Hi all, I am a long time lurker and have been playing BJ for about 10 years, but more seriously in the last 3 years. I have learned and used the Hi-Lo and Hi-Opt counts and even attempted to use the Zen count, but in the past year have started using the Red 7 count exclusively. I enjoy the ease of its use and have found it overall quite powerful.
I recently experienced an incredible shoe that I may never see again (or at least for quite a while) and am afraid I may have messed up by not increasing my bet during the shoe. I was playing heads-up at one of the nicer strip casinos and things were going fairly average after about 1 hour of play and at the start of my final shoe I was down $900 or 18 units. At the end of my final shoe I was up $2200, making $3100 or 62 units. As this was a 6-deck shoe I started my Red 7 count at -12 and it NEVER increased from that point. The count was usually between -15 and -20. Despite this I was winning almost every hand. I was flat betting my 1 unit or $50. The cards just fell almost perfectly from double-downs to splits to dealer bust. I am not sure how many hands I lost, but I am sure it was no more than 6 or 7. At the end of the shoe I felt completely dumb-founded as perhaps I should have been increasing my bet and made a killing; "shoulda woulda coulda". Even the experienced dealer said it was probably the best shoe she ever saw. The dealer commented that she wished she could have come across the table during the shoe shook me, slapped me across the head and told me to bet more! I had a lot to learn about betting she said. When you "own" a shoe like I did, she said, it didn't matter what the count was, just take advantage of it. I have a lot of respect for this particular dealer and we actually spoke for quite some time after the shoe about various BJ related topics. So, although I was up during this session and relatively happy with the win, I can't help but feel like a bit of a loser in not recognizing the "opportunity".
I suppose the reason I posted this was to hear comments from others about my "missed opportunity". Or was it? Should I have continued to increase my bet into a consistently negative shoe?
Thanks...and I look forward to contributing more on this forum.
I recently experienced an incredible shoe that I may never see again (or at least for quite a while) and am afraid I may have messed up by not increasing my bet during the shoe. I was playing heads-up at one of the nicer strip casinos and things were going fairly average after about 1 hour of play and at the start of my final shoe I was down $900 or 18 units. At the end of my final shoe I was up $2200, making $3100 or 62 units. As this was a 6-deck shoe I started my Red 7 count at -12 and it NEVER increased from that point. The count was usually between -15 and -20. Despite this I was winning almost every hand. I was flat betting my 1 unit or $50. The cards just fell almost perfectly from double-downs to splits to dealer bust. I am not sure how many hands I lost, but I am sure it was no more than 6 or 7. At the end of the shoe I felt completely dumb-founded as perhaps I should have been increasing my bet and made a killing; "shoulda woulda coulda". Even the experienced dealer said it was probably the best shoe she ever saw. The dealer commented that she wished she could have come across the table during the shoe shook me, slapped me across the head and told me to bet more! I had a lot to learn about betting she said. When you "own" a shoe like I did, she said, it didn't matter what the count was, just take advantage of it. I have a lot of respect for this particular dealer and we actually spoke for quite some time after the shoe about various BJ related topics. So, although I was up during this session and relatively happy with the win, I can't help but feel like a bit of a loser in not recognizing the "opportunity".
I suppose the reason I posted this was to hear comments from others about my "missed opportunity". Or was it? Should I have continued to increase my bet into a consistently negative shoe?
Thanks...and I look forward to contributing more on this forum.
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