Vegas Trip Report(s!): Fine Dining, Gambooling, and more...

[Clarkmeister]

[ QUOTE ]
the more losing sessions the casino has, the more likely it will tilt, which is good for games everywhere.


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Casino Has Great Night

October 23, 2002

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ—A beaming Donald Brant, general manager of Bally's Atlantic City, reported that the casino had "an unbelievable night" Monday, cleaning up at the blackjack table, on the slot machines, and elsewhere.

"Man, we were on fire all night," Brant said. "It seemed like every time a casino patron pulled that slots lever, it came up a loser. Whenever somebody told the blackjack dealer to hit on 12, they drew a 10. We could do no wrong."

By the end of the night, the casino walked away a major winner, up $515,274.

"I had a sense that we were doing pretty well," Brant said. "So I checked around with the pit bosses, and it turned out that nearly all the dealers and croupiers were way, way ahead. It was amazing. A night like that only comes along five, six times a week, tops."

While most players are content to focus on one or two games, the casino participated in every available coin-operated machine and table game, including roulette, blackjack, craps, Spanish 21, pai gow, baccarat, and Let It Ride.

"We've got a system," Brant said. "Our strategy is to bet against all the customers who come in here. Then we spread our bets around to each and every table and machine in the casino and keep at it for the long haul. We were down about $200 at one of the roulette tables, but were up on everything else, so we came out pretty much ahead. Actually, more than half a million ahead."

Bally's even fared well at the slot machines, an area that traditionally yields the lowest rate of success.

"You know how they say your worst odds are on the slots?" Brant said. "Well, we made over $33,000 in slots last night. Can you believe it? We were unstoppable."

Brant attributed his casino's impressive showing to a combination of luck and old-fashioned horse sense.

"We try not to play stupid," Brant said. "We never gamble more than we can afford to lose. And we try to never lose our heads. We leave that to the customers. We set aside a certain amount to gamble—that's our kitty—and if we double our money, we only play with our winnings after that. Right now, the kitty stands at around $176,500,000."

Bally's is in the midst of an impressive winning streak, coming out ahead an astonishing 6,753 nights in a row.

"This is quite a tear we're on," Brant said. "It's best if you go in with the attitude that you're just there to have fun and not to win big. That said, it's always a lot more fun when you're winning. And, baby, did we win that night!"

According to John Patrick, author of So You Want To Be A Gambler?, streaks like Bally's are uncommon.

"In my years as a professional gambler, I've had my share of great nights," Patrick said. "However, I've never been on a roll like the one Bally's is on. But then, with a guaranteed 52 percent success rate, it's unlikely that a casino would ever come out behind in an evening. If that were the case, casinos wouldn't exist as profitable entities."

In spite of its huge winnings, Bally's did not indulge in the traditional amenities offered to big winners, such as a free night's stay in the hotel or meal vouchers. Instead, the crew of the all-night casino changed over to the next shift without fanfare.

"Yeah, I suppose we could have partied all night with champagne, a penthouse suite, and all the rest, but we had a casino to run," Brant said. "The thing a lot of people don't realize about successful gamblers is that it's hard work making outrageous sums of money."

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/38825

[El Diablo]

James,

Please rank the blackjack table presence prowess of all the people you played with. Also, specific thoughts on going to whisper mode that one time.

[The DaveR]

General BJ question. Excluding being dealt blackjack, when is it right to start high fiving?

[PITTM]

daver,

on dealer bust or when the dealer gets a 17 and everyone covers imo.

[El Diablo]

daver,

Depends on the team and dealer.

[JaBlue]

Just so you all know, blackjack losses are deductible for professional poker players

[The DaveR]

[ QUOTE ]
Just so you all know, blackjack losses are deductible for professional poker players

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Good news for LMD and CDC!

[El Diablo]

Ja,

"Just so you all know, blackjack losses are deductible for professional poker players"

Even for non-pros, pit losses can be written off (like poker losses) against gambling winnings.

[James282]

[ QUOTE ]
James,

Please rank the blackjack table presence prowess of all the people you played with. Also, specific thoughts on going to whisper mode that one time.

[/ QUOTE ]

El D,

This is going to be very difficult. I get on a plane today, but once I am home I will give this consideration. It's very very hard because each person brings much different things to the table. I can give rundown of a few players I've played with and their biggest strengths.

Femming Chan: notable AC gambler who will never, ever let you get away with not going with your gut regarding a press. Always up for matching bets and chasing wins and significantly increases your chance of winning by simply not giving a [censored] if he wins or not. He will just sit there, smile, laugh, and book a 10k win without even letting you know. If you try to pussy out, he will guide you back in the right direction.

Clarkmeister: Brings a lot of veteran experience to the table, including the newest crazy of saying THATSATOOMANY!!!!!! in the dealer's face when she goes overboard. Always brings his A game, never tilts, and brings a unique element by topping off other people's bets and taking their action. I was particularly fond of this wrinkle because it's a very simple way of letting your teammates know, "hey man, I know I can count on you." Very solid player and perhaps most important, know how to bring the noise even when not drinking Honorable mention for being a v. good casino war player.

The Gift of Gab: Brings a quiet confidence that really can't be replicated unless it's genuine. Sits with the determination of a true professional: pressing his bets until max and then sticking with his gut when he gets there. Won't sit around crying after going 1-2-4-8-16 bust. His record speaks for itself: on back to back nights he wins a 4k bet and double down, and then while splitting action with me, we double down a $6400 bet(note to LA poker, it was 1 tall stack of black, the results may contribute to this theoretical discussion) and win against a dealer 10. Beat? Table max was 5k I guess and we get shorted a little. No sweat though. What the Gift of Gab ultimately brings to the table above everybody else is his huge [censored] bag of money. When a guy is sitting there with a bag of 10k bricks, the casino knows he's not going anywhere. You should have seen the look on the pit boss' face when GoG stoically dragged the chips and then his bag of money was so full that he couldn't fit any more bricks into it. The casino made the right play here by simply giving us a chance to double down a max bet and win - take their losses like men. Like ripping off a band-aid, they sent us home 5k richer immediately as per their stop loss.

MattSuspect: When the going gets good, Matt gets going. Sometimes he'll wistfully look over at the craps table and you can see that he wishes he were there...but while Clark is the(one of the?) founders of thatsatoomany!, MattSuspect has perfected it. Combined with his "Mr. New York!" full brimmed hat, pseudo-unintentional chin-strap, and propensity for high volume thatsatoomanies, dealers and pit bosses go spinning into wild tilt when this guy gets on a roll. Probably a top 5 overall player in vegas as far as pit games go. His real specialty is various craps throws and points, but when it comes to BJ, he is no slouch.

PickyTooth: A near-rookie to the pit, it took pickytooth a while to warm up to BJ. Luckily for us, he learned very very VERY quickly, steadily rising through the stakes until a GoG like press run to max bet/double at the final table. If you want to see a dealer go on sick, sick raging tilt, sit down with a French Canadian, a day old beard that is already 3/4 an inch thick, who is shipping a pressed max bet right into his pocket while pointing at the dealer and screaming thatsatoomany in french. While he could have stuck with it and probably busted the entire casino, he decided to rathole his 10-12k win and head to the cage. The look on the pitboss' face as we moonwalked away with pounds and pounds of house money? Priceless.

El Diablo: the Joey Knish of BJ but with one small difference: he sees all the angles and DOES have the balls to play them. A lot of similarities between him and many of my other teammates, but what generally separates him is pure attitude. Never bitches about the bad beats, always assumes a winner, even when things are dire. 8k loss one night? LOL in the dealer's face. He's a [censored] millionaire, baby. Brings a very creative style and genuinely knows how to give the dealer serious mindfucks. He was singularly responsible for THE turning point of my vegas experience.

In bad shape, having busted off the small cash amount I brought to vegas(18k, 10k right to main event) I walk into the Rio like Buckner walking back into Shea. See my man Diablo grinding some blackjack, and hand him a prepared check for $3,000. He ships me the chips, and soon thereafter goes to play let it ride with Clark when he has a realization: he never should have taken the check. You see, by taking the check he was all but admitting defeat. "Why would James need to give me a check, since James was going to win anyway?" he wondered. So he races back over to me and hands me the check to stick in my wallet, explaining the situation to me. While Diablo obviously brings a very solid game in all facets - it's this attitude that really separates him from from up and coming players like myself. All I know is since Diablo stuck that check back in my hand, patted me on the shoulder and reminded me of why I was there, I ran up 5 figures in these supposedly -EV games. The lesson I got was worth much, much more.

These players were my primary teammates during my trip. I played with other such fine players as Daryn(an eager up and coming player with a thirst for knowledge that will serve him well in this game. Only brings positive thinking which is something that is very hard to acquire if you aren't born with it.), bicyclekick(brings the I don't give a [censored] attitude lapoker describes - to mixed results. Has had a few notable scores but the proof will be in the pudding in his next few pit forays - overall a solid addition though IMO), and my final night table of Sublime, Bugstud, and Justin A who brought a very sick craps attitude(my first winning session as a craps player) but then ratholed their wins when we headed over to BJ. Overall very solid players, and since it was very late I can understand why they wanted to kick it down at the BJ table since they weren't on top of their games. 20 thatsatoomanies later, they wished they played the action I did!


Whew that was ultra long. I don't feel qualified to give rankings, but this will give you an idea of the positive traits of each. Hope I didn't miss anybody and if I did it was just a slip of the mind and not a slight in any way. I am gonna run and sweat someone in the ME but I will review thhe post later and ammend it if necessary. Hope you enjoyed it!

James

edit: i need to give 1 particular shout out to matt and pickytooth, who stuck with me through thick and thin and were my teammates nearly every time. couldn't have done it without you guys!

[James282]

HUGE OMMISSION! Jesus, I forgot about the sickest move a friend can make for you that occurred on my first night of running it up. I sat with 2k, and a few drinks later, I had run it up to 5 figures plus. The problem was I had slightly passed the amount that I should be drinking and still playing this game that is part of my profession. Seeing that I was in destruction mode, MattSuspect snuck away 4k - which was key. Many rookies will only take off their starting stake when they aren't playing well. Analyzing the situation perfectly, he took some profit for me as well. Fast forward to the next morning. I wake up, check for puke in the bed, go to the bathroom, and see my shorts lying on the floor looking suspiciously empty. There is no cash in there, and I realize what happened. I burned off a stack of high society. Then, like finding a 20 dollar bill in an old coat pocket, I find 4k in yellow chips!!!!!!!! I can't describe the euphoria of this. In my mind, there were only 2 possible outcomes for the night. I'd sober up around 9:30 AM and realize there was a crowd 5 deep behind me and me with 100-500k in front, or I'd wake up just like this with nothing but memories and maybe an empty rubber band. Luckily for me, I had set out that night with a true professional.