This was my second trip to Vegas, first time counting.
First time in Vegas was last summer, at the Hard Rock. I played basic strategy, messed around with the Revere five count a little, and lost a little money. The Hard Rock has to be seen to be believed but the playing conditions weren't great. My advice: hit the pool about three, hit Baby's at about ten, then hit the Circle Bar at about two. Schwing! Schwing! But don't bother to hit the tables.
This time, I took the time to prepare. I read about HiOpt, HiLo, and KO and settled on HiLo. I studied Professional Blackjack and practiced, practiced, practiced. One thing is for sure: you can practice all you want, but when you belly up to the table in an actual casino, it's different! Pitch games were easier for me to keep up with than shoe games, but problem was I had to do my own addition, and when I would draw four or five low cards, it was too hard to count and add up my cards at the same time. The other thing is, I got too excited when I got a big win and lost count. Nice thing about SD is that, if you lose count, you can just play BS for a couple of hands and start over with the shuffle.
I went with my wife over New Year's. Great party, lousy playing conditions. We stayed at the Luxor, which is a good wife place. However, I decided that I really hate the South Strip. Everything is all sprawled out, you have to walk a mile to get to the next place. No good spots for low rollers. If you weren't betting $50 a hand, don't even think about asking for comps. The pen was awful at all the MBG properties. The only pitch game was at Excalibur, $5 to $10 DD. Most dealers cut off exactly one deck; one cut off a deck and a quarter. Mostly the tables were so crowded, you could only get two hands per shuffle, although right before breakfast it thins out a little. But overall I found that medieval-themed casino to be just...irritating! It's loud and silly and there's all these kids running around. The Trop was all CSM, and I didn't make it to San Reno. Best conditions on south strip for shoe games were at MGM (you called it, BT).
So I got up early the first day (the 31st) and decided to try DD. I plopped down in Excalibur at five in the morning, one other guy at the table, my first time counting. I was as nervous as a cat, felt like the whole joint was watching me. Count went positive early and I started winning, although I got really flustered and made a bunch of bone-headed plays. I got out of there with a buck fifty but you woulda thought I won the lottery. Took me an hour and a half to calm down enough to eat breakfast.
Then we took a cab downtown. Vegas Club was all CSM. Seriously, if they had a non-CSM table in the joint, I didn't see it. On the other hand, I loved Binion's. Left 400 bucks there so I guess they love me too. The place was looking good; both pits were open. I visited once during the day and once about three in the morning, both times I was able to get some one-on-one time. They did have some five dollar tables open, depending on how busy it was; mostly 10 or 25 minimums. Note to self: don't whip out three c-notes at 9am at Binion's; everybody in the joint was staring at me for about ten minutes. I bet minimums for a few minutes, toked the dealer a coupla times, and pulled a few more boners (not on purpose--still nervous!) and eventually the heat died down and I had fun. For the most part, Binion's is very non-irritating, although a couple of the dealers were just plain wierd. None of the dealers seemed really happy. When you walk in there, it seems like the place is just dripping history. I hope they do well considering all the trouble they've had lately.
The Nugget was busy, 9am or 3am, didn't matter. Decent DD, bout 3/4 deck cut off. Four Queens had a nice single deck game. Won a little off my favorite kind of Vegas dealer, a skinny older lady with her hair all teased up and this gravelly voice, "Good luck hon."
I loved downtown, will probably stay there for my next "guy trip." And you probably should stay there if you're going to play there, cuz the cab fare at $15 each way will eat you alive. Somehow it seems easier to justify spending fifteen bucks to take a cab down to the strip to party than it does to spend the same to go downtown to play five dollar BJ. I thought the Nugget was a beautiful joint. I felt perfectly safe wandering around the Fremont "experience" area at night. Not sure I would venture very far afield at night, although the cabbies say that the police have been all over the downtown area. Sounds like they're using Giuliani's play book: they are arresting everybody they see jaywalking. They check your ID; if you're a tourist, they let you go with a warning. If you're some crackhead, off to the slammer you go. Sounds like they are committed to cleaning up downtown; we will see how it goes. I wish them well; I like downtown.
We spent a little time mid-strip. I took my wife over to the mall at Caesar's and I went across the street to find a low ante game. OShea's was all CSM. At the Flamingo, the minimum bet was $10, and the tables were crowded; but the pen was great, maybe a deck and a quarter was cut off. THere were a few minor irritations: surly dealers, lots of ploppies, and this unbelievable pink neon lighting. But it was about noon, I was awake and on my game. I ground out a modest win over about an hour. "Guess what, honey, I won sixty bucks!" "Well you just lost sixty bucks too, because I found this dress I like..." Barbary Coast had some nickle shoes but I did not get a look at the pen.
So. New Year's Eve Las Vegas--America's Party! NYE, like the prom, is never as much fun as you think it will be. Sure, they closed off the strip to traffic...but then they barricaded the crowds on the sidewalk. My wife and I looked out over the chaos from the pedestrian bridge between MGM and NYNY. Drunk ploppies as far as the eye could see. I started thinking: South Strip is what's wrong with Vegas. They got off message by trying to become Disney. I live a half hour from Disney and let me tell you: Vegas is NOT Disney, and thank goodness for that. Nevertheless, now every casino hotel in town has to deal with the overcapacity situation and the pressure on profits that results. We had big plans for NYE, but eventually just got tired of it all and went to bed. I got a combat nap and then went downtown to the Shoe by myself to play some serious cards. I figured the place would be dead, but it was hoppin: both pits open, all kinds of players, young and old. I tried a ten dollar DD game and dropped $250 in fifteen minutes. Then I took a break, drank a coke, did a gut check, and bellied up to a one on one single deck table. And then, for a few golden moments, everything clicked together. My mind was clear, keeping the count was just effortless. It was almost like I could predict which cards would fall. First couple of shuffles ended on negative counts, and I leaked another fifty bucks; then, I got some good counts, made some brilliant plays, and made back $250 before three drunk chicks from Detroit plopped down at my table. Rest of the night didn't go well; it just seemed like every time the count went to plus four, I got dealt a 12 or 13, or the dealer would pull off some heroic play, drawing the only five in the deck to hit 21, or some bs like that. Sometimes the cards will fall where you want them, sometimes they won't. My wife won 200 bucks playing DBS (drunk basic strategy) on an 8 deck shoe with three decks cut off at the Luxor. Go figure. But when I walked out of the Shoe into that chilly dawn, I had a feeling I had never known before: I was in the game!
I want to thank you guys for all the help. No, I didn't make any money; and yeah, I still need a lot of work, need to develop a lot more mental discipline. But yeah, I'm going to stay in the game. You bet.
--td
