Report from the battlefield

Mimosine

Well-Known Member
EasyRhino said:
So, if you won a jackpot, what would be stopping you from going "woo-woo! I hit a royal! let's parlay this on some cards!" and gamble it up? Heck, the royal might have bought you some cover!
if i ever hit a jackpot, i'm moving up my game immediately to a nice $25 or $50 DD game i've been eyeing for awhile! and you bet i'm going to use the win as cover! parlay away!
 
All done!

I'm sitting at the airport, with my money pouch down my pants bulging like a colostomy bag after a visit to the Eldorado buffet.

Haul for the weekend was $4500 not including my $4K windfall from cover play. (I don't know, should I count that? I count my losses from cover play in my calculations.) Slightly short of my projected EV but I'll take it. Only two non-violent backoffs, 1000 miles on the rental car (that time spent cut into my EV a bit), no criminal encounters (which is good- I've been enduring a streak of assaults, burglaries, attempted robberies, larcenies and extortions on my BJ trips- never pleasant even when you don't have to worry about protecting your bankroll.) I'm especially happy because I was down $3300 after my first 2 hours of play.

Notes:

Pen manipulation via the dealer in SD games is all-important. Work on heads-up games and be sure to be capitalized to spread to 3 hands.

If you're getting shuffled up on, you can use play-action bets to force a shuffle when needed.

My experience is you will get in more trouble with the house when losing than when winning. Maybe they are using ploppy math and believe you can make money by backing off counters when losing, or maybe they know being backed off when down is more demoralizing and they want to make it hurt. The way to beat this: win!

The new orange-cream shake at Arby's is really good.

If you play VP for cover, stick to a 25 cent machine so in case of disaster and you hit a jackpot, you won't have to present ID.

Also, if you are playing anonymously, don't lose anything in a casino! You will have to show ID to security to get it back from them. My cell phone fell out of my pocket at a table and fortunately the PC saw it, intercepted me on the way to security and handed it to me with a smile.
 

ScottH

Well-Known Member
Automatic Monkey said:
Haul for the weekend was $4500 not including my $4K windfall from cover play. (I don't know, should I count that?
If you count the losses due to the cover plays, then I would also count the wins. If the losses due to the "cover play" aren't included in your totals, then I wouldn't count the wins either.

I would count both the losses and the wins from cover play personally.
 

shadroch

Well-Known Member
I keep my BJ winnings very seperate from my slot or VP winnings. It would be way too easy to decieve yourself into thinking you are a better player if you toss a few thousand dollar slot wins into your BR.Especially if,like myself,you are playing to raise your BR and jump your bets as your BR grows.
 

Sonny

Well-Known Member
Automatic Monkey said:
I've been enduring a streak of assaults, burglaries, attempted robberies, larcenies and extortions on my BJ trips
It's nice to get away from AC, huh? :laugh:

-Sonny-
 

EasyRhino

Well-Known Member
I'd be tempted to count the cover winnings as well. Course, you'll probably just end up spending it on a boat, so it doesn't really matter.

I usually view VP as a way to "lay cover" at places where I'm getting rated, and at least show some machine play on my account.... were you playing VP at places where you were just hit and running? That would seem to defeat the purpose.

I also like the orange cream shake.
 
EasyRhino said:
...
I usually view VP as a way to "lay cover" at places where I'm getting rated, and at least show some machine play on my account.... were you playing VP at places where you were just hit and running? That would seem to defeat the purpose...
Remember, this is SD I'm playing and I'm usually the biggest better in the house- so cover is not optional. What I'll do is Wong out of a few decks that go to hell on the first hand, and spend the time at a VP machine. I'll also leave the table if it gets too crowded and there's no other non-crowded table available.

Oh the other thing I have to learn to do on VP cover play is remember I'm not playing a promotion and that I don't have to play at my usual 800 hands per hour rate! THAT defeats the purpose of cover.
 

Mimosine

Well-Known Member
Automatic Monkey said:
no criminal encounters (which is good- I've been enduring a streak of assaults, burglaries, attempted robberies, larcenies and extortions on my BJ trips- never pleasant even when you don't have to worry about protecting your bankroll.)
an excellent report!

How bout i offer you my bodyguard and driver services in exchange for watching you do what you do at the table.

i'm no west coast surfer boy, born and raised in NY, maybe i could even dress like a ninja and carry a sword around - that has to be legal in AC, doesn't it?
 

21forme

Well-Known Member
If you're getting shuffled up on, you can use play-action bets to force a shuffle when needed.


You mean putting out a big bet with a negative count? What if... they don't call for a shuffle?
 

ScottH

Well-Known Member
21forme said:
If you're getting shuffled up on, you can use play-action bets to force a shuffle when needed.


You mean putting out a big bet with a negative count? What if... they don't call for a shuffle?
Then stop doing it!

Although the idea of flat-betting until a negative count arises and then betting big to cause a shuffle-up doesn't seem like a great +EV situation to me...
 

eps6724

Well-Known Member
Automatic Monkey said:
I'm sitting at the airport, with my money pouch down my pants bulging like a colostomy bag after a visit to the Eldorado buffet.

Haul for the weekend was $4500 not including my $4K windfall from cover play. (I don't know, should I count that? I count my losses from cover play in my calculations.) Slightly short of my projected EV but I'll take it. Only two non-violent backoffs, 1000 miles on the rental car (that time spent cut into my EV a bit), no criminal encounters (which is good- I've been enduring a streak of assaults, burglaries, attempted robberies, larcenies and extortions on my BJ trips- never pleasant even when you don't have to worry about protecting your bankroll.) I'm especially happy because I was down $3300 after my first 2 hours of play.

Notes:

Pen manipulation via the dealer in SD games is all-important. Work on heads-up games and be sure to be capitalized to spread to 3 hands.

If you're getting shuffled up on, you can use play-action bets to force a shuffle when needed.

My experience is you will get in more trouble with the house when losing than when winning. Maybe they are using ploppy math and believe you can make money by backing off counters when losing, or maybe they know being backed off when down is more demoralizing and they want to make it hurt. The way to beat this: win!

The new orange-cream shake at Arby's is really good.

If you play VP for cover, stick to a 25 cent machine so in case of disaster and you hit a jackpot, you won't have to present ID.

Also, if you are playing anonymously, don't lose anything in a casino! You will have to show ID to security to get it back from them. My cell phone fell out of my pocket at a table and fortunately the PC saw it, intercepted me on the way to security and handed it to me with a smile.
Whoa! Arby's has a new orange-cream shake? THAT'S the kind of info this fat guy's been waiting for!!!
:grin:
 

halcyon1234

Well-Known Member
Great report.

Automatic Monkey said:
I was trying to get the dealer down as close to the end of the deck without running out of cards. OK I admit it, I was secretly hoping to get the dealer to run out of cards just so I can see what happens
Does anyone know what would happen? In the long-long ago, when I'd sit down with a deck of cards and throw down some blackjack for the heck of it (counting how many hands I won), I had no concept of a cut card. I'd just play until either it looked like there weren't enough cards for another hand, or I ran out of cards. In that case, I just tossed away the hand in progress. I'd HOPE the casinos wouldn't do that. =)
 
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