Ed Tice: Trip Report: Romania

[Ed Tice]

For those who don't know me, I am in the software business and this requires me to travel a lot. I never travel for the purpose of playing blackjack, because I am a red chipper and my EV would be less than the travel costs. But when I other things bring me to travel, I enjoy offsetting some of the costs by beating up the casinos.

I was in Romania recently, near Bucharest. I was very busy but got a chance to play three nights in the one small casino near where I was staying.

The casino was Casino Maxim. Rules were good 6D DAS DA2 S17 ES10 and penetration was 5/6 decks.

Table mininum was 100,000 Lat (approx 3 USD). Maximum was 2,000,000 (20:1 ratio)

I had overestimated the value of ES10 and was getting only a 1:4 spread on the table, but with lots of indices (including surrender indices). I haven't had a chance to run a sim on this, so it is possible that I was actually playing a negativ EV game.

My results for three nights were -6 units +1 unit -45 units for a total of -50 units!

I can not say that there was casino cheating involved given that I was erroneously playing with a weak spread (although again I think that it was still a slighlty positive EV game) and the fact that I just dont think I played my best (air pollution affecting my concentration?).

However, near the end (and I stopped playing shortly afterward!) I did see something that greatly concerned me!

The plastic cut card that they gave me had cracked on one side. I didn't realize and used that side to cut the cards. I managed to catch one of the cards in the rip and damaged the card. I didn't realize it. I cut again with the other side and we played. This card was not discovered because it was cut out of play that shoe. The next shoe the ripped card comes out and the dealer notices it. The boss comes over. What do they do? New cards?

Nope! The boss rips that card in half and places it on the table. Then he brings another card of the same suit/denomination, puts it into the discard rack and drops the two halves of the old card into the box where they keep the money.

Upon recollection, I never saw the cards spread at this place, and this card control procedure bothered me. Combined with my losses, I decided it was time to leave.

Result: Down 50 units.

[Geoff Hall]

> However, near the end (and I stopped playing
> shortly afterward!) I did see something that
> greatly concerned me!

> The plastic cut card that they gave me had
> cracked on one side. I didn't realize and
> used that side to cut the cards. I managed
> to catch one of the cards in the rip and
> damaged the card. I didn't realize it. I cut
> again with the other side and we played.
> This card was not discovered because it was
> cut out of play that shoe. The next shoe the
> ripped card comes out and the dealer notices
> it. The boss comes over. What do they do?
> New cards?

> Nope! The boss rips that card in half and
> places it on the table. Then he brings
> another card of the same suit/denomination,
> puts it into the discard rack and drops the
> two halves of the old card into the box
> where they keep the money.

This is the same procedure that they follow in England if a card is damaged.

Nice reports Ed. The terrible conditions that you described as 6D, D9, DAS, ENHC are the rules that we unfortunately have to get used to over here in England as standard.

Best regards

Geoff

http://www.blackjackswitch.com

[Magician]

> This is the same procedure that they follow
> in England if a card is damaged.

Yep, sounded normal to me too.

> Nice reports Ed. The terrible conditions
> that you described as 6D, D9, DAS, ENHC are
> the rules that we unfortunately have to get
> used to over here in England as standard.

And no insurance and no splitting 4s, 5s or 10s, right? Or is that changing?

[Geoff Hall]

> And no insurance and no splitting 4s, 5s or
> 10s, right? Or is that changing?

Good point - as far as I know these rules are staying put.

Designed to protect the average players from making bad plays, they still obviously count as disadvantageous rules for knowledgeable players.

Best regards

Geoff

http://www.blackjackswitch.com

[Magician]

> Good point - as far as I know these rules
> are staying put.

Sorry to hear that.

> Designed to protect the average players from
> making bad plays, they still obviously count
> as disadvantageous rules for knowledgeable
> players.

I know you're not trying to defend the rules but I don't entirely buy this explanation. Splitting 4s against 5 or 6 is basic strategy with DAS and taking even money for blackjack (which is allowed) is incorrect basic strategy. And of course they allow the player to stand on their soft 13 against a 7 or hit their hard 17 against a 6 (the average ploppy loses far more money on these basic hit/stand decisions than on splits and insurance). Not to mention the fact that the player is free to play slots and other table games at which they can expect to lose even more.

Sorry for the rant but I think all of us here know better than to accept the usual explanation. Fact is, there's no logical explanation for the existence of these rules.

[Barker]

These rules have been set in stone since the British Gaming act came into force in the 1960's.With the knowledge that was available then the rules were in fact devised to uniformally limit the house edge, which can be interpreted to protect the player from bad plays which he may otherwise adopt.Although basic was available it was not optimal to the British standard 4 deck game. Until some 6/7 years ago it was a legal requirement for the casino to display a notice of advice on each table, had the player adhered strictly to this advice he would have played to a house edge of 1% whereas the edge with perfect basic is now .59%.Barker.

[Magician]

> These rules have been set in stone since the
> British Gaming act came into force in the
> 1960's.With the knowledge that was available
> then

OK, perhaps they can be forgiven on those grounds and I suppose any conspiracy theories can be discarded.

> Until some 6/7 years ago it was a
> legal requirement for the casino to display
> a notice of advice on each table, had the
> player adhered strictly to this advice he
> would have played to a house edge of 1%
> whereas the edge with perfect basic is now
> .59%.Barker.

Curiouser and curiouser. So some of the "protection" was enforced by law and some was merely advice? Why was only part of it repealed?

[Barker]

>
> Curiouser and curiouser. So some of the
> "protection" was enforced by law
> and some was merely advice? Why was only
> part of it repealed?

Not really sure, it could be that the table advice notice was introduced sometime after the gaming act came into force to bring the house edge more in line with the other games offered, does seem strange though.Regards BB.

[chance king]

> Yep, sounded normal to me too.

> And no insurance and no splitting 4s, 5s or
> 10s, right? Or is that changing?

yeah .. english rules suck ..but with the forthcoming deregulation ..should prove interesting .. when is BLACKPOOL GONNA OPEN??

[chance king]

I THOUGHT THERE ARE PRETTY LEGIT casinos in bucharest itself .. palace and plaza were pretty good ??
did get some heat in palace quickly tho .. one pitboss pretty astute ..

> For those who don't know me, I am in the
> software business and this requires me to
> travel a lot. I never travel for the purpose
> of playing blackjack, because I am a red
> chipper and my EV would be less than the
> travel costs. But when I other things bring
> me to travel, I enjoy offsetting some of the
> costs by beating up the casinos.

> I was in Romania recently, near Bucharest. I
> was very busy but got a chance to play three
> nights in the one small casino near where I
> was staying.

> The casino was Casino Maxim. Rules were good
> 6D DAS DA2 S17 ES10 and penetration was 5/6
> decks.

> Table mininum was 100,000 Lat (approx 3
> USD). Maximum was 2,000,000 (20:1 ratio)

> I had overestimated the value of ES10 and
> was getting only a 1:4 spread on the table,
> but with lots of indices (including
> surrender indices). I haven't had a chance
> to run a sim on this, so it is possible that
> I was actually playing a negativ EV game.

> My results for three nights were -6 units +1
> unit -45 units for a total of -50 units!

> I can not say that there was casino cheating
> involved given that I was erroneously
> playing with a weak spread (although again I
> think that it was still a slighlty positive
> EV game) and the fact that I just dont think
> I played my best (air pollution affecting my
> concentration?).

> However, near the end (and I stopped playing
> shortly afterward!) I did see something that
> greatly concerned me!

> The plastic cut card that they gave me had
> cracked on one side. I didn't realize and
> used that side to cut the cards. I managed
> to catch one of the cards in the rip and
> damaged the card. I didn't realize it. I cut
> again with the other side and we played.
> This card was not discovered because it was
> cut out of play that shoe. The next shoe the
> ripped card comes out and the dealer notices
> it. The boss comes over. What do they do?
> New cards?

> Nope! The boss rips that card in half and
> places it on the table. Then he brings
> another card of the same suit/denomination,
> puts it into the discard rack and drops the
> two halves of the old card into the box
> where they keep the money.

> Upon recollection, I never saw the cards
> spread at this place, and this card control
> procedure bothered me. Combined with my
> losses, I decided it was time to leave.

> Result: Down 50 units.

[Geoff Hall]

> yeah .. english rules suck ..but with the
> forthcoming deregulation ..should prove
> interesting .. when is BLACKPOOL GONNA
> OPEN??

The latest rumours I've heard is that deregulation is likely to take effect about 2 years from now (if at all).

They don't like to rush things over here :-)

Best regards

Geoff

http://www.blackjackswitch.com

[chance king]

>

The latest rumours I've heard is that
> deregulation is likely to take effect about
> 2 years from now (if at all).

> They don't like to rush things over here :-)

> Best regards

> Geoff

thats fine by me . i can wait ..still plenty of places to last me two years .. england owes me a lot of money .. and i hate english weather ...