I was already feeling a bit cocky when I arrived at the Ball. I was up 120 units and it was only Saturday night. I had put down some great play that morning and was feeling invincible!
The first stage of the competition was a short written test. The spirit of the party was lighthearted so the test was meant to be more of a fun activity than a challenge. It was quite easy (everybody at the party passed), which only bolstered my ego further.
The second stage was a deck cutting competition. Each player would be told to cut a certain number of cards from the back of a shoe. The trick was that you had to quickly spin around three times before inserting the cut card! Obviously all of the results were skewed considerably so I was very happy to be within eleven cards of my goal. Perhaps the casinos should make that a new rule!
There was a short break before the deck countdown competition so I had a few drinks and started chatting with Mickey Rosa and Felix Rue-de-Guerre. We talked about the hassles of foreign currency transfers, good clothing stores in the Pasadena area, and the wonderful social climate of Boston (I grew up in nearby Danvers). Before long I heard my name being called for the next competition over the PA system. I rolled my eyes arrogantly and said “Pardon me guys, this won’t take but a minute.”
What I found when I arrived at the BJ table was completely unexpected. I should have known that Victor Nacht would never settle for a common countdown drill at one of his parties! As he began to explain the rules to me I started feeling more like a gameshow contestant than an Advantage Player. It was a complex cacophony of bells, whistles and distracting chatter.
The drill used two standard decks of cards shuffled together. “No problem,” I thought “I’ll be through this in less than 50 seconds.” But Victor was only getting started. Three cards were removed from the pack and set aside, then the pack was broken into two piles. Each contestant would have to ring a bell at which point the clock would start. They would then pick up the first pile of cards, count them down (amidst distracting jeers provided by Victor and Nick V.) and ring the bell again to pause the clock. Then they would have to answer several mathematical flashcards with their fists on the table (to avoid keeping the RC with their fingers while answering the math problems. Yup, Victor knows how Advantage Players are always looking for a system to get the edge!). Then, when Victor blew a whistle, the player would ring the bell again to restart the clock, count down the second pack of cards and recite the value of the remaining three cards. Players with an inaccurate final count would be immediately disqualified. The remaining contestants would be judged based on their counting speed (excluding the flashcard segment).
I was completely unprepared. After a deep breath and a few stretches my confidence slowly returned. A few cheers from the crowd brought my ego right back as well. I cracked my knuckles, grabbed the first deck, slapped the bell and I was off.
About 25 seconds later I was through the first deck. I hit the bell again, put my fists on the table and prepared for the flashcards. They were pretty simple problems involving mostly single-digit multiplication and division similar to what most players use when calculating TC conversions. I fumbled my way through about four of them, keeping the RC in the back of my head, when Victor blew the whistle. Then it was back to the bell-count-bell game. I made it through the second pack a bit faster than the first and was very confident in my count. All I had to do was give my final answer and move on to the next round. The hard part was over. I was almost home free.
I used the Hi-Opt II system for this competition. It’s not a good system for speed-counting competitions because it is level-2 and requires an ace side count, but it is the system I am most comfortable with. In this case the main concern was accuracy. My final count was +4 with 7 aces removed. “This will be a piece of cake!” I thought. I knew that one of the three cards was an ace for sure. That meant the other two were both “double-value” cards. In the excitement my mind told me “fours and fives are both double-value cards, so there must be two of them to equal 4.” I eagerly blurted out “You’ve got an ace and two fours or fives.” It wasn’t until three cards later that I realized my huge mistake…
The first card was in fact the ace. A wide grinch-like grin grew on my face. In my mind a crowd of people were cheering. Then came the next card, a queen. What?! My mind stopped cheering. I was heartbroken. I was devastated. I was eliminated! I had felt so confident in my count yet clearly it was wrong by at least one card, possibly two! My heart sank to the floor, and my ego even further. In fact, it may still be in the basement of the Hampton Inn today.
But, believe it or not, the good news came with the final card, a king. I remember staring at the two face cards thinking, “I was way off! In fact, this is exactly the opposite of what I thought the count was.” Instead of looking at two +2 cards I was looking at two –2 cards. That’s when it hit me – it WAS exactly the opposite of what I had said. “Of course! Because the count was PLUS four at the end of the decks!” In my excitement I had chosen the wrong double-value cards!
It was such a rookie mistake. However, I felt better knowing that my count was accurate even if my brain wasn’t. My self-confidence returned and I was able to enjoy the rest of the party knowing that my ego would not be returning anytime soon.
-Sonny-
P.S. – On a side note, Mickey Rosa finished the drill over ten seconds faster then me. I think it was somewhere around 36 seconds. When Victor announced “That was 36 seconds!” Mickey casually replied “Sorry, I was taking my time.”
