Shreveport, LA May
I checked into my comped room on Sat. afternoon. The casino is crowded, so I set my alarm for 2am. Conditions are better when I wake up, empty 25$ games. Horseshoe offers the only single deck in town, but I just walk by.(counter trap) Shoes are my game. I start heads up at 25$ table with 2 units. My betting patern looks like this: start with 2 units, if I win I MUST let my 2 units on the table. The only detail is how. If the count goes up, I play 1 hand. If it goes down, I play 2 hands with 1 unit each. If I win and the count goes up, I just chip up.
TC 0-2 2 units, 2-3 3 units, 3-4 4 units TC of 4 and up 2 hands of 4 units each up to 2 hands of 7 units.
If I loose and the count is still positive, I just push out the same bet as on my last hand. I only cut my bet down in neg. count after a loss. I have a plan which is something like this: I have 1500$ in my pocket. I either backcount or enter new shoe heads up. If I only manage to win 500$, I`m out of there. (unless, of course, the count says to stay and play). How many times have I been winning but loosing it all back because of my greed? 500$ seems reasonable, only 20 units. I don`t know how to do the math here, but turning 60 units into 80 shouldn`t be that difficult. Now don`t get me wrong. I`m not sayng that this is what you should do. But it works for me. Why? Because I have a plan. My chess coach used to tell me that it`s better to have bad plan than not to have any plan at all. My biggest problem used to be lack of discipline, I used to camp out at the tables. Not anumore. I`ll stick with my plan. Back to the shoe:
I`m up 400$ after the first shoe where count stays arroun 0. Not a bad start. Next shoe, I win 6 hands in a row, the count goes up, so are my bets. I play 2 hands of 175$ each, and it`s the last hand. I get two snappers, dealer shows a picture, and... turns over an ace. I quit, winning 1500$ saying that this is a bad sign and my luck is over. Penn. here is good,1 deck cut off. Rules are:s17, Da2, DAS, re-split aces. My next day session here is 625$ winner.
Next is Hollywood: penn so so, usually 1-1.25 cut off, rules are s17, Da2, DAS, no re-split of aces. This casino seems to be allways crowded, but I find 15$ table with only 1 player. In my first session here, I`m playng against a "flasher" who is unfortunatelly relieved shortly. My both sessions here are winners, 500$ each.
Sam`s Town: I can`t believe my eyes. Dealers go as deep into a 6 deck as cuting only 20 cards off. So I collect. 1575$ and 560$ winners, I quit 2nd session flatbetting aftere some severe heat and calls from the "eye". Rules here are: s17, Da2, DAS, no aces re-split, surrender allowed. I think this is the best game in town.
Boomtown: I find some 2 deckers here, but the tables are crowded. Besides, I really prefer good cut shoes (less than 1 deck here) and am not yet comfortable with Zen count I wanna use in pitch games. I play only one session here, winning 875$ in just one strongly positive shoe and quit. rules: s17m Da2 DAS, no Aces re-split
Isle of Capri: I backcount one shoe and the count goes up to TC +1.5.
This is my last session of the trip as I have to hit the road again. I can`t win a hand. TC is +6, I`m steaming, but it`s no use. I dropp 2300. I`m crushed. I leave the table, backcount new one (the table where players, actually just one, gets paid aproach will do). I buy in for 1500$ in black and now it`s my turn to win. I make a lucky comeback + 1000$ in just one shoe and quit. I don`t think that I`ll ever play here again, as the penn here stinks, 1.75 decks cut off, clearly the worst game in town. I know I got really lucky, especially in my last shoe of the trip. In 18 hrs. of playing and backcounting, I made 7135$. My only expenses were for cabs and tips in restaurants(which were actually part of my winning which I only didn`t log).
I`ll be in Vegas on Memorial day weekend, so maybe I`ll see you at the tables. Clyde
