Reflections on Vegas, Blackjack and Luck
August 13th, 2015 at 5:15:31 PM
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I remember when I was a young man, gambling and staying out all night, returning to my hotel room in the early morning light. Passing through the casino doors, the hum of the neon marquee filling the morning silence like the Vegas equivalent of singing birds in a different wilderness.
I decide to stop off at the coffee shop for their 99 cent breakfast special served when few people are awake. 2am to 6 am. Just a few patrons. Cute waitress walking around topping off cups of coffee that are half-filled. Look at that Keno board, how those numbers clump like that. I play a 10-spot ticket. Anticipation. What is it about action? I catch one. Breakfast is good. Eating while listening to the clinking of spoons, coffee cups and saucers. A Waitress is filling sugar dispensers and little metal holders with one-serve jam packets.
As I'm finishing breakfast I think about taking one of the waitresses with me to my room. "My dear, your uniform has the aroma of french onion soup and hash browns. Why don't you let me take it off you. I'm here for dessert." Just a thought.
I make my way to my room. I drop my keys, change and wallet onto the night stand as the TV delivers the morning news. There's early morning light visible at the edges of the drapes drawn tightly closed. The loud hum of the air conditioning unit as it struggles keep the outside heat at bay. The world is just waking up. I'm just going to sleep. Not the normal full nights rest that you often enjoy at home, but that get-up-early-kind-of-I'm-in-Vegas sleep. Next thing I know I'm waking up at the crack of noon.
I have myself a couple cups of coffee from the coffee maker in the room. The coffee packets come packaged with individual servings of creamer and sugar along with the smallest straw in the world that serves as a throw-away spoon. A little morning exercise in the room is a good way to start the day. The TV delivers programming to distract me from the movements I force my body to do. Stretching, squats, push ups, sit ups, The best thing about exercise is that you enjoy your day more because you're not exercising anymore.
Then I make my way out to the pool. The searing summer heat is about 110 F. It's nice by the pool; not any loud or rambunctious antics; it's too hot for that. Nice and quiet so as to not spoil my view of cute young maidens working on their tan lines. It's so hot that people move about as if to save their energy. Being by the pool is a perfect break from the casinos and the cacophony of noises--slot machines with their cartoonish sounds, the repetitive thumping of the Big Six Wheel, the loud music, the gambling action.
So I spent enough time at the pool to create a break from the main attraction that drives this oasis in the desert--gambling. The thrill of anticipation; the possibility of a good run. Checks in colors and denominations that mesmerize those who lust over their power to transform lives. God, if I only had a stack of those $5,000 checks--two stacks. I'd toke-off obscene amounts to win even more obscene amounts. I'd be happy, the dealer would be happy; both of us rooting for me while the bosses fall in line with the house in a somber mood. The bosses mill around, they're on the phone, they're heat sinks trying to draw away the energy of this hot shooter, that lucky blackjack player.
Usually, when I take a break from the main reason I visit this town, blackjack, I like to make sure that my diversion allows enough time for a complete disconnect from the lure of the game. But this can be a challenge because the magnet of action, luck and a winning game draws me in its grip. A complete disconnect from the game is what I need though. The break makes the return to the game more exciting; I'm eager to play. And this is important: I'll enjoy myself and be glad that I attacked the game, never playing hunches or backing down from the correct strategy no matter how much my wager, win or lose. My respect for the game and playing it correctly is something I'm proud of.
Luck: Sure we APs are confident in our winning game, but the excitement of luck being our friend fills our desire. Reaping a 1% advantage will never compete with the rush of luck when stacks of chips appear before you. Of course that's the zenith of this game, the nadir is the losing streaks. And even confidence in a winning game can not bring joy to ones countenance when math is frustrated by chance. We are human after all, and good and bad fortune are met by our joy and disappointment. And that is the natural way of things.
Do you think I'm placing too much importance on luck? Remember this, without it the casino industry wouldn't exist because no one would play slots, craps, baccarat, keno and other -EV games.
Nowadays, I carry a thousand dollars in my right front pocket if I'm playing a $10-$90 DD game with a $10 min bet; two thousand if I'm playing a $25 to $200 DD game with a $25 min bet. All my buy-ins are made from this pocket to make keeping track easy. And when I look for a blackjack game I look for a pleasant dealer to enjoy a pleasant game. I place $300 on the felt with my card. I remember not to say, "Half and half" if it's a $10 min game. It's best not to use insider terminology. I'll put about $35 in the betting square and the cards are in the air...
It's a good feeling when you bed down on your first night in Vegas and you are ahead. Comped room, comped dinner. Playing a winning game--blackjack. And playing Vegas.
The sun rises early. I open the drapes of my room to an eastern view. Hotel/casinos scattered along Boulder Hwy like little boxes; the desert and the mountains off in the distance. All is quiet. The quiet is good. A cup of coffee warms my soul. Look at this desert where little blooms. The old neighborhoods show the struggle of a town before casinos burst upon the scene. And these days all the shuttered motels built in the '50s and '60s; they couldn't compete with the hotel/casinos who lure in the fish with cheap rooms skewered at the end of a big 24k gold hook.
Turn on the TV. I must exercise. Same routine. It's like dues I have to pay to deserve and enjoy the day.
Hit the blackjack tables before breakfast is a regular stop. Have to put in some time to continue getting comped rooms. After about forty minutes of play I'll ask for a dinner comp. I already have a breakfast comp elsewhere but as those who work the system know you get the comp when you can, and it's easier to get a comp right after you give action. A lot of food comps are good for 48 hours. It's nice to have all your comped meals already lined up two days before you leave.
It's time for a diversion. A little rock climbing at Red Rock Canyon ought to do the trick. Away from the superficiality of the Vegas vibe. The rock looms before me. The beautiful canyon, the blue sky, the quiet of the desert. The experience rejuvenates me.
Basic rock climbing is pretty simple really. It comes naturally to most who give it a try. Not so a winning game of blackjack. Its arcane logic is understood by few, and the casinos are out to thwart this practice of sorcery.
It is enticing to have a winning game of blackjack against the casinos--businesses that are designed and have been molded for generations to extract legal tender from their patrons.
In some ways having a winning game has become harder; betting spreads must be smaller; good games harder to find. But in other ways it has become easier; mechanics working the SD games of years ago are gone; lawsuits against casinos for beatings, backrooming and false arrest have created a more civil and genteel casino industry. So skimming the cream off the top can be accomplished in a more pleasant environment, there's just less of it.
From the days when Roger R. Baldwin et al, wrote The Optimum Strategy In Blackjack in 1956 to the present, so continues the narrative between the casinos and those who try to beat them.
Sent from my iPhone
I decide to stop off at the coffee shop for their 99 cent breakfast special served when few people are awake. 2am to 6 am. Just a few patrons. Cute waitress walking around topping off cups of coffee that are half-filled. Look at that Keno board, how those numbers clump like that. I play a 10-spot ticket. Anticipation. What is it about action? I catch one. Breakfast is good. Eating while listening to the clinking of spoons, coffee cups and saucers. A Waitress is filling sugar dispensers and little metal holders with one-serve jam packets.
As I'm finishing breakfast I think about taking one of the waitresses with me to my room. "My dear, your uniform has the aroma of french onion soup and hash browns. Why don't you let me take it off you. I'm here for dessert." Just a thought.
I make my way to my room. I drop my keys, change and wallet onto the night stand as the TV delivers the morning news. There's early morning light visible at the edges of the drapes drawn tightly closed. The loud hum of the air conditioning unit as it struggles keep the outside heat at bay. The world is just waking up. I'm just going to sleep. Not the normal full nights rest that you often enjoy at home, but that get-up-early-kind-of-I'm-in-Vegas sleep. Next thing I know I'm waking up at the crack of noon.
I have myself a couple cups of coffee from the coffee maker in the room. The coffee packets come packaged with individual servings of creamer and sugar along with the smallest straw in the world that serves as a throw-away spoon. A little morning exercise in the room is a good way to start the day. The TV delivers programming to distract me from the movements I force my body to do. Stretching, squats, push ups, sit ups, The best thing about exercise is that you enjoy your day more because you're not exercising anymore.
Then I make my way out to the pool. The searing summer heat is about 110 F. It's nice by the pool; not any loud or rambunctious antics; it's too hot for that. Nice and quiet so as to not spoil my view of cute young maidens working on their tan lines. It's so hot that people move about as if to save their energy. Being by the pool is a perfect break from the casinos and the cacophony of noises--slot machines with their cartoonish sounds, the repetitive thumping of the Big Six Wheel, the loud music, the gambling action.
So I spent enough time at the pool to create a break from the main attraction that drives this oasis in the desert--gambling. The thrill of anticipation; the possibility of a good run. Checks in colors and denominations that mesmerize those who lust over their power to transform lives. God, if I only had a stack of those $5,000 checks--two stacks. I'd toke-off obscene amounts to win even more obscene amounts. I'd be happy, the dealer would be happy; both of us rooting for me while the bosses fall in line with the house in a somber mood. The bosses mill around, they're on the phone, they're heat sinks trying to draw away the energy of this hot shooter, that lucky blackjack player.
Usually, when I take a break from the main reason I visit this town, blackjack, I like to make sure that my diversion allows enough time for a complete disconnect from the lure of the game. But this can be a challenge because the magnet of action, luck and a winning game draws me in its grip. A complete disconnect from the game is what I need though. The break makes the return to the game more exciting; I'm eager to play. And this is important: I'll enjoy myself and be glad that I attacked the game, never playing hunches or backing down from the correct strategy no matter how much my wager, win or lose. My respect for the game and playing it correctly is something I'm proud of.
Luck: Sure we APs are confident in our winning game, but the excitement of luck being our friend fills our desire. Reaping a 1% advantage will never compete with the rush of luck when stacks of chips appear before you. Of course that's the zenith of this game, the nadir is the losing streaks. And even confidence in a winning game can not bring joy to ones countenance when math is frustrated by chance. We are human after all, and good and bad fortune are met by our joy and disappointment. And that is the natural way of things.
Do you think I'm placing too much importance on luck? Remember this, without it the casino industry wouldn't exist because no one would play slots, craps, baccarat, keno and other -EV games.
Nowadays, I carry a thousand dollars in my right front pocket if I'm playing a $10-$90 DD game with a $10 min bet; two thousand if I'm playing a $25 to $200 DD game with a $25 min bet. All my buy-ins are made from this pocket to make keeping track easy. And when I look for a blackjack game I look for a pleasant dealer to enjoy a pleasant game. I place $300 on the felt with my card. I remember not to say, "Half and half" if it's a $10 min game. It's best not to use insider terminology. I'll put about $35 in the betting square and the cards are in the air...
It's a good feeling when you bed down on your first night in Vegas and you are ahead. Comped room, comped dinner. Playing a winning game--blackjack. And playing Vegas.
The sun rises early. I open the drapes of my room to an eastern view. Hotel/casinos scattered along Boulder Hwy like little boxes; the desert and the mountains off in the distance. All is quiet. The quiet is good. A cup of coffee warms my soul. Look at this desert where little blooms. The old neighborhoods show the struggle of a town before casinos burst upon the scene. And these days all the shuttered motels built in the '50s and '60s; they couldn't compete with the hotel/casinos who lure in the fish with cheap rooms skewered at the end of a big 24k gold hook.
Turn on the TV. I must exercise. Same routine. It's like dues I have to pay to deserve and enjoy the day.
Hit the blackjack tables before breakfast is a regular stop. Have to put in some time to continue getting comped rooms. After about forty minutes of play I'll ask for a dinner comp. I already have a breakfast comp elsewhere but as those who work the system know you get the comp when you can, and it's easier to get a comp right after you give action. A lot of food comps are good for 48 hours. It's nice to have all your comped meals already lined up two days before you leave.
It's time for a diversion. A little rock climbing at Red Rock Canyon ought to do the trick. Away from the superficiality of the Vegas vibe. The rock looms before me. The beautiful canyon, the blue sky, the quiet of the desert. The experience rejuvenates me.
Basic rock climbing is pretty simple really. It comes naturally to most who give it a try. Not so a winning game of blackjack. Its arcane logic is understood by few, and the casinos are out to thwart this practice of sorcery.
It is enticing to have a winning game of blackjack against the casinos--businesses that are designed and have been molded for generations to extract legal tender from their patrons.
In some ways having a winning game has become harder; betting spreads must be smaller; good games harder to find. But in other ways it has become easier; mechanics working the SD games of years ago are gone; lawsuits against casinos for beatings, backrooming and false arrest have created a more civil and genteel casino industry. So skimming the cream off the top can be accomplished in a more pleasant environment, there's just less of it.
From the days when Roger R. Baldwin et al, wrote The Optimum Strategy In Blackjack in 1956 to the present, so continues the narrative between the casinos and those who try to beat them.
Sent from my iPhone
August 14th, 2015 at 6:50:19 AM
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As usual, awesome story GJ. I feel like you took your writing up a notch in this one with a lot of meticulous detail, and I enjoyed it. Whist I have many of stories from Vegas, I can't wait for years down the road when I have so many like you. I always enjoy reading your stories.
Playing it correctly means you've already won.
August 14th, 2015 at 10:19:31 AM
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+1, again.
Youuuuuu MIGHT be a 'rascal' if.......(nevermind ;-)...2F
August 14th, 2015 at 3:43:23 PM
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Quote: RomesAs usual, awesome story GJ. I feel like you took your writing up a notch in this one with a lot of meticulous detail, and I enjoyed it. Whist I have many of stories from Vegas, I can't wait for years down the road when I have so many like you. I always enjoy reading your stories.
Thanks, Romes.
Hopefully I can get to Vegas in early September and play the game!
August 15th, 2015 at 6:57:34 AM
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Quote: TwoFeathersATL+1, again.
Glad you enjoyed the post, 2F.
