Vegas On a Layover...

It's strange to be sitting in McCarran just passing through.  Good thing... after 9 days the last thing that I want to see is the inside of a casino.

It's funny how advantage play makes one hate casinos.  I used to love hitting Vegas; Atlantic City... always a party, and if you happened to get unlucky and lose, well... it was just the cost of a vacation.

Nowadays, whenever I walk into a casino, I'm public enemy #1.  I no longer have the ability to sit at a table and play against an edge.  It just doesn't sit well with me.  

The second I start varying my bets at a blackjack table, it seeems the entire world stops.  The dealer hesitates, calls out "checks play", the pit critter wanders over, a phone call goes up to surveillance... the clock is ticking, and it's a question of perception as to how long I'm able to stick around.  If I bail too quickly, I'm faced with the prospect of not getting enough time in at the tables.

Then there's the instance of playing too long.  LIke this weekend, at a cardroom where they seemed extremely tolerant.  So I played for four hours (down four figures, btw), when out of the blue, a couple of casino management reps walked up and demanded my ID.  I told them that I left it at my hotel - so they said I'd need to leave, and then handed me a notice stating that if I ever show up at the property again, I will be arrested for trespassing.

This, keep in mind, is for the offense of not betting the same amount every hand.  Most players don't realize how unsportsmanlike casinos actually are.  They are more than happy to take the mortgage money from losers playing at multipoint disadvantages - but refuse to handle the action of the rare skilled player sporting a 1% edge.

RA casino, shame on you.  You have no heart.  And you have a pathetically pisant little room.  I'd say it's no big loss, but it won't be anyway - because I will be coming back long after you've forgotten my masked face.  

And targeting you.

Gearing Up For Region P3

Leaving next weekend for my first trip since the holidays.  Need to start working on 4 deck simulations, as this region is chock full of those games - all with great pen, based on my bj21 reports.  Flight and hotel reservations are set; still need to rent a car - hoping rates come down slightly over the course of the next week.

Would really love to get close to 50 hours on this trip.  Hours have been a problem for me, largely because I fall prey to backing myself off.  Last trip, I was bounced out of one spot - and unceremoniously so, as a couple of the PCs who were hawking my game actually asked me to leave the property (as opposed to just "no more blackjack").  That always stings, notwithstanding the fact that I know I shouldn't care.  I'll be back in a year, and you guys won't remember...  

Winning streak

Relaxing with a few brews back at the hotel after having won 9 of my first 10 sessions on this current trip.  COVID has limited hours to a material extent for the first set of casinos I visited (each closing at 11pm), so I'm behind in hours - but far ahead in actual value.

A couple of spots were cutting off less than 0.5 decks on their 6 deck games.  Pretty remarkable.

Thoughts On Tolerance...

I understand why casinos back off advantage players.  If a casino were to allow a competent advantage player to sit at its tables 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year, that AP would literally drain money from the casino's coffers to a material extent.

But, what about the AP who travels frequently, so that he's hitting, say, 250 stores each year, at an average of four hours per location?  Should a casino really sweat that action?

I think not.  Over the course of 4 hours, an AP with a healthy $250/hour EV would have a long-term expectation of winning $1,000 from that casino in that given year.  The actual result will likely be materially more or less - but is the casino really risking that much in exchange for giving up, say, a 1% edge for that four hours?   

Of course not.  As anyone who does this knows, the casino actually stands to win a great deal over those four hours in the very feasible event that variance happens to run against the AP in that limited timeframe.  And isn't that the spirit of the battle?  Two opponents slugging it out in what amounts to sudden death overtime - either has a nearly equal chance of coming out on top in that limited timeframe, and they'll leave shaking hands as worthy adversaries regardless of the outcome?  

I sense that there are at least some casinos that recognize this.  I'm in a region at the moment where I've played (as a stranger passing through) in at least a couple of spots where it would have been obvious to anyone with a pulse what I was up to - and while I received some interest from the pit in terms of observation over the course of a few hours, it certainly wasn't anything along the lines of what I'd consider heat.

Here's hoping that's more than just my imagination, or wishful thinking in terms of intent.  

First trip in the Age of Coronavirus...

My first extended trip in a new region... I got in about 40 hours of play, which was curtailed primarily as a result of the Islanders playing deep into the postseason.  I suspect I would have been able to compile close to an additional 10 hours if there weren't five games I needed to watch during the 9.5 day trip.  At least the Islanders won the series.

Oddly enough, I met a dude who was born in Philly in the local sportsbook, as we were simultaneously placing bets on the opposing teams.  We ended up watching the game in the sportsbook - and it wasn't until overtime that we realized we were both blackjack players and members of the BJA site.  Small world...

Couldn't really get much traction on this trip.  I ended up down a whopping $15 when all was said and done.  The region seemed incredibly sweaty to me, so I was constantly having to curtail my time at the tables after rounds of increased betting drew extensive heat from the pit.  During my final session on my final day (at an out of the way independent spot), I decided I would play full-throttle to see what would happen.  Like clockwork, I was flat bet in about 2.5 hours.  I didn't react well to this, as I indignantly demanded the obviously senior PC's info - who then proceeded to have security ensure I left the premises.

If anything, I can chalk this one up to a re-acclimation experience, as I have my next trip in a couple of weeks.  A couple of key things to consider/remember:

• Man, do dealers make mistakes.  And pit people.  At one point, a dealer paid me on pushes three separate times in about 10 minutes - and nearly every single final color up that involved a lot of sub-denominations caused errors approved by the pit.  In one instance, a dealer was prepared to underpay me by about $50.  When I called the mistake to her and the PCs attention, they recounted - and then proceeded to overpay me by about $25 (which I let go, as I didn't want them to suffer the embarrassment of a second correction).  😁 
  
  
• There's no point in fighting with pit people.  Once they decide to back you off, challenging the point earns nothing except the greater likelihood they will remember you upon your return in a year or so.

To wrap things up, I did benefit from a couple of additional AP plays.  First, the rental car company had the audacity to tell me they ran out of rental cars, and could therefore not fulfill my prepaid reservation.  Well, no - I raised quite the stink and got them to give me a car that had not yet been "sanitized" for coronavirus, in exchange for their taking $80 off of the bill.  Second, upon my return to my local airport, I discovered that Delta had - yet again - broken the handle on my luggage.  I complained once again, and this time - unlike previous occurrences when I was told broken handles are considered "cosmetic" and something for which Delta is therefore not responsible - the airline gave me a brand new piece of luggage of a much higher quality.  They apparently stock these things for this purpose. 

Also finished writing the words to "Stop On the Line" during my road travel.  I feel like the song turned out very well... 

Back on the sidelines (a lost 12 months)....

It just dawned on me that it was almost a year ago that I broke my leg, which required me to stay away from casinos for several months.  Thanks to coronavirus, I've just cancelled my third straight month of travel.  I've been out of action now for a significant portion of the last 12 months. 

Was hoping the casinos in many regions would have reopened by now, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

My next scheduled trip is in July.  I have nothing scheduled in June; will wait to see how things develop in terms of reopenings prior to making any arrangements.  My first goal is to see if/when the standard annual March promotion offered in a relatively local spot is rescheduled... don't want to unnecessarily create a travel conflict. 

A New Decade...

Closed out 2019 with a combination win at both blackjack and poker in the same little cardroom (the corporation covers the bj antes, so it's still a profitable game - notwithstanding the spread limitation they've imposed for the purpose of thwarting counters).

I've recently added live poker back to my repertoire, and it's working out well thus far.  I stopped playing live poker several years back, in the wake of my failed relationship with a ”professional" high stakes player who ultimately convinced me that my approach to the game was suboptimal.  In hindsight, I realize now that I'm actually a better player than she was.

Playing higher-stakes blackjack has also helped my poker game in ways I hadn't anticipated - owing to the fact that the swings in bj have helped foster the "healthy disregard for money" that is vital for any successful poker player or AP.  I find myself using chips as tools much more effectively now - allowing me to "play the player" much more than I'd ever done in the past.  

It will be interesting to see how much poker factors into my AP exploits in 2020...