El EsCortez

bj bob

Well-Known Member
#1
Thinking about shooting out to Vegas this summer.From what I gather from the various posts The El Cortez has a great 1D game, but the heat is rediculous.Still true? and is it worth the effort to go there just to get escortezed out the door?
 

Sonny

Well-Known Member
#2
bj bob said:
From what I gather from the various posts The El Cortez has a great 1D game...
The game itself is decent. If you can find a good dealer it can be great. A lot of it will depend on how good you can make the game. Great games aren't always found, they're often made.

bj bob said:
...but the heat is rediculous.Still true?
It is a small club so it is easy to stand out. If you keep your sessions short and take liberal bathroom breaks you can get away with a lot. Or, if you're like ZG, you can make them love you and leave you alone. I'm not quite that good yet so I have to pace myself. :eek: I play there every time I visit Vegas and have never been backed off yet.

bj bob said:
and is it worth the effort to go there just to get escortezed out the door?
HA! EsCorted! I love it. :laugh: If you're in the downtown area you should definitely check them out. It probably isn't worth a trip all the way from the Stip just to play there, but they aren't that far from the action downtown.

-Sonny-
 

bj bob

Well-Known Member
#3
Thanks Sonny

I'll take your advice.BTW, when you say keep the sessions short,do you mean 20mins. or 1 hr? Also,since it's a small club,how many 1D tables are there..Any wait on weekdays and it as sleasy as Fremont St?
 
#4
bj bob said:
Thinking about shooting out to Vegas this summer.From what I gather from the various posts The El Cortez has a great 1D game, but the heat is rediculous.Still true? and is it worth the effort to go there just to get escortezed out the door?
I see no problem playing $5 or 10 units at EC, but the truth is that the 2D game there may be better than the 1D.

EC was the first and only place that I've been litteraly "thrown" out of. The year was 1980 and as I passed thru I saw a paraplegic in wheel chair with a $100 minimum game. I joined and played a total of 3-4 hands when the pC pushed my bet back and leaned in saying"We don't deal to card-counters here, go haunt another casino." I looked up, pulling my sunglasses down and replied, "You wouldn't know a card-counter if he was counting out loud."

Instantly I had two guards grasp my upper arms and walked me to the cage to cash my chips then they walked me to the door. At the door they lifted me by my arms several inches off the ground, relatively gently, and gave me a heave ho - I landed on my feet on the sidewalk. Huuh I tell ya, I get no respect at all! zg
 
#5
bj bob said:
I'll take your advice.BTW, when you say keep the sessions short,do you mean 20mins. or 1 hr? Also,since it's a small club,how many 1D tables are there..Any wait on weekdays and it as sleasy as Fremont St?
Swing has the worst pene - stay away from the bald shift manager. Days and grave are the best pene AND easiest to play. zg
 

bj bob

Well-Known Member
#6
Very colorful! Zg

Your vivid account leads me to several questions.1)How do you know what's going on there now if you have been thrown out 25 yrs. ago?(Did you sneak back in with your cutting edge stealth ZgZuit? or get the info from your elaborate spy network? 2)What were you doing to get the boot after only 3 hands?Were you already Griffined? Real curious... BJ
 
#7
bj bob said:
Your vivid account leads me to several questions.1)How do you know what's going on there now if you have been thrown out 25 yrs. ago?(Did you sneak back in with your cutting edge stealth ZgZuit? or get the info from your elaborate spy network? 2)What were you doing to get the boot after only 3 hands?Were you already Griffined? Real curious... BJ
I never knew how they made me in 4 hands. Since then I've been backed off from EC MANY times - at least 6x in 5 years - and in between backoffs I have booked MANY multi-hour sessions without heat. zg
 

bj bob

Well-Known Member
#8
Very interesting!

Your being booted and then able to return at some future time brings me to this question. How long, in your experence, do you wait to attempt to re-enter a club after being barred,esp. if you've been read the trespassing routine and, are there any clubs from which you have never been able to return after the first "gentle translevitation"?
 
#9
bj bob said:
Your being booted and then able to return at some future time brings me to this question. How long, in your experence, do you wait to attempt to re-enter a club after being barred,esp. if you've been read the trespassing routine and, are there any clubs from which you have never been able to return after the first "gentle translevitation"?
I will generally wait a minimum of 90 days, sometimes only 60 days. Because I frequently leave town for extended periods it typically is longer. BUT no experienced counter gives a f**k about being barred, or trespassed. And for small stakes it is a non-issue.

NO, not a single casino worth playing have I ever been unable to return. zg
 

Mikeaber

Well-Known Member
#10
I agree with ZG....often, the DD tables are better than the SD. When I was there in May, the two SD tables were in the "northern" pit of tables, side by side and they were "low" tables (handicap accessible). The DD tables were in the Southern Pit. The DD were high tables. All were $5 minimum and they were constantly breaking in new dealers, especially on the DD tables. That's both good and bad. Good because they frequently make mistakes. Bad in that they usually have a Pit Critter hovering over their shoulder. Pen was good in both pits. But I scored much better at the DD tables and with a spread of 1:5 with $5 units, I drew no heat at all and played sometimes for 2 or 3 hours. I did change tables during those longer sessions. I think that the Tez's objective is to become the DD place to play. They started getting serious about DD about the same time Plaza began ruining their DD game.
 
#12
avs21 said:
can you beat el Cortez by flat betting? If your know 100 or so indexes.
Nope. FUHGETTABOUTIT! It would require heads-up play, multiple multi-parameter side count play adjustments, and 90% pene. zg

Ps - Although consolidation betting a flat amount is viable under otherwise normal conditions with as little as 20 indices. See Zengrifter Interview page 16
 

Sonny

Well-Known Member
#13
avs21 said:
can you beat el Cortez by flat betting? If your know 100 or so indexes.
With a little backcounting you could, but not by much. You also wouldn't last very long jumping around that aggressively (you would also look foolish backcounting a SD game, jumping in to play 1 hand then leaving immediately, which pisses off the players too).

I've been able to use a blatant $5-$30 spread for 1-2 hours with no problems (I used to use a $3-$30 spread back in the days). A few bathroom breaks and well-timed returns can easily give you a pretty big EV.

-Sonny-
 

E-town-guy

Well-Known Member
#14
Curiously, what would your EV be spreading like that? I would have guessed it would be less than $20/hr so I'm hoping you can surprise me and say its double.
 

Sonny

Well-Known Member
#15
E-town-guy said:
Curiously, what would your EV be spreading like that? I would have guessed it would be less than $20/hr so I'm hoping you can surprise me and say its double.
Unfortunately, I have no surprises for you. You're exactly right, the EV for a $5-$30 spread is around $15/hr. It certainly ain't going to make you rich, but a 400 unit BR will only have a 2-3% ROR so it is a great place to safely build on a $2,000 bankroll. It is pretty much a "grind joint" anyway since they usually call "checks play" on any green action.

-Sonny-
 

golfnut101

Well-Known Member
#16
Hey ZG

I played at a casino on a reserve this past weekend, and I was able to play heads up right away. I was playing 5.00 hands, using KO, and got up to 80.00 in approx. 15 min using bs, waiting for a pos shoe. A young female pb came over and was, no shit, 2 feet from me as I was next to 3rd, and was glued to the table. Something you said in this thread really got to me, and I quote
"BUT no experienced counter gives a f**k about being barred, or trespassed. And for small stakes it is a non-issue." If you are playing heads up under those conditions, do you go ahead and raise your bet anyways ? I will be honest, I stopped counting and left winning 100.00. After I got in my car, I was pissed at myself. Also, do you always need an act when you start to raise your bets, or just when a pb is watching ? Is ramping when you gradually increase your bet, so it is not so obvious, or do you just go 1 unit right to 8 or example if that is your spread ?

thnx for any thoughts
 
#17
golfnut101 said:
Something you said in this thread really got to me, and I quote "BUT no experienced counter gives a f**k about being barred, or trespassed. And for small stakes it is a non-issue." If you are playing heads up under those conditions, do you go ahead and raise your bet anyways ? I will be honest, I stopped counting and left winning 100.00. After I got in my car, I was pissed at myself. Also, do you always need an act when you start to raise your bets, or just when a pb is watching ? Is ramping when you gradually increase your bet, so it is not so obvious, or do you just go 1 unit right to 8 or example if that is your spread ?
In a shoe game, except at the very end, the count will never spike so abrubtly to require a jump from min to max... BUT YES I WOULD bet in accordance - with $5u EVEN IF the PB is standing right there - I might make some small talk like "this is it, I'm goin for broke" or some such.

No you don't need an act every time you raise your bet.

My over-riding advice is that until you are playing $25u don't worry about cover acts or betting camoflauge. zg
 

ScottH

Well-Known Member
#18
zengrifter said:
My over-riding advice is that until you are playing $25u don't worry about cover acts or betting camoflauge. zg
Five dollar unit bettors still want to remain welcome. If they tell you that you aren't welcome to play blackjack anymore even betting 5u, how long should one wait before coming back. Since you did say that nothing ever happens to counters returning after being asked to leave.
 
#19
ScottH said:
Five dollar unit bettors still want to remain welcome. If they tell you that you aren't welcome to play blackjack anymore even betting 5u, how long should one wait before coming back. Since you did say that nothing ever happens to counters returning after being asked to leave.
At the $5u level wait 4 weeks and return to a different shift. Soon you'll be back playing on the shift that garred you. zg
 

golfnut101

Well-Known Member
#20
Hey Zenmaster

thankyou for the quick reply ! Further to my question, I know that table conditions such as amount of players is important, but can it actually hurt to play where you could shoot off a canon, or do you prefer some traffic at a table ? I'm hoping to play tonite at a reserve where it could be quiet.

thnx again
 
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