I went to MGM Springfield today around 6 pm. Parking was fairly easy, and free, with elevators right to the casino. There weren't a lot of BJ tables, many were Spanish 21. I stayed for a while and backcounted tables, just for practice in the noise, music and flashing lights, and I truly enjoyed myself. Turns out all the practice I've been doing at home and with friends prepared me fairly well. I didn't get distracted or lose the count. If I could bet small stakes I think I could keep my head in the game and count competently. The problem is, there was a huge number of CSM machines. The only shoe game I saw was a 50 dollar minimum 3/2 game. (all the others were 6/5)
If I missed something, please do chime in. They've certainly nearly card counter proofed their casino, but at the expense of Blackjack games that will interest real gamblers. I think even people who just play basic don't like CSMs, right? They prefer to play a shoe game. There were alarmingly few of them.
Also, I would have liked to play a low stakes game: 5 dollars minimum, for example. The lowest they had was 10. That's fine; I could play that, but not with a continuous shuffle machine. There were way too many of them.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me likely that they can get away with this because it's in Western Mass, and there isn't a strong experienced gambling community that would complain? So they can put in all those machines with little protest. I don't know. I really enjoyed back counting, and was able to make eye contact and smile with the dealers to make sure I wasn't bothering them, but was disheartened by the number of odious black plastic machines spitting out cards. Any thoughts? Thank you.
If I missed something, please do chime in. They've certainly nearly card counter proofed their casino, but at the expense of Blackjack games that will interest real gamblers. I think even people who just play basic don't like CSMs, right? They prefer to play a shoe game. There were alarmingly few of them.
Also, I would have liked to play a low stakes game: 5 dollars minimum, for example. The lowest they had was 10. That's fine; I could play that, but not with a continuous shuffle machine. There were way too many of them.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me likely that they can get away with this because it's in Western Mass, and there isn't a strong experienced gambling community that would complain? So they can put in all those machines with little protest. I don't know. I really enjoyed back counting, and was able to make eye contact and smile with the dealers to make sure I wasn't bothering them, but was disheartened by the number of odious black plastic machines spitting out cards. Any thoughts? Thank you.