & its time to drop your bet, consider doing it!

Congrats Tarzan
 

sagefr0g

Well-Known Member
#13
blackjack avenger said:
Winning real big is a happy but dangerous time.

A player may get drawn into letting big bets ride, even if the count is dropping but still positive. This may lead to overbetting which is always bad! One can lose these bets or even if won the win is burned up by the extra heat. If winning big & its time to drop your bet, consider doing it!

Congrats Tarzan
yah, like get on a heater (maybe hit a royal flush, other nice stuff) and then this http://www.blackjackinfo.com/bb/showthread.php?t=23663 happens. no canoe :eek:
edit: up a creek with out a paddle, lol.
 
#14
Ferretnparrot said:
Iv come to learn over the years....

You can only fit about 7500 in one normal sized wallet

Bring two, for the times like this when you clean up shop and dont buy using a money clip, they can hold far less money.

Lately I am a fan of the "folded wad" method as it can get to about 13000 before you need another pocket.

And lastly be sure to break at least one bill for the toll plazas on the way home, they dont like 100 dollar bills.
I have literally had my wallet burst at its seams once after a huge win. I had withdrawn my session bankroll of $2500 and the ATM gave me fifties instead of hundreds. I bought in for $300 and ran that up to almost $4000 after an awesome session where I was making huge bets at high counts and winning them all. Stuffed the money in there and tried to stuff my wallet in my pants pocket. When I got to my car I noticed that my wallet had ripped apart.
That's what happens when I stuff it with over 100 bills (since I had a lot of small bills in there before I withdrew my initial $2500), and lots of credit cards and players cards.
 

Lowrider

Well-Known Member
#15
When you win big....

....keep your head on a swivel.

A few times too many after a moderate to heavy win I've had a number of new "friends" looking for me to share the wealth. I was surly to them to say the least and they left me alone. Except for one fella that actually tracked me down to the restaurant in the casino where was dining...just wanted to tell me good job on the tables...yeah right.

Remember, it's not enough to get rid of him, he may have friends in the parking lot....paranoia I'd definitely your best friend. Check behind you when walking out of a casino, look in the rearview mirror several times on the way home. Don't take a piss in a vacant restroom where you are the lone pisser.

I may be paranoid but I'm not stupid....
 

Thunder

Well-Known Member
#18
jaygruden said:
Good work Thunder! Those are the times you feel invincible.........until of course variance sneaks up behind you are smacks you right back to reality.:grin:
Oh I've learned over the years never to let that feeling of invincibility get to my head. Variance as you said is fickle.
 

Thunder

Well-Known Member
#20
Thanks guys for the congratulations. I hope you all get hot shoes in the cold days that are sure to be ahead. Just don't give it all back by doing something stupid like over betting when variance's evil twin comes to pay a visit.
 
Top