Tips needed for remaining anonymous

[ZeeBabar]

I live 2-3 hours from the major casinos in my state (though there is one local casino close by). Thus, I go play about 1-2 times a month. However, I am retiring from my current gig and thinking of moving to the larger city with about 3-4 playable casinos. I suspect that if I was to head to a casino or two daily and during the same day shift, they will know me quite soon as a regular and winning might bring scrutiny and counter measures. How do you avoid that?

Thus my questions to the pros who play in large cities or in Las Vegas. How many stores do you regularly play? How often at each? Is it asking for trouble to play at a casino at the same shift once a day or once a week? Do you vary shifts? Could you do short sessions daily at 2-3 stores at the same shift?

Basically, I am looking for tips on developing a strategy if having 2-3 stores easily available to me. If it cant be done, maybe I should look for places where there exist more than a few casinos. How to maintain anonymity with a rotation of only 2-3 stores. Unfortunately, unlike KJ, I probably stand ou because of height and ethnicity.

[Jabberwocky]

I tried that already-it just gave me hives.

[ZeeBabar]

The Saga of ZeeBabar continues:

YOU want to relocate, and you are stating that the major criterion for

that decision is that you'll have a short distance to travel to play BJ ?

Go to a mirror and open your eyers. Repeat after me ...

"I am a pathological gambler trapped in an addictive pattern."

The conceit and arrogance of Flash continues. He does not care to answer, just tries to humiliate.

Yes, when I retire after. 45 years of working full time, the question of how I will pass my time daily, what will fill my day comes up. I could play golf now and then, it would also help to have some challenges such as BJ.

A little extra money also helps.

Do you always think that everyone should make the same decisions you do?

[Jabberwocky]

The conceit and arrogance of Flash continues. He does not care to answer, just tries to humiliate.

Yes, when I retire after. 45 years of working full time, the question of how I will pass my time daily, what will fill my day comes up. I could play golf now and then, it would also help to have some challenges such as BJ.

A little extra money also helps.

Do you always think that everyone should make the same decisions you do?

Most retirees take up either contract bridge or poker. You needn't worry about being flat bet or barred. If you just have to play bj then get the revised copy of Blackjack Blueprint by Rick Blaine

[ZenMaster_Flash]

ZeeBabar, et al,

I apologize. I am sorry for descending to such brutish prose.

No excuses. I will try harder to suppress this tendency.

[DD11]

Zee why are people so hard on you here?

[Bodarc]

1.) Recognize these guys are not idiots.

Moses....undoubtedly you have never read one of Don's post about that. LOL

[BoSox]

1A) Give them the repect of any hard working individual providing for their family deserves. Remember you're "playing." part time. They are "working" full time.

Moses, you have this part backwards the man is going to average 10 hrs a day, 7 days a week at about $4.19 cents an hour, and free buffets, to supplement his retirement income. He should at least get the employee of the month award once in a while.

[ZeeBabar]

1.) Recognize these guys are not idiots.
1A) Give them the repect of any hard working individual providing for their family deserves. Remember you're "playing." part time. They are "working" full time.
2.) Learn and play your game within their tolerance.
3.) Don't get greedy. Pick your games wisely.
4.) Intincts (or discernment if you will) Know when you're in a bad spot or someone in authority has body language they dont like you or want you playing during their shift. It's simple. LEAVE.
5.) Play nice. It will carry you much further than acting like an ass. Just my opinion.
6.) Your only as strong as the weakest person in authority you may piss off. Be aware of thin skin. Done is DONE. Coming back is rare. So be humble and gracious.
7.) It's a game of people played with cards more than a game of cards played by people. That is if yur worf a crap.
8.) You get out what you put in. Sorry...that means work.

Is it not tough to play nice, converse etc., after refusing a card?

[BoSox]

1.) Recognize these guys are not idiots.
1A) Give them the repect of any hard working individual providing for their family deserves. Remember you're "playing." part time. They are "working" full time.
2.) Learn and play your game within their tolerance.
3.) Don't get greedy. Pick your games wisely.
4.) Intincts (or discernment if you will) Know when you're in a bad spot or someone in authority has body language they dont like you or want you playing during their shift. It's simple. LEAVE.
5.) Play nice. It will carry you much further than acting like an ass. Just my opinion.
6.) Your only as strong as the weakest person in authority you may piss off. Be aware of thin skin. Done is DONE. Coming back is rare. So be humble and gracious.
7.) It's a game of people played with cards more than a game of cards played by people. That is if yur worf a crap.
8.) You get out what you put in. Sorry...that means work.

Sorry I neglected to say this earlier moses but that is one hell of a fine post! Good pointers for everyone.

[ZeeBabar]

Sorry I neglected to say this earlier moses but that is one hell of a fine post! Good pointers for everyone.

Bosox, Moses, two good posters still a way away from being mature ones. Sad to see good posts followed by sarcastic, mean ones.

[Three]

1.) Recognize these guys are not idiots.
1A) Give them the repect of any hard working individual providing for their family deserves. Remember you're "playing." part time. They are "working" full time.
2.) Learn and play your game within their tolerance.
3.) Don't get greedy. Pick your games wisely.
4.) Intincts (or discernment if you will) Know when you're in a bad spot or someone in authority has body language they dont like you or want you playing during their shift. It's simple. LEAVE.
5.) Play nice. It will carry you much further than acting like an ass. Just my opinion.
6.) Your only as strong as the weakest person in authority you may piss off. Be aware of thin skin. Done is DONE. Coming back is rare. So be humble and gracious.
7.) It's a game of people played with cards more than a game of cards played by people. That is if yur worf a crap.
8.) You get out what you put in. Sorry...that means work.

Great post Moses. I would have said about all of this. Here are some aspects to help with longevity that have to do with your choices.

Learn when you can find the right playing conditions. I am talking about crowding, game speed, penetration and helpful casino personnel. Many of these things are interrelated. Every casino has a rhythm for each day. It varies fro each day of the week. The personnel you have to deal with also varies. Often you can get heads up play the same time of day each week. You can train the dealers to deal fast. Sometimes you can encourage better pen. There are times of day when they open more tables. This is another opportunity for finding less crowded conditions. Table minimums can change with the crowding. The busier it is the higher the limits tend to be. Some like to backcourt and want somewhat crowded conditions or times when more tables are opening. The conditions that suit your game best may not be what I am looking for. Anyway what I am driving at is playing fewer hours but higher quality hours to make much more in far less time. I used to play a lot. My results were all over the place. I worked on 2 aspects to get things to a more palatable level of play. I continually try to work on ways to smooth the ride. This includes what is listed here and procedures used to perform your count along with ways to improve your count itself.

I know you don't want to change your count or learn more indices or anything else that involves effort on your part so I have focused on what is in your control. If you can improve your speed of play and number of high count rounds compared to negative EV rounds you don't have to play as much and get much more consistent and stronger results. Just learn the rhythms of your casinos. Play a few hours here an hour there and a couple hours there and you get the best the casino day has to offer. The rest of the day the results are much more random. I often hit the casino daily win tolerance level before that point.

Just knowing how to count and showing up and getting in the hours is not going to get it done. You want fewer hours that are high quality hours to get reliable results. Once you have figured it out you can make more money playing about half as often. At least it seems that way once you stop all those random losses. You go to the casino and figure to get up to 4 to 6 hours in during the day as the best opportunities arise most likely getting less than 3 hours in at a stretch and you eliminate a lot of the events that cause random results to mess with the steady earning. I know half of what I do you will never go to the trouble to learn how to do but the other half has nothing to do with counting but rather casino smarts. You get to choose when to play and when not to play, you get to choose where to play and where not to play. If you choose wisely you can make your money in the fewest hours and spread your action around real thin. Choose poorly and you struggle to earn anything playing way to many hours. Do your scouting and research. Learn what conditions best suit your game and go find them and play them fairly exclusively. The more you try to force things the less good results cooperate.

[BoSox]

Great post Moses. I would have said about all of this. Here are some aspects to help with longevity that have to do with your choices.

Learn when you can find the right playing conditions. I am talking about crowding, game speed, penetration and helpful casino personnel. Many of these things are interrelated. Every casino has a rhythm for each day. It varies fro each day of the week. The personnel you have to deal with also varies. Often you can get heads up play the same time of day each week. You can train the dealers to deal fast. Sometimes you can encourage better pen. There are times of day when they open more tables. This is another opportunity for finding less crowded conditions. Table minimums can change with the crowding. The busier it is the higher the limits tend to be. Some like to backcourt and want somewhat crowded conditions or times when more tables are opening. The conditions that suit your game best may not be what I am looking for. Anyway what I am driving at is playing fewer hours but higher quality hours to make much more in far less time. I used to play a lot. My results were all over the place. I worked on 2 aspects to get things to a more palatable level of play. I continually try to work on ways to smooth the ride. This includes what is listed here and procedures used to perform your count along with ways to improve your count itself.

I know you don't want to change your count or learn more indices or anything else that involves effort on your part so I have focused on what is in your control. If you can improve your speed of play and number of high count rounds compared to negative EV rounds you don't have to play as much and get much more consistent and stronger results. Just learn the rhythms of your casinos. Play a few hours here an hour there and a couple hours there and you get the best the casino day has to offer. The rest of the day the results are much more random. I often hit the casino daily win tolerance level before that point.

Just knowing how to count and showing up and getting in the hours is not going to get it done. You want fewer hours that are high quality hours to get reliable results. Once you have figured it out you can make more money playing about half as often. At least it seems that way once you stop all those random losses. You go to the casino and figure to get up to 4 to 6 hours in during the day as the best opportunities arise most likely getting less than 3 hours in at a stretch and you eliminate a lot of the events that cause random results to mess with the steady earning. I know half of what I do you will never go to the trouble to learn how to do but the other half has nothing to do with counting but rather casino smarts. You get to choose when to play and when not to play, you get to choose where to play and where not to play. If you choose wisely you can make your money in the fewest hours and spread your action around real thin. Choose poorly and you struggle to earn anything playing way to many hours. Do your scouting and research. Learn what conditions best suit your game and go find them and play them fairly exclusively. The more you try to force things the less good results cooperate.

Terrific post Tthree! You have provided valuable information not only for the novice, but also to veterans who can let there guard down at times thinking the game is easy, when in fact you must work hard, and bust your ass to make money (are you listening Zee). I know your post is going to make me examine different aspects of my game that I can definitely improve on, and I am not ashamed to admit it, so thank you.