I'm going....now what do I do?
Some are aware of the contest I was in on who could count a deck down the fastest within my department with the prize being a free trip to Vegas. I thank all those who gave words of encouragement as you all gave me much needed confidence. To recap, I had qualified to be a representative for my site with a 15.48 second average (counting 1 deck with 1, 2 and then 3 cards removed) and moved on to the company finals, which took place yesterday.
Although I was confident my time was 'good', I didn't know if it was good enough. How to employ my strategy was nagging at me for weeks. Basically, do I play it safe and go for accuracy, thereby increasing the chance I lose on time, or do I go balls out and guarantee the fast time, but run the risk of blowing the count? Advice was nowhere to be found until my drive into work two days ago. I had been half listening to some radio talk show (the same one which gave me the signature you see here) and I heard some guy giving his theory on life. Most of the show I paid no attention to (doing 70 on WNY's snowy back roads tends to make me oblivious to my surroundings) but hearing him mention Poker regained my attention. He said "In life, as in Poker, you can be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it". I don't know why, as it is quite a simple statement, but I found it one of the most profound things I've heard in a while. It just 'fits' and I'm sure many here will know what I'm talking about, and at that moment I just knew my counting strategy problems were solved.
Now am at the finals. We're all given one 'practice round', just for giggles I suppose. My top competitor goes first and bangs out mid 15's. I give him a smile and mumble 'sandbagger' under my breath, and he just giggles. I applaud him for playing close to the vest as we're from the same site, same shift. If I don't win I want him to, and vice versa, and I was tickled he had the sense to not show the others what we were capable of. A few others go...15's...16's...18's and then it's my turn. Mid 15's. Man, it is hard to try to be bad at something you excell at. I give props to those who can sucessfully count at a table and convincingly pretend that they're ignorant. Our big boss is smiling ear to ear and just winks at us, I can barely keep from laughing right out loud.
So they shuffle us all up for a random order in which to begin the actual contest, and who's name pops up as first to go? Good ol' me. The adrenaline was amazing, it was as if I was in a game of skill with the prize a million dollars, or my very life. Not some random chance thing, but all the pressure on me with my fate in my very own hands. I paced around (and paced and paced lol) finally sitting down in my own orb of manic energy. I closed my eyes, took some deep, ridiculously controlled breaths, and thought of...hockey. Full of emotion, aggression, and random mania is the game of hockey, yet being in 'the moment' is like poetry. People are not meant to skate, move that fast, at those angles, all the while controlling an object, six feet away from you, with a skinny stick, with five other guys trying to splatter you into bits, on a surface with zero friction...yet it happens. And gracefully. And how similar were these two activities...how can fingers move so fast while ensuring a whole digit is revealed without wasting time revealing too much? How can numbers be seen, understood, and added or subtracted so fast when simply counting 1-2-3-etc out loud cant be done that fast? How can the human mind calculate 52 positive, negative and even numbers at the rate of 5 cards per second and keep such track of it? How can it be possi....and suddenly...it was gone. All the what if's, can I's, might I's...just gone. All that was left was one voice. "It's just counting, dummy. Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it". I smile and say 'ready', and the judge says 'OK....go'.
Eleven point six-six seconds later I call time. Positive 2. Judge flips 2-3-8. I smile and attempt to scoop up my cards but was shaking so bad the judge had to hand them to me. I hear muttered, explicative filled bemoanings from my surrounding competition and can barely keep from cackling like a loon. One of the other guys from my site say to me, snidely 'Thanks. I needed more pressure.' Then 'What the hell was that?' And I just smiled and said "Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it".
So now I'm going to Vegas, 2/21-2/23, for the World Gaming Protection Conference's Fastest Counter in the World competition. And now that I've got my narcissistic rant out of the way, I'm looking for advice and direction. This country bumpkin has never been west of Sandusky, OH, and am totally clueless. I am told we're staying at 'The M', which I guess is a new, off-the-strip joint, but other than that I'm Vegas dumb. I dont reckon I'll have much time for personal pleasure, as the contest and conferences will take up most of my time, but I will have a handful of hours to spend as I please. Due to lack of time, show's, outdoor activities, site-seeing, etc are all probably out the window, so I figured I'd spend my leftover gun money on some games. I don't know craps or VP well enough to do any more than try to 'get lucky', so I was thinking good ol' BJ. That being said, where are the places that offer some good games? I don't want to spend my time bouncing from placed to place cursing the 6:5, H17, 1 split, double-only-on-X tables, I just want to get in and do work. Might could anyone point me in the right direction? Your help, as always, is appreciated.
There are plenty of hotel reviews on this site. The Wizard's Blackjack Survey is also on this site. It's up to date, but funny, it's missing the stats for the M.
The M is 10 minutes south of the strip on Las Vegas Blvd, meaning that if you rented a car and travelled north, you will run into Mandalay Bay on the left which is the first of the Strip Hotels.
The M has a free shuttle service that takes you to the Fashion Mall on Las Vegas Blvd (schedule is (link here). The Fashion Mall is across the street from the Wynn. Walk south and you will eventually see all of the major strip hotels.
If you've never been to Vegas before, I would recommend trying to add an extra night or two to your trip so that you can spend time on the Strip. If you're flying from BUF, I imagine that the casino is flying you out direct on Southwest. Change fees are free on Southwest so you could probably get away with changing your flight for nothing provided you know your confirmation code and you don't have to get back to work.
Otherwise just read up on the advice on this site and others.
Quote: FaceThis thread is a follow-up from my previous thread "A Question on Card Counting Strategy".
Some are aware of the contest I was in on who could count a deck down the fastest within my department with the prize being a free trip to Vegas. I thank all those who gave words of encouragement as you all gave me much needed confidence. To recap, I had qualified to be a representative for my site with a 15.48 second average (counting 1 deck with 1, 2 and then 3 cards removed) and moved on to the company finals, which took place yesterday.
Although I was confident my time was 'good', I didn't know if it was good enough. How to employ my strategy was nagging at me for weeks. Basically, do I play it safe and go for accuracy, thereby increasing the chance I lose on time, or do I go balls out and guarantee the fast time, but run the risk of blowing the count? Advice was nowhere to be found until my drive into work two days ago. I had been half listening to some radio talk show (the same one which gave me the signature you see here) and I heard some guy giving his theory on life. Most of the show I paid no attention to (doing 70 on WNY's snowy back roads tends to make me oblivious to my surroundings) but hearing him mention Poker regained my attention. He said "In life, as in Poker, you can be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it". I don't know why, as it is quite a simple statement, but I found it one of the most profound things I've heard in a while. It just 'fits' and I'm sure many here will know what I'm talking about, and at that moment I just knew my counting strategy problems were solved.
Now am at the finals. We're all given one 'practice round', just for giggles I suppose. My top competitor goes first and bangs out mid 15's. I give him a smile and mumble 'sandbagger' under my breath, and he just giggles. I applaud him for playing close to the vest as we're from the same site, same shift. If I don't win I want him to, and vice versa, and I was tickled he had the sense to not show the others what we were capable of. A few others go...15's...16's...18's and then it's my turn. Mid 15's. Man, it is hard to try to be bad at something you excell at. I give props to those who can sucessfully count at a table and convincingly pretend that they're ignorant. Our big boss is smiling ear to ear and just winks at us, I can barely keep from laughing right out loud.
So they shuffle us all up for a random order in which to begin the actual contest, and who's name pops up as first to go? Good ol' me. The adrenaline was amazing, it was as if I was in a game of skill with the prize a million dollars, or my very life. Not some random chance thing, but all the pressure on me with my fate in my very own hands. I paced around (and paced and paced lol) finally sitting down in my own orb of manic energy. I closed my eyes, took some deep, ridiculously controlled breaths, and thought of...hockey. Full of emotion, aggression, and random mania is the game of hockey, yet being in 'the moment' is like poetry. People are not meant to skate, move that fast, at those angles, all the while controlling an object, six feet away from you, with a skinny stick, with five other guys trying to splatter you into bits, on a surface with zero friction...yet it happens. And gracefully. And how similar were these two activities...how can fingers move so fast while ensuring a whole digit is revealed without wasting time revealing too much? How can numbers be seen, understood, and added or subtracted so fast when simply counting 1-2-3-etc out loud cant be done that fast? How can the human mind calculate 52 positive, negative and even numbers at the rate of 5 cards per second and keep such track of it? How can it be possi....and suddenly...it was gone. All the what if's, can I's, might I's...just gone. All that was left was one voice. "It's just counting, dummy. Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it". I smile and say 'ready', and the judge says 'OK....go'.
Eleven point six-six seconds later I call time. Positive 2. Judge flips 2-3-8. I smile and attempt to scoop up my cards but was shaking so bad the judge had to hand them to me. I hear muttered, explicative filled bemoanings from my surrounding competition and can barely keep from cackling like a loon. One of the other guys from my site say to me, snidely 'Thanks. I needed more pressure.' Then 'What the hell was that?' And I just smiled and said "Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it".
So now I'm going to Vegas, 2/21-2/23, for the World Gaming Protection Conference's Fastest Counter in the World competition. And now that I've got my narcissistic rant out of the way, I'm looking for advice and direction. This country bumpkin has never been west of Sandusky, OH, and am totally clueless. I am told we're staying at 'The M', which I guess is a new, off-the-strip joint, but other than that I'm Vegas dumb. I dont reckon I'll have much time for personal pleasure, as the contest and conferences will take up most of my time, but I will have a handful of hours to spend as I please. Due to lack of time, show's, outdoor activities, site-seeing, etc are all probably out the window, so I figured I'd spend my leftover gun money on some games. I don't know craps or VP well enough to do any more than try to 'get lucky', so I was thinking good ol' BJ. That being said, where are the places that offer some good games? I don't want to spend my time bouncing from placed to place cursing the 6:5, H17, 1 split, double-only-on-X tables, I just want to get in and do work. Might could anyone point me in the right direction? Your help, as always, is appreciated.
What would keep an entrant who realized he had no chance to out count you from calling time the instant he is handed the deck and just making a guess? If the second counter did that, probably everyone would follow and someone would likely guess the correct count. I would recommend MGM for a nice place to play. Wizard of Odds website keeps a BJ survey posted - check it out.
Quote: dmWhat would keep an entrant who realized he had no chance to out count you from calling time the instant he is handed the deck and just making a guess? If the second counter did that, probably everyone would follow and someone would likely guess the correct count.
In a word, nothing. Assuming I again had to go first and posted another blazing time (out of previous 5 winners, only one has bested the 11.66 I posted yesterday), any or every one of the rest of them could very well just blurt a number for the win. However, I do believe it's another 3 round event, putting their odds of guessing all three correct in the neighborhood of 1 in 300+. But truthfully, even if it was a one round shot giving someone a relatively doable 1 in 7 chance, I wouldn't be bothered at all. The prizes are nice, usually a choice of electronics such as PS3 / Xbox / Ipad and a return trip the following year to defend the title, but I'm not in it for that. I'm in it as a matter of pride. If someone guesses, gets it right, gets the prize, the return trip, a giant trophy, a WWE style 'worlds-best-counter' champeen-ship belt, it would affect me not at all. If I get the fastest COUNTING time, then I am indeed the fastest COUNTER 'in the world', and thats all that matters. All the symbolism in the world would not change that fact.
And all that aside, I'll almost surely blow it lol. The tension and pressure just between the other 5 people, who I know and am friendly with, in a quiet setting I'm familiar with, was nigh unbearable. Placed in a raucous casino setting, with tons of people going against me, and standing in the spotlight with all eyes on me is something I cant prepare for. It's gonna be rough. But just to be qualified and considered to possibly be the worlds greatest anything has already surpassed any of my expectations, so I already cannot lose. And damn, man, I live in WNY! I woke up to -2 degree temps last week. I haven't seen a ray of sun or a stitch of blue sky since September. I lost track of how many consecutive days of snowfall we've had. 65 and sunny sounds nearly orgasmic right about now!
Thanks for the direction, guys. I wasn't aware the site gave specific details on the many casinos there since there was never a need for me to look. I'll surely be checking it out it much more in the days ahead. I've been to Fallsview once, many years ago. Back when all you needed to cross the river was a home and a drivers license, and those terms were loose =P. I haven't been back north since the whole homeland security b.s., but I'm finally puttin' up and getting the enhanced license to do some Ontario Esox fishing this spring. Maybe a return trip is in order. (Don't ask how I did last time, I just sat and pouted as everyone played slots. I wanted to go back to the International House of Beers =D)
