Trip Report: ST. Croix, Turtle lake,WI

[Cass]

last night I took a 3.5 hour (each way)trip down to turtle lake to check out there blackjack game. Things were not quite as good as I had hoped. They had 10-15 BJ tables, a few pitch games that were dealt face down. They also had a few 4 deck games, and mostly six deck. The tables were mostly full, but it got pretty quiet after 2am. The games were as follows: 2d, S17 no DAS. Looked like around 65% pene, but I didnt play any pitch games. 4d,s17,DAS, nosur, NoRSA. I Spent all my time on the 4 deck shoe. The pen was 70%-80% dealer dep. I was spreading 1x100-2x500. After being down a few thousand they gave us drinks on the house. Having only consumed a few beers, I was playing a pretty good drunk act. A few times I actually spread my bets to 3x$400 after placing a $100 bet the round before. 1-12 spread! I received no heat. I spent most the night down several thousand. On the last hand I played in the last round of the shoe the count was sky high. I had two table max bets out and i was dealt 9,a and 7,a dealer was showing a five. I doubled down on both bets and pulled a five and a four!! The dealer had a a nine underneath his five, pulled a face and busted!! It was time to leave and I ended up with a $2200 profit for the trip. A few firsts for me last night: I split to three hands a few times, doubled down on a soft 20, and a guy at my table bought in for $8000!

[Automatic Monkey]

Yes I remember that place from my MN/WI 4D/2D trip. I was down about $2K for the trip, walked into the Turtle to play 2D. Went down another $2K, then up about $4K, then eventually walked out with exactly what I walked in with. I was playing heads up with a very fast dealer who was giving me about 300 hands per hour. What a ride! I think that might have been my only experience when I was just too tired to go on, what with all the driving and playing I was doing out there.

[Cass]

Originally Posted by Automatic Monkey

Yes I remember that place from my MN/WI 4D/2D trip. I was down about $2K for the trip, walked into the Turtle to play 2D. Went down another $2K, then up about $4K, then eventually walked out with exactly what I walked in with. I was playing heads up with a very fast dealer who was giving me about 300 hands per hour. What a ride! I think that might have been my only experience when I was just too tired to go on, what with all the driving and playing I was doing out there.

You dont happen to remember her name do you? Short blonde girl? I think she was the fastest dealer I have ever seen. Yeah that is what sucks about this area there are some pretty good games but plan on driving at least a hour to go from casino to casino.

[Automatic Monkey]

Originally Posted by Cass

You dont happen to remember her name do you? Short blonde girl? I think she was the fastest dealer I have ever seen. Yeah that is what sucks about this area there are some pretty good games but plan on driving at least a hour to go from casino to casino.

Not sure who it was. Most of the dealers were pretty good there.

(Shhhhh.... please don't mention individual dealers by name in a public forum- we could potentially jeopardize their jobs if we lead their management to believe they are sought out or otherwise appreciated by advantage players. Dealers in Indian joints have no recourse or protection.)

Yes the driving really does cut into win rate. I had a similar experience up on the UP of Michigan playing all those nice DD games with LS.

[SystemsTrader]

Originally Posted by Automatic Monkey

Yes the driving really does cut into win rate. I had a similar experience up on the UP of Michigan playing all those nice DD games with LS.

Hey AM I've been thinking of doing a road trip up to Northern Michigan. Is it worth it for the double deck games? Do you remember their conditions, pen? What about the shoes games are they any good? Are the casinos dumpy like it says in Comp City and can you get any worthwhile comps there?

[Automatic Monkey]

Originally Posted by SystemsTrader

Hey AM I've been thinking of doing a road trip up to Northern Michigan. Is it worth it for the double deck games? Do you remember their conditions, pen? What about the shoes games are they any good? Are the casinos dumpy like it says in Comp City and can you get any worthwhile comps there?

The casinos are the dumpiest places you've ever seen! I wouldn't try for comps, being most of the casinos are run by the same Kewadin people and if you ID yourself to one, you've ID'ed yourself to all. Stop in at Chip-Ins in Escanaba for a decent 4D game, pretty girls and great drinks.

The big advantage of these games is late surrender. I'd recommend brushing up on all your late surrender plays for these games. The pen is also better than most, but it can vary quite a bit from store to store and dealer to dealer.

Two asides: first is that the locals are very conservative in those parts and Vegas staples like sex talk, dirty jokes or even strong profanity will draw undesirable attention to you. "Native American" is preferred over "Indian"; American Indian ancestry is common and people can be sensitive about perceived disrespect.

Related to that, I heard from another counter I met up there that security guards have been involved in violent treatment and bodily expulsion of persons; he didn't know if they were AP's, cheats, or just riffraff, but aside from the Indian sovereignty issues this part of Michigan tends to be self-policing so be very averse to getting into any kind of trouble up there.

[ortango]

Cass, your report more or less described my life for the last 27 straight days. Of course with mixed, but mostly positive results. Sounds like you had a good time, but of course you were betting within your limits, right??

[Cass]

Originally Posted by ortango

Cass, your report more or less described my life for the last 27 straight days. Of course with mixed, but mostly positive results. Sounds like you had a good time, but of course you were betting within your limits, right??

I won $55,000 on a couple three card poker promotions so that was a nice boost to my Bankroll. Plus i've been doing really well at blackjack for the year.

-Cass