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Thread: El Cortez

  1. #1


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    El Cortez

    Last month on my Reno/Vegas trip I finally made a stop at the Sweaty Spainard. I wasn't doing much playing that day and was with the Mrs downtown enjoying some drinks and the music. I got one of those ridiculous 64oz. Football drinks and made it a Long Island. Made my way down to the El Cortez to check it out. Yes they had a lot of Single Deck games but I found it odd they dealt it out of a shoe. Also what stood out to me is how many floor men they have. Most of the tables were semi crowded and most of my bankroll was back in the hotel safe but still had like a grand in my pocket. I found a table in one of the smaller pits which only had a few tables with one other player. I bought in for 300 and began min betting $5 lol. Possibly a coincidence but a couple minutes later I noticed two very large men in suits were standing behind the table. They eventually moved on but seemed a bit intimidating. Pen was pretty bad with the first dealer and always seemed to deal a couple hands more when the count was neg and shuffled up in + counts. Got a new dealer in and he was pretty consistent. Also the other guy at the table took an extended walk so it was HU.

    Got into some shenanigans with this guy when I had $25 out there and he misdealt the cards and proceeded to give himself my 2nd card and me his down card. Normally where I play they would likely consider the hand dead or give the option to back out. He switched the cards back and proceded with the hand which I lost.

    Couple decks later got into a huge plus count with all the Aces remaining with half the deck left and I jammed out $125. I kinda expected to get shuffled up on but he dealt the hand and boom 20 against his 9. I also figured a 25-1 spread would for sure get me the boot. He flips the down card and its an Ace. Damn. Played on a bit and couldn't get nothing going. Donated around $150 to the El Cortez and probably won't ever go back.

    Overall the trip was a success and crushed it in Reno. Vegas I find it hard to find a good game although there was one place way south of the strip on 2D I was getting 80% pen and made a decent chunk of my losses back from other Vegas properties I donated to.

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    A Terrible Tale from the Sweaty Spaniard:

    A poker dealer friend of mine played at the El Cortez for more than a week.
    A rather sharp player, he was a novice RE: employing the TARZAN COUNT.
    He flat bet precisely $5 for several hours a day and never had a losing session.
    Eventually he decided to bet $10. He was i n s t a n t l y 86'd. True true story !

  3. #3


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    I checked out the EC last month. It's like a tourist attraction for card counters. I sat down at the $10 DD game and bet min until the count shot up then I put out $50. It was comical - there was a mini fire drill in the pit. Asian lady pit boss has that look on her face - "who is this man?" What a hoot....

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    Quote Originally Posted by moses View Post
    "My quarter goes on the Tarzan count."
    You'd win a quarter. Winning, two sessions a day, for maybe 10 days,

    playing a fine SD game, never having had a losing a session. Yes indeed

    losing was an afterthought, with playing efficiency maybe exceeding .90

    They had no idea what the hell he was doing, but they surely didn't like it.

    Think of how small the House Edge is (0.18%) That is for the Basic Strategist,

    not for those armed with the TARZAN Procedures. Was there a House Edge ?

    I say NO there wasn't.


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    Quote Originally Posted by klove View Post
    Pen was pretty bad with the first dealer and always seemed to deal a couple hands more when the count was neg and shuffled up in + counts.
    More cards are eaten per round to get a good count compared to a crappy count. If everyone has made hands that's 2 cards per spot but if they get low cards total cards per hand may double on average.
    Quote Originally Posted by klove View Post
    Pen was pretty bad with the first dealer and always seemed to deal a couple hands more when the count was neg and shuffled up in + counts. Got a new dealer in and he was pretty consistent. Also the other guy at the table took an extended walk so it was HU.
    Well fewer spots played means fewer cards per round and more rounds dealt.
    Quote Originally Posted by klove View Post
    Got into some shenanigans with this guy when I had $25 out there and he misdealt the cards and proceeded to give himself my 2nd card and me his down card. Normally where I play they would likely consider the hand dead or give the option to back out. He switched the cards back and proceded with the hand which I lost.
    You should have called the floor.

  6. #6


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    moses,

    See, Griffin, Peter A., The Theory of Blackjack: The Compleat Card Counter's Guide to the Casino Game of 21 (5th Ed. 1996), p. 60:

    Actually the compleat card counting fanatic who aspires to count separately five zero valued
    denominations is better off using the Gordon system which differs from Einstein's by counting
    the 2 rather than the 6. Although poorer initially than Einstein's system, it provides a better
    springboard for this level of ambition. The Gordon count, fortified with a proper valuation of
    aces, sixes, sevens, eights, and nines, scores .922 in playing efficiency and the same .98 in
    betting correlation.
    This may reasonably be supposed to define a possibly realizable upper
    bound to the ultimate capability of a human being playing an honest game of blackjack
    from a single deck. (Boldface emphasis added)

    From everything that I have read posted by Tarzan, here and on other blackjack/AP websites (yes there are other sites), he has taken the Gordon Count (created by Professor Edward Gordon) or the DHM Basic/Professional/Expert Systems (D. Howard Mitchell, being Professor Gordon's alias), and put it on steroids generating his own index numbers for deviating from basic strategy, and combinatorial analysis to generate even more accurate composition dependent playing decisions. As you know, the Tarzan Count (in a manner differing from your columnar approach) takes all card values into account while determining his RC, TC, IC, DC, etc. So, at a minimum, I suspect that the Tarzan Count is capable of having a P.E. of .922 (perhaps even higher), as cited by Peter Griffin.
    "Your honor, with all due respect: if you're going to try my case for me, I wish you wouldn't lose it."

    Fictitious Boston Attorney Frank Galvin (Paul Newman - January 26, 1925 - September 26, 2008) in The Verdict, 1982, lambasting Trial Judge Hoyle (Milo Donal O'Shea - June 2, 1926 - April 2, 2013) - http://imdb.com/title/tt0084855/

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    Quote Originally Posted by moses View Post
    Really, PE .90?
    I thought this was conservative. I would have estimated .93-.97 PE. Rarely would a CDA play a hand differently tan Tarzan Count.

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    To add to the learned counselor's post, Gordon count still reduces everything to a number on a number line. Tarzan Count goes beyond that by looking at the decision 3 dimensionally. It should do a bit better than Gordon count hence my .93 to .97 estimate. Situations that reduce to the same number with Gordon Count will not look the same with Tarzan Count. It is just about a more efficient way to use information. If you gather info in a way that it can be used either linearly or multidimensionally it is always at least as good to go with the latter and usually better.

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    Quote Originally Posted by moses View Post
    "Assuming your friend was playing full indices ..."
    The Tarzan Procedure has no indices, and my quoted P.E. of .90 is very conservative.

    It deals with ratios of card groupings that delineate (virtually) computer-perfect play.

    The P.E. is amazingly close to 1.0 (as verified via Combinatorial Analysis) but that

    doesn't means that you're "certain" to win, only that you are making the "best" play

    of your hands.


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    The Gordon Count has extraordinary power.

    However, it takes superb memory and quick

    mentation to perform without a lotta' fatigue.

  11. #11


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    Quote Originally Posted by ZenMaster_Flash View Post
    The Tarzan Procedure has no indices, and my quoted P.E. of .90 is very conservative. It deals with ratios of card groupings that delineate (virtually) computer-perfect play. The P.E. is amazingly close to 1.0 (as verified via Combinatorial Analysis) but that doesn't means that you're "certain" to win, only that you are making the "best" play of your hands.
    Which in simple terms means, you can still lose. Crap hands are just that, crap!!!
    "Your honor, with all due respect: if you're going to try my case for me, I wish you wouldn't lose it."

    Fictitious Boston Attorney Frank Galvin (Paul Newman - January 26, 1925 - September 26, 2008) in The Verdict, 1982, lambasting Trial Judge Hoyle (Milo Donal O'Shea - June 2, 1926 - April 2, 2013) - http://imdb.com/title/tt0084855/

  12. #12


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    My favorite story from the El Cortez was the night I went in there and spread from $25-$350 on their SD blackjack table for about 3 hours and when I was leaving the PB was asking me to stay and bet more since I was doing so well.
    Don't think you have a winning game; know you have a winning game.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Romes View Post
    My favorite story from the El Cortez was the night I went in there and spread from $25-$350 on their SD blackjack table for about 3 hours and when I was leaving the PB was asking me to stay and bet more since I was doing so well.
    lol...spread 14 in SD for 3 hrs anywhere...let alone a sweatshop...you either:
    1. don't know what the hell you are doing
    2. are a better actor than Duvall

    i suspect the latter...lmao...GOOD LUCK!

    Sharky

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