I don't really like to do trip reports anymore. But this trip was a bit more
remarkable than most, so here I go.
First of all I've added a couple of new things to my arsenal over the past few
trips.
1. 9/6 JOB Video Poker for comps.
2. Low limit hold-em.
Up until recently I counted cards... that's all. I rarely use a player's card
anywhere. This may be unwise as a red-chipper. But I have successfully avoided
being nailed anywhere while my card was active. This means a lot to me.
I have obviously missed out on a lot of comps because of this. So, I decided
to pick one or two places that have decent VP and questionable BJ. Then, Play BJ
with whatever cover I need to ensure non-detection, Play VP, and start using the
players card at just these places for comps.
I found a place with $.25 9/6 where I already had a card. They gave me a
coupon book with 3 matchplays when I updated my info. I won on all of them.
Cool, an extra 12 bucks!
One mistake here was that I could have done a little more research as to which
stores are most liberal with VP comps. I will fix that. Also, I intended on
playing three long VP sessions. But I got sick on the last day and only played
two. I'll wait and see if they send me anything.
I won 93 units overall on the VP machines.
Then there is the low-limit hold-em. I had been studying it passively for some
time. And, playing quite a bit. But I have really been getting my meat hooks in
the game lately.
The level of complete incompetence among the vast majority of the players
makes it just too inviting. At blackjack, ploppies will often play something
close to basic strategy. At most 2-4 games there are people who will seemingly
just pick hands randomly.
Also, I enjoy the absence of radical swings at the low-limit games. It is a
perfect compliment to Blackjack. I can sit a the poker table for a few hours,
get a bit restless, then head out for some of that nice exiting Blackjack
variance! Also, It is best to play Poker when stores are crowded and best to
play blackjack when they are not. So there is always a game. Again, a perfect
compliment.
I won 4 out of 5 Poker sessions this trip. I lost the session where I sat at a
spread-limit game that I was not prepared for. This is the game at the L-Kotex.
The rake there is only a buck. So, I rationalized it that way and played out of
curiosity. The players there seemed to be fairly decent too. No more of that! Oh
well, Ya live and ya learn.
I had a 90(ish) unit overall win at Poker.
Day one-
My plane landed at 9:00pm, I was shuttled to my Downtown hotel, fed, bathed
and at the tables by 11:30pm. The fact that I slept on the plane coupled with
the initial excitement of getting into town ensured it would be an all-nighter.
I Played Poker at the Plza for a few hours then headed out to play Blackjack. It
was a fairly uneventful most of the night except for an 80 unit BJ win for the
evening.
Shortly after the sun came up I went into a certain casino. I was spreading
5-25 heads up at their single deck game. Played about 30 minutes. There was a
shuffle, then a huge spill of small cards on the first hand(+5). I won with my
5-card hand, so I put five reds into the circle.
Then from behind me comes:
"Whaoo.. hold on a second".
PC puts his hand on the dealer's shoulder and looks at me and says:
"If you wish to continue playing Blackjack in this casino you need to bet the
same amount on every hand".
For a lousy $25 top bet!! I'll let you all guess where this was.
Then I made another mistake. Out of instinct, I colored up and left. I walked
away from a +5 deck with only one round dealt out. The PC was very polite about
it. I could have continued betting $25 until the count tanked. Stupid. Oh well,
Ya live and ya learn.
Day two-
I woke up mid-afternoon. My sleep schedule is now 12 hours out of wack from
Cleveland time. Anyhow, a few hours until the Ball. I ate and played an hour or
so of video poker and a little more BJ at 2 more places. The 2 BJ sessions were
about a wash, but I won $65 bucks at VP.
Then I got cleaned up and hopped on one of those nice new double-decker CAT
busses. Man, never again on weekends! It took 40 minutes from the time I got on
the bus downtown to the time it got to the Circus-Circus stop! It would likely
take more than an hour more to get to my off south-strip destination. I got off
and hired a cab.
As I said in an earlier post, Anyone who was apprehensive about going to the
Halloween Ball shouldn't have been. It was a very fun, positive thing. The pace
was perfect. Just enough time between events for mingling etc. The events
themselves were very interesting and entertaining.
Maybe some thought this kind of thing was too high profile or something. Active AP's were wearing masks... problem solved. Also, there was plenty of room
outside of the ballroom where one could take off their masks, avoid cameras, get
some air outside, etc.
There were a lot of known Blackjack/gaming names there. Jean Scott, Some of
the M.I.T. guys, Norm Wattenburg, Rick Jensen as well as the people from
Advantageplayer.com. (I'm sure I'm leaving some out, too). Max Rubin did a fantastic job as MC and Viktor Nacht did as well as can be imagined organizing things. One thing I thought was fairly remarkable was the ratio of popular names to schmuck red-chippers like myself. If anything, I would have loved to see more casual APs there. So go next year!
I got to meet some interesting people. One person I met was an LV native and poker pro. He sometimes works for poker websites to seed short handed games. He also told of how online poker, especially Party Poker have some pretty sophisticated methods of catching colluders and bots. He actually lifted some of my fears. If I can verify this info, I may start an online career at some point.
I met a retired person who was just beginning to count cards. As it turns out, he was also unaware of the negative credibility of Donald Dahl. A couple of us set him strait on that in a hurry! I encouraged him to get involved with some of the message boards. Maybe we will hear from him here, who knows.
I would have liked to talk to some of the M.I.T. guys. But by the time I found
out who was who, they seemed to have a million people talking at them. I did,
however get to talk to Rick Jensen for quite awhile. He has some serious irons
on the fire. He's really doing a lot for tournament Blackjack.
Oh yea, the blackjack tourney. I think it was one of my very last posts that I
commented on what a bad tournament player I was. It would have been doubtful
that I would beat such quality players with finesse on the final few hands. So,
here's what I did.
On hand 15 I think I was BR3. But the top 3 were pretty close. It was my turn
on the button. There was a "Secret Bet" available. Which means you can write
your wager on a piece of paper and no one can see it until the hand is over. I
decided to bet half my bankroll this way while I was first to act so no one
could make adjustments to my big bet. I drew an 11 and secretly doubled down. I
think the dealer drew to 18, I don't quite remember now. I drew the Ace. Damn!
To add insult to injury I miscalculated my bankroll. I was left with $250 and
a $500 minimum bet. What a rookie mistake! This settles it. I'm going to really
start studying tournament play!
Afterwards I went to the Palms to play Poker. There were two people getting
thrown out as I was being seated; loud, rowdy, bratty 20-somethings everywhere.
I requested a 2-4 seat and was lead to one particularly loud, rowdy table. The
poker room guy noticed a seat at a calmer table and said: "Wait, I can seat you
over here". The pot at the rowdy table must have been close to $100 before the
river!!! "No thanks, I'll sit here!!!!"
Day three-
Woke up nauseous. Then felt a sinus infection coming on. I get them quite
often when I fly. Damn recirculated air! They wouldn't let me have late checkout
so I bought an extra day at the hotel. I needed some rest before the redeye back
to Cleveland. I Tried to play a little VP but I just had to sleep. The whole day
was a waste. But what a good weekend!
My final Blackjack tally: +71 units
remarkable than most, so here I go.
First of all I've added a couple of new things to my arsenal over the past few
trips.
1. 9/6 JOB Video Poker for comps.
2. Low limit hold-em.
Up until recently I counted cards... that's all. I rarely use a player's card
anywhere. This may be unwise as a red-chipper. But I have successfully avoided
being nailed anywhere while my card was active. This means a lot to me.
I have obviously missed out on a lot of comps because of this. So, I decided
to pick one or two places that have decent VP and questionable BJ. Then, Play BJ
with whatever cover I need to ensure non-detection, Play VP, and start using the
players card at just these places for comps.
I found a place with $.25 9/6 where I already had a card. They gave me a
coupon book with 3 matchplays when I updated my info. I won on all of them.
Cool, an extra 12 bucks!
One mistake here was that I could have done a little more research as to which
stores are most liberal with VP comps. I will fix that. Also, I intended on
playing three long VP sessions. But I got sick on the last day and only played
two. I'll wait and see if they send me anything.
I won 93 units overall on the VP machines.
Then there is the low-limit hold-em. I had been studying it passively for some
time. And, playing quite a bit. But I have really been getting my meat hooks in
the game lately.
The level of complete incompetence among the vast majority of the players
makes it just too inviting. At blackjack, ploppies will often play something
close to basic strategy. At most 2-4 games there are people who will seemingly
just pick hands randomly.
Also, I enjoy the absence of radical swings at the low-limit games. It is a
perfect compliment to Blackjack. I can sit a the poker table for a few hours,
get a bit restless, then head out for some of that nice exiting Blackjack
variance! Also, It is best to play Poker when stores are crowded and best to
play blackjack when they are not. So there is always a game. Again, a perfect
compliment.
I won 4 out of 5 Poker sessions this trip. I lost the session where I sat at a
spread-limit game that I was not prepared for. This is the game at the L-Kotex.
The rake there is only a buck. So, I rationalized it that way and played out of
curiosity. The players there seemed to be fairly decent too. No more of that! Oh
well, Ya live and ya learn.
I had a 90(ish) unit overall win at Poker.
Day one-
My plane landed at 9:00pm, I was shuttled to my Downtown hotel, fed, bathed
and at the tables by 11:30pm. The fact that I slept on the plane coupled with
the initial excitement of getting into town ensured it would be an all-nighter.
I Played Poker at the Plza for a few hours then headed out to play Blackjack. It
was a fairly uneventful most of the night except for an 80 unit BJ win for the
evening.
Shortly after the sun came up I went into a certain casino. I was spreading
5-25 heads up at their single deck game. Played about 30 minutes. There was a
shuffle, then a huge spill of small cards on the first hand(+5). I won with my
5-card hand, so I put five reds into the circle.
Then from behind me comes:
"Whaoo.. hold on a second".
PC puts his hand on the dealer's shoulder and looks at me and says:
"If you wish to continue playing Blackjack in this casino you need to bet the
same amount on every hand".
For a lousy $25 top bet!! I'll let you all guess where this was.
Then I made another mistake. Out of instinct, I colored up and left. I walked
away from a +5 deck with only one round dealt out. The PC was very polite about
it. I could have continued betting $25 until the count tanked. Stupid. Oh well,
Ya live and ya learn.
Day two-
I woke up mid-afternoon. My sleep schedule is now 12 hours out of wack from
Cleveland time. Anyhow, a few hours until the Ball. I ate and played an hour or
so of video poker and a little more BJ at 2 more places. The 2 BJ sessions were
about a wash, but I won $65 bucks at VP.
Then I got cleaned up and hopped on one of those nice new double-decker CAT
busses. Man, never again on weekends! It took 40 minutes from the time I got on
the bus downtown to the time it got to the Circus-Circus stop! It would likely
take more than an hour more to get to my off south-strip destination. I got off
and hired a cab.
As I said in an earlier post, Anyone who was apprehensive about going to the
Halloween Ball shouldn't have been. It was a very fun, positive thing. The pace
was perfect. Just enough time between events for mingling etc. The events
themselves were very interesting and entertaining.
Maybe some thought this kind of thing was too high profile or something. Active AP's were wearing masks... problem solved. Also, there was plenty of room
outside of the ballroom where one could take off their masks, avoid cameras, get
some air outside, etc.
There were a lot of known Blackjack/gaming names there. Jean Scott, Some of
the M.I.T. guys, Norm Wattenburg, Rick Jensen as well as the people from
Advantageplayer.com. (I'm sure I'm leaving some out, too). Max Rubin did a fantastic job as MC and Viktor Nacht did as well as can be imagined organizing things. One thing I thought was fairly remarkable was the ratio of popular names to schmuck red-chippers like myself. If anything, I would have loved to see more casual APs there. So go next year!
I got to meet some interesting people. One person I met was an LV native and poker pro. He sometimes works for poker websites to seed short handed games. He also told of how online poker, especially Party Poker have some pretty sophisticated methods of catching colluders and bots. He actually lifted some of my fears. If I can verify this info, I may start an online career at some point.
I met a retired person who was just beginning to count cards. As it turns out, he was also unaware of the negative credibility of Donald Dahl. A couple of us set him strait on that in a hurry! I encouraged him to get involved with some of the message boards. Maybe we will hear from him here, who knows.
I would have liked to talk to some of the M.I.T. guys. But by the time I found
out who was who, they seemed to have a million people talking at them. I did,
however get to talk to Rick Jensen for quite awhile. He has some serious irons
on the fire. He's really doing a lot for tournament Blackjack.
Oh yea, the blackjack tourney. I think it was one of my very last posts that I
commented on what a bad tournament player I was. It would have been doubtful
that I would beat such quality players with finesse on the final few hands. So,
here's what I did.
On hand 15 I think I was BR3. But the top 3 were pretty close. It was my turn
on the button. There was a "Secret Bet" available. Which means you can write
your wager on a piece of paper and no one can see it until the hand is over. I
decided to bet half my bankroll this way while I was first to act so no one
could make adjustments to my big bet. I drew an 11 and secretly doubled down. I
think the dealer drew to 18, I don't quite remember now. I drew the Ace. Damn!
To add insult to injury I miscalculated my bankroll. I was left with $250 and
a $500 minimum bet. What a rookie mistake! This settles it. I'm going to really
start studying tournament play!
Afterwards I went to the Palms to play Poker. There were two people getting
thrown out as I was being seated; loud, rowdy, bratty 20-somethings everywhere.
I requested a 2-4 seat and was lead to one particularly loud, rowdy table. The
poker room guy noticed a seat at a calmer table and said: "Wait, I can seat you
over here". The pot at the rowdy table must have been close to $100 before the
river!!! "No thanks, I'll sit here!!!!"
Day three-
Woke up nauseous. Then felt a sinus infection coming on. I get them quite
often when I fly. Damn recirculated air! They wouldn't let me have late checkout
so I bought an extra day at the hotel. I needed some rest before the redeye back
to Cleveland. I Tried to play a little VP but I just had to sleep. The whole day
was a waste. But what a good weekend!
My final Blackjack tally: +71 units
