El Cortez is a joke

[melbedewy]

I have posted here before that I've seen ANYONE consistently winning at $25 sweated to an obscene amount. One or 2 posters persist in calling this place a candy store but I don't see it. $5-$20 yes but not over.

So i got my first backoff - from the Sweaty Spaniard!

i kinda knew it was going to happen as soon as i got there because
1) i don't look like a degenerate local
2) got a checks play as soon as i doubled my initial bet from 25 to 50 (after a win).

i lost about 10 units playing single deck, so i bought in for another 10 units on their double deck to make it back at a game i knew how to play better.

The whole time i'm getting looks from the pit.. now i can say i finally know what heat feels like. You can feel it in your face, and deep in your stomach.

I finally win about 30 units in one shoe and I know its time for me to leave. About 10 of these are me just winning back my losses, so i really didn't hit them hard at all. Of course right as i'm coloring up, the dirtiest looking PB comes over to me, sits right next to me and CREEPILY gets in my face and goes

" You are a very good player. You had the other PB fooled that you were just a basic strategy player, and if i wasnt so bored around here you would have fooled me too. I know exactly what you are doing. Backing down your bets in the minus counts, letting it ride on the plus. Not hitting your 16 and 15s in the plus. doubling on soft 19 in the plus. you are very very good. Very very good. That's why i'm going to flat you for the rest of your night here. You pick an amount and you stick with it. And you are not welcome back to play backjack here as soon as you walk out that door tonight."

I knew he was sarcastic as hell, but he kept saying "you are very very good" so aggressively as if i had just scammed his family... anyways, all i did was keep saying " Thank you sir, thank you sir".. and i high-tailed it out of there.

I even got heat when i cashed out my chips. I brought my measly $650 to the cage and they asked me where i won it. I said i won it on the double deck. They even had to call the pit to make sure i won it where i said i won it.

my god what a junkyard that place is.

advice to new AP's -- don't waste your time there, because even though the game is beatable, you cant win $1 there without feeling like you stole it. And you will get flat-bet or backed off, but who knows if they spread that info to other casinos. You're better off taking your action to friendlier places.

-Midwestern.

 

[Albee]

Doubling a soft 19? Why not just split 10's and really sell yourself out.

To play there without getting the boot you need to play smart and not look like your concentrating on the game. Your cover needs some work. Also, the PC that chatted with you probably talked with the dealer while on break to hone in on you. This is the same guy that I watched try to entice a green chipper to buy in for more after he ripped through 2K in fifteen minutes. Once he didn't, he backed him off.

 

[zengrifter]

advice to new AP's -- don't waste your time there, because even though the game is beatable, you cant win $1 there without feeling like you stole it.

Not so. Its a great place to play for small counters.
Its a proving ground - when you can playred-to-green at ES, you can play black ANYWHERE. zg

 

[sagefr0g]

El Cortez

doubtless one of the most enjoyable joints i've been in, that and the now defunct SeaEscape out of Lauderdale.
best thing about the Cortez in my opinion, it's so quite and the table mins so low.

 

[Friendo]

The one night I was there, I couldn't believe the hygiene of the clientele. I think it was fat sweaty customer night. One guy must have been 400 pounds, which is a little surprising since so much of his food had stained his t-shirt instead of landing in his mouth.

I didn't play there that night. Never been to Vegas as a counter.

 

[alwayssplitaces]

My last trip to Vegas I camped out overnight at the Spaniard 3 times. For the first hour of my first night there I just acted like a complete idiot. The pit boss was convinced I was just an idiot gambler and I didn't get heat. I spread 5-50 and eventually 5-100 on the single and double deck games, and had them heads up most of the night. On my last night I pushed my max up to $150 and still didn't get heat.

Imagine a bet spread like this on a single deck

<0 - 5
1 - 25
2 - 50
3 - 75
4 - 100
5 - 125
>6 - 150

Paid for my trip many times over just from my winnings at the Spaniard. And I still have $100 worth of 50 cent pieces, each of which represents being dealt a blackjack at the Spaniard.

 

[zengrifter]

i dont think i was playing stupid, i just think the heat is so strong that anyone with a good shoe won't last longer than an ice cube in hell.

Now that you've heard from others, care to reevaluate your experience there, Midwest? z:laugh:g

 

[zengrifter]

The one night I was there, I couldn't believe the hygiene of the clientele. I think it was fat sweaty customer night.

The ES io very-reASONABLY clean, and its general casino environment imbues the pre-apocalypto - classic casino experience of the bygone era. The ES is now in a class by itself.

Its a bit like a time machine. zg

 

[nc-tom]

I have posted here before that I've seen ANYONE consistently winning at $25 sweated to an obscene amount. One or 2 posters persist in calling this place a candy store but I don't see it. $5-$20 yes but not over.

Glad you feel that way. Please take all the green and black chip players with you somewhere else so there is more room for us. Biggest problem I have had there in recent times is trying to find a table without 5 Canadian tourists at it. I love this place, Its classic.

 

[Midwestern]

Now that you've heard from others, care to reevaluate your experience there, Midwest? z:laugh:g

I don't know zg, I got kicked out of there so fast It's like they knew I was coming.

I do fit the counter stereotype, but that day I was bro'd out from a day/night at marquee club. So think total surfer look. Not the most intimidating/intelligent AP look.

Maybe it's how I sat down at the $5 single deck first for about an Hour and then moved to the dd where my min bet was 30... I didn't get to play long at all and they threw me out of there before I got a chance to win any real money.

Either way, it was a good experience for me. I had never had any REAL heat until I went to the EC, so it was a very good milestone for me to see how bad heat can get.

 

[FLASH1296]

Midwestern,

"milestone for me to see how bad heat can get."


There is just as bad, if not worse; as I have been tossed in under 20 mins. in pitch games in Las Vegas and Mississippi.

 

[Youk]

I don't know zg, I got kicked out of there so fast It's like they knew I was coming.

I do fit the counter stereotype, but that day I was bro'd out from a day/night at marquee club. So think total surfer look. Not the most intimidating/intelligent AP look.

Maybe it's how I sat down at the $5 single deck first for about an Hour and then moved to the dd where my min bet was 30... I didn't get to play long at all and they threw me out of there before I got a chance to win any real money.

Either way, it was a good experience for me. I had never had any REAL heat until I went to the EC, so it was a very good milestone for me to see how bad heat can get.

Think of getting backed off at the EC as a 'rite of passage' into the card counting 'club'. This shows that you are playing the correct game. Welcome to the club.

EC is probably one of the only places that back off players after 2 or 3 shoes (whether it be single deck or double deck). Sure, some APs can spread large amounts, but no one can probably make more than $50/hr for a few hours before they are gone. Be happy that you got a back off (so that you know what it is like in Vegas), and be prepared to get them more often (or figure out ways to avoid them) as you move from $5-10 minimums to $25-50 minimums.

 

[revelation0928]

I recently played in EC once,it's indeed sweat.
I only win several hundred bucks and the surveillance made a phone call when
I cash out in the cashier.(I didn't be backed off.)
I suggest that don't play over 2~3 hours,and it's a good place to practice covering.(U'd better back again after one month haha)
It didn't mean u can't spread big,but u need some cover before u spread big
(play double decks and spread over 8 times).
Single deck is good,but I felt more heat than double deck.
The restaurant in EC is bad ,I ordered a burger and I got a burned burger lol.

 

[revrac]

First time EC

I finally got to check out EC which i've read so much about. I was able to pull about 90 units over about an hour and a half. I did have cheques called more than i've ever had before but i was able to my normal spread down without getting the boot. By the end of the session though they did start to take notice. I believe if i stayed much longer I may not of been so lucky. I thought the games were great but place was much smaller than expected.