OK, I'm admittedly a recreational gambler who learned how to count cards because I have family in Vegas and also go there on business fairly often (my company has an office there). So I'm probably in Nevada 2-3 weeks per year and figured counting was something I'd better learn if I didn't want to get tired of losing $500 every time I visit my dad. I've done pretty well at it for how often I play -- close to $1K a year playing $5 games at maybe 40 hours per year.
I'd gone through probably 100 sessions at various locations with no incident, but on my last trip, I was asked to leave the blackjack area at the Southpoint casino -- which offers a pretty good double-deck game, by the way: $5 min, often 70% or better penetration -- after a measly $250 win. I was playing $5 double deck with a max bet of 8x5 or 2x25 and a few variations thrown in, for all the good it did.
From reading the forums, I'm guessing that being backed off is nothing to be too worried about in my position; in fact, I'm almost tempted to blow it off and look at it as a badge of honor, in that at least it verified that I was counting cards correctly (though I suppose winning money without getting busted is a more desirable indicator). But I don't want this to turn into a recurring problem, which is why I'm asking you for pointers. Here are a few things I think I did right and wrong; any advice is much appreciated:
Good:
- Playing the "happy gambler." High-fiving the guy next to me after a win, talking about football to the dealer and some random Texas guy next to me throughout the session.
- Playing the idiot. Pretending to have trouble following the dealer when s/he has an ace, showing my cards and asking for advice half the time when I have a hand like 12 against the dealer's 13 or a double down situation, and also swearing a lot in said situations.
- Drinking a lot of beer. I try to drink beer as fast as they give it to me when counting, thinking it will get their guard down. One strength I have going for me is that I can continue to keep accurate count even when I'm close to falling-down drunk. I am not making this up; I have a semi-photographic memory and it's just something I've learned that I can do, so I try to take advantage of it.
Mistakes:
- Staying at the table too long. I lost track of time and was probably at the same table for almost two and a half hours. But of course, so was another guy who was betting bigger than me (not counting, just betting randomly and being lucky) so I figured that between that and my frequent piss breaks I was safe.
- Accidental random comment. About 15 minutes after I sat down, I was making small talk with one of the other players and said, "Man, I am REALLY cold." This had nothing to do with the game; they just really had the AC cranked up and I was literally freezing my ass off. But one of the pit bosses glared at me and said, "Yeah, it IS really cold," and then immediately turned his back and walked away, and I distinctly remember thinking, "Well, that was weird." In hindsight, this also happened while they were reshuffling the deck after a big plus count, making it doubly bad. My current theory is that this got the guy (who was apparently finishing his shift) to tell the others to keep an eye on me, which is how they eventually caught me. Lesson learned: Be careful what you say, even if it's an innocent remark.
- Winning streak at weird time. Late in my session, I had gone to take a leak, and when I came back to the table I'd missed the first hand, but as they were finishing the second hand, I could hardly believe my eyes. There was literally a +15 on the table in front of me. Two other players: one had split a pair of 2s and drawn four additional cards on each; the other was playing two hands and gone something like 2-6-4-K and split a pair of 6's and gone 6-2-3-6, 6-4 (double) 5. The dealer had a 4 showing and went something like 4-5-2-A-Q to bust. Anyway, looking at the number of cards in the discard pile, I figured I had at least a +10 with under a deck remaining and proceeded to sit back down and make three $75-$100 bets in a row, of which I won two and pushed one. Dangerous, I know, but too tempting not to do.
After all of this, I ended up with another great deck that went straight to +10 and stayed there for three hands. I'd pushed out a 2x25 bet on the last hand of the deck and was literally going to walk away win or lose, but the pit boss flicked my chips back at me and said "we don't want your action; play anything but 21." I probably made a mistake by trying to play dumb and tell him "What do you mean? I don't understand what I did wrong," to which he said "Yes you do" and motioned me to leave. So I left and played video poker for a few minutes, which I really didn't enjoy because I was pretty certain someone up above had their eye on me making sure I didn't try to go back and play cards.
At any rate, sorry for the long post, but since this is the first time I've been caught counting, I thought I should describe the whole thing in as much detail as possible to get advice. Yeah, there are things that in retrospect even I think were probably dumb to do, but either not thinking or getting caught up in the moment can mess with you. Any insight you have is much appreciated, as I'm fairly certain I'll be back in Vegas next February and would prefer this not repeat itself.
I'd gone through probably 100 sessions at various locations with no incident, but on my last trip, I was asked to leave the blackjack area at the Southpoint casino -- which offers a pretty good double-deck game, by the way: $5 min, often 70% or better penetration -- after a measly $250 win. I was playing $5 double deck with a max bet of 8x5 or 2x25 and a few variations thrown in, for all the good it did.
From reading the forums, I'm guessing that being backed off is nothing to be too worried about in my position; in fact, I'm almost tempted to blow it off and look at it as a badge of honor, in that at least it verified that I was counting cards correctly (though I suppose winning money without getting busted is a more desirable indicator). But I don't want this to turn into a recurring problem, which is why I'm asking you for pointers. Here are a few things I think I did right and wrong; any advice is much appreciated:
Good:
- Playing the "happy gambler." High-fiving the guy next to me after a win, talking about football to the dealer and some random Texas guy next to me throughout the session.
- Playing the idiot. Pretending to have trouble following the dealer when s/he has an ace, showing my cards and asking for advice half the time when I have a hand like 12 against the dealer's 13 or a double down situation, and also swearing a lot in said situations.
- Drinking a lot of beer. I try to drink beer as fast as they give it to me when counting, thinking it will get their guard down. One strength I have going for me is that I can continue to keep accurate count even when I'm close to falling-down drunk. I am not making this up; I have a semi-photographic memory and it's just something I've learned that I can do, so I try to take advantage of it.
Mistakes:
- Staying at the table too long. I lost track of time and was probably at the same table for almost two and a half hours. But of course, so was another guy who was betting bigger than me (not counting, just betting randomly and being lucky) so I figured that between that and my frequent piss breaks I was safe.
- Accidental random comment. About 15 minutes after I sat down, I was making small talk with one of the other players and said, "Man, I am REALLY cold." This had nothing to do with the game; they just really had the AC cranked up and I was literally freezing my ass off. But one of the pit bosses glared at me and said, "Yeah, it IS really cold," and then immediately turned his back and walked away, and I distinctly remember thinking, "Well, that was weird." In hindsight, this also happened while they were reshuffling the deck after a big plus count, making it doubly bad. My current theory is that this got the guy (who was apparently finishing his shift) to tell the others to keep an eye on me, which is how they eventually caught me. Lesson learned: Be careful what you say, even if it's an innocent remark.
- Winning streak at weird time. Late in my session, I had gone to take a leak, and when I came back to the table I'd missed the first hand, but as they were finishing the second hand, I could hardly believe my eyes. There was literally a +15 on the table in front of me. Two other players: one had split a pair of 2s and drawn four additional cards on each; the other was playing two hands and gone something like 2-6-4-K and split a pair of 6's and gone 6-2-3-6, 6-4 (double) 5. The dealer had a 4 showing and went something like 4-5-2-A-Q to bust. Anyway, looking at the number of cards in the discard pile, I figured I had at least a +10 with under a deck remaining and proceeded to sit back down and make three $75-$100 bets in a row, of which I won two and pushed one. Dangerous, I know, but too tempting not to do.
After all of this, I ended up with another great deck that went straight to +10 and stayed there for three hands. I'd pushed out a 2x25 bet on the last hand of the deck and was literally going to walk away win or lose, but the pit boss flicked my chips back at me and said "we don't want your action; play anything but 21." I probably made a mistake by trying to play dumb and tell him "What do you mean? I don't understand what I did wrong," to which he said "Yes you do" and motioned me to leave. So I left and played video poker for a few minutes, which I really didn't enjoy because I was pretty certain someone up above had their eye on me making sure I didn't try to go back and play cards.
At any rate, sorry for the long post, but since this is the first time I've been caught counting, I thought I should describe the whole thing in as much detail as possible to get advice. Yeah, there are things that in retrospect even I think were probably dumb to do, but either not thinking or getting caught up in the moment can mess with you. Any insight you have is much appreciated, as I'm fairly certain I'll be back in Vegas next February and would prefer this not repeat itself.
