Hello! I recently returned to my home country after a trip to the US where I tried to give card counting a go. I would like to relate my experiences here and would appreciate any advice and opinion any of you may be able to provide.
My first attempt at Card Counting was at the Cliff Castle Casino in Camp Verde, Arizona. This is an Indian-run casino which has been voted the best casino in Arizona for a number of years, and I found the environment there very welcoming and friendly. I also played a bit of poker there in cash games. The tables were very busy here. Conditions were 6 decks, hit on soft 17, DAS, split 3 times and resplitting aces allowed. Once I got dealt aces and resplit twice to win all four hands. I played with a very small spread (1-6 units) with a minimum bet of $5. I played for two hours and made a profit of $95. Penetration was poor (60%), but there were still a reasonable amount of hands I could raise my bet with due to a high TC. I attracted apparently no heat from the staff.
Session two was at Sam's Town on the Boulder Highway outside Las Vegas. Here I tried playing a double deck game with no doubling after split. The house edge off the top was a fairly unattractive 0.7%. Minimum bet of $5 and a spread of 10 units were applied. After two shoes, the dealer decided to reduce the penetration from about 75% to 50%. I was playing heads up the whole time. Note that when they increased the shuffle rate I was not winning but rather about $100 in the hole. I left after one and a half hours with a profit of $101 (after tips).
My next session was at the Colorado Belle in Laughlin. Here, I initially played the single deck game but I did very poorly, losing $200 in the first deck. My bet variation was enough to raise dealer suspicion and penetration was immediately reduced to 50%. I left after about half an hour and proceeded to a double deck game where they also reduced the penetration after only one shoe. In any event I was never ahead or winning and I lost my entire stack of about $600 in under two hours with a minimum bet of $5.
My final session was at El Cortez downtown which I knew had a very low house edge but also had a very bad reputation for heat. The minimum bet was $5. I lasted FIFTEEN MINUTES before I was flat-betted. This despite losing $250 during that time. There were 5 other players on my table and they were atrocious. And I had made it clear to the pit staff that I was a tourist with a plane to catch and was going back to my country later that afternoon.
I was absolutely astounded. Why do these killjoys even bother? They are wasting their time making extra shuffles and ruining their own casino's reputation. Yes, I was playing with a negative house edge with my bet variations, but I was betting nowhere near the maximum. I would be barely earning $10 an hour in the long run and there were five other players literally throwing their money at the house given how lousily they played. I gave the house a bit of action and played through a couple of more decks, broke even, and bolted out on the double.
I flew back to my home country and decided to give card counting a go there, even though most blackjack tables there have amongst the worst house edges in the world. At the casino in my city the regular BJ game is pointless as a continuous shuffler is used but on Friday and Saturday nights an additional shoe-dealt game (with six decks, stand on S17, DAS) is available. They also have a Spanish 21 variation which is always dealt from a shoe. Betting limits are $10 to $400. I mixed up my play between these two games, and in six sessions my results varied from $5 (essentially breaking even) to $1050, with a total profit approaching $2000. Penetration was 90% in all of these games and I did to perceive any attention from the staff. I was spreading 1-15 units with partial wonging (using the lavatory as an excuse!) occasionally. So far so good.......
So this is my version of the unglamorous world of advantage gambling. I am definitely after advice if you have it. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
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Originally Posted by mickeymouse
Play within your bankroll, pick your games with care and learn everything you can about the game. The winning will come. It has to. It's in the cards. -- Bryce Carlson
It's ok, I'm not an informant for the house, I'm quite well known in the Australian BJ community, and have done radio interviews etc.
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