A Beautiful Act

I witnessed something beautiful last night. I was at one of the dive low-roller joints on the strip, which will remain unnamed. The game was decent: 6D, 80% penetration, and pretty much all options were open, including surrender. I was playing red, spreading 1-10 with appropriate cover. Something caught my attention from the corner of my eye: I looked up to one of the most stunning Asian girls I've ever seen. She had the long black hair, the living-marble skin, and looked like she was about 17 years old. Then I saw that she was attached to the arm of one greazy, slimy, comb-over, gold-chain wearing, approaching male-menopause, much-too-wealthy sugar daddy. He stopped at the craps table, dropped a handful of green chips into her purse, and then she came over to sit next to me.

I have to say that she was one of the worst players I have ever seen. She'd constantly hit hard 14's and 15's against the dealer's 5 or 6. She never split her 8's � instead she like to hit them regardless of what the dealer was showing. Always split 10's. Once, she stood on a hard 7, saying that "it just feels right". And so we continued for the next three shoes, the count uneventful, her play more than entertaining.

We chatted here and there, and her responses convinced me that looks were the only thing she had going for her. I was mesmerized by her beauty, and incredulous at her stupidity. But then I gave her credit as she was just having fun and obviously it wasn't her money she was throwing away.

Then came the fourth shoe. It, too, was unremarkable, until about halfway through the count shot up to +5 in just one round. The Asian beauty got 16, busted it against the dealer's 3, then whined to her sugar daddy that she was hungry and wanted to go to dinner. The sugar daddy pushed himself away from the craps table, spilling his martini down his shirt in the process. He stumbled over, sat down, then said, "What does my angel want for dinner?" She replied, "Lobster," to which he slurred, "Well, lobster's schpensive," then filled three spaces with a stack of green each.

This, obviously, got the attention of the pit boss � that and the Asian princess's squealing and jumping up and down. The dealer looked to the pitboss, the pitboss nodded, and the cards were dealt. I got a 20, the sugar daddy got three stiffs against a dealer's 8. The sugar daddy waved off any hits, then lost as the dealer turned over a 5 and hit with a 4. The sugar daddy got angry, yelled for another drink, and doubled his stacks of green on three spots. His princess squealed even louder. Now there were four bosses attentive to this game, one on the horn to, presumably, the eye. The dealer again looked to the pitboss for permission, which he was granted. This round of cards gave me a blackjack, and a 20 for the sugar daddy along with another two stiffs. The sugar daddy hit this time for some mediocre hands, but the dealer pulled a four-card 21. This pissed the sugar daddy off. Caught up in the action � win or lose � the princess was ecstatic. The sugar daddy pulled out his wallet and set three hundred-dollar bills on each spot. I still had the true count going: it was a solid +6. "Money-plays!" was called by the dealer and then out came the cards. I got 15, the sugar daddy 10, 11, and 12. The dealer showed a 4. The sugar daddy dug into his wallet and doubled on all three. He then got tens on all three. He was, however, happy, thinking he still had a nice profit. The dealer, of course, pulled a six-card 21. The sugar daddy was now fuming, the pit bosses were smirking, the princess was giddy, and the true count was holding strong at +6.

Each of the three spaces in front of the sugar daddy now contained 500 dollars in cash. The dealer sent out the cards � 20 for me, and for the sugar daddy: 20, blackjack, and blackjack. I thought my ears were going to burst from the princess's shrieking. The dealer had 19, and doled out the chips. The sugar daddy stacked his on top on the cash. The count was at +5. About a deck remained before the cut card. From then on neither me nor the sugar daddy could lose.

As the dealer was shuffling, the sugar daddy was tossing handfuls of chips into his princess's purse. This made the pit bosses crazy. They were frantically rubbernecking, trying to count and jot down what was going over the table. The dealer watched helplessly; this was a low roller-joint and he didn't have any black to color up.

The next shoe looked promising. The count was slightly positive and we were all winning, although the sugar daddy brought his bets down to a relatively modest $200 a spot. Then the dealer won a few, then we won a few, and finally the count nose-dived. Exactly at this point, the princess whined again � fiercely � that she was hungry. The sugar daddy placed three more bets at a hundred dollars each, lost two of them, then stumbled up to leave. His princess latched onto his arm, he latched onto her ass, and the two walked off into the din of slot machines, ignoring the pit boss's desperate offers of hospitality.

It was a beautiful, beautiful act. I feel fortunate to have witnessed it.

Maybe I misread your post, but I get the impression you think he was some of counter, and that this was a great act.

If this guy was a counter, he needs to go back and do a lot of studying. He is playing with a hug negative edge.

You said that even with his biggest bets out, he doubled 12v4! This is not cover, this is stupid. And his spotter, the Asian woman, misplayed every had very badly. And he misplayed when he made his own waiting bets.

More remarkable were the actions of the pit staff. Here they have an awful sucker in front of them, and they are hawking the game, worried about the chips, putting the heat on him, etc. If it were my casino, there would have bneen 2 hosts out there talking to him.

Now we see this place is "one of the dive low-roller joints".

Most guys like that who throw money around without a clue, like to keep the pit hopping. Part of the entertainment value. If the pit just sat around and said, Ho-Hum, sooner or later we will get this fish's money, they would have lost interest and not put as much money at risk.

Add it up. Money played at the crap table, money thrown away stupidly at the BJ table, big tokes to the dealers. And for what? The chance to play a couple of hundred dollars when there were 51 white marbles in the jar instead of just 50?

Sometimes its hard to figure out who is providing a show for whom.
And you got to watch the whole performance for free.

Maybe I misread your post, but I get the impression you think he was some of counter, and that this was a great act.

If this guy was a counter, he needs to go back and do a lot of studying. He is playing with a hug negative edge.

I agree. The plays mentioned are so poorly correlated with the recommendations of all known counting systems they could not reasonably be justified as cover.

More remarkable were the actions of the pit staff. Here they have an awful sucker in front of them, and they are hawking the game, worried about the chips, putting the heat on him, etc. If it were my casino, there would have bneen 2 hosts out there talking to him.

The actions of the pit stiff would be remarkable if they thought the couple were counting. However, it would be reasonable to suspect that they were cheating or using an advanced sequencing technique.

In the case of cheating, uncovering physical evidence as to the cheating is almost impossible unless the cheaters are incompetent. For this reason, surveillance operatives are trained to look for decisions made according to data that under normal circumstances would not be available ie next card/hole-card information. The girl's play was not just poor, it was insane-good enough reason to begin scrutinizing the couple's play more closely.

In the case of sequencing, no physical evidence at all would exist. Note certain similarities in the approach described by Robert and The Stacker Play detailed in Get the Edge At Blackjack, and the well-documented methods used by the MIT team in various high-profile magazine articles.

In either case, both methods could relieve the casino of far more money than a straight counting approach could. I believe the pit was right to be concerned.

John,

Have you ever worked for a casino ? If not, would you consider working for the "other side" ?

Have you ever worked for a casino ? If not, would you consider working for the "other side" ?

That would involve a serious conflict of interest. I get offers sometimes but I'm not interested.

This is just a story. Reads like a Penthouse letter without the graphic sex. I think you are being put on. Why is it written so dramatically? The whole thing is ridiculous and made up.

Most of the contents could very well have occurred but the style of the writing leads me to believe someone has taken a few too many creative writing classes and had some time on their hands to kill. And bjdavid is correct, the style looks copied directly from Forum, and not the Blackjack kind.

myself and Mathprof, and for that matter half a dozen other contributors for that matter, are aware of the possibility that posts may occassionally be the product of an overactive imagination, or in other instances may be the work of a troll. However, I'd rather give people the benefit of the doubt. And if it is fiction, so what?, it is the problem of the fantastist, not the respondents.

I still think it's a pretty good story. And I think doubling a 12 v 4 might have been just what the paranoid pit needed to keep from shuffling up.

but I don't agree with the conclusion. This guy wasn't able to play a single round without a mistake. For me he is just a compulsive brainless gambler and fortunately for us there are thousands like him. When his girl friend wanted to have a break for a meal he just tried to force his luck in order to impress her by showing a good profit.
The collusion with the positive count was just accidental.
The tale was quite entertaining.

Francis Salmon

Everyone,

I take your literary criticisms to heart and apologize for the flowery rendition. If you really want to make it "Forum-like", go to "www.pornolize.com", insert the URL to this website, and have fun. If fact, any website will yield some juvenille laughs.

Regardless, the story is true. The cost of the Asian girl's misplays was peanuts compared to what they gleaned. And such misplays would do nothing to alert the pit to anything suspisious -- I see people play like that all the time. As for the sugar daddy's doubling on a 12 vs. dealer's 4, Fine Tuner's comment was absolutely correct -- it was a relatively meager sacrifice that enabled the sugar daddy to double his spread without counter-measures. Anyone here ever play chess?

Rest assured, gentlemen, that sometimes, however ludicrous they may sound, the stories in Penthouse Forum are true. I, happily, can attest to that.

Robert

Was this just a chump with way more money than brains who got lucky and stumbled into a positive shoe? Won a couple of big bets, pressed them, and lady luck allowed him to win and impress his 'date'?

Or was the Asian princess actually a master card sequencing deck stacker, able to perform with another player not on the scam at the table, calling in a BP at the right moment, to make the big score?

Anyone want to guess at the odds?

If the cost of raising your bet is making egregious strategy errors, then you are not a positive EV player. Doubling 12v4 in a very plus count is a HUGE error. It might very well give away most of your EV from a straight counting session. And they were far from a straight counting session. They had given up so much EV to get to this point, that they really didn't have much left.

If I ever open a casino, I am going to make a ton of money. I am going to invite all you guys to play. Just put a little heat on, and watch you make all these negative plays for "cover".

I prefer " older latin lover " or " mature stick man " or " M. Brando Tangoist".

But, I doubt the story on these grounds: almost NO Asian female or male would show such emotion as described in the post. Just wouldn't happen.

You must be on a different planet if u think this guy & Asian nuffnuff were anything other than stupid drunks who had no idea.

What have u been smoking? C'mon

The act did help Robert (the counter) evade detection... so it DID work as an act (just not for the actors themselves).

"When his girl friend wanted to have a break for a meal he just tried to force his luck in order to impress her by showing a good profit"

don't try to impress any1 (esp those who we r serious with) coz u can't do that all your life

Anyone want to guess at the odds?

Pretty good actually, assuming the whole thing wasn't made up.

A series of dramatic bet raises correlated with a high and rising TC in a shoe game is very strong evidence that the player has some kind of knowledge of the composition of the deck be it cheating, sequencing, counting or a hybrid. Some of the variables have not been filled in but it would be at least a 3 SD event for a random bettor.

But hey, what do I care, I make a living out of pit staff who, like you, think game protection means a crash course in hi-lo.