I just got back from a 4 day Atlantic City trip and - although I made a lot of money - I'm not very happy with the way I played. In particular, I had a lot of trouble concentrating while carrying on conversations with other people. It's tough at the cheap tables because everybody wants to chat it up and have a good time and you're pretty much required to as well. And with 6 or 7 players per table, there are a lot of cards to keep track of as well. In addition there are often long pauses in the action when some old bag rolls up and meticulously counts out ten $5 bills to buy in. Everybody wants to talk and you have to keep remembering the count for this long break.
Does anybody have any kind of tips or anything for concentrating on the count while having to talk to people and interact with the dealer?

