Monday, June 26, 2006
Every time I visit my dad in SLO, we end up going to an Indian Reservation Casino and gambling for a while. I wasn't too keen on going again, but then I thought, "hey, why don't I try counting cards this time?" I've known the basics of card counting for a while, but I never actually tried doing it. I just finished reading Bringing Down the House so the idea was fresh in my mind and I was itching to try.
We drove to ****** Casino and I did some basic high/low card counting, and won almost $500 in about 2 hours of play. It's by far my best gambling run ever, especially since I was never in the red. The night was one of the most exhilarating and awesome experiences I can remember.
Before I got to the casino, I sat in the back seat of the car and ran through a deck of cards about 5 times, keeping a count of low and high cards, making sure I ended with an even "0" account at the end, and trying to do it in about 30 seconds. In the casino, I followed a basic high/low count system and used it to figure out when to sit in or leave a table, and when to increase and decrease my bets. It didn't change how I played any particular hand.
I started out by standing behind the blackjack table, not playing, and keeping a running count of the cards starting with a fresh shuffle (6 deck blackjack). Once the count became good, I sat down and bet big. It worked well, except eventually the count became neutral or bad. I knew I would raise suspicion if I kept sitting at a table, playing a few hands, and then walking away. So I ended up playing the table minimum until the count became good, and then I bet BIG.
Keeping count of the cards while in the casino was even more difficult that I had imagined. First I was keeping count from behind the table, not playing. Step 2 was to count the cards while actually playing hands. Whenever my cousin would start talking to me I had to motion for him to be quiet and let me concentrate. A couple times I kicked him under the table so he wouldn't break my concentration. Once my dad started talking to me and I turned around and told him to let me concentrate, and then I realized how bad that probably sounded to the dealer.
I can play 95% of blackjack just by instinct. I know exactly when to stay and hit, double down, etc. But about 5% of the time I actually need to think for a second. I need to add my cards up and see what's going on around the table. This is the third step of card counting, being able to play those 5% of the games and still not lose the count. There were a few times I got 4 or 5 small cards and had a hard time adding them up and deciding what to do without breaking my concentration.
I had to be extremely focused on counting. I couldn't break my concentration for anything or I would lose my count, or I would lose my place around the table as I counted (did I already count that card?) The hardest part was the initial deal with 9 or 11 cards opened up in just a few seconds and I had to count them all. The first time I sat at a table I was in position 1, which I learned was bad because after the initial deal the dealer looked at me first. It didn't give me a chance to catch up on the count. So I started sitting in the middle or end and that helped a lot.
Counting cards was a huge adrenaline rush. At certain points when the count got good and I started betting big, I started getting really nervous. My mouth would get dry, my hands would shake, and I would hold me head and stare at the cards intensely. While I was playing I couldn't think about anything else besides the count, I barely even knew what cards I had in front of me. At one point I got a blackjack on a $50 bet, but even then I couldn't cheer or smile or high 5 my cousin. I was focused on the dealer and the other cards still coming out. I'm sure it looked pretty strange. The other people at the table could have been hitting on 18 or splitting queens, and I would have had no idea. My mind wasn't on any of that.
At one point the dealer I was playing with took a break, but instead of another dealer dealing, the pitt boss started dealing! It was totally strange. He wasn't a good dealer at all, fairly slow and careful. I really think the casino thought something suspicious was going on and wanted to make sure everything was cool. Who's this 26 year old kid winning our money? Of course I wasn't cheating or anything, so eventually he left. But before he did, he was totally fucking with me on one hand. I had 5 cards out, 3 of which were Aces. It took me a long time to add up my cards (since I was focused on counting) and he was telling me something I really couldn't comprehend. It wasn't until another dealer walked up behind him and told me I had 20 that I could "stay" and the game could move on.
It's interesting to note that this casino doesn't serve alcohol, so I was totally sober the whole time. There's no way I could have kept the count if I had anything to drink, so that was a good thing.
Even after tonight I might have chalked this up to luck. But one thing I found out later was my cousin was following my lead and also making money. He lost $200 within 30 minutes of getting to the casino. He saw me wining and sat next to me at times and matched my bets, increasing as I did. In the last hour we were there, he won back his $200. I actually had no idea this was going on until after we left, because as I said, I couldn't see anything that was going on at the table besides the count.
Through the night I probably sat through about 6 complete blackjack "shoes". Two of them I sat in on when the count was already good, so those were winners. Two more I played from the beginning, and at one point both had very high (good) counts and I made money. And two shoes stayed pretty level the whole time and I roughly broke even on them.
It was an awesome night, tons of fun. I was just disappointed I wasn't comped a free dinner. Oh well :). Now I'm totally psyched to go to Las Vegas and Atlantic City.
We drove to ****** Casino and I did some basic high/low card counting, and won almost $500 in about 2 hours of play. It's by far my best gambling run ever, especially since I was never in the red. The night was one of the most exhilarating and awesome experiences I can remember.
Before I got to the casino, I sat in the back seat of the car and ran through a deck of cards about 5 times, keeping a count of low and high cards, making sure I ended with an even "0" account at the end, and trying to do it in about 30 seconds. In the casino, I followed a basic high/low count system and used it to figure out when to sit in or leave a table, and when to increase and decrease my bets. It didn't change how I played any particular hand.
I started out by standing behind the blackjack table, not playing, and keeping a running count of the cards starting with a fresh shuffle (6 deck blackjack). Once the count became good, I sat down and bet big. It worked well, except eventually the count became neutral or bad. I knew I would raise suspicion if I kept sitting at a table, playing a few hands, and then walking away. So I ended up playing the table minimum until the count became good, and then I bet BIG.
Keeping count of the cards while in the casino was even more difficult that I had imagined. First I was keeping count from behind the table, not playing. Step 2 was to count the cards while actually playing hands. Whenever my cousin would start talking to me I had to motion for him to be quiet and let me concentrate. A couple times I kicked him under the table so he wouldn't break my concentration. Once my dad started talking to me and I turned around and told him to let me concentrate, and then I realized how bad that probably sounded to the dealer.
I can play 95% of blackjack just by instinct. I know exactly when to stay and hit, double down, etc. But about 5% of the time I actually need to think for a second. I need to add my cards up and see what's going on around the table. This is the third step of card counting, being able to play those 5% of the games and still not lose the count. There were a few times I got 4 or 5 small cards and had a hard time adding them up and deciding what to do without breaking my concentration.
I had to be extremely focused on counting. I couldn't break my concentration for anything or I would lose my count, or I would lose my place around the table as I counted (did I already count that card?) The hardest part was the initial deal with 9 or 11 cards opened up in just a few seconds and I had to count them all. The first time I sat at a table I was in position 1, which I learned was bad because after the initial deal the dealer looked at me first. It didn't give me a chance to catch up on the count. So I started sitting in the middle or end and that helped a lot.
Counting cards was a huge adrenaline rush. At certain points when the count got good and I started betting big, I started getting really nervous. My mouth would get dry, my hands would shake, and I would hold me head and stare at the cards intensely. While I was playing I couldn't think about anything else besides the count, I barely even knew what cards I had in front of me. At one point I got a blackjack on a $50 bet, but even then I couldn't cheer or smile or high 5 my cousin. I was focused on the dealer and the other cards still coming out. I'm sure it looked pretty strange. The other people at the table could have been hitting on 18 or splitting queens, and I would have had no idea. My mind wasn't on any of that.
At one point the dealer I was playing with took a break, but instead of another dealer dealing, the pitt boss started dealing! It was totally strange. He wasn't a good dealer at all, fairly slow and careful. I really think the casino thought something suspicious was going on and wanted to make sure everything was cool. Who's this 26 year old kid winning our money? Of course I wasn't cheating or anything, so eventually he left. But before he did, he was totally fucking with me on one hand. I had 5 cards out, 3 of which were Aces. It took me a long time to add up my cards (since I was focused on counting) and he was telling me something I really couldn't comprehend. It wasn't until another dealer walked up behind him and told me I had 20 that I could "stay" and the game could move on.
It's interesting to note that this casino doesn't serve alcohol, so I was totally sober the whole time. There's no way I could have kept the count if I had anything to drink, so that was a good thing.
Even after tonight I might have chalked this up to luck. But one thing I found out later was my cousin was following my lead and also making money. He lost $200 within 30 minutes of getting to the casino. He saw me wining and sat next to me at times and matched my bets, increasing as I did. In the last hour we were there, he won back his $200. I actually had no idea this was going on until after we left, because as I said, I couldn't see anything that was going on at the table besides the count.
Through the night I probably sat through about 6 complete blackjack "shoes". Two of them I sat in on when the count was already good, so those were winners. Two more I played from the beginning, and at one point both had very high (good) counts and I made money. And two shoes stayed pretty level the whole time and I roughly broke even on them.
It was an awesome night, tons of fun. I was just disappointed I wasn't comped a free dinner. Oh well :). Now I'm totally psyched to go to Las Vegas and Atlantic City.