Automatic Monkey
Banned
I knew I shouldn't have gone, but my curiousity got the best of me and last week I signed up for a cruise on this casino ship sailing out of Freeport NY.
Freeport NY is on Long Island and a town of beach, seafood, and seafaring. The town alone is worth a visit.
The first thing you notice after boarding the boat is how run down everything is. Dirty carpet, slot machines with broken faces. When they pulled the covers off the BJ tables it was even worse. Ripped vinyl and cigarette burns on everything. The craps table looked like somebody crapped on it. A small buffet was served before the tables open, it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be but if you are prone to seasickness at all, don't. You'll spew.
I watched them spread the decks as the tables opened. Cheap, bent off-brand decks that the dealers have to reconstitute at the end of the cruise, but they were all honest decks. Table limits were $5-100, $10-200, and $25-$300. The crown was low class and it's difficult to get a seat at the $5 table, and BJ is clearly the most popular game on board, more so than even slots. Patrons seem to all know one another and they bring their own cards and play gin rummy on the tables before they open. The ten BJ tables have 9 spots each and 9 people will actually be playing at one time.
Penetration was awful, down to 2-3 decks on an 8 deck shoe. Rules are S17, DOA, DAS, LS. Never have I seen dealers so sloppy! Improper card handling and bad procedure are universal here, and the dealers are as unfriendly as they are sloppy. The shuffle is a single-pass stepladder followed by a weird 4-way chop-up. The tables all have optical peekers, but the dealers seem to use them or not use them at random. Dealing speed is good and apparently the dealers are under pressure to deal as fast as they can.
I had a bad night at blackjack, kept on getting good counts shoved up my butt and I was down a few hundred. Expectable even in a good game though. There are some other advantage opportunities available onboard. There is a cheap plastic double-zero roulette wheel that some players might find interesting. I myself took a break from BJ and spent a good hour playing Caribbean Stud, appearing drunk and exhausted. As I was playing, the person who appeared to be the casino manager literally sat on the table facing away from me smoking cigarettes. Had a reasonable session there and went back to a $25 BJ table, aggressively Wonging in and out as this casino manager sat on the table behind me, occasionally brushing me with his swinging feet. Another losing session unfortunately.
Overview: This is not a place for a card counter, even a Wonger. The best-case penetration is on the low side of playable. The sessions are short and the crowd oppressive. Experts in other forms of advantage play may find opportunties here. No matter what, approach this game with the same caution you would a remote, unregulated Indian joint, because other than the guy with the cigarette I had no idea who or what was in charge or what your recourse would be if you had a problem with this casino.
Freeport NY is on Long Island and a town of beach, seafood, and seafaring. The town alone is worth a visit.
The first thing you notice after boarding the boat is how run down everything is. Dirty carpet, slot machines with broken faces. When they pulled the covers off the BJ tables it was even worse. Ripped vinyl and cigarette burns on everything. The craps table looked like somebody crapped on it. A small buffet was served before the tables open, it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be but if you are prone to seasickness at all, don't. You'll spew.
I watched them spread the decks as the tables opened. Cheap, bent off-brand decks that the dealers have to reconstitute at the end of the cruise, but they were all honest decks. Table limits were $5-100, $10-200, and $25-$300. The crown was low class and it's difficult to get a seat at the $5 table, and BJ is clearly the most popular game on board, more so than even slots. Patrons seem to all know one another and they bring their own cards and play gin rummy on the tables before they open. The ten BJ tables have 9 spots each and 9 people will actually be playing at one time.
Penetration was awful, down to 2-3 decks on an 8 deck shoe. Rules are S17, DOA, DAS, LS. Never have I seen dealers so sloppy! Improper card handling and bad procedure are universal here, and the dealers are as unfriendly as they are sloppy. The shuffle is a single-pass stepladder followed by a weird 4-way chop-up. The tables all have optical peekers, but the dealers seem to use them or not use them at random. Dealing speed is good and apparently the dealers are under pressure to deal as fast as they can.
I had a bad night at blackjack, kept on getting good counts shoved up my butt and I was down a few hundred. Expectable even in a good game though. There are some other advantage opportunities available onboard. There is a cheap plastic double-zero roulette wheel that some players might find interesting. I myself took a break from BJ and spent a good hour playing Caribbean Stud, appearing drunk and exhausted. As I was playing, the person who appeared to be the casino manager literally sat on the table facing away from me smoking cigarettes. Had a reasonable session there and went back to a $25 BJ table, aggressively Wonging in and out as this casino manager sat on the table behind me, occasionally brushing me with his swinging feet. Another losing session unfortunately.
Overview: This is not a place for a card counter, even a Wonger. The best-case penetration is on the low side of playable. The sessions are short and the crowd oppressive. Experts in other forms of advantage play may find opportunties here. No matter what, approach this game with the same caution you would a remote, unregulated Indian joint, because other than the guy with the cigarette I had no idea who or what was in charge or what your recourse would be if you had a problem with this casino.