Yesterday was a first for me. I finally played w/ another counter and recognized him. There was the wannabee, the guy playing 3 spots poorly, w/ his gf also playing 3 spots poorly, who yelled at us for doubling down face down but didn't even follow basic strategy / index plays properly. Then there was ploppy after ploppy after ploppy. Then there was him.
He bought in for $400, thinking it was $500. He lost quickly, but his bets rose with the count and he rebought. The count rose and I capitalized quickly, getting to table max before not too long w/ dealer tokes and double downs. An ace is up - we both insure. Not there, but the next time the same thing happens and again, we both insure. I win a bunch quick cause I'm betting harder than him, but in the excitement of some 3+ max bet wins off two spots (double downs) I lose the count. Which was pretty high - we are at TC +4 for a while and he toyed with the idea of splitting ten's against a 5 but didn't actually do it. His bets kept rising. I would have left, because I lost the count, but the count was pretty high when I left it, and he was there to guide me in a sense, so I kept my bets out at a low level (2x 2 spots). He went all in at one point, two spots of $300, and kept his bets there. And he won big by the end of the shoe - doubling 9 vs 2 at one point. At the end of that hand I said "good double" but then realized how stupid that was so I said something like "it's a bad double, but a good time for it" which sounded even worse so I just shut up.
On the final hand, I have 16 vs 10 and wave it off. Dealer has 12, draws a 4 and then a 9 to bust, and I am ecstatic about the magic of index plays. The ploppy that was fortunate enough to be there with us, to witness our gutting of the casino says "how do you know" and I start laughing saying "oooh I should have hit, i would have had 20". I was betting small, so it was totally irrelevant to me how the hand turned out, but the other counter had 3 big bets on the table, after doubling 11 and pulling a 4. "Yes!" he exclaimed as he drew to his stiff lol. I quickly take off as the shoe ends, and he's gone by the time I get back.
Kudos to you sir. Your game is tighter than mine - but not for long
He bought in for $400, thinking it was $500. He lost quickly, but his bets rose with the count and he rebought. The count rose and I capitalized quickly, getting to table max before not too long w/ dealer tokes and double downs. An ace is up - we both insure. Not there, but the next time the same thing happens and again, we both insure. I win a bunch quick cause I'm betting harder than him, but in the excitement of some 3+ max bet wins off two spots (double downs) I lose the count. Which was pretty high - we are at TC +4 for a while and he toyed with the idea of splitting ten's against a 5 but didn't actually do it. His bets kept rising. I would have left, because I lost the count, but the count was pretty high when I left it, and he was there to guide me in a sense, so I kept my bets out at a low level (2x 2 spots). He went all in at one point, two spots of $300, and kept his bets there. And he won big by the end of the shoe - doubling 9 vs 2 at one point. At the end of that hand I said "good double" but then realized how stupid that was so I said something like "it's a bad double, but a good time for it" which sounded even worse so I just shut up.
On the final hand, I have 16 vs 10 and wave it off. Dealer has 12, draws a 4 and then a 9 to bust, and I am ecstatic about the magic of index plays. The ploppy that was fortunate enough to be there with us, to witness our gutting of the casino says "how do you know" and I start laughing saying "oooh I should have hit, i would have had 20". I was betting small, so it was totally irrelevant to me how the hand turned out, but the other counter had 3 big bets on the table, after doubling 11 and pulling a 4. "Yes!" he exclaimed as he drew to his stiff lol. I quickly take off as the shoe ends, and he's gone by the time I get back.
Kudos to you sir. Your game is tighter than mine - but not for long
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