Mimosine
Well-Known Member
just returned from my first trip to vegas and here will be the long and the short of it.
DAY 1:
drove straight to boulder highway and played at two joints with decent rules. one had really decent rules (-0.25%), nevertheless i got demolished there. my counting was solid, and the count got good on many occasions, yet lost 80% of my big bets (this will be a recurring theme for the trip). decided to leave after losing 28 units! i wasn't expecting or prepared for this first loss as i never had experienced such a big loss before, but made me rethink a lot of things.... basically despite how bad a beating i was taking i stuck to my game plan, i didn't panic, i bought in for more in a bad losing streak durring a really positive count, only to lose more. in the future, with lots of options, i will set a stop loss point - for nothing less than to give me some time to catch my breath.
crossed the street to check out another low roller paradise. the $5 DD game in CBJN was a $10 game which i wasn't willing to play. played a 6Der. nothing too eventful until count got good, put out a 2x bet with a match play coupon and threw out some money on the LL's. and Won side bet and hand. side note: due to some really good advice on here from one particular card shark i won about 2/3's of my LL side bets and 1/2 of my Royal Match side bets for a not significant amount of money, nevertheless these side bets proved more meorable than the bloodbath i endured.
cashed out at this joint down 7 units.
decided to take a break for a couple of hours, site see, get some sleep, eat some vegan donuts and recoup.
checked out slots of fun, first time playing pitch. i didn't really ever practice counting for a pitch game, though i have watched maybe 1 hour or so at a local joint, and read about how people do it. i have my own method, which closely matches my 6D counting.... basically i only count the dealers upcard early if the count is close to any strategic plays, otherwise i've found that i forget which card was which when the dealer flips them so almost always 6D or pitch i count the dealers cards LAST. counting was a breeze. was playing with 3-4 other people, LLs slowed down things which was good. count got good, penetration was so so, lost 12 units and decided to say $%^&-it for the day.
overall day 1 killed me. the high counts only eroded my funds, the cards never went in my favor, ever.
DAY 2:
went straight to everyone's favorite lowroller awesome rules joint. and it was heaven compared to the places i played at on day one. damn the place was pretty nice inside!
never played heads up before, decided to give it a go. within 30-40 minutes i was up 40 units. it was glorious! my god. count was marginal throughout. nothing spectacular, but i could do no wrong. someone else sat down, i kept a solid count while talking with the dealer and player #2. left up a total of 30+ units. went to play SD, again heads up. game was solid, but nothing materialized. was slowly losing units. was losing big bets. count kept getting good, but my winnings were quickly eroding. few other people sat down, count in a SD game broke +10 (KO). got dealt some craptastic hand and that was my que to leave. brutal. still up for the joint, yet really down for the trip.
took a break, took a nap, got some food elsewhere, went to freemont street, watched the "AREA 51" light show, walked in and out of some casinos where i wasn't willing to play, and then rolled down to the shadiest casino i've ever played in. was with my GF who decided to play with me at this place, she had been before with other friends and was told that this partciular casino got robbed all the time. hahaha so we HAD to play there. it was a really fun game, with amazingly bad entertainment and dealers who spoke no english. came out break even and left when it became apparent that the penetration was decreasing with my increasing bets.
went back to everyone's favorite low roller heaven on a different shift. sat down to play heads up DD again - went on a horrible horrible 3 "shoe" losing streak, in each case the count hit +2-+5. easily lost 65-75% of my hands. it was horrible. again, i didn't panic, didn't lose the count, didn't falter from BS, made competent NEG index plays all for nothing....
decided to call it quits. down, a little bummed, but knowing that my play was solid, knowing that my losses were well within the expected range i did have some feeling of accomplishment in holding it together.
DAY 3:
went to check out a promotional game that was +1.9% EV playing BS.
showed up and found that their promotion was BuSh. it was supposed to be at multiple tables, it was at 1 table. it was supposed to have 5-50 limits, it was 10-50 limits. 5 seats full, everyone playing max bet. i wasn't funded well enough to max bet, so i min bet. penetration was horrible 2D of 6. dealers were absolutely miserable assholes. it was the only table with any players so the pit was scrutinizing everyone. people were taking a horrible beating. one guy was pulling hundreds from his pocket every 2 shoes. i lost half my buy in really quickly.... built it back up with some wins, got to +12 units, count was good said *()&-it and put out a biggish bet only to get a black jack, another person at the table got a BJ and the dealer turned a T with an A in the hole. cut card came out. i'm left with a BB out. new dealer decides to cut 3D!!!!! 3 &*((ing decks! i couldn't believe my eyes. i was shocked, and instead of trusting my gut, i left my bet out there (my biggish) bet. only to obviously lose it! got up wished everyone well, went to play my slot promo and won $80 in 5 mins.
got the hell out of there. had i not been forced into getting a player's card to play their crappy game i would have said something really blatent about the cut to the entire table. i have no idea what the effect of 50% pen in a +1.9% game is, but i suspect the house absolutely destroyed the table after i left.
net result from the trip - got my teeth kicked in. counted up my gambling money to find some bigger bills tucked in amongst my $1 to make my overall losses much easier to bear and left me with enough funds to continue to visit my local joints and get back to the nice steady 6D full tables i'm used to.... from a skills point of view i'm happy with how i played. i restrained myself to parlay bets, to leave big bets out after the shuffle and i learned ALOT - mostly on how to take a beating and keep playing and to constantly evaluate how tired i was and if the penetration was changing and if the game was still beatable....
i knew i was going on this run with a very high ROR, probably in the neighborhood of 55%. am glad that i didn't reach that point... fall and my new job can't get here fast enough to get me to the point where my ROR will hit single digits.... until then i'll be living dangerously.
DAY 1:
drove straight to boulder highway and played at two joints with decent rules. one had really decent rules (-0.25%), nevertheless i got demolished there. my counting was solid, and the count got good on many occasions, yet lost 80% of my big bets (this will be a recurring theme for the trip). decided to leave after losing 28 units! i wasn't expecting or prepared for this first loss as i never had experienced such a big loss before, but made me rethink a lot of things.... basically despite how bad a beating i was taking i stuck to my game plan, i didn't panic, i bought in for more in a bad losing streak durring a really positive count, only to lose more. in the future, with lots of options, i will set a stop loss point - for nothing less than to give me some time to catch my breath.
crossed the street to check out another low roller paradise. the $5 DD game in CBJN was a $10 game which i wasn't willing to play. played a 6Der. nothing too eventful until count got good, put out a 2x bet with a match play coupon and threw out some money on the LL's. and Won side bet and hand. side note: due to some really good advice on here from one particular card shark i won about 2/3's of my LL side bets and 1/2 of my Royal Match side bets for a not significant amount of money, nevertheless these side bets proved more meorable than the bloodbath i endured.
cashed out at this joint down 7 units.
decided to take a break for a couple of hours, site see, get some sleep, eat some vegan donuts and recoup.
checked out slots of fun, first time playing pitch. i didn't really ever practice counting for a pitch game, though i have watched maybe 1 hour or so at a local joint, and read about how people do it. i have my own method, which closely matches my 6D counting.... basically i only count the dealers upcard early if the count is close to any strategic plays, otherwise i've found that i forget which card was which when the dealer flips them so almost always 6D or pitch i count the dealers cards LAST. counting was a breeze. was playing with 3-4 other people, LLs slowed down things which was good. count got good, penetration was so so, lost 12 units and decided to say $%^&-it for the day.
overall day 1 killed me. the high counts only eroded my funds, the cards never went in my favor, ever.
DAY 2:
went straight to everyone's favorite lowroller awesome rules joint. and it was heaven compared to the places i played at on day one. damn the place was pretty nice inside!
never played heads up before, decided to give it a go. within 30-40 minutes i was up 40 units. it was glorious! my god. count was marginal throughout. nothing spectacular, but i could do no wrong. someone else sat down, i kept a solid count while talking with the dealer and player #2. left up a total of 30+ units. went to play SD, again heads up. game was solid, but nothing materialized. was slowly losing units. was losing big bets. count kept getting good, but my winnings were quickly eroding. few other people sat down, count in a SD game broke +10 (KO). got dealt some craptastic hand and that was my que to leave. brutal. still up for the joint, yet really down for the trip.
took a break, took a nap, got some food elsewhere, went to freemont street, watched the "AREA 51" light show, walked in and out of some casinos where i wasn't willing to play, and then rolled down to the shadiest casino i've ever played in. was with my GF who decided to play with me at this place, she had been before with other friends and was told that this partciular casino got robbed all the time. hahaha so we HAD to play there. it was a really fun game, with amazingly bad entertainment and dealers who spoke no english. came out break even and left when it became apparent that the penetration was decreasing with my increasing bets.
went back to everyone's favorite low roller heaven on a different shift. sat down to play heads up DD again - went on a horrible horrible 3 "shoe" losing streak, in each case the count hit +2-+5. easily lost 65-75% of my hands. it was horrible. again, i didn't panic, didn't lose the count, didn't falter from BS, made competent NEG index plays all for nothing....
decided to call it quits. down, a little bummed, but knowing that my play was solid, knowing that my losses were well within the expected range i did have some feeling of accomplishment in holding it together.
DAY 3:
went to check out a promotional game that was +1.9% EV playing BS.
showed up and found that their promotion was BuSh. it was supposed to be at multiple tables, it was at 1 table. it was supposed to have 5-50 limits, it was 10-50 limits. 5 seats full, everyone playing max bet. i wasn't funded well enough to max bet, so i min bet. penetration was horrible 2D of 6. dealers were absolutely miserable assholes. it was the only table with any players so the pit was scrutinizing everyone. people were taking a horrible beating. one guy was pulling hundreds from his pocket every 2 shoes. i lost half my buy in really quickly.... built it back up with some wins, got to +12 units, count was good said *()&-it and put out a biggish bet only to get a black jack, another person at the table got a BJ and the dealer turned a T with an A in the hole. cut card came out. i'm left with a BB out. new dealer decides to cut 3D!!!!! 3 &*((ing decks! i couldn't believe my eyes. i was shocked, and instead of trusting my gut, i left my bet out there (my biggish) bet. only to obviously lose it! got up wished everyone well, went to play my slot promo and won $80 in 5 mins.
got the hell out of there. had i not been forced into getting a player's card to play their crappy game i would have said something really blatent about the cut to the entire table. i have no idea what the effect of 50% pen in a +1.9% game is, but i suspect the house absolutely destroyed the table after i left.
net result from the trip - got my teeth kicked in. counted up my gambling money to find some bigger bills tucked in amongst my $1 to make my overall losses much easier to bear and left me with enough funds to continue to visit my local joints and get back to the nice steady 6D full tables i'm used to.... from a skills point of view i'm happy with how i played. i restrained myself to parlay bets, to leave big bets out after the shuffle and i learned ALOT - mostly on how to take a beating and keep playing and to constantly evaluate how tired i was and if the penetration was changing and if the game was still beatable....
i knew i was going on this run with a very high ROR, probably in the neighborhood of 55%. am glad that i didn't reach that point... fall and my new job can't get here fast enough to get me to the point where my ROR will hit single digits.... until then i'll be living dangerously.
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