My blackjack fantasy

What are you looking for when you play blackjack? I' been to Vegas dozens of times over twenty-five years. I've had many hours of losing sessions and times when the dealer busted almost all the time. I've won at every place I've played on some trips, and just gotten killed on others. Forget about the "I should win about $25 an hour" stuff. You could have the worst player at your table and they're winning while you are losing - badly. I don't ever hate the game. I've won more than I've lost and take pride in the fact that I make the right playing decision no matter how much I have riding on the outcome. I trust the math. But I must admit, sometimes I'm not having fun. I played about an hour at Casino Royale recently. I had an over 2.5 percent advantage on their single-deck 6:5 game because of the BJ paid 2:1 coupon. It was a full table so there was only one round. I was betting $25 a hand at third base and played for over an hour. About 45 minutes in I got a blackjack-my only one-and the dealer got one too on that hand. I lost $500 in about an hour betting $25 a hand, that's a loss of twenty bets, and left with a blackjack pays 2:1 coupon that went unused. Been there? I've lost $800 in five minutes. I've lost 10 hands in a row. I'm tired right now, I'll tell you of my fantasy later.

There's one thing that all of us who love blackjack enjoy: You just arrived at your gambling destination, you buy in, place your first bet, and the cards are in the air!

I've never been in a game where I could regularly spot the hole card. That would be quite the experience!

Playing at the same table as JuicyJennie!

Playing at a high limit table, with Aceofspades, and him asking me for a loan after he taps out. And of course I have to call Evenbob to see if he will guarantee Ace's marker.

Hey, she dealing at my table. Hard to focus on the cards.

Quote: Greasyjohn

There's one thing that all of us who love blackjack enjoy: You just arrived at your gambling destination, you buy in, place your first bet, and the cards are in the air!

And often times that's the LAST enjoyable moment of the night !!

My fantasy: I want to have such a winning session that I get a little wild and bet higher than the limit that I've been playing. I start winning and before long I'm betting double, triple my previous highest wager. I want to be winning, having fun, and be betting 5 then 10 times my largest wager ever! Don't tell me about Kelly. I can afford it. I want an Archie Karas moment. And I WILL NOT LOSE IT ALL BACK. No Whacky 4 Queens tale that ends where it begins. I want the jacuzzi suite! I want a crowd, and like Dr. Thorp said, I want them to have goose bumps. I deserve this moment. I will reap what I have sown. Hundreds of hours studying this game. Come to me!

I believe I have already had mine. It happened three years ago and I called it the 'perfect shoe', when I wrote about it several weeks afterwards on a now closed blackjack site. Not perfect because I won every round...I didn't. But I didn't lose a round from the time I started 'super-max betting' early in the shoe. If I play blackjack every day for another 30 years, I don't think I can top my 'perfect shoe'. I will give a recap and try to keep it short, but it is hard to do and still do it justice.

It was my second shoe of the day at my first casino of the day. The first shoe was uneventful. I was playing with 2 other gentlemen. The first few rounds, nothing but small cards were coming out. I was holding my own, winning a few rounds and losing a few rounds. I think I had a couple 5 card 20's and 21's. The two other gents weren't as fortunate. One dropped out after about 3 rounds, the other after about 5 or 6 rounds leaving me heads up with a monster high count which I was max betting. I started to win and as I said I did not lose a round for the remainder of the shoe which was at least 30 some rounds. After a few rounds, I started betting my super max bet, which is 50% higher than my traditional max bet. Let me explain that. My max bet is not set by bankroll limitations, but rather by a certain limit that I want to stay under for the purposes of drawing less attention. By this point, that concept was out the window. I was drawing attention, so I went to my supermax bet.

So over the remaining 30 some rounds, I pushed two hands and had one split hand, which one won and one lost. The remaining hands all won, including a number of double downs. Even one of the hands that I pushed seemed like a win, because I had a ten value card against the dealer ten value card and at that super high count, they correct play was to double. But with pit eyes on me, I decided to not get greedy and just hit drawing a 2 for a total of 12. Drew again and pulled an 8 for 20, which pushed the dealer 20. Had I double as called for, I would have lost the double down bet.

One amazing thing about that shoe: with all those 10's, faces and aces coming out, neither I nor the dealer received a blackjack. In the end, that one 15 minute shoe accounted for nearly one-third of my years total blackjack win. I was so rattled, I stopped playing for that day and had to take a couple more days to compose myself and that's kind of embarrassing.

Quote: kewlj

One amazing thing about that shoe: with all those 10's, faces and aces coming out, neither I nor the dealer received a blackjack. In the end, that one 15 minute shoe accounted for nearly one-third of my years total blackjack win. I was so rattled, I stopped playing for that day and had to take a couple more days to compose myself and that's kind of embarrassing.

Nothing to be embarrassed about.

Let's say you have a traditional job and your salary is 60K/year. Just for fun, I'm your boss, and you walk in and I say, "Hey, KewlJ, I appreciate you getting that big contract for us, so I have a nice little bonus for you."

The day is Friday, and I hand you an envelope and tell you not to open it until you get home. You get home, expecting maybe a few hundred, open the envelope and there's a check for $30,000.

After you change your pants, aren't you going to be glad you're off Saturday/Sunday to compose yourself after that?

Quote: Mission146

Nothing to be embarrassed about.

Let's say you have a traditional job and your salary is 60K/year. Just for fun, I'm your boss, and you walk in and I say, "Hey, KewlJ, I appreciate you getting that big contract for us, so I have a nice little bonus for you."

The day is Friday, and I hand you an envelope and tell you not to open it until you get home. You get home, expecting maybe a few hundred, open the envelope and there's a check for $30,000.

After you change your pants, aren't you going to be glad you're off Saturday/Sunday to compose yourself after that?

Well, I don't think my pants needed changing but it might have been close, Mission. But the issue is that I pride myself in trying to keep my emotions in check. I try to concern myself less with the actual wins and losses and more with the EV. And the EV for that day was only a few dollars and for the days that followed when I didn't play....zero.

In fairness, this was the biggest single day win I had experienced up until that time by 3 times. It is still the biggest single day win, I have ever experienced. I think the emotion of such is something you just can't prepare for, but have to go though it. I would like to have another such win, just to see if I handle it better emotionally. :-)

I'm sure that's the only reason you'd like to have another win like that!

This is what I'm saying, though, it's exactly like the huge bonus in a traditional job. Originally, there was no expectation, it's your job to get the huge contract, you got the huge contract, your expectation is now they probably won't arbitrarily decide to fire you. Okay, you go into work and your boss hands you an envelope saying it contains a, "Nice little bonus," now your EV is a few hundred because you know you have a bonus, then BOOM, 30k.

Listen, KewlJ, you're ice cold, nobody doubts it, but everyone has a dollar figure that causes them to thaw a little bit!

Flash back to early 2001, a riverboat casino, Saturday night around 8pm. I am moving around the gaming floor and see 3rd base and the adjacent seat open up at a table about 10 feet away. The place is jam packed and slow going, so by the time I get to the table a couple of guys just squeeze in and they sat down.

They're maybe late thirties, shuffle completes, they buy in IIRC for $500 at this $25/$3000 table. I stand between them (slightly behind) to watch for a while as it's unlikely I'll get a seat anywhere until someone gets tired of losing...

Third base BJ first hand, chips up. Another BJ, doubles up. Wins another few hands in a row and is betting purple already. A suit appears and watches casually. From time-to-time I'll comment "nice hit" as he pulls a 9 to his 12 and beats the dealer's twenty or "good double" as he wins a straightforward double-down. Several more BJs and wins in a row and he's got 3 orange out. Has not lost a hand.

Dealt 3-3 against dealer seven, looks at me and asks, "What would you do here?" as he gathered I know the game.
"Split"
Dealt a seven, looks at me: "double"
He does. Wins both.

Soft 18 versus trey.
?
"Double"
Wins.

These "close" hands confirmed in my mind they're just weekend gamblers out for the night.

Now he has a very serious pile of chips, another suit appears, after a fill they watch intently. Another shoe, another fill, dealer change, doesn't lose a single hand. Now there are at least 3 or 4 suits behind the dealer. He has $87,000. Still table max of 3 pumpkins, good double but dealer draws the win. HE COLORS IN!!! $81,000.
Needlesstosay a host was on him like stink on $h!t...

Great story cman. What is llRC?

Quote: Greasyjohn

Great story cman. What is llRC?

IIRC = if I remember correctly

Quote: sodawater

Playing at the same table as JuicyJennie!

You can fly her in to AC

Quote: Buzzard

Playing at a high limit table, with Aceofspades, and him asking me for a loan after he taps out. And of course I have to call Evenbob to see if he will guarantee Ace's marker.

This made me laugh out loud…

Quote: AcesAndEights

IIRC = if I remember correctly

What does that mean?

Oh, I get it.

I would love to see a documentary/reality show of someone with a substantial amount of cash (over 200k) Play a martingale system with a big win goal or bust. I would watch every hand he played with excitement. If I liked him, I would root for him to succeed. If not well, I would send Bob some very sharp pins, I'm sure he would be on the edge of his seat, with doll in hand.

PS if anyone wants to put up the cash, I volunteer for the job.