Borgata, Jan 2015
January 18th, 2015 at 11:47:23 AM
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Just got back from the Borgata last evening. I played mostly craps, with a little BJ when my feet were tired. For the first day or so, I couldn't keep even, and finished the first afternoon about $1k down. We went to a Flyers game by limo and had a great time at the game (Club Box), though the team played what could only be classified as listless hockey after the first 10 minutes or so and lost miserably. Remarkably, despite the substantial alcohol intake at the game, we all managed to stay relatively even while playing Thursday night after the game.
The casino seemed reasonably crowded for a January Thursday, and even when I went up to my room around 3 there was still a decent crowd at 3 of the 6 craps tables that were open at the time.
Friday morning and afternoon kept me up and down, though I ended another $1k down prior to an early dinner at Old Homestead. The steaks are quite large, and several of us opted to split entrees. It was the first time I walked out of there not feeling completely bloated. The casino seemed reasonably crowded to me for a winter Friday night, but I heard at least 2 dealers commenting that they thought it was empty.
Also, on Friday morning, one of my friends wanted to get set up with a marker. We went to the credit office, and it turned out that the credit manager grew up with my friend's parents, and knew his grandparents as well. He ended up giving us both black cards - I've never come close to getting one based on comp dollars, and my friend had never even been to the Borgata before.
After dinner, back to craps. On my second roll after dinner, I was down another $6-700 ($2600 total) when I started. I threw the dice for about 55 minutes, and there were only about 6 people at the table. I pounded the snot out of the ten with repeated come bets and full odds, also the four to a lesser degree. I'm not sure how many points I made, but the dealers at this table were commenting on the number of tens I kept hitting. I had a couple other good rolls as well of about 20-25 minutes, tipping regularly along the way. I ended up coming all the way back to $4100 positive when I cashed out. I went back a little later and lost another $1k quickly, so I went to bed around 12:30.
Saturday morning I was up at my usual 4:30; I just could not stay asleep. I got dressed, got breakfast, read a paper, and went to play craps at around 7. The table was relatively empty, though there was a gangster wanna-be (or maybe for real) at the other end of the table who was having difficulty handling his money - looked like he was still drunk. He kept pointing at numbers and telling the dealers "I wanna bet on that" without putting money down or telling them how much he wanted to bet. He had two hands full of chips that he refused to put in the rail, and wouldn't let the dealers count it. They were getting disgusted, but he finally settled down and started to play the game. One of my buddies who was watching while I was playing told me that the guy was getting a not-very-well disguised groin massage from his girlfriend while he was playing, which I guess explains his inattentiveness to the game; I couldn't see it from where I was standing. I had a couple more good rolls in the morning, and the hood rat's girlfriend did as well; I made another $700 before I went up to my room to pack.
Right before we left one of the guys decided that he wanted to play yet again, so back to the same table. The hood rat was gone. I kept my bets small, not wanting a buzzkill for the ride home. My buddy next to me came back from $1700 down to even in the 45 minutes that we played, and I made another $700 on several shooters having short but decent rolls with 3-4 points each.
Overall, $4500 to the good. Not the best ever, but the best in quite a while.
The casino seemed reasonably crowded for a January Thursday, and even when I went up to my room around 3 there was still a decent crowd at 3 of the 6 craps tables that were open at the time.
Friday morning and afternoon kept me up and down, though I ended another $1k down prior to an early dinner at Old Homestead. The steaks are quite large, and several of us opted to split entrees. It was the first time I walked out of there not feeling completely bloated. The casino seemed reasonably crowded to me for a winter Friday night, but I heard at least 2 dealers commenting that they thought it was empty.
Also, on Friday morning, one of my friends wanted to get set up with a marker. We went to the credit office, and it turned out that the credit manager grew up with my friend's parents, and knew his grandparents as well. He ended up giving us both black cards - I've never come close to getting one based on comp dollars, and my friend had never even been to the Borgata before.
After dinner, back to craps. On my second roll after dinner, I was down another $6-700 ($2600 total) when I started. I threw the dice for about 55 minutes, and there were only about 6 people at the table. I pounded the snot out of the ten with repeated come bets and full odds, also the four to a lesser degree. I'm not sure how many points I made, but the dealers at this table were commenting on the number of tens I kept hitting. I had a couple other good rolls as well of about 20-25 minutes, tipping regularly along the way. I ended up coming all the way back to $4100 positive when I cashed out. I went back a little later and lost another $1k quickly, so I went to bed around 12:30.
Saturday morning I was up at my usual 4:30; I just could not stay asleep. I got dressed, got breakfast, read a paper, and went to play craps at around 7. The table was relatively empty, though there was a gangster wanna-be (or maybe for real) at the other end of the table who was having difficulty handling his money - looked like he was still drunk. He kept pointing at numbers and telling the dealers "I wanna bet on that" without putting money down or telling them how much he wanted to bet. He had two hands full of chips that he refused to put in the rail, and wouldn't let the dealers count it. They were getting disgusted, but he finally settled down and started to play the game. One of my buddies who was watching while I was playing told me that the guy was getting a not-very-well disguised groin massage from his girlfriend while he was playing, which I guess explains his inattentiveness to the game; I couldn't see it from where I was standing. I had a couple more good rolls in the morning, and the hood rat's girlfriend did as well; I made another $700 before I went up to my room to pack.
Right before we left one of the guys decided that he wanted to play yet again, so back to the same table. The hood rat was gone. I kept my bets small, not wanting a buzzkill for the ride home. My buddy next to me came back from $1700 down to even in the 45 minutes that we played, and I made another $700 on several shooters having short but decent rolls with 3-4 points each.
Overall, $4500 to the good. Not the best ever, but the best in quite a while.
If government is the answer, it must have been a very stupid question.
January 18th, 2015 at 3:23:00 PM
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Congrats on your trip. May I ask what your session buyin at the craps table was? Any particular betting strategy other than heavy on the 10.
January 18th, 2015 at 4:19:19 PM
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I take a marker for $5k for the trip. Usually $1k session buy-ins (every buy-in this trip). I don't usually bet heavy on the ten. Typically pass/come up to 4 bets with full odds. I played the DP/DC a few times, usually depending on the shooter, but never got more than 2 numbers before a 7-out when I was on the don't. I think I only lost about 4-5 bets on the don't side for the whole trip. Most of my play though was on the pass/come. I did some hardways, but not consistently and I did not hit very many except when I was betting them small ($5 or $10). I did have one spot where I was on a horn-high 12 that hit for 3 consecutive rolls while pressing, but even there I lost on that session.
If government is the answer, it must have been a very stupid question.
