Long playing sessions

T

tensplitter

Well-Known Member
Today I was playing a long session of 8 hours at the same table (I decided to just stay in one spot and watch both football games while playing blackjack). I bought in for $800 and cashed out a little over $1100. It was just interesting to see ploppy after ploppy come in and lose their money, with the occasional few getting lucky. Whereas I ranged from a low of $300 to a high of $1500. A BS player would be expected to lose $60 in 8 hours, and I expected to win $120 in 8 hours. Anyone else ever sit at the same table and play all day or all night long?
 
After a review of my records, I see that I have played more than 8 hours continuously on 10 occasions, plus a couple more days where I exceeded 8 hours, but it was broken up by a meal break. In all but one or two of these sessions, there was something going on besides a straight counting blackjack game, and I generally used a conservative spread to stay under the radar. Only once have I played that long and spread aggressively.
 
Nothing unusual if you are on a casino ship. Just gamble, eat and get some sleep which is about 100 steps away.
 
Not uncommon for me

Most of my sessions are longer than a lot of AP's play, usually 4-5 hours.

Weekends I've been known to hit the tables for two 12 hour days in a row. My cover depends on how I'm doing. Losing/Winning a little = minimal cover. Winning Average = average cover. Winning Big = probably already out of there.

Depends on the store how much they will be concerned over someone playing that long. Small wins of $300 over 8 hours shouldn't bother them at all. Hope you were rated, get some comp out of the deal too.
 
Twenty years ago, 16 hour shifts were rather common for me. I've also been known to play 24+ hours straight. But those days are gone. After 8 hours I'm almost falling asleep. I tried a double about a month ago; it liked to have killed me.
 
tensplitter said:
Anyone else ever sit at the same table and play all day or all night long?
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I once played for 24 hours straight, taking advantage of a promotion. It was quite a marathon; you're almost in a trance by the end of it. Under the right conditions, I'll play for a whole 8 hour shift, but not often.
 
Nynefingers said:
After a review of my records, I see that I have played more than 8 hours continuously on 10 occasions, plus a couple more days where I exceeded 8 hours, but it was broken up by a meal break. In all but one or two of these sessions, there was something going on besides a straight counting blackjack game, and I generally used a conservative spread to stay under the radar. Only once have I played that long and spread aggressively.
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One big problem is that you can't play long with aggressive spreading unless you employ a lot of game-killing camo. Sometimes I have found myself playing longer than I wished, chasing an early run of negative variance with max bet out. The problem is that even when you lose with max bet out, you are still calling attention to counting behavior, so you may need to take on extra camo baggage if you stay and try to get even. I had this happen in Vegas in a poor game I shouldn't even have been playing. After 22 hours I had recouped most of my losses. :cry::):whip:
 
aslan said:
One big problem is that you can't play long with aggressive spreading unless you employ a lot of game-killing camo.
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My record is 8 hours at one DD table spreading 1:15. I was down for the first 7 hours and came back, plus some, during the last hour. Though there was no back-off, it was about 8x longer than I usually stay in one place and I won't be doing it again.
 
I know I'm not the only person who can play for hours on end. One ploppy told me he played for 20 hours in a row once, most certainly because he has a gambling problem.

At this one casino where I played for hours on end, I project the image that I'm a compulsive gambler.
 
tensplitter said:
At this one casino where I played for hours on end, I project the image that I'm a compulsive gambler.
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Just be careful not to project that image TOO strongly. In many states (including NJ, I think) a casino is required by law to exclude a person who is known to be a compulsive gambler.
 
The casinos know that compulsive gamblers are the bread and butter of their business. They only exclude the compulsive gamblers who sign a self-exclusion form. Of course I won't voluntarily 86 myself. In a way I am a compulsive gambler, but instead of going broke, in the long run I will have an infinite amount of money.
 
Which completely bottles my mind as to why so many APs talk about burning out a good game. Does every AP stick out like a sore thumb? One of the reasons I love being an AP is the whoile cat and mouse aspect. I have a great DD S17 90% game, and a SD 3:2 game that I can never burnout. I only lose small at those games, but when I lose, I make a scene. Cuss, scream, whine, it all works. I've actually been over doing it lately, and it has always been good for at least a dinner comp.
 
Time limits?

The longest I've played early in my playing career was about eight hours. Wrong thing to do big time you are a made man or woman. When the pit starts pulling out pictures of their grandkids you definitly overstayed your welcome. You as an ap should have win loss limits and move on before they get jiggy with you. This is a mistake novices make not someone who wants to live to play again. I sure we have all made this mistake but guard against being greedy and overstaying your welcome.
 
I read that 1 player was playing so long that he became so weak and couldn't move and had to be carried out off the casino. If that is not addiction to gambling I don't know what is.
 
Jack_Black said:
Which completely bottles my mind as to why so many APs talk about burning out a good game. Does every AP stick out like a sore thumb? One of the reasons I love being an AP is the whoile cat and mouse aspect. I have a great DD S17 90% game, and a SD 3:2 game that I can never burnout. I only lose small at those games, but when I lose, I make a scene. Cuss, scream, whine, it all works. I've actually been over doing it lately, and it has always been good for at least a dinner comp.
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:toast: Keep up the good work!
 
blackchipjim said:
The longest I've played early in my playing career was about eight hours. Wrong thing to do big time you are a made man or woman. When the pit starts pulling out pictures of their grandkids you definitly overstayed your welcome. You as an ap should have win loss limits and move on before they get jiggy with you. This is a mistake novices make not someone who wants to live to play again. I sure we have all made this mistake but guard against being greedy and overstaying your welcome.
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On my long stays I generally know all about at least one dealer and one pit person, where they're from, where they went to school, what occupations they've had, what bad fortune they've had, all kinds of stories about their private lives, what they plan to do in retirement. I also like the $100 food comp at one of their restaurants. Hey, for me it's beneficial to be friendly with the staff. To each his own.

If losing, I have had pit people, especially women, give me looks that say, "I hope you know what you're doing. I sure hate to see such a nice person lose more than he can afford." I know they don't know how many green and black chips I have stuffed in my pockets, or if I am really behind, they are always so happy to see me reverse my fortunes. What the heck is wrong with that? There's nothing like having the pit crew pulling for you to win! (Now I feel so dirty. :sad: Am I really the two-faced cad I just described? Woe is me!:cry:) :laugh:

PS--Actually, I genuinely like the dealers and pit crews I meet at the tables. It's not their money!
 
I was at a casino yesterday, after being away from blackjack for a few years. I was surprised to see a $5 table, last time i went the minimum was $10 and they would shut them down if less than 5 players were at it. I could now play all alone at a $5 table. I guess that is the GFC for you.

2 hours turned into 8 pretty quickly. I was rather surprised with what I saw.

Yes there were ploppies emptying out their wallets. But what shocked me was the number of people who had Basic Strat down pat. In my 4+ years of playing blackjack in australia from 2004-2008ish I think I encountered about 1 in 50 people who played basic strategy. About 50% of people would at least know to hit to 17 against high cards, but beyond that I saw almost no one who even looked to have a clue, including people who were betting $500 a hand.

At a $5 bet table, the house edge is only costing me about $1 an hour and i was up by about $135 mostly due to a lucky streak of blackjacks and dealer mistakes (they deal in 12 hour shifts... poor guys). At one point I was feeling stupid and decided to blindly hit twice a 5 against a 5, to my suprise many people where upset with my play and angrily grumbled at me "that most unlike you".

I am not sure why, but knowledge of BS has skyrockted from when I last played. At one point the whole table was even discussing the probability of hit/stand for hard 12 vs dealer 2... never seen anything like it.
 
dacium said:
I am not sure why, but knowledge of BS has skyrockted from when I last played.
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Maybe so, where you play. Where I play... Nearly all players are dumb as a rock. Standing on 8s, splitting Xs against A, declining to double 11 against 6. The set of dumb moves is monstrous. Sure, most folks know not to hit 15 against 6, but even that isn't a certainty.

I don't doubt that casino culture and informed-ness varies wildly from locale to locale.
 
dacium said:
I am not sure why, but knowledge of BS has skyrockted from when I last played. At one point the whole table was even discussing the probability of hit/stand for hard 12 vs dealer 2... never seen anything like it.
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Sometimes you'll encounter a table where everyone is a pretty good player; you just HAPPENED upon one. Go back today, go back tomorrow, then go back on the weekend. I'm sure that you will find that todays' people are just as stupid as they EVER were! :grin:
 
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