Counting on a Cruise, with min bet.

[thebigMG]

I'm going on a small cruise where there is typically only 3 dealers for the casino room including two blackjack tables (one sometimes carib stud), slots, and a roulette wheel. On a good night all three tables have action and there is no pit boss.

I am fairly proficent in card counting and practice nightly now before my cruise over x-mas. My question is, with a bet of $5 as my base and following the count probably to a make of $25, will they care if its obvious im raising my bet with the count? if they even pay attention to it that is.

Anyone have experience in situations like this what to do and not to do?

 

[halcyon1234]

I couldn't say, but I'd wear a life preserver just in case.

 

[Snowman75]

go for it

go for it! I don't think counters will have any problem at the ship casino. I've been on similar cruises. I'm not a counter but I see no one around who would apply any heat.

 

[sagefr0g]

I'm going on a small cruise where there is typically only 3 dealers for the casino room including two blackjack tables (one sometimes carib stud), slots, and a roulette wheel. On a good night all three tables have action and there is no pit boss.

I am fairly proficent in card counting and practice nightly now before my cruise over x-mas. My question is, with a bet of $5 as my base and following the count probably to a make of $25, will they care if its obvious im raising my bet with the count? if they even pay attention to it that is.

Anyone have experience in situations like this what to do and not to do?

cruise lines in general have a reputation for offering games with poor rules.
what that means is you may be playing at a pretty steep house edge.
so depending on those rules is gonna be what your up against. i guess with that in mind i'd approach them with a bankroll in mind that i'd be willing to lose and i'd hit them as aggressively as possible from the angle as to what counting and advantage play has to offer. let them bar you attitude go for the brass ring or if the game is to crappy bail out.

 

[thebigMG]

This particular cruise actually has good rules, the standard ones:

3:2 blackjack, dealer stands on all 17, split any cards, double on any two cards, but no surrender.

anyone have any experience at all with cruises and counting?

 

[Cass]

This particular cruise actually has good rules, the standard ones:

3:2 blackjack, dealer stands on all 17, split any cards, double on any two cards, but no surrender.

anyone have any experience at all with cruises and counting?

Hmmm your name is interesting. Next week I will going on a cruise on the big "M" casino boat. Last year they had about ten tables, so they either got rid of most of them or you are referring to a different cruise that has the same rules. You will receive no heat with a 5-25 spread. When i go I will be using a $25-$500 spread play all for the 3 hours of gambling.
-Cass

 

[thebigMG]

Actually this is a real cruise in the caribbean on a seabourn ship .

The only real downside that I have found to their rules is the min is $5 max is $100. that could really hurt anyone trying to make some real money. I also read that I SHOULD have a 1-10 bet spread, but i'll see how it goes. I typically follow what I learned from andy bloch's dvd.

 

[Snowman75]

No Heat Strategy

Assuming u can get no heat. Or if u do get heat that it doesn't matter since u won't be taking caribean cruises every week. Then if you want to maximize ur advantage u should bet the min ($5) through all negative counts and max ($100) at all the positive counts. Of course u'll need a huge bankroll. But under ideal conditions u shouldn't scale it up.

 

[sixdonly]

I have never seen a cruise ship "wash" the cards at the beginning of a session. No reg. commission so I presume they will do their best to empty you asap. If it was my ship I would. Replacing a few high cards with low would be the norm in a 6/8 decker.

I'm sure they would laugh at you if you requested a re-count. The best advice I could give is to spill a drink on first round. Why not?

 

[thebigMG]

Last time i was on it, i probed a lot of questions, these people aren't on a comission, they are employees of carnival which owns all the casinos on the sea and regulates it.

and by wash do you mean put all the cards out showing its legit? Because i've seen them do this.

This is almost an ideal situation I think because of the fact that they probably wont care if im raising my bet maybe from 5 - $50 a 10 spread.

 

[FGK42]

Tell me you're kidding?

This particular cruise actually has good rules, the standard ones:

3:2 blackjack, dealer stands on all 17, split any cards, double on any two cards, but no surrender.

anyone have any experience at all with cruises and counting?

Recently on RCI during thanksgiving. Nice casino for cruise lines They has a BJ tourney one night.

I play green chips and spread up to black. They don't care at all - especially with red chippers. Just talk it up with the dealers - how many contracts have you signed, how many ports have your visited? Heck I did a 1-12 spread with NO HEAT whatsoever. Paid for my cruise by day 3. Just don't "over do it"

There's plenty of other things to do besides playing BJ on a cruise - in fact the casino's are closed while in port.

My advice, count away and don't worry one bit - unless you start changing those reds to purples and orange! Then they may get suspecious otherwise go for it!

 

[thebigMG]

thanks for the tip FGK, thats kind of what I was looking for, being that this is a $5 Min $100Max I doubt I can cause too much trouble.

Yea mostly on this cruise this is a night activty. I probably get dinner and im showing up in there around 8-9pm and they close around 1 sometimes. very laid back scene.