Playing blackjack in Indian Territory
Okay, so let's play blackjack. They had 6D, H17, $10 Min, DAS, DA2, 3:2, NRA, LS. They also had this side bet that if the dealer and a player both had the same suited KQ it paid over $20,000. As I recall this side bet was $1.
I back-counted and entered the game at a TC of +1.5 for $50 with 1/2 deck played out. Count goes up and in a couple hands I'm playing $150 a hand. The TC was as high as plus 3 and all my bets were $150.
At the shuffle I drop to $75. Count rises again and I'm back to my $150 bet.
I like the way I played. I didn't want to ramp from $10 to $150. The count was favorable and I hit hard. My betting didn't make me look like a counter. To be honest, I forgot the game offered LS so I didn't use this rule to my advantage (I usually play DD which doesn't offer LS).
In about 20 minutes I lost my $1,250 stake. I didn't want to play over 20 minutes anyway. You know, if 4 of my $150 bets would have won instead of lost I'd be even. How's that some newbie asks? Because if a $150 bet wins you win $150 and you don't lose your bet--that's $300.
No need to tell me I was underfunded and over bet my bankroll. I would usually have $7,000 or more behind me on an extended outing like this. And forgetting about LS? It happens. The fog of war. One of the areas of gambling that is often overlooked by writers on the subject is the mental sharpness of the player. Amped up, long drive or flight, getting less sleep in a hotel bed, the whirl of the game--all of these things and more can add to the fog of war.
Would I have done it differently if I had it to do over again? No. Did it sting? No. Did I put Neosporin on my puncture wound that probably required a stitch or two when I got to my car? Yes. (It didn't sting but it was sore.) Did the experience feel good? No! Am I glad I can absorb the loss and continue playing? Come on, YES.
So I go back to this casino a couple weeks later to get my $150 in free bets. I get $100 of that at 11:50 pm and the other $50 at 12:10 am (because you can't get the whole $150 in one day). It's 15 $10 bets. You know how many of those 15 bets I won? Three. I had another $50 in free bets available to me but I had to wait another 24 hours (or come another time in the next 2 weeks) to use them. But the casino is too far away to make the drive worthwhile.
My girlfriend payed 2 hands of 9/6 JoB at $50 each. She didn't win either but wound up with 4-to-a-Royal on the second one. If she would have won the Royal my first thought would not be "Wow!!!" It would be, "I wonder if they'll claim a malfunction?"
That's always nice when it works out that you don't look like a counter because you hop in on a good count and it stays high, so you can just nearly flat bet higher amounts. Sorry to hear about the poor variance, which LS would probably help a 'little' with ;) (had to get a fun jab in).
You discussed a loss rebate at the top, but didn't tell what it was? Was it 100% of your losses in the first 24 hours, up to a certain amount? I assume you got it back in Free Play, but that's erroneous really.
Quote: RomesPlaying blackjack in Indian territory can always be, well, interesting? You didn't mention one of the most important rules of the BJ game, but I'll assume it was S17? I dunno, $10 table it was probably H17 then.
That's always nice when it works out that you don't look like a counter because you hop in on a good count and it stays high, so you can just nearly flat bet higher amounts. Sorry to hear about the poor variance, which LS would probably help a 'little' with ;) (had to get a fun jab in).
You discussed a loss rebate at the top, but didn't tell what it was? Was it 100% of your losses in the first 24 hours, up to a certain amount? I assume you got it back in Free Play, but that's erroneous really.
Before I read your post I added that the game was H17. The loss rebate was "up to $200." I qualified for the $200, but it was $100, $50 and $50 and you couldn't use more than one per day--that's why I went there at 11:30 pm. And they were $10 bet coupons, win or lose, so they weren't as good as one-way chips. So the bets were worth about 1/2 their value. AND with these $10 bets blackjack paid even money.
Since I was betting $50 and $60 before the shuffle, and was able to have a $100 overall win I decided to quit right then. I had played for about an hour and didn't want to revert back to a min bet after I had exposed my spread.
When I lost the $375 (from being about $50 up) I figure there was only about a one in 15 chance that I would lose as badly as I did so quickly. At least that's how it felt from my experience. And to win back the loss to ending up +$100 was equally rare. So added together, well, I had something to be thankful for.
When I was $325 down I'm thinking, "Why? Why can't I have a good winning session? I've had scenarios just like this before."
Once at Plaza about 10 years ago I lost $500 in five minutes opening for $25 spreading $10 to $80 on their DD game. Just getting creamed. Then just as fast I won $575 in the next five minutes. This is a rare thing when it happened then, and a rare thing when something in a similar realm happened yesterday.
I'll take the $100 win!
Quote: GreasyjohnSo there I am yesterday playing 6D, DAS, DA2, H17, 3:2, $5 min, blackjack at an Indian casino. I'm opening for $5 so let's see what happens. After a couple shuffles the TC was never above 1 so I just bet $5, or $10. About 45 minutes into the session the TC starts to rise. I bet $15, double down and lose. I make several bets of $25 and things don't go well at all. Then the TC is about +5 or so and I'm betting $50 or $60 a hand. Well, I'm losing. I had originally bought in for $200 and in the first half hour I was up about $50 or so. But now I had lost my $200 buy-in and bought in for $200 more. I was down about $325, put out a $50 bet and started winning. For the next 15 hands or so I got a blackjack, won several double downs, and by the shuffle I had $500 in front of me. I had lost about $375 (from my high point of + $50) to being down about $325. Then in about five minutes won back the $325 plus another $100.
Since I was betting $50 and $60 before the shuffle, and was able to have a $100 overall win I decided to quit right then. I had played for about an hour and didn't want to revert back to a min bet after I had exposed my spread.
When I lost the $375 (from being about $50 up) I figure there was only about a one in 15 chance that I would lose as badly as I did so quickly. At least that's how it felt from my experience. And to win back the loss to ending up +$100 was equally rare. So added together, well, I had something to be thankful for.
When I was $325 down I'm thinking, "Why? Why can't I have a good winning session? I've had scenarios just like this before."
Once at Plaza about 10 years ago I lost $500 in five minutes opening for $25 spreading $10 to $80 on their DD game. Just getting creamed. Then just as fast I won $575 in the next five minutes. This is a rare thing when it happened then, and a rare thing when something in a similar realm happened yesterday.
I'll take the $100 win!
Nice recovery, GJ!
Got to split 8s into four hands and doubled on two of them. Won the two double-downs and lost the other two for a 2 unit profit.
Never bet more than $10 in this session.
