Well, this was my first trip to vegas (2nd overall) as a so called counter. The purpose of the trip was mainly to get some experience in dealing with atmosphere and surroundings as a counter. I didn't arrive out until about midnight on Friday. My girlfriend and I just walked around the center strip area until about 3 am. I want to mention that this was over the labor day weekend and take note: it was busy.... and to make the trip even worse is the people there (Mostly foreign visitors) were snotty and mean as hell. I had to fight with them at the new Alladin Buffet over the damn seafood. I guess they thought it was their buffet.. They were loading up by the truck loads and wouldn't let anyone up to the food until they hogged it all... I wasn't a happy camper. But I do want to say for the $20 it was a really good buffet. They had king crab legs, steamed mussels and clams.. good size shrimp too... they also have asian food, mexican food, american... primerib... etc. etc... you could go there everyday for dinner and probably not eat the same thing twice...

now onto the gambling... I stayed at the IP. Not a bad place to stay but not the nicest as in rooms and view. They do have a decent doubledeck game. limits are $10 and up at night. But during the early morning hours and early afternoon it is $5 tables. usually 4 DD tables with 3 at $5 and one at $25. Then the $5 will move up to $10 tables at peak times. The penetration seemed to vary by the dealer. But was pretty consistent with about 65% penetration. Sometimes 75% or more... They do have shoe games that are $3 and $5 tables. Contain 6 decks in the shoe. I only played the DD games.

I think the reason I lost is I was affraid to lose my bankroll. So, my intentions were to spread 1-5. That is $5 on minus count and upto $25 on a +4 or higher count.. Well, I was a chicken ##### and only went upto $15. I think the reason was is it seemed everytime I got a high plus count and stuck the money out there I lost. Even to a 4 - 6 as the dealer up card. But I seemed to come back when the count was in the low minus stages. I think if I would had stayed with my plan that I would have came out ahead. I really didn't gamble a whole lot.. But here is my standings:

6 am sat. -$50. (received one breakfast comp) I was up $50 and within 15 min. I was down $50. I wasn't paying to much attention to the time thus was there for 2.5 hours at the same game... My mistake... I did learn from this mistake.. that is to get up on them then run like hell out of there.

4am Sun. +$30 (received two buffet comps.) whew.. thought I had it mastered at this point. Took the money and ran... Time played was about 1 hour. Was down the whole time until the end.

5 am Monday. +10.. Just couldn't get the flow... But still managed to walk away with a little money.

Now the downfall. I got up Tuesday morning at 5 am to find the limits still at $10. Must have been a busy night. So I went back to bed. I should have stayed there until I left... Got a shower and was heading out to Caesar shops with the girlfriend when I noticed the tables were at $5. Stop, I had to play. Played for 30 min and lost $100. I tucked my tail between my legs and went over to the shops. Came back and tried it again. I won back about $30 in about 10 min. I got up cause the count went real low and to many people playing. What I did next was back count on these tables and when the count got to +4 I jumped in. Thus this only happened twice over the next hour or so. I won another messily $15. Though I was watched from the pit as I did this. I really didn't care cause I was leaving soon. But they never did say anything. I did this three times. Took some BJ away from some people. Sorry to them.. I feel bad about that cause the dealer was getting good hands on most of the wonging in's.

My time played on Tuesday was 3 hours. Minus $80... Overall I lost about $130...

Stay tuned for the rest and conclusion... I got to get some work done.