Trip Report
Just returned from a Kansas/Missouri marathon. Started out at a 6-deck shoe game at AmeriStar in KC, Missouri. The game has pretty standard rules with DOA, DAS, RSA, H17. They have some $3 minimum tables upstairs and mostly $5-$25 tables downstairs.
They have a 21+3 game that is normal Blackjack but you can make a $5 minimum side bet on your first two cards plus the dealer's up-card. A winning hand (flush, pair, straight, trips....whatever) pays 9:1. A lot of people were playing that game just to make the side bet! It was dealt from a 6-deck shoe.
I had played for 3 hours on the shoe game and was getting nowhere. I switched to a Double-Deck game with a $10 minimum. It was different than other Double Deck games I've played. Cards a machine shuffled (Shuffle Master) just like a lot of 6-deck shoe games. The cards are not "pitched" but are dealt out of a shoe and are dealt face up to the players! Standard rules apply: DOA, DAS, H17...however you can only split Aces once. Penetration was about 70% or so so it wasn't bad.
This was a good table game but I must have caught it at a bad time. I dropped a $100 or so in 5 shoes so went back to the 6-deck game and caught a couple of bad shoes and dropped another $100.
The next day, we went to Harrah's in KC. They are doing a LOT of remodeling there. The games are pretty standard fare. 6-deck with standard rules. I played for a couple of hours and broke even. They had one of the side bets going on at their tables. Pair of Queen of Hearts pays 1000:1 if the dealer has a Blackjack. 4:1 if you draw a "20". That kind of stuff. Lots of sucker bet opportunities.
So it was back to the AmeriStar and more 6-deck shoe games. I ended up on a $3 table betting $10-$20 a hand. Why? Because the table was a riot! One lady celebrating a birthday and another just celebrating "life" I guess. The one celebrating "life" didn't know how to play the game (neither did birthday girl!) but they were having a blast. I had to bribe the "life" girl to split her 8's. When she hit the third 8, she wouldn't split it unless I bought her a shot <LOL>. I did, she won, and we were able to finish the hand. Later, a guy sat down beside me and about that same time, a waitress sat a beer down in front of me and collected the money from the "life" girl. The guy sitting next to me ask me why the hell his WIFE was buying me drinks! That started another round of hilarity but the upshot was, either the "life" girl, her husband or the birthday girl were buying me drinks the rest of the night as long as I was helping them make the correct Basic Strategy plays. I think I ended up about $300 (not counting uncountable drinks!) ahead for that session.
The next day, we drove up to St Joeseph, Missouri and the Frontier Casino recently bought out by Terrible's. It is a small casino with the standard Blackjack (H17) except they do offer late Surrender. I got a surprise though when I gave a "surrender" signal on a 16 vs dealer 10. The dealer tried to hit me and I had to stop her. She had no idea what the "surrender" signal was and told me that no one used it up there and they didn't know the signal for it! If I wanted to use it I had to TELL her <LOL>. That's a switch! After a couple of hours, I was once again dead even.
Our next stop was at a Reservation Casino in Kansas. The Golden Eagle is located about 6 miles west of Horton, Kansas. In my opinion, this is the best of the Reservation Casinos in Kansas. They have 6 or 7 blackjack tables, all being 6-deck shoes (except 1) with different table minimums ranging from $3 to $25 I believe. Rules are DOA, DAS (split 3 times), RSA, H17. At the $3 tables, you'll definitely find a LOT of two kinds of players...those on oxygen and those who have no clue how to play....you might want to avoid these tables unless you are play for the social aspect of the game. It can get terribly slow <smile>. However, it does have it's rewards. I played next to an 87 year old hottie who had never played before. It was reward enough to see her excitement in winning, especially after she asked me to help her when she should double down and split. She was like a baby with a new toy the first time I had her split a pair that turned into three hands with one a double down. Thank God she won it....with her excitement level, I was afraid they were going to have to bring out the recessitators to get her heart pumping again! I was playing two and three spots at this table just to even out my losses so I could stick around and play with the charming old gal! Ironically, I won a couple hundred and didn't even realize my stack was growing!
The exception to the 6-deck shoes at the Eagle is one double deck table. That is where I ended up spending the most of my time. It has the same rules as the 6-deck game at the Eagle EXCEPT, you can only split Aces once and you can double down only on hard 8, 9, 10 and 11. They had had a run of card-counters the week before and were setting the penetration at 50%. I had my best luck at this table going heads up with the dealer. The dealer would penetrate to 75% or 80% when it was just me and during those "shoes" I would go way up in winnings. But inevitably, some bystander would see me winning and would jump in on the table and back to 50% would the penetration go. I was all over the place with this game....up $600 or $700 and then down $200 or $300. The action is pretty fast and furious on this table because few players will risk the variance and the table minimums of $10. Well, that plus with the cards "pitched", the newbies can't get the help with their hands that they can get at the shoe games.
A brief run up to a nearby casino (Sac & Fox) gave me a break in the action. I wish I hadn't gone. I bought into a 6-deck shoe game that I caught at the wrong time. I lost $100 in very short order and just packed it in and went back to the Eagle. Their game is 6-deck DOA, DAS, H17, RSA.
When all was said and done, after the money was tallied at the end of the trip, I was down a whopping $25. That is for 46.5 hours actually sitting at the tables. That might sound to some like a loosing proposition, but I love the game and any time I can play that long and come out virtually even, I'm a happy camper!
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 Mike A 
Last edited by Mikeaber; April 4th, 2005 at 01:03 PM.
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