zengrifter
Banned
... featuring MOI! zg
POSTED BY PERMISSION OF HENRY TAMBURIN,
PUBLISHER OF THE BLACKJACK INSIDER NEWSLETTER
http://www.bjinsider.com/newsletter.shtml
Blackjack Insider Newsletter, June 2005, #65
A WORD FROM HENRY: Barfarkel attacked the blackjack tables in Vegas again. His report is loaded with playing strategy advice and fascinating stories including a dice session with dice controller Stanford Wong (yes, the blackjack master himself has been practicing and perfecting his dice control for over a year), plus his friend, The Grifter's, playing session with multi-billionaire Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines.
LAS VEGAS TRIP REPORT 36 – April-May 2005
By Barfarkel (a.k.a., LV Pro)
(Barfarkel is a serious recreational player who started with basic strategy in 1996 and learned the Silver Fox count by the end of 1998. He has been counting since early 1999, starting with a $2K bankroll and slowly trying to build it to $10K. Barfarkel’s new book, You’ve Got Heat, contains the details of his playing trips to Las Vegas over a 4 year period. He also wrote the article "Graduating From Red to Green" that appeared in the Winter2003/2004 edition of Blackjack Forum. For details on You’ve Got Heat, including a great discount for BJI paid subscribers, click here.You can also listen to a taped radio interview of Barfarkel that occurred on the American Radio Network by going to http://www.youvegotheat.com. )
After a luxurious late afternoon shower and nap, I hooked up with The Grifter. We valet parked at the Frontier with the intention of walking over to the new Wynn hotel, which had opened less than twenty-four hours ago. Grif had been present at the opening - using his press credentials to get in ninety minutes ahead of time, along with the VIP’s and media.
It took fifteen minutes for the huge crowd we joined to cross Las Vegas Blvd. when the traffic cop finally waved us forward. As you can imagine, the Strip was choked with cars and pedestrians in front of Wynn.
While we waited, The Grifter told me about last night. He had explored the casino and found only continuous shuffle machines, h17 shoes and 6:5 single deck tables near the front of the vast casino. Cursing Steve Wynn under his breath and thinking that this new casino was nothing but a blackjack wasteland, he wandered towards the rear and stumbled upon blackjack paradise. Here in back he discovered a pit of $15 and $25 double deck games with deep penetration and good rules like s17 and Double-After-Splitting. Every dealer used a cut card notch in the discard rack to standardize the pen at a wondrous 75%. Grif sure changed his tune in a hurry. God Bless Steve Wynn!
He had bought in at a $25 table and had a heads-up game for the first forty-five minutes. The pit people were overly friendly and accommodating, despite the fact that he was perceived as a lowly green-chipper. Of course The Grifter went right into his act. Flashing his media credentials, he told the pit guys and dealers that his Hollywood producer associate, Mark Burnett, had him scouting the premises for employees who could become regulars on a new reality show entitled Wynn’s World. The dealers and pit critters were wide-eyed and eating up every word with a spoon.
The moment he finished his rap, he saw someone approaching his table from behind. It turned out to be Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines - a multi-billionaire Wynn shareholder who had wandered over with his wife and wanted nothing more than to win back the $80 he had lost earlier. This from a man who had just spent more money on Airbuses than what it cost to build the Wynn. Sir Richard had been knighted by the Queen of England, and he was the man who single-handedly broke the British airline monopoly.
Branson asked Grif if he knew "the plays, the hitting and the splitting and such?" Never shy, The Grifter leaned in and whispered that he was an expert card counter and would act as his table advisor. "Lovely," replied Branson in a friendly and self-effacing manner. At first Sir Richard lost a few hands and pulled out more money. Soon, Grif’s advice resulted in a rapid series of winning hands for the whale when the count shot upwards and Grif kept instructing him to bet it up. He responded by shaking Grif’s hand every time his advice resulted in a win. He also tipped The Grifter three black chips during the session. The last hand was when Branson had his biggest bet of $600 and got a sixteen against a dealer seven. The Grifter told him to hit.
Branson didn’t want to hit it and asked twice in a shaky tone, "Hit it? Are you sure? Do you really think that we should hit it?"
"Sir Richard," The Grifter replied with a smile, "The best play is to hit and you’ll probably bust, but percentage-wise, it’s riskier not to hit." Branson resolved "Then hit it we shall." When he drew a four for twenty and won the hand, he leaned over and kissed Grif on the cheek. The Grifter stood up to address the pit, "Now that I’ve been kissed by Sir Richard Branson, do you know what this means? It means that I’m no longer….a Virgin!" Everyone laughed appreciatively, especially Branson. Sir Richard went on to record a $2k win in only fifteen minutes at last night’s session, while The Grifter netted $1,200, plus an additional $300 in tips.
The Grifter told me that his Mom was a big fan of Branson’s own reality-based series The Rebel Billionaire, so directly after the session he dialed her number and handed Sir Richard the phone to say hello. Branson told Grif’s mom, "I don’t know what your son was doing, but it was absolutely marvelous."
Walking through, I was impressed with the décor although The Grifter was a bit disappointed in that he felt the new hotel had borrowed its style from Bellagio and there was little that was new and unique. Personally, I loved the natural lighting through many skylight canopy areas, which I discovered in subsequent daytime visits. Finding our way to the one playable area in back, we circled the pit and saw that the lowest double-deck minimums were $50. There were $100 and $300 minimum tables as well, just like the Mirage double-deck setup. Upon finding an idle table, I asked the floorman if I could get the table started by playing $25 minimum, and he readily agreed. He arranged this with the dealer and said to me, "Good luck." I started heads-up and soon The Grifter joined me.
Grif has been doing some informal ace tracking lately so, at the top of every shuffle, he’d whisper to me "ten of clubs, six of hearts, eight of spades," or some-such. I found it difficult to watch for these key cards that would precede the aces and still keep my count at the same time. But we muddled through regardless. I soon gave up on key-card tracking and just concentrated upon the count and simply increased my bets and number of spots when I saw Grif doing likewise in unusual situations. Since he has practiced this new technique, I’d just depend on him to alert me when aces were due to come out. We had mixed results with ace tracking, but I had a good session anyway. In for $300, I was down to my last few chips when a good count appeared. I pulled out another $200 to cover a double-down, and won the hand.
I continued see-sawing back and forth until the key round arrived. In a plus three true count, I had two hands of $50 and the dealer turned up a seven. My first hand was a pair of eights, so I split them. Of course I got a third eight, which always seems to happen, so I re-split, doubling down on one of the three hands. My second hand was a six-five, so of course I doubled down. The dealer turned up her hole card – an eight for fifteen, and drew her hit card. It was a beautifully colorful red jack of hearts for a sweet bust! I let out a war-whoop. That hand represented a $600 turnaround for me. I wound up winning $350 after being in for $500. That was sweet, and a wonderful introduction to the newest good double-deck game in town.
... continued -
POSTED BY PERMISSION OF HENRY TAMBURIN,
PUBLISHER OF THE BLACKJACK INSIDER NEWSLETTER
http://www.bjinsider.com/newsletter.shtml
Blackjack Insider Newsletter, June 2005, #65
A WORD FROM HENRY: Barfarkel attacked the blackjack tables in Vegas again. His report is loaded with playing strategy advice and fascinating stories including a dice session with dice controller Stanford Wong (yes, the blackjack master himself has been practicing and perfecting his dice control for over a year), plus his friend, The Grifter's, playing session with multi-billionaire Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines.
LAS VEGAS TRIP REPORT 36 – April-May 2005
By Barfarkel (a.k.a., LV Pro)
(Barfarkel is a serious recreational player who started with basic strategy in 1996 and learned the Silver Fox count by the end of 1998. He has been counting since early 1999, starting with a $2K bankroll and slowly trying to build it to $10K. Barfarkel’s new book, You’ve Got Heat, contains the details of his playing trips to Las Vegas over a 4 year period. He also wrote the article "Graduating From Red to Green" that appeared in the Winter2003/2004 edition of Blackjack Forum. For details on You’ve Got Heat, including a great discount for BJI paid subscribers, click here.You can also listen to a taped radio interview of Barfarkel that occurred on the American Radio Network by going to http://www.youvegotheat.com. )
After a luxurious late afternoon shower and nap, I hooked up with The Grifter. We valet parked at the Frontier with the intention of walking over to the new Wynn hotel, which had opened less than twenty-four hours ago. Grif had been present at the opening - using his press credentials to get in ninety minutes ahead of time, along with the VIP’s and media.
It took fifteen minutes for the huge crowd we joined to cross Las Vegas Blvd. when the traffic cop finally waved us forward. As you can imagine, the Strip was choked with cars and pedestrians in front of Wynn.
While we waited, The Grifter told me about last night. He had explored the casino and found only continuous shuffle machines, h17 shoes and 6:5 single deck tables near the front of the vast casino. Cursing Steve Wynn under his breath and thinking that this new casino was nothing but a blackjack wasteland, he wandered towards the rear and stumbled upon blackjack paradise. Here in back he discovered a pit of $15 and $25 double deck games with deep penetration and good rules like s17 and Double-After-Splitting. Every dealer used a cut card notch in the discard rack to standardize the pen at a wondrous 75%. Grif sure changed his tune in a hurry. God Bless Steve Wynn!
He had bought in at a $25 table and had a heads-up game for the first forty-five minutes. The pit people were overly friendly and accommodating, despite the fact that he was perceived as a lowly green-chipper. Of course The Grifter went right into his act. Flashing his media credentials, he told the pit guys and dealers that his Hollywood producer associate, Mark Burnett, had him scouting the premises for employees who could become regulars on a new reality show entitled Wynn’s World. The dealers and pit critters were wide-eyed and eating up every word with a spoon.
The moment he finished his rap, he saw someone approaching his table from behind. It turned out to be Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines - a multi-billionaire Wynn shareholder who had wandered over with his wife and wanted nothing more than to win back the $80 he had lost earlier. This from a man who had just spent more money on Airbuses than what it cost to build the Wynn. Sir Richard had been knighted by the Queen of England, and he was the man who single-handedly broke the British airline monopoly.
Branson asked Grif if he knew "the plays, the hitting and the splitting and such?" Never shy, The Grifter leaned in and whispered that he was an expert card counter and would act as his table advisor. "Lovely," replied Branson in a friendly and self-effacing manner. At first Sir Richard lost a few hands and pulled out more money. Soon, Grif’s advice resulted in a rapid series of winning hands for the whale when the count shot upwards and Grif kept instructing him to bet it up. He responded by shaking Grif’s hand every time his advice resulted in a win. He also tipped The Grifter three black chips during the session. The last hand was when Branson had his biggest bet of $600 and got a sixteen against a dealer seven. The Grifter told him to hit.
Branson didn’t want to hit it and asked twice in a shaky tone, "Hit it? Are you sure? Do you really think that we should hit it?"
"Sir Richard," The Grifter replied with a smile, "The best play is to hit and you’ll probably bust, but percentage-wise, it’s riskier not to hit." Branson resolved "Then hit it we shall." When he drew a four for twenty and won the hand, he leaned over and kissed Grif on the cheek. The Grifter stood up to address the pit, "Now that I’ve been kissed by Sir Richard Branson, do you know what this means? It means that I’m no longer….a Virgin!" Everyone laughed appreciatively, especially Branson. Sir Richard went on to record a $2k win in only fifteen minutes at last night’s session, while The Grifter netted $1,200, plus an additional $300 in tips.
The Grifter told me that his Mom was a big fan of Branson’s own reality-based series The Rebel Billionaire, so directly after the session he dialed her number and handed Sir Richard the phone to say hello. Branson told Grif’s mom, "I don’t know what your son was doing, but it was absolutely marvelous."
Walking through, I was impressed with the décor although The Grifter was a bit disappointed in that he felt the new hotel had borrowed its style from Bellagio and there was little that was new and unique. Personally, I loved the natural lighting through many skylight canopy areas, which I discovered in subsequent daytime visits. Finding our way to the one playable area in back, we circled the pit and saw that the lowest double-deck minimums were $50. There were $100 and $300 minimum tables as well, just like the Mirage double-deck setup. Upon finding an idle table, I asked the floorman if I could get the table started by playing $25 minimum, and he readily agreed. He arranged this with the dealer and said to me, "Good luck." I started heads-up and soon The Grifter joined me.
Grif has been doing some informal ace tracking lately so, at the top of every shuffle, he’d whisper to me "ten of clubs, six of hearts, eight of spades," or some-such. I found it difficult to watch for these key cards that would precede the aces and still keep my count at the same time. But we muddled through regardless. I soon gave up on key-card tracking and just concentrated upon the count and simply increased my bets and number of spots when I saw Grif doing likewise in unusual situations. Since he has practiced this new technique, I’d just depend on him to alert me when aces were due to come out. We had mixed results with ace tracking, but I had a good session anyway. In for $300, I was down to my last few chips when a good count appeared. I pulled out another $200 to cover a double-down, and won the hand.
I continued see-sawing back and forth until the key round arrived. In a plus three true count, I had two hands of $50 and the dealer turned up a seven. My first hand was a pair of eights, so I split them. Of course I got a third eight, which always seems to happen, so I re-split, doubling down on one of the three hands. My second hand was a six-five, so of course I doubled down. The dealer turned up her hole card – an eight for fifteen, and drew her hit card. It was a beautifully colorful red jack of hearts for a sweet bust! I let out a war-whoop. That hand represented a $600 turnaround for me. I wound up winning $350 after being in for $500. That was sweet, and a wonderful introduction to the newest good double-deck game in town.
... continued -
Last edited:
