You mentioned playing at Binions, was that recently? Because last time I was out in Vegas, I thought the conditions downtown and Binions in particular were less than spectacular, and I'm considering going elsewhere on my next trip, unless you can tell me something good about recent conditions. (Mainly I try to just win enough to cover the costs of my vacations.)
Recently would be exactly one year and one week ago. As I mentioned before, it was one of my first AP experiences. I'm completely shocked as to how much better I play now. I would've kicked me out if I saw how I was playing a year ago! Could they have changed since last year? I suspect they would have greatly. I.E. the economic downturn, and George "Genius" Bush handling the beginning of that downturn. I would ask CAA if he's still not mad at me or about this thread. I would assume you would need to bring your "A" game to the tables there. Felt like a lot of locals played there too. It's not a pretty place, so I would assume they don't want too much big action, as that could mean a huge dent to their bottom line. Again let me reiterate why I wanted to play the 6:5 SD at a big corporate place that could care less about my chump change max bet. Plus it's way more glitzy to play 6:5 at Caesars than to play 3:2 at binions. But that's the diff between the pros and the casuals. So yes, for your vacation, go someplace you would enjoy staying and playing at.
JB, you might be missing one point here: 6:5 is definitely a beatable game, and there are players making money off of this game, but they are almost certainly (I can't say because I'm not one of these players) not doing it by simply counting cards. It seems to me that a large spread would also need to be supplemented with other advanced techniques to make the game worth even looking at. Out of curiosity, what was your aversion to shoe games based on? For someone that is strictly counting and not using any other advanced plays, you're probably in a much better position to profit from the reasonable 6D games on the strip (which is where you said you prefer to play in the first place). A not-too-terrible DD game would also be so much better than trying to count a 6:5 game if you really don't have the patience to play shoe games.
You know, I felt like I was on to something. That there is some knowledge out there that no one is really willing to share. That was another big point I was trying to get out of this thread, but alas, if there is a solution, no one is talking, only hinting. I mean, Spanish 21 everyone thought was a carnival game, now it's considered beatable a la Katarina Walker. There is no different count or index for 6:5? Looks like I'll have to tackle this one on my own.
I know about the DD games, I play that 80% of the time. And Yes, I have no patience for counting shoe games.