Was called to London for my day job recently and had a chance to hit a casino. The main point of this report is to let everyone know (if they care) that, by now, you don't need to join a club 24 hours before playing (at least according to the desk jockey at the club where I played.) However, the sucky rules still remain.
Because I have moved away from the West Coast and the Nevada Casinos, I have not spent much time practicing lately. I've missed it though, so when I was asked to go to London for a few days I was determined to play.
I know this is anathema to this board, but I decided to play for fun, meaning low stakes. I did this because I am too out of practice to play seriously, and since I didn't want to have to convert a lot of money back into dollars (a sure 1-2% cost to start.)
The table was not too full when I sat down, but a few players were playing multiple spots, so there was only a couple spots available. The dealer was shuffling and cut off 2 decks - not a surprise.
The first 2 shoes both ended with significantly positive counts (+11 and +13 RCs), and when the third went positive quickly, the thought occurred to me that these might short decks. I figured it was unlikely in a legitimate London casino though, and the count started dropping shortly thereafter.
There was a change of dealers, and the new one only cut off a deck and a half, but the count never varied too much while she was dealing. By the time the dealer was replaced, I was up ten pounds, having received only one lonely minimum bet blackjack, but having pulled more than my share of 20's.
The dealers had been very "helpful", telling me that I wouldn't be allowed to double a soft 17 against a 6 because it is a "dumb play". The other players were also generous with their advice - I heard a bunch of theories about how the game works (ie., hit 16's but not 15's), and it always makes me smile that the Europeans are so aggressive about telling people how to play when they know so little about the game.
By this time people were talking about the buffet at 10pm. Some said it was great, but then we heard that it used to be great, but too many people were just coming for the buffet so they got rid of the good cook.
The new dealer was smoking hot when he started, and I think I only won one hand in his first 2 shoes, and he didn't break a single time. He was also cutting off two and a half decks, so the "fun" was going out of the game (other than the loudest mouths at the table being cleaned out.) When he shuffled up for the 3rd time I was down to 10 pounds and there were only 2 of us at the table. Since I was just about ready to go anyways, I figured I would play it out.
The evening ended well, though; our dealer hit a remarkably cold streak at the same time as the count and my bets climbed. After that one short shoe I had won back my money and was up 75 pounds.
As it was late, I decided to try the buffet and hit the cobbles. Sadly, the "got rid of the good cook" story seemed to be correct, as the buffet was not worth the time - don't bother waiting if you have the chance.
