Nick: Down to your last dime

[Nick]

I was playing alone at a $15 table (the min. I could find)at Trump Marina in Atlantic City (very lucky to find an empty table there!!), when a well-manered guy in his late 30's or early 40's asked me if he can play. I say sure. He changes $1000, bets it all in 3 uneven bets and loses.
He does that a couple of times, until he coughs up about $5,000 and runs out of cash. After the first couple of hands, I decided to let him play alone even though TC was at +1. He tells me I can play, but I refuse. He says he finds it funny how the cards come out or some BS likle that.....He asks for the max marker he can have. They give him $15,000. He bets 3 other bets and loses. On the next play, he places 3 other bets, one for $2,500 (5 purples) on which he gets a 12 or 13, another one of $1,000 on which he gets 11, and the third one was a huge stack of black chips that I estimated at $3,000 or $4000, on which he gets a pair of 8's. The dealer has a small card, 3, 4 or 5 I don't remember. Our high rolling ploppy, who looks like a hippy from the 70's, asks for more markers to double and split. They tell him he has reached his limit. He says they usually give him an extra 10%, $1,500 (you can tell this guy has done this before). The pit boss makes the call...We wait....about 20 minutes....They give him the $1,500. He does not have enough money to split the 8's, so he doubles the $1,000 on the 11 and gets a 2, and stays on the two 8's. The dealer does not bust and he loses all 3 bets.
Now he has $500 left that he bets on one hand. I ask him of he shouldn't bet $250 instead in case he needs to split or double. He smiles at me and does his thing. Of course he loses the $500. He's down to a couple of 20's that he gambles and loses that too.....It was so pitiful to see someone lose so much in so little time, and at a minimum table too. By the way, the pit boss approved his going over the table limit because his min bet was $100.....I think Don S. says somewhere in BJA that you should always keep some spare money to double or split. Don, you don't know how right your advice was in this case.
Another advice that I would like to add: never make multiple uneven bets.
I was on a junket trip with only a few hours to make up for a heavy loss I incurred in the first hour. Besides the interest in the high action, I stayed because the count +1 and the table was empty. After our ploppy left, I continue to play alone, and of course the count tumbles to negative, and I leave having wasted a precious half an hour or so on my day trip...I was down $1,500 the 1st hour, I made up most of it leaving down $375.....I hate AC and their 8 decks. I think the only way to make money is to find an empty table or one with only one other player. Wonging is out: no mid shoe entry on the $25 tables, and congestion on the $15's. I was lucky to find a couple of newly opened 15's where I played alone or with one other player, and that's where I made my money.

[Parker]

Perhaps you should have shook his hand and thanked him.

After all, without players like that, there would be no casinos and we would have to find something else to talk about. :-)

[Nick]

> Perhaps you should have shook his hand and
> thanked him.

> After all, without players like that, there
> would be no casinos and we would have to
> find something else to talk about. :-)

You're absolutely right. The casinos make so much money form people like him, that you would think they shoudn't care too much about the few advantage players out there....Their greed might kill the game if they continue to worsen the rules.

[suicyco maniac]

> Perhaps you should have shook his hand and
> thanked him.

> After all, without players like that, there
> would be no casinos and we would have to
> find something else to talk about. :-)

I agree with you almost 100% Parker.Much like the casinos we totally thrive on the ploppies terrible habits and should show them respect. However the other day I played with the type of ploppy I want to drag behind my truck thru a briar patch!! Yes I am talking about those card squeezing game slowing players who think they are on a bacarat table. I swear some of them follow the same rules on BJ the dealer follows on bacarat (not that the play of their hands matters however I would love for them to stand on 2 cards in high counts and keep drawing in low counts) What gets to me is I am playing a heads up deeply dealt game and one of these card squeezers shows up playing two hands and taking about two minutes per hand (O.K. thats an exageration) but I went from playing about 300 hands an hour down to about 50 with only one other player. AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Why can't this be my fu%#&ng table. Maybe we should start a letter writing campaign to make it law that for one hour every week they should make the BJ tables COUNTERS only I will gladly leave the rest of the week to the ploppies!!!

[Moose]

.. the jackass that plopped down on my table when I had 15 minutes on the Golden Gate 2:1 BJ coupon and started agonizing over every play? He's lucky the pit boss gave me an extra 10 minutes or I would have killed him (him = the ploppy, not the very nice PB, who also gave me a 10 minute extension when the CSM jammed)

M.

--------------------

Ploppy: "Geez, what would you do with this? [agonizing over 7-7 vs 7]"

Me: "I'd do ANYTHING, just do it F'N quick!"

[Soft17]

> .. the jackass that plopped down on my table
> when I had 15 minutes on the Golden Gate 2:1
> BJ coupon and started agonizing over every
> play? He's lucky the pit boss gave me an
> extra 10 minutes or I would have killed him
> (him = the ploppy, not the very nice PB, who
> also gave me a 10 minute extension when the
> CSM jammed)

> M.

> --------------------

> Ploppy: "Geez, what would you do with
> this? [agonizing over 7-7 vs 7]"

> Me: "I'd do ANYTHING, just do it F'N
> quick!"

Yeah and while at it, stay the f@#k quiet when I hit my soft eighteen against a dealer 10. Enough with this "stealing dealer's bust card" bulls@#t! I cant stand it any more!!

Soft17.

[methodman]

> .. the jackass that plopped down on my table
> when I had 15 minutes on the Golden Gate 2:1
> BJ coupon and started agonizing over every
> play? He's lucky the pit boss gave me an
> extra 10 minutes or I would have killed him
> (him = the ploppy, not the very nice PB, who
> also gave me a 10 minute extension when the
> CSM jammed)

the golden gate has great sd why play csm,,,
are you drunk?

> --------------------

> Ploppy: "Geez, what would you do with
> this? [agonizing over 7-7 vs 7]"

> Me: "I'd do ANYTHING, just do it F'N
> quick!"

[Parker]

> the golden gate has great sd why play csm,,,
> are you drunk?

He was playing the Las Vegas Advisor 2:1 blackjack coupon, with which you get to play for one hour with all blackjacks paying 2:1 ($25 max bet last year, now $10).

Since you are playing with a healthy positive expectation, you want to get in has many hands as possible in the one hour period.

So, the CSM is a logical choice.

[methodman]

> Sorry don't agree,you may be playing more hands, but the object is to make cash you could get whacked pretty good, and then whamo you will be down a ton. They have good dd too, with speedy dealers.

He was playing the Las Vegas Advisor 2:1
> blackjack coupon, with which you get to play
> for one hour with all blackjacks paying 2:1
> ($25 max bet last year, now $10).

> Since you are playing with a healthy
> positive expectation, you want to get in has
> many hands as possible in the one hour
> period.

> So, the CSM is a logical choice.

[Coug Fan]

The choice is between a game with a 2.5% advantage (CSM), and 200 hands per hour or one with a 3.5% advantage (SD) and 100 hands per hour. Average bet of $25 and its a no-brainer.

[Magician]

> The choice is between a game with a 2.5%
> advantage (CSM), and 200 hands per hour or
> one with a 3.5% advantage (SD) and 100 hands
> per hour. Average bet of $25 and its a
> no-brainer.

I think you're correct, but don't forget that a 2.5% edge and a 1.0% edge combined is not necessarily a 3.5% edge.

Also, you can flat-bet more at the CSM than your average bet when counting because of lower variance.

[Moose]

200 hands for you, perhaps.

I played so fast, we had to wait a couple minutes for the CSM to reload, because I was drawing cards out of it faster than it could put the cards back in it. The worst mistake I made was splitting 4-4 v 4.

There is no way I would ever, EVER consider playing anything but a CSM with a flat bet, off the top advantage such as this.

C