Just spent 8 hours in a regional market with about 5 casinos playing 6 deck shoes. This was my third trip counting (the other ones were lengthier). One of the casinos offered LS and a good cut. Plan was to play the good casino during graveyard, play two others and return to the good casino for the afternoon. Intent was to also begin wonging for the first time and spend between 1.5-2 hours in each casino max. Also, I hoped to incorporate the I-18 for the first time if possible. Played $5 and $10 tables. Intended spread was 1 to 12 (or at least 1 to 10) compared to a previous history of 1 to 6 max. Trip and total bankroll was 330 units.

Reality. Discipline was the toughest thing. Ended up "camping" at the good casino for 4 hours; 1 hour at another casino (cut was mediocre and it was very hard to see the discard tray due to a cover) during the good casinos shift change and then another 3 hours at the good casino camping again. Did not see nearly as many favorable counts as I had hoped and still do not grasp wonging properly. I'm just too "antsy" to watch for very long. I was reasonably disciplined about jumping bets. The few times I did, it was played as a "chasing my money" situation. My counting speed and accuracy has improved greatly, thanks in part, to previous advice from members of this board. Moreover, I was able to interact better with other players and at the same time retain my count.

Because of the low bet levels there was no apparent scrutiny, although some of the nice "ladies" at my table were somewhat shocked by a $10 bettor putting out a series of $100 bets periodically on a $10 table. I suppose it is possible that I was noticed, but deemed harmless (probably the sad reality for now).

Results were .6 units up for the day with swings ranging from up about 18 to down about 40 units. Max bet placed was 10 units and that was done about four to six times. The last shoe had a 10 unit bet which I doubled and won, bringing me breakeven for the day. Won 2 out of 3 insurance bets and ignored one that I should have taken because of discomfort with a lot of money was on the table. The only notable I-18 indices I used were for stiff hands and negative counts; did not have a chance to play any of the more aggressive indices. In all, there were about four really high count shoes. One of these stayed high and I lost a lot. Won big on another shoe (and spread to two hands). Somewhat up on the third and breakeven on the fourth (not in order).

Bad counts/Wonging. I probably wasted at least 10-15 units in results by playing in bad to neutral counts. It did not seem so bad on the $5 table, but it was really painful on the $10 table. It seemed as if I spent about 3 hours playing in neutral to negative shoes, playing with counts as poor -2. On a previous trip I was more disciplined about at least wonging out more often (but there seemed to be fewer shoes turn negative on that trip). I experienced a very basic problem wonging in. My concept was to find a brand new shoe, watch it for a couple of rounds and jump in. To begin with, there were about 8 tables (of which maybe 5 were cheap enough for me) in the pit and there were almost never any shoes just starting up when I would wong out or return from a short break. One improvement would have been for me to count a few hands in a relatively new shoe and mentally ?place? the beginning discard pile beyond the cut card. A basic question I have is: whether most wonging by experienced players is done with brand new shoes or whether they jump in the middle and adjust? If the latter is the case, I wonder how a KO player does it. I use a traditional TKO through the first half of the shoe. In the second half, I guestimate TC by adding or subtracting half a TC from 4 for each point the RC is away from pivot (the right adjustment at exactly 2 decks left). So, it would not be too difficult for me to make this adjustment and jump in mid shoe. I just did not think it would be necessary.

If I think over the entire trip, it seems the high count shoes yielded close to an average expectation and that gain was lost by playing in poor to neutral shoes.

Any advice on wonging would be appreciated.