Just got back from Reno and thought I'd share some info. First off, I only spread $5-50 so all of this only applies to other low stakes counters, as I have no idea how much heat higher stakes players would get at these same places. Also, I didn't play anywhere that didn't have DA2 single deck, since I figured somewhere in town there's always going to be a DA2 heads up game.

Atlantis was great. Busy enough late into the night so that I wasn't too conspicuous, but enough tables open that I could almost always find a heads up game. I played here for about 8 hours straight one night. Wasn't doing too well though, I'm sure I would have caught more heat if I'd been winning more. At one point the count went to +7 after the first hand I played against a particular dealer. I jumped from $5 to $40 and he yelled out "card counter!" I laughed nervously but nobody seemed to take any notice. The count continued to climb. After a couple more hands he said "you're pretty well loaded up now, aren't you?" I asked what he meant and he explained that all four aces were left along with a ton of face cards and no fives with 3 hands left to play. I tried to play it dumb like, "oh you don't say." After the round I commented on it being a good shoe and he said he would have spread to 2 hands. Before anyone ever talks shit about dealers again just remember this guy. Gave me the same pen deck after deck no matter what the count.

Same story with Boomtown, hours and hours of heads up play with no heat. Again though, I lost a LOT right off the bat, must have looked like a ploppy to them. Doubled 10 vs 10 like 3 or 4 times in the first hour (KO called for it) and it probably bought me lots of cover, especially since I lost every time. One dealer here told me to take insurance after I'd declined (he had it), and refused to give me even money on a natural after I asked for it (he didn't have it). Unbelievable. The pit boss started getting interested after I made most of my money back and I left after he made the phone call.

Rail City I was backed off after about 20 minutes, the problem was I was the only player in the whole place.

Silver Club was okay, a little too dead to just coast by unnoticed.

Western Village was great, deep pen, no heat, even when there was only 1 or 2 other players.

I went to the Alamo Travel Center because they have LS on single deck, which is ridiculous. Only a couple of tables though. Played for about 20 mins alone or with one other player before the table was overrun with ploppies. Came back the next day just as they were opening a third table and played heads up but the dealer was consistently preferentially shuffling. I'd stick a big bet out with like 2/3 of the deck to go and she'd just dump it and start a new deck.

After being up $600+ after one night I ended the trip down $100+, which was actually a decent comeback from a disastrous second day where I lost about $1000 (my bankroll was about $2000 to begin with). I'm sure it's naive, but it disturbs me that after so many hours (about 30) under such optimal conditions I could come out behind. I think I've just been having a lot of positive variances since I started counting about 8 months ago (maybe 60 hours of play total before this trip?)--I've made over $3000 playing mostly double deck, often with several other players, and with my spread (I've also done $10-100 on a few occassions) I have a feeling that's way over EV.

Which leads me to a question about tipping. I was wondering if someone would be kind enough to run a sim for me so I could figure out the effects on my EV of betting a dollar for the dealer every time I bet 5 or more units of $5, using KO, with no ceiling (+6=7 units, +7=8 units and so on), single deck, DA2, heads up 80% of the time, 2-on-1 20%. Also any advice on my style of play would be much appreciated. Obviously I'm not very advanced, and I'll take all the help I can get. Thanks a lot.