My Vegas Trip

[NorCalBJ]

Hey guys. Just thought I'd tell you about my Vegas trip last weekend and once again thank everyone for their friendly advice.
We arrived at Vegas at 3:00 in the morning on Saturday. We went downtown and entered the Horseshoe as we are both poker players and wanted to see the home of the WS of Poker.
We also noticed the BJ tables. DOA, single deck, 5 min. H17 sucked but the penetration was good.
We ended up playing for 8hrs straight until 11am. We couldn't check in anywhere until noon anyway.
I bought in 150 dollars and after about 2hrs had lost it all. I played $5 units and spread 1-4. Just nothing would go right. I decided to buy in another 100, confident in my ability. After I lost about 30 more dollars I got red hot. We were getting very good penetration when it was just my buddy and me playing against the dealer. I started getting BJ's on my big bets and before I knew it I had about $450 in chips in front of me.
But here is the best part of the whole trip for me. I had all those red chips in poker like stacks in a pyramid in front of me. The pit bosses came over for their usual tray count and asked me to sell some of my reds to them. I had too many and they were running out. I know they could have gotten more elsewhere, but I am small time with not a lot of experience and I thought it was cool that they asked me for some of their chips back. Nice memory for me.
I ended up cashing out around 400 dollars. Eight hours of play and 150 dollars profit made me very happy considering the small size of my weekend bankroll.
The next night we played poker all night and I won about 55 dollars. Then the day we left we played more single deck BJ and I won about 40 more dollars in a couple of hours.
I had a really good time and came home ahead of Vegas! Very nice weekend for me. Just thought I'd share my good time.

 

[Alex]

Congratulation but ...,

Congratulation but ...,

No matter how much you won, you made a big mistake playing at 3:00AM after arriving there. It seems to me that you drove all night to get there and after all that driving you played for 8 hours. This is pushing the envelope to hard! Regardless if you won of lost $$, the point is that you have to be in top shape(physically and mentally) when you play.

Usually when you are tired you lose patience and cannot take negative swings. Because you feel sleepy and tired you "want" to get your money back right away and this is the biggest mistake an AP can make. This is the most dangerous attitude. An accomplished card counter with experience will NEVER lose unless he is over betting his bank and that happen in two instances: 1) When you are behind and tired and want your money back right away. 2) You simply are overconfident in your abilities and start to over bet your units. So, in both instances the over betting is the universal downfall. Practically there are no other reasons why a AP/CC will ever lose.

I, for myself, play at my best in the morning after a good night sleep or after a 2-3 hours nap in the afternoon. You have to know how your body/mind reacts to events when you're tired. You probably didn't feel tired because of the excitement of being in Vegas. But, is nothing spectacular of being in Vegas. Just don't pay attention to the surroundings and concentrate on your mission of being there. You should be there to make money. Period.

Think like a pro: You are in a mental competition with the casino. You have to be able to manipulate the game with your mind. BJ is a mathematical game with numbers and you should be in top shape before you sit down and play.

AlexD30

 

[learning to count]

You did great. You were fortunate to get away playing at the HS. They are nervous and sweaty with all their financiel problems. Great fun report!

 

[Sonny]

Re: Congratulation but ...,

> Usually when you are tired you lose patience and cannot take negative swings.
> Because you feel sleepy and tired you "want" to get your money back right
> away and this is the biggest mistake an AP can make. This is the most
> dangerous attitude.

This is how I ALWAYS feel

That's why I don't like shoe games as much. You finally get a high count, you push out the big bets, and they all disappear. Now your stuck and you have to "trade chips" with the deaer while waiting for the next high count. If you're a Wonger, that means the end of a session and back on your feet. I guess that's one of the blessings of being a BP on a team: Nothing but hand signals and high counts.

As far as sleep goes, Alex is right. When I am tired my eyes get irritated (especially in smokey casinos) and my mind slows down. I start to miscount hand totals or forget index numbers. Vegas can often give you a burst of excitement, but it is a false confidence. Although you feel awake and alert, your mind is not performing at a level high enough to be counting cards. If you are not playing a winning game, then you are losing.

These are just my personal experiences, but I think it is important for every player to know his or her warning signs and to quit before they become overwhelming.

-Sonny-