Is it still worth traveling to play Blackjack?

[seriousplayer]

I've been playing blackjack part time. I looked at the Current Blackjack News last night and noticed that the game conditions for a lot of Blackjack games are deteriorating. I do realize that the Current Blackjack News don't always have the correct and most up to date information on the Blackjack games. Games with hit soft 17, high house edge, poor penetration and continuous shuffle machines. Notice those game might not be countable but could be beat with other AP methods. During the times I've been playing Blackjack part time I play mostly in my local area and travel to Las Vegas, Reno, California and overseas a couple of times.

The games that have good conditions are like $100 and up. Risk of ruin would be high playing $100 limit with $20,000 bankroll.

Any AP's want to network together privately on good Blackjack games. Please contact me at yy email address is [email protected].

[marriedputter]

What part of the country do you have knowledge of BJ games? Don't mention cities or exact casinos here on the open forum of course, but what area?

[seriousplayer]

What part of the country do you have knowledge of BJ games? Don't mention cities or exact casinos here on the open forum of course, but what area?

I have knowledge of games in the east coast area.

[ZenMaster_Flash]

"Risk of ruin would be high playing $100 limit with $20,000 bankroll."

True Dat', BUT if one wishes to "play for comps" and assume a moderately high risk, that can be

accomplished with this bankroll by playing a "break-even" game ~ with a constricted bet spread.

As your risk drops, your profits do as well. Recently I was comp'd to a luxurious Penthouse Suite

at a top store in L.V. I stayed a few days and left with barely a $1,000 profit, having gained 2 kg.

[Ryemo]

Seriousplayer,

What do you mean by "worth it?" What is your time worth? I travel to play pretty frequently now and I think it's worth it, but it's all relevant.

If I'm traveling by air and need to rent a car, I try to make sure that I play enough hours during that trip so that my EV is anywhere from 6x to 10x my trip expense. I can usually get free food and free rooms at many of the destinations I travel to, so my main expenses will be flight and car. So let's say that my expenses are $500 for the trip, I try to get enough hours so that my EV for that trip is at least 3K to 5K.

Some destinations I travel to can be done by car, so my only real expense is my gas (and time). These trips are the best because expenses are EXTREMELY low AND if I get backed off or flyered around town, I can just hop in my car and drive somewhere else.

Is it worth it? You decide. It also depends on your stakes. If you are red-chipping, then no. I would say traveling would not be worth the time. If you're green-chipping or playing blacks, then yes, it might be worth the time. Only you can decide. Take a look at the games on CBJN and run some sims. Figure out how many hours you need to achieve the desired result. Then have a backup plan. If something goes wrong (flyer or BO), then what's your next move? I think traveling to play is worth it for me, but not all may agree...

[seriousplayer]

Seriousplayer,

What do you mean by "worth it?" What is your time worth? I travel to play pretty frequently now and I think it's worth it, but it's all relevant.

If I'm traveling by air and need to rent a car, I try to make sure that I play enough hours during that trip so that my EV is anywhere from 6x to 10x my trip expense. I can usually get free food and free rooms at many of the destinations I travel to, so my main expenses will be flight and car. So let's say that my expenses are $500 for the trip, I try to get enough hours so that my EV for that trip is at least 3K to 5K.

Some destinations I travel to can be done by car, so my only real expense is my gas (and time). These trips are the best because expenses are EXTREMELY low AND if I get backed off or flyered around town, I can just hop in my car and drive somewhere else.

Is it worth it? You decide. It also depends on your stakes. If you are red-chipping, then no. I would say traveling would not be worth the time. If you're green-chipping or playing blacks, then yes, it might be worth the time. Only you can decide. Take a look at the games on CBJN and run some sims. Figure out how many hours you need to achieve the desired result. Then have a backup plan. If something goes wrong (flyer or BO), then what's your next move? I think traveling to play is worth it for me, but not all may agree...

What I mean by worth it is say if I travel to Las Vegas for two days it cost me about $1000 in expense to travel there. You found the game you want to play but the limit is $100 and can't afford to play $100 limit with $20000. And other games $25 limit is not worth playing due the bad rules and penetration.

[MJGolf]

But 3k to 5k hands on a busy weekend? Isn't that like 30 to 50 hours sitting at a table with strangers that bitch? Yuk.

.

Mein Herr, unless I'm wrong, I do believe the esteemed Ryemo means $3k to $5k (MONEY) v. 3k to 5k (ROUNDS) Expected value

[Ryemo]

Mein Herr, unless I'm wrong, I do believe the esteemed Ryemo means $3k to $5k (MONEY) v. 3k to 5k (ROUNDS) Expected value

Bingo!

I'm lucky if I can get 20 hrs on one trip. I'm talking about $3,000 to $5,000 in EV.

[Ryemo]

Wow. You must really love to play blackjack. ...

But 3k to 5k hands on a busy weekend? Isn't that like 30 to 50 hours sitting at a table with strangers that bitch? Yuk.

Why not go when it's slow say Monday thru Thursday and play 1500 quality hands? Just a question.

1) I like blackjack, but I don't love it. I make good money playing BJ, so I like it. But frankly, I find the aspect of AP BJ and traveling to be a chore, but I suppose I enjoy it a little more than my other day job.

2) I already addressed the rounds vs $EV in response to MJGolf, so I'll move on from that.

3) What part of my post did I mention playing exclusively on weekends? I'm curious why you assume that I don't travel during the week? Many of my trips this year have been during mid-week and some have overlapped the weekend too. It just depends.

[Ryemo]

Sorry, I didn't see the $ in the post. So that's $150 to $250 an hour. I would think you need 4 or 5 casino's to hit. I mean, don't they tend to get a little twitchy when you are taking their money at that rate?

Do the casinos tend to get "twitchy" sometimes? Yes of course. But with big wins, also come big losses too. A big loss can sometimes put a casino at ease.

4 to 5 casinos to rotate? Yes, having more stores to rotate can make the job easier, but BEWARE! Just because there's 4 to 5 casinos in one region, doesn't mean you should spread your action to all of those stores. That's precisely the type of thing that can get you in trouble. If you walk into a sweat shop and get backed off and flyered, you will lose your ability to play in the tolerant stores too. SEARCH FOR TOLERANCE!

[LoneWoLF]

Seriousplayer,

What do you mean by "worth it?" What is your time worth? I travel to play pretty frequently now and I think it's worth it, but it's all relevant.

If I'm traveling by air and need to rent a car, I try to make sure that I play enough hours during that trip so that my EV is anywhere from 6x to 10x my trip expense. I can usually get free food and free rooms at many of the destinations I travel to, so my main expenses will be flight and car. So let's say that my expenses are $500 for the trip, I try to get enough hours so that my EV for that trip is at least 3K to 5K.

Some destinations I travel to can be done by car, so my only real expense is my gas (and time). These trips are the best because expenses are EXTREMELY low AND if I get backed off or flyered around town, I can just hop in my car and drive somewhere else.

Is it worth it? You decide. It also depends on your stakes. If you are red-chipping, then no. I would say traveling would not be worth the time. If you're green-chipping or playing blacks, then yes, it might be worth the time. Only you can decide. Take a look at the games on CBJN and run some sims. Figure out how many hours you need to achieve the desired result. Then have a backup plan. If something goes wrong (flyer or BO), then what's your next move? I think traveling to play is worth it for me, but not all may agree...

The problem with traveling is this; what happens when you hit a monster losing streak + all the expenses? Traveling on a low to moderate bankroll could make someone go bust. Especially if harrahs is in the rotation.

[Three]

Especially if harrahs is in the rotation.

You really need to read my post I told you was important for you to see why each casino is different and why winning in a casino is far different than winning on a computer. I didn't want to give the casinos a way to make it harder to win so it was necessarily vague. The information was there to figure it out. Some of the best looking games have been the hardest to beat. Other crappy looking games have been easy. Sims would tell you different but actual casino play is different than the typical sim. Many factors that aren't simulated can be very important to the likelihood of success even though they may not seem to be. By know I think your alienating any possibility of a mentor teaching you these very, very important parts of success to be almost nil. That means you have to figure it out for yourself.

I was dragged out of places I was getting my ass kicked at by my mentors. They tried to explain why I needed to leave but it wasn't until I found some of the best looking games hard to beat and poor games a gold mine that I examined the differences between playing the various casinos. Then it became clear why I was not winning much at the great looking games and doing extremely well at some of the poor looking ones. Until you figure it out you are doomed to only win were you coincidentally have what you need. If you can't learn just play the casinos you win at. You don't understand why you are losing at better games so you can't change what you do to win. The solution is obvious, just don't play the casinos you are constantly losing at, since you don't understand why you are losing which would tell you how to win. Many other AP's make lots of money at the casinos you lose at. That should tell you enough to start down the road to understanding or simply stop playing them and limit your potential as an AP.

[ZeeBabar]

Tthree writes "Some of the best looking games have been the hardest to beat. Other crappy looking games have been easy. Sims would tell you different but actual casino play is different than the typical sim. Many factors that aren't simulated can be very important to the likelihood of success even though they may not seem to be"

What factors? heat? Cheating".... you harp on the importance of playing good games with good rules, good penetration, fewer players and then say that these games may be worse than "other crappy looking games". Some elaborations that would help select the right games is appreciated.