In Budapest, by the way, there are three major casinos with blackjack tables. Many others throughout the city are all electronic. In order to play there you must show a passport before they even let you in the door. But for them "heat" is just what you crank up on those long cold winter nights. I found quite an active community of AP's both local and visitors such as myself. In one place on any given night there could be 2 or 3 AP's active on every table. The rest of the players are tourists with some reasonable idea of the game and then some very patheitc local ploppies.
One aspect of playing there that took some getting used to is the pervasive practice they have of back betting. The felt is marked so that you could have to 2 or 3 players betting on your hand. They do not need to get your acknowledgement or permission to do this. The thinking is along the lines of not messing the flow of the cards. They come to the table in mid shoe or play on multiple tables at one time and instead of opening up a new hand they bet on yours.
One problem with that for me is that smoking is a national religion in Hungary and inevitably I had 2 or 3 heavy smokers surrounding on all sides from behind. Also, particularly the table jumpers would be very nervous types. Clicking chips and muttering non- stop. Very distacting (especially in Hungarian) . Then there would be those that throw down chips to split or double down when that was not my intention as the "owner" of the spot. The dealers there are like automotons. As soon as they see the chips go down - the card is out or the split is done which lead to some argumentative situation. And of course when someone doesnt like the way you played the hand they are not silent about it. If the hand is a winner - particulalry if there were splits or double downs involved. There is a mass of multiple stacks of chips and a rush to grab chips to move on to another table.
In the US most places that I have played allow you to play only up to 2 or 3 hands which must be conntiguous and directly in front of you. There is no limitation in Budapest of the number of spots that you can play nor on the proximity of the spots. I've had players play 1st and 3rd base with the dealer or other player assisting in the movement of chips. One memmorable time was when a local ploppy player at 1st base didnt like the plays that I was making as "3rd baseman" in the next to the last spot. I was of course making him lose. So he opened the last spot next to me. It did not effect my game very much but he soon lost his money at twice the rate he was before and soon gave it up.
The local players recognize and to a degree respect skilled and expert players but being very proud they think that is simply another way to play as valid as theirs as long as it doesnt mess them up and that winning comes down to a matter of style.
After assuring myself that I would not be creating an international incident I found ways of asserting myself in those situations. I was still often hindered by the language barrier.
One aspect of playing there that took some getting used to is the pervasive practice they have of back betting. The felt is marked so that you could have to 2 or 3 players betting on your hand. They do not need to get your acknowledgement or permission to do this. The thinking is along the lines of not messing the flow of the cards. They come to the table in mid shoe or play on multiple tables at one time and instead of opening up a new hand they bet on yours.
One problem with that for me is that smoking is a national religion in Hungary and inevitably I had 2 or 3 heavy smokers surrounding on all sides from behind. Also, particularly the table jumpers would be very nervous types. Clicking chips and muttering non- stop. Very distacting (especially in Hungarian) . Then there would be those that throw down chips to split or double down when that was not my intention as the "owner" of the spot. The dealers there are like automotons. As soon as they see the chips go down - the card is out or the split is done which lead to some argumentative situation. And of course when someone doesnt like the way you played the hand they are not silent about it. If the hand is a winner - particulalry if there were splits or double downs involved. There is a mass of multiple stacks of chips and a rush to grab chips to move on to another table.
In the US most places that I have played allow you to play only up to 2 or 3 hands which must be conntiguous and directly in front of you. There is no limitation in Budapest of the number of spots that you can play nor on the proximity of the spots. I've had players play 1st and 3rd base with the dealer or other player assisting in the movement of chips. One memmorable time was when a local ploppy player at 1st base didnt like the plays that I was making as "3rd baseman" in the next to the last spot. I was of course making him lose. So he opened the last spot next to me. It did not effect my game very much but he soon lost his money at twice the rate he was before and soon gave it up.
The local players recognize and to a degree respect skilled and expert players but being very proud they think that is simply another way to play as valid as theirs as long as it doesnt mess them up and that winning comes down to a matter of style.
After assuring myself that I would not be creating an international incident I found ways of asserting myself in those situations. I was still often hindered by the language barrier.
