340,000 to 1, no cigar!

So I venture into Birmingham last night to have a wonder round the German Christmas Market. I chose to use the Gala casino car park, knowing that an hour playing blackjack after my festive stroll will avail me of no parking charges.

Jump forward an hour and I'm sat next to a pleasant old chinese gentleman at the BJ table. I'm playing 0.55% basic strategy, whilst my new found friend is affording the house a slightly larger edge, missing several doubling and splitting opportunities and often standing pat on totals of 14, 15, and 16. Neither of us is playing the jackpot game as, at £1 a hand, it has a somewhat attritional effect on our small stack play.
Alas, for my chinese friend, this proved to be his undoing, with Santa deciding he wanted to come early. Four black aces, as sharp as a knife through the heart, were dealt to my now inconsolable new buddy. The possibility of a £209k early Christmas present disappeared into the discard, as fleeting and ephemeral as a snowflake landing in my mulled wine.

Ain't life a....................!

I guess I should have figured out prior to the pound symbol that this was Birmingham, England.

Now if that Chinese gentleman had taken along a young female she would have nagged him to bet on the longshot bonus bet.

Great, great story.

That's brutal. Stories like this are why I have avoided most progressive table games.

I tried Caribbean Stud a decade ago. I never played the progressive bet because I knew the meter was too low to make it a good bet. The 2nd hand I ever played, the meter was a terrible $30k and the dealer decided to scare the crap out of me by giving me a flush with 4 to the Royal.

Quote: tringlomane

That's brutal. Stories like this are why I have avoided most progressive table games.

I tried Caribbean Stud a decade ago. I never played the progressive bet because I knew the meter was too low to make it a good bet. The 2nd hand I ever played, the meter was a terrible $30k and the dealer decided to scare the crap out of me by giving me a flush with 4 to the Royal.

Frankly I don't think I could enjoy playing one of these games without doing the progressive bet as if I started to get a good hand, I'd be rooting against myself: what fun is that? I know, I know: many on the board don't play for fun so it may not matter to them, but for the average player, I don't understand not making the bet but playing the game, and still getting full entertainment value from the situation.

Quote: TheBigPaybak

Frankly I don't think I could enjoy playing one of these games without doing the progressive bet as if I started to get a good hand, I'd be rooting against myself: what fun is that? I know, I know: many on the board don't play for fun so it may not matter to them, but for the average player, I don't understand not making the bet but playing the game, and still getting full entertainment value from the situation.

Yeah, I don't recommend playing Caribbean Stud without making the progressive, even if the bet sucks mathematically. I'd rather just avoid it completely. On a smaller scale, I try to avoid playing blackjack on 21+3 tables (even though the bet is a lot better than C Stud). Last time I played 21+3, the guy next to me wanted to buy my side bet because I was hitting 3 cards well, but the dealer wouldn't let him.