Threads Going Off Topic

[Dbs6582]

I hesitate to comment on this topic since I'm relatively new...and I think there has already been some honest reflections by the main posters. There's a lot of intimidation on this forum that discourages different views. Some of it reminds of my junior high school days, where a couple bullies roamed the halls keeping everybody in check, and seemed to get a sense of self worth by putting others down.

Some of the posts I've liked the best are the ones by ZeeBara, probably because his playing style closely matches mine. I've found his posts on playing rated/unrated excellent. I didn't even know playing unrated was such a strongly held tenet of the blackjack community until I started getting on various bj forums this past year. I've played blackjack off and on for 20 years and read well over 20 bj books (I've read Don's Bja3 at least three times) so I understand the game. It wasn't until I started getting on these forums that I saw there are some things you just don't question. In some ways the orthodoxy in the blackjack community is almost stronger than what I've seen from fundamental Christians. It borders on cultism, where you're forced to get in line and not have an independent thought. If you get out of line or question a long held beliefs, you will be ridiculed endlessly by the "experts" and forum bullies.

I also thought the recent post by ZeeBara on "Why many players fail at attempting full time play" was excellent, especially for me since it hit home, as I'm sure it did for many other people who play at our levels, and who have full time jobs but enjoy playing on the side. But what did Freight feel compelled to do? Put him down, telling him he wasn't a pro and he'd fail as a pro. I thought what was the point of doing that? Zee has never claimed to be a pro. He stated that very clearly in his post, and in many others. He holds the mantel for us everyday red chippers...that the bullies on this forum seem to enjoy putting down. If you want to know why new people don't post much on this forum, read Freight's post to Zee today. I really respect Zee that he keeps posting with the onslaught of attacks he receives from the forum's bullies, just because Zee hasn't accepted the orthodoxy in the blackjack community.

I also thought the posts by Frieghtman and Ryemo (I always get a lot out of Ryemo's) were excellent. All were good and addressed a different audience. I wish there was more of this.

This is my first post since I got put down by Moses for my negative comments on Nicholas's article. Zee and some others also had some questions about his article. While I agreed with some of Nicholas' points, I thought he did a very poor job supporting them. He mostly pulled numbers out of thin air and then made comments like "...math based arguments" and "applying the informed estimates...". Who is the "informed"? As far as the casino industry being "poorly managed", I went to Yahoo Finance and MarketWatch to see if I could verify the point he was making. MarketWatch gives the 10 worst performing industries over the past 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, and 10 years. Guess what? The casino industry never appears. Many other industries do like Semiconductor, Steel, Mining, etc, but no casinos. I then checked the stock performance of Caesar (the casino stock Nicholas criticized the most) with the largest oil company in USA (ExxonMobil) over the past 5 years. Guess what? Caesar's stock performed better than ExxonMobil. I wonder if ExxonMobil hired some former casino executives? It's a joke guys. Don't get upset. How does Nicholas make his point that Caesar is poorly run? By saying Caesar had a debt to equity ratio of 417 to 1 at some point in the past. There are many reasons this happens at companies that I won't go into here.

One of the main reasons Nicholas believes casinos aren't doing very well is because they spend too much money on "game protection". How much money do they spend on this? You guessed it, "gobs". I went on the internet to try and find out how much "gobs" is. It's "a lot". That helped me about as much as "gobs". Lol. If someone is going to make the argument that the casinos are in trouble because they spend too much on "game protection", then doesn't it make sense they would give some numbers, like amount vs revenue or amount vs profit? At least something more quantifiable than "gobs".

The final sentence in his article made no sense and why it lost all credibility with me. He said "If this keeps up the casinos will continue to deplete its customer base and with no new gamers to take their place gaming will fade." What planet is Nicholas living on? I just listened to a podcast with Max Rubin where he said gaming is bigger than all pro sports (NFL, NBA, baseball, hockey) and the movie industry combined. Gaming revenue has increased every year here and worldwide. It is not fading, just because some casinos have put in 6:5 blackjack and have put the cut card in the wrong place. Their revenues have gone from 220 Billion in 2001 to 495 Billion in 2019, increasing every year. I think the main reason some casinos are struggling is because of competition and casinos are popping up everywhere. The market is over saturated with casinos. This has much more to do with it than because casinos aren't putting the cut card in the right place or they're spending too much on security.

I apologize if anybody knows Nicholas Colon personally. I'm sure he's a very good person. He just did a very poor job supporting his thesis. I also challenge everybody to go back and reread his article, but this time read it with an open mind, and not the mind of the already converted. I've read it at least 10 times and each time I find new things in it that make no sense.

This will probably be my last post on this site so I thought I'd put it out there. I'm not into taking abuse like Zee. This post got much longer than I had planned. Sorry about that.

[Dbs6582]

Moses, I went back to the thread "Why advantage players shouldn't worry casinos, Gambling Insider, Nicholas Colon" and couldn't find your post. You probably deleted it. After I commented that I thought Ben's book and the movie "21" also contributed to casinos fear of APs, you made a post to me that said something like: "short version, don't feed the hand that feeds you.". I felt like this was a put down to my well thought out comment about one section in Nicholas' article. I thought about replying with a snarky comment but decided against. To be honest, I didn't even know what you meant by your comment, but if Nicholas Colon is somehow the "hand that feeds us", then we all need to start going on a fasting diet.

If any casino executive read this article in their boardroom, they would just laugh. Nicholas complained about everything in this article, even casinos now charging for parking. Trust me, when companies make these decision they know what they are doing and they know there will be a backlash. The Marriott hotel I routinely stay at in Atlanta just started charging for parking. I've stayed there for 10 years and parked for free, but a couple months ago they put up a guard gate and now charge everybody $10/day for parking. You think I like that? No, even though my company pays it. Do I think this will be the downfall of the entire Marriott corporation and customers will no longer stay at Marriott properties. No. This was the same way the public reacted when airlines started charging for checking their bags. The customers were outraged and you'd read on forums this would be the downfall of the airline industry. Airlines are still in business and people pay to check their bag, if they aren't at some elite level. The bottom line is people hate change...and all companies change with time, and try to get paid for their services.

Btw, I thought Nicholas argument against 6:5 blackjack made no sense. If the casinos truly want to prolong a person's playing experience, they should get rid of the side bet (most call it the sucker bet). The sucker bet drains a person of their money much quicker than the 6:5 game. Most side bets are close to 10% house edge, the 6:5 game is only about 1.7% house edge. Why do casino's have the side bet? Because ploppies love them and the casinos gets a lot of revenue from them. I was playing last night at a casino and ploppies were putting more money on the side bet than their main bet. They would lose $100 in less than 10 mins on a $10 DD just because of all the money they put on the side bet. They'd just pull out another $100, lose it in a couple mins and walk away. Again, the side bet is what drains most ploppies's of their money. I'm surprised Nicholas didn't advocate for casinos to get rid of all their side bets.

Why does Vegas main strip have the 6:5 game? Because the tourist play it. I think it's actually smart on what they've done. The tourist on the main strip will put their money on anything. Other bj authors have commented on this. The problem is the ploppies, it's not the casinos. The 6:5 game is around because ploppies play it. The 6:5 game also keeps away the APs. This is probably their best security measure. As everybody knows, most casinos haven't moved to the 6:5 game because of competition and the locals wouldn't play it. Thus, the off strip casinos are still 3:2.

Nicolas thinks "gaming will fade"due to things like 6:5 bj,and making people pay for parking. I don't agree. Ploppies will play anything...they just want action. Trust me, the NFL and NBA will go by the wayside long before casinos do.

[Three]

If someone is going to make the argument that the casinos are in trouble because they spend too much on "game protection", then doesn't it make sense they would give some numbers, like amount vs revenue or amount vs profit? At least something more quantifiable than "gobs".

I saw the numbers somewhere. I thought it was in the linked article. I think the casinos spent billions protecting from losses of millions. Paying $1000 to guard against losing $1 is not a good strategy for maximizing profits.

[BoSox]

It wasn't until I started getting on these forums that I saw there are some things you just don't question. In some ways the orthodoxy in the blackjack community is almost stronger than what I've seen from fundamental Christians. It borders on cultism, where you're forced to get in line and not have an independent thought.

Oh yes this is a board where everyone agrees all the time, there is never any arguments, posters all fall in line. There is just so much love here, you are so perceptive. You have us pegged so perfectly, your insights are just remarkable, good work.

[BoSox]

Why does Vegas main strip have the 6:5 game? Because the tourist play it. I think it's actually smart on what they've done. The tourist on the main strip will put their money on anything. Other bj authors have commented on this. The problem is the ploppies, it's not the casinos. The 6:5 game is around because ploppies play it. The 6:5 game also keeps away the APs. This is probably their best security measure.

Yes the 6:5 game does keep the APs away from playing those games, and the tourist keep pouring in. Suffice it to say in the best way possible that the new generations entering the workforce lack good judgement in using up their socializing expenses. Although not much has changed pertaining to the ploppies paying for everybody meaning the casinos and the APs. Just slightly different, the APs just find different casinos to play and when they get old and sick and tired of playing, those dumb stupid ploppies pay for their Social Security checks, I might say that is downright fiduciary of them.

[Freightman]

This is exactly what I was just posting about. This decisive combative attitude is the crux of the problem on the forum. You have to realize the right answer in BJ is almost always it depends and a lot of qualifiers and explanations. Just get the info out there and stop with the funding and flame wars. Norm started this sight so people could get away from that and it became one of the most popular sites. It is no surprise that after a couple members decide the discussion should be personal feud driven or crusades against members they dislike that the forum became unpopular. Then it started attracting those that like to troll and increased flame wars. It also started changing the good natured attitude of many good posters to follow suit. That is why the forum is in decline. Those that are responsible should be ashamed of themselves.

Not so thoughtful.

[Freightman]

I hesitate to comment on this topic since I'm relatively new...and I think there has already been some honest reflections by the main posters. There's a lot of intimidation on this forum that discourages different views. Some of it reminds of my junior high school days, where a couple bullies roamed the halls keeping everybody in check, and seemed to get a sense of self worth by putting others down.

Some of the posts I've liked the best are the ones by ZeeBara, probably because his playing style closely matches mine. I've found his posts on playing rated/unrated excellent. I didn't even know playing unrated was such a strongly held tenet of the blackjack community until I started getting on various bj forums this past year. I've played blackjack off and on for 20 years and read well over 20 bj books (I've read Don's Bja3 at least three times) so I understand the game. It wasn't until I started getting on these forums that I saw there are some things you just don't question. In some ways the orthodoxy in the blackjack community is almost stronger than what I've seen from fundamental Christians. It borders on cultism, where you're forced to get in line and not have an independent thought. If you get out of line or question a long held beliefs, you will be ridiculed endlessly by the "experts" and forum bullies.

I also thought the recent post by ZeeBara on "Why many players fail at attempting full time play" was excellent, especially for me since it hit home, as I'm sure it did for many other people who play at our levels, and who have full time jobs but enjoy playing on the side. But what did Freight feel compelled to do? Put him down, telling him he wasn't a pro and he'd fail as a pro. I thought what was the point of doing that? Zee has never claimed to be a pro. He stated that very clearly in his post, and in many others. He holds the mantel for us everyday red chippers...that the bullies on this forum seem to enjoy putting down. If you want to know why new people don't post much on this forum, read Freight's post to Zee today. I really respect Zee that he keeps posting with the onslaught of attacks he receives from the forum's bullies, just because Zee hasn't accepted the orthodoxy in the blackjack community.

I also thought the posts by Frieghtman and Ryemo (I always get a lot out of Ryemo's) were excellent. All were good and addressed a different audience. I wish there was more of this.

This is my first post since I got put down by Moses for my negative comments on Nicholas's article. Zee and some others also had some questions about his article. While I agreed with some of Nicholas' points, I thought he did a very poor job supporting them. He mostly pulled numbers out of thin air and then made comments like "...math based arguments" and "applying the informed estimates...". Who is the "informed"? As far as the casino industry being "poorly managed", I went to Yahoo Finance and MarketWatch to see if I could verify the point he was making. MarketWatch gives the 10 worst performing industries over the past 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, and 10 years. Guess what? The casino industry never appears. Many other industries do like Semiconductor, Steel, Mining, etc, but no casinos. I then checked the stock performance of Caesar (the casino stock Nicholas criticized the most) with the largest oil company in USA (ExxonMobil) over the past 5 years. Guess what? Caesar's stock performed better than ExxonMobil. I wonder if ExxonMobil hired some former casino executives? It's a joke guys. Don't get upset. How does Nicholas make his point that Caesar is poorly run? By saying Caesar had a debt to equity ratio of 417 to 1 at some point in the past. There are many reasons this happens at companies that I won't go into here.

One of the main reasons Nicholas believes casinos aren't doing very well is because they spend too much money on "game protection". How much money do they spend on this? You guessed it, "gobs". I went on the internet to try and find out how much "gobs" is. It's "a lot". That helped me about as much as "gobs". Lol. If someone is going to make the argument that the casinos are in trouble because they spend too much on "game protection", then doesn't it make sense they would give some numbers, like amount vs revenue or amount vs profit? At least something more quantifiable than "gobs".

The final sentence in his article made no sense and why it lost all credibility with me. He said "If this keeps up the casinos will continue to deplete its customer base and with no new gamers to take their place gaming will fade." What planet is Nicholas living on? I just listened to a podcast with Max Rubin where he said gaming is bigger than all pro sports (NFL, NBA, baseball, hockey) and the movie industry combined. Gaming revenue has increased every year here and worldwide. It is not fading, just because some casinos have put in 6:5 blackjack and have put the cut card in the wrong place. Their revenues have gone from 220 Billion in 2001 to 495 Billion in 2019, increasing every year. I think the main reason some casinos are struggling is because of competition and casinos are popping up everywhere. The market is over saturated with casinos. This has much more to do with it than because casinos aren't putting the cut card in the right place or they're spending too much on security.

I apologize if anybody knows Nicholas Colon personally. I'm sure he's a very good person. He just did a very poor job supporting his thesis. I also challenge everybody to go back and reread his article, but this time read it with an open mind, and not the mind of the already converted. I've read it at least 10 times and each time I find new things in it that make no sense.

This will probably be my last post on this site so I thought I'd put it out there. I'm not into taking abuse like Zee. This post got much longer than I had planned. Sorry about that.

I've reviewed your 3ish length posts as well as your extensive 13 post history, as well as your comment that these are your last lists. Funny thing - there have been other very newish type posters who have very recently appeared, possibly disappeared already, and with an amazing affinity to certain other posters. Just saying.

As for Zee, he likes the "abuse" and encourages it. He knows he asked repetitious dribble, knows he plays substard indexes and ramps. I certainly don't mind, unlike a few others. What I do mind is when he proffers opinion and advice which hurts those he proffeses to assist.

Now, maybe you are, maybe you're not - would all the members of Team 3 Hi Opt stand up.

[Freightman]

Oh yes this is a board where everyone agrees all the time, there is never any arguments, posters all fall in line. There is just so much love here, you are so perceptive. You have us pegged so perfectly, your insights are just remarkable, good work.

Those thoughts you are referring to seem so....... 3ush.

[ZeeBabar]

I hesitate to comment on this topic since I'm relatively new...and I think there has already been some honest reflections by the main posters. There's a lot of intimidation on this forum that discourages different views. Some of it reminds of my junior high school days, where a couple bullies roamed the halls keeping everybody in check, and seemed to get a sense of self worth by putting others down.

Some of the posts I've liked the best are the ones by ZeeBara, probably because his playing style closely matches mine. I've found his posts on playing rated/unrated excellent. I didn't even know playing unrated was such a strongly held tenet of the blackjack community until I started getting on various bj forums this past year. I've played blackjack off and on for 20 years and read well over 20 bj books (I've read Don's Bja3 at least three times) so I understand the game. It wasn't until I started getting on these forums that I saw there are some things you just don't question. In some ways the orthodoxy in the blackjack community is almost stronger than what I've seen from fundamental Christians. It borders on cultism, where you're forced to get in line and not have an independent thought. If you get out of line or question a long held beliefs, you will be ridiculed endlessly by the "experts" and forum bullies.

I also thought the recent post by ZeeBara on "Why many players fail at attempting full time play" was excellent, especially for me since it hit home, as I'm sure it did for many other people who play at our levels, and who have full time jobs but enjoy playing on the side. But what did Freight feel compelled to do? Put him down, telling him he wasn't a pro and he'd fail as a pro. I thought what was the point of doing that? Zee has never claimed to be a pro. He stated that very clearly in his post, and in many others. He holds the mantel for us everyday red chippers...that the bullies on this forum seem to enjoy putting down. If you want to know why new people don't post much on this forum, read Freight's post to Zee today. I really respect Zee that he keeps posting with the onslaught of attacks he receives from the forum's bullies, just because Zee hasn't accepted the orthodoxy in the blackjack community.

I also thought the posts by Frieghtman and Ryemo (I always get a lot out of Ryemo's) were excellent. All were good and addressed a different audience. I wish there was more of this.

This is my first post since I got put down by Moses for my negative comments on Nicholas's article. Zee and some others also had some questions about his article. While I agreed with some of Nicholas' points, I thought he did a very poor job supporting them. He mostly pulled numbers out of thin air and then made comments like "...math based arguments" and "applying the informed estimates...". Who is the "informed"? As far as the casino industry being "poorly managed", I went to Yahoo Finance and MarketWatch to see if I could verify the point he was making. MarketWatch gives the 10 worst performing industries over the past 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, and 10 years. Guess what? The casino industry never appears. Many other industries do like Semiconductor, Steel, Mining, etc, but no casinos. I then checked the stock performance of Caesar (the casino stock Nicholas criticized the most) with the largest oil company in USA (ExxonMobil) over the past 5 years. Guess what? Caesar's stock performed better than ExxonMobil. I wonder if ExxonMobil hired some former casino executives? It's a joke guys. Don't get upset. How does Nicholas make his point that Caesar is poorly run? By saying Caesar had a debt to equity ratio of 417 to 1 at some point in the past. There are many reasons this happens at companies that I won't go into here.

One of the main reasons Nicholas believes casinos aren't doing very well is because they spend too much money on "game protection". How much money do they spend on this? You guessed it, "gobs". I went on the internet to try and find out how much "gobs" is. It's "a lot". That helped me about as much as "gobs". Lol. If someone is going to make the argument that the casinos are in trouble because they spend too much on "game protection", then doesn't it make sense they would give some numbers, like amount vs revenue or amount vs profit? At least something more quantifiable than "gobs".

The final sentence in his article made no sense and why it lost all credibility with me. He said "If this keeps up the casinos will continue to deplete its customer base and with no new gamers to take their place gaming will fade." What planet is Nicholas living on? I just listened to a podcast with Max Rubin where he said gaming is bigger than all pro sports (NFL, NBA, baseball, hockey) and the movie industry combined. Gaming revenue has increased every year here and worldwide. It is not fading, just because some casinos have put in 6:5 blackjack and have put the cut card in the wrong place. Their revenues have gone from 220 Billion in 2001 to 495 Billion in 2019, increasing every year. I think the main reason some casinos are struggling is because of competition and casinos are popping up everywhere. The market is over saturated with casinos. This has much more to do with it than because casinos aren't putting the cut card in the right place or they're spending too much on security.

I apologize if anybody knows Nicholas Colon personally. I'm sure he's a very good person. He just did a very poor job supporting his thesis. I also challenge everybody to go back and reread his article, but this time read it with an open mind, and not the mind of the already converted. I've read it at least 10 times and each time I find new things in it that make no sense.

This will probably be my last post on this site so I thought I'd put it out there. I'm not into taking abuse like Zee. This post got much longer than I had planned. Sorry about that.

There are a heck of a lot of readers of this forum and the ones who are abusive to me are a very few. These few consider themselves the resident pros and guardians of this forum. While undoubtedly, they are better at BJ than I, they seem to want to control everything and put down anyone who dares suggest that somethings just might be different. I report my experiences playing rated, getting on OSN and how its affecting me, about how these days the heat is significantly less while playing rated and that it is not the God awful thing they want to believe. Yes, they know more BJ than I but I believe I know a hell of a lot more about playing with a players card, current conditions as they relate to players card than they do. They either have never played with a card or seldom do but they hate it when I say otherwise.

The resident pros are also a set of macho guys who cannot stand someone like me admitting my mistakes, admitting that I sometimes double for less, sometimes dont make marginal plays because I like the ploppies and harmony at my table and such. These macho guys will get on a thread tro boast about their sports knowledge, basketball stories or hunting prowess but if I repeat a Bj question, they get so upset.

Its just their nature and one big argument against becoming full time pros. the constant war with casinos makes them terrible at empathy or humanity. They have a need to get on a forum simply to attack someone like me. They have learnt a lot from Don but forum participation is not one of the lessons that got thru to them.

[Freightman]

There are a heck of a lot of readers of this forum and the ones who are abusive to me are a very few. These few consider themselves the resident pros and guardians of this forum. While undoubtedly, they are better at BJ than I, they seem to want to control everything and put down anyone who dares suggest that somethings just might be different. I report my experiences playing rated, getting on OSN and how its affecting me, about how these days the heat is significantly less while playing rated and that it is not the God awful thing they want to believe. Yes, they know more BJ than I but I believe I know a hell of a lot more about playing with a players card, current conditions as they relate to players card than they do. They either have never played with a card or seldom do but they hate it when I say otherwise.

The resident pros are also a set of macho guys who cannot stand someone like me admitting my mistakes, admitting that I sometimes double for less, sometimes dont make marginal plays because I like the ploppies and harmony at my table and such. These macho guys will get on a thread tro boast about their sports knowledge, basketball stories or hunting prowess but if I repeat a Bj question, they get so upset.

Its just their nature and one big argument against becoming full time pros. the constant war with casinos makes them terrible at empathy or humanity. They have a need to get on a forum simply to attack someone like me. They have learnt a lot from Don but forum participation is not one of the lessons that got thru to them.

Zee
Just to clarify.
I have no issues with your idiotic questions. The concerns that many have is that you are espousing your substandard philosophies on innocent newbies. Just today, someone commented on your helpful insight and orifessional manner.

Give advice on something that you are proficient still, like rub and tug joints.

[Dbs6582]

I saw the numbers somewhere. I thought it was in the linked article. I think the casinos spent billions protecting from losses of millions. Paying $1000 to guard against losing $1 is not a good strategy for maximizing profits.

To know if his thesis is correct, what you'd really need to know is security spending increase per year as a percent of revenue. The casinos obviously spend a lot of money on security since they are dealing with a lot of money. They have people watching people and people watching those people. They are as worried about internal theft as anything else. I know people know that.

A lot of the new security they're buying is actually designed to reduce their security costs. The only way we'll understand the true story on this is by knowing someone on the inside with the books, which isn't going to happen. One of my many problems with the article is when he said they're spending "gobs" as if this proves his point. What is "gobs"? I actually thought that was one of the funnier parts of his article. There were many.

[Three]

They spend a lot more than security and costs are more than just cash outlay. There is cost in lost revenue.

[Dbs6582]

There are a heck of a lot of readers of this forum and the ones who are abusive to me are a very few. These few consider themselves the resident pros and guardians of this forum. While undoubtedly, they are better at BJ than I, they seem to want to control everything and put down anyone who dares suggest that somethings just might be different. I report my experiences playing rated, getting on OSN and how its affecting me, about how these days the heat is significantly less while playing rated and that it is not the God awful thing they want to believe. Yes, they know more BJ than I but I believe I know a hell of a lot more about playing with a players card, current conditions as they relate to players card than they do. They either have never played with a card or seldom do but they hate it when I say otherwise.

The resident pros are also a set of macho guys who cannot stand someone like me admitting my mistakes, admitting that I sometimes double for less, sometimes dont make marginal plays because I like the ploppies and harmony at my table and such. These macho guys will get on a thread tro boast about their sports knowledge, basketball stories or hunting prowess but if I repeat a Bj question, they get so upset.

Its just their nature and one big argument against becoming full time pros. the constant war with casinos makes them terrible at empathy or humanity. They have a need to get on a forum simply to attack someone like me. They have learnt a lot from Don but forum participation is not one of the lessons that got thru to them.

I've played rated the whole 20 years I've played bj. During this time, there was about 7 years I didn't play much. I first got backed off about 10 yrs ago and then 86'd at another casino shortly after that. I continued to play rated, but used some cover. To be honest, I never knew there was another way to play bj. It wasn't until this past year when I started getting on some bj forums that I realized this was a huge no no. And anybody that questioned the conventional wisdom of playing unrated got his head handed to him. You can argue about counts and things like that...but you can't question playing as a refusal. This is one of the bj 10 commandments...thou shall play as a refusal. I get that if you're a pro betting big money. But for the red chipper, I think they'd be giving up a lot in comps playing unrated. I know I love all the free hotels, free meals, free play and misc gifts.

But based on the advice on these forums, I have started playing unrated at some places. I'm still wondering if this is the right thing to do at my level.

Zee, I have also done many things you do. Like not making marginal plays to not upset the ploppies. Usually this is with the minimum bet out there. I'm at a casino to enjoy myself so sometimes it's not worth enduring the wrath of the ploppies. I know a real pro doesn't care.

I always do full double downs but I will sometimes take partial insurance. It was interesting to see some pros do this too.

My bet ramps aren't perfect but they have gotten better since I've been on these forums.

I tip quite a bit, which is another big no no. I didn't know this was such a big issue with the pros. I do understand their point. If you're at a casino to make money, don't give it away. But that is not my primary reason for playing. I like the casino experience and I don't like to upset people at the table, if it doesn't cost me too much in EV. Usually the ploppies make up for the lost EV by letting me double on some of their hands. I've found it helps to have the ploppies on my side. I've made a lot of money on scavenger plays.