Hello all! I'm a beginning counter, and long time forum lurker. I decided to get more serious about the game this year so have been practicing and reading everything I can. I'm located in the Pacific Northwest and have a couple local stores with okay games.

I took a trip to the Seattle area recently since there is a good concentration of casinos and I wanted to do a trial of my new skills. There is only so much that you can learn doing drills. I'm a red chipper using REKO and have a $10k bankroll. There were some other things I had to do in Seattle while I was there but for the most part this was a 4 day blackjack trip. Considering my low roller status I was hoping to find a larger selection of games and be able to wong in and out, but that didn't really work out.

I wrote up a full trip report below and any comments would be appreciated. It turned into a mini novel though so my main takeaways from this trip are:



  • I was surprised by the variety of available games. I had not prepared ahead of time for the multitude of different rules and decks. The casinos in my area all have pretty much the same game - heat and penetration are the big differences. In Seattle the conditions varied wildly and though I knew they were beatable I didn’t have the knowledge to play all of them well.
  • I took cover very seriously this trip but think I overdid it. I stayed at most places for only 45 minutes before moving on, and always left after my top bet came out. My top bet wasn’t that big though (1-16 spread, 5 - $80) and constantly moving between casinos ate up a lot of time I could have been playing. In retrospect I think I should have camped out at tolerant casinos longer to get more play in.
  • I still feel real awkward back counting at most casinos. Some places it was easy to be casual, but for the most part I thought I was being really obvious. I’m not sure how to improve on this besides more practice.


This trip was a major success. I got little heat, lots of play in, and had good variance so came away a winner overall. I’m excited to keep improving my game and trying this again. I'm definitely rough around the edges and a lot of the winning was just variance.

-- Full trip report --

Day 1.

Of course the day I start my trip a snow storm moves into the area. Driving to Seattle the visibility was bad but it was still warm enough that none of the snow was sticking.

The first Casino I stopped at south of Olympia turned out to be marginal. I had scouted it about 6 months prior and saw it was marginal then, and it had not improved. They had a double deck game (min $15) that was being hawked by a pit critter, and a 6 deck game with mediocre penetration. I decided to move on without playing since there were so many other casinos ahead of me.

Casino two, also outside Olympia, is where I first played. I had never been there before and their blackjack selection was odd to me. They had two double deck games ($10 min) and only one 6 deck with a $25 min bet (this was unsurprisingly empty). I decided to try out the double deck but in retrospect should have passed on it. I have only done a few drills with double deck and didn't have my bet ramp totally memorized for it. I stayed for 3 "shoes" and the count never got that great so I decided to move on. Down 190. I did some sims later and my ROR was off the charts since it was NMSE. Not a good start.

It was late already and I was a bit burned from that first table so I get to my hotel, ran some sims, then scouted a couple other places before bed.

Day 2.

I got up early and found out that was a problem. Seattle has lots of casinos but its not a casino town - I scouted out some of the local dives and they were open early but had no tables open (happened multiple places), or alternatively, I walked in and every eye on the room was on me. What is this early thirties guy who clearly doesn't look like a degenerate gambler doing here at 10am, and why is he asking if we have surrender?

I decided then that I needed to switch things up. Go to the locals places when it made more sense (early evening, when people got off work). Then go to the larger casinos in the morning/early afternoon/late.

I did some of my other errands, scouted a few more places, and then started playing. There is a dumpy little casino outside Renton that I stopped at first. It was in what looked to be an old fast food building. They had about 8 tables in the place, two BJ games, one a $25 min double decker, and a 6d $5 min that I stopped at. I was the only guy in the place besides the dealers, they didn't even have a pit boss. The dealers were competent, and the penetration was alright. We got through the first shoe (no big count) and as the dealer was shuffling a cocktail waitress came by. I just grabbed a water from her then gave her a dollar and a dollar to the dealer thanking her for her excellent shuffling. I have never seen eyes light up for a dollar like I did there. She cut that shoe to 1 deck and I told her I appreciated it. I got a good count in that shoe, and in the next one, then she was relieved and a loud group of buddies came in and joined my table. Time to mosey.

Next place was also outside of Renton and is part of a local chain. I got there around 5:30 so there was a good after work crowd. It was a largely asian crowd though so lots of baccarat/pai gow action and only one or two people on the blackjack tables. Penetration was average but pit critters didn't bat an eye that I didn't have a players card (even at dumps like this they have players cards!?). There were no big counts but I had a good run over a couple hour session.

Grabbed a late dinner then drove down to Big Casino A. I was worried at first when I got there because they had lots of tables but they were all crowded or had terrible rules, or CSM. I was hoping to try wonging in and out but the conditions made that pretty much impossible. The crowd at this casino was also very obnoxious about their smoke. There were packs of guys around every table smoking those cigarillos that somehow stink more than cigarettes and give off 5 times as much smoke. I felt sorry for the dealers.
However! In the back of the casino was the non-smoking area and two largely empty blackjack tables. Rules were good on both tables, one had CSM, lots of side bets, and was crowded (plops love side bets!), the other was an 8 deck shoe and was empty. I asked if they would reshuffle the shoe which was already half dealt (no dice) so i just played through it at min ($3). The Pit boss there was in a coma, he was completely disinterested in what was going on, so I went all out once I got my new shoe. Spread 1-15 (not enough in retrospect - I wasn't prepared for an 8 decker) with zero heat, and only had one or two people at my table all night. Left up $175.

I then doubled back to the locals place, it was about 2am now. It was much quieter now and only one blackjack table was open. I waited until there was a shuffle then moved in and backcounted. I waited until it hit my wong-in point and jumped in, much to my table-mates chagrin. He was losing every hand, and I got a lucky streak and won them all. He lost about $100 in ten minutes, and I went up about the same amount. He did not lose gracefully and stormed out making a bit of a scene. I decided to move on myself since there was quite a bit of attention on the blackjack table now and it was a new shuffle. I colored up and the deale called out - "we got a hit and run".

Day 3

Went to Big Casino B in the early afternoon. I had scouted it before and it is a big place but only half the pit was ever open. They had two 6 deck, $10 min tables, one $5 min, and one $25 min. When I was there late it had always been too crowded to really play so I decided to hit it up in the afternoon and that was a good choice. I was able to backcount the $10 min table and do my full spread. The pit here is much more relaxed in the afternoon and didn't hawk the tables. I left up $255.

Early evening I went to a locals place in a strip mall. It had a big bar surrounded by tables which made backcounting their blackjack game really easy. I saddled up to the bar, grabbed a beer, and made small talk with the waitress before moving into a couple shoes that went positive. The rules and penetration were just alright but backcounting was easy and I didn't feel any heat. Left up.

Then moved on to another locals place - this was another location for a local chain I had played at yesterday. They had a 6 deck and a double deck game. The double deck was $25 min and I tried to talk two locals out of playing it since they only had $200. They went broke very quickly.
I saddled up to the 6 deck game and the pit boss lady was somewhat hostile right away. She asked for my players card - I don't have one - so she asked for my ID which is the first time that had happened this trip. I gave it to her and it was my real ID (to be honest I didn’t have a plan for this happening). She glanced at it then made a comment about my age and that I looked young even with the beard. I made some age related small talk (with some flattery) and she seemed to relax. The count never went very positive but I had a good run and left up.

It was getting late so I decided to head back to Big Casino B. This was a mistake. It was super busy again, only 4 tables open still, and the conditions made it impossible to backcount. I did have a funny run in with an incredibly drunk older woman who came up to me while I was backcounting and started hitting on me (those cougars, man!). She then said I should play but I replied that I was just watching. A spot opened up so she moved in and started betting wildly. $50 one hand, $100 the next, then $25, then $300. She won every hand - of course - and handed me a $25 chip. I tried to tactfully refuse but she got a little belligerent and I acquiesced. I'm not the biggest fan of taking drunk people's money. Also, the pit boss noticed her crazy betting and started eyeing me since we looked somewhat like we were together (he had eyed me before since I was backcounting his table somewhat obviously). This pit boss was the only one the whole trip I felt any real heat from, and I didn't even bet! I called it a day there.

Day 4

This was my last day and it was early so I figured the bigger places would be better for my afternoon play. I got to the Big Casino B around noon and the pit boss I got heat from last night was still there! I was annoyed at this development and avoided his pit. I almost decided to leave when I saw the shift change. He and his whole crew left and a new one came in. They even opened up a $5 table that stayed pretty empty the whole time I played it. Had a couple great shoes, made some good money, cashed out, and left.

I then drove to Big Casino A, the last one of the trip, and decided to hit it hard. I had simmed out 8 deck betting ramps and was much more prepared. Of course I got slaughtered
I backcounted the good table and wonged in and out when planned. I had two shoes turn positive and had max bets out but the good variance I had the rest of the trip ran out. Lost multiple big bets and had to buy in multiple times. Left down $355.

Overall the trip was a major success. I came away with a win above expectation and that covered all expenses - this was what I had hoped for.