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Re: Spring Trip Report [long] Part 2
Posted by Barfarkel on 25 April 1999, at 9:33 p.m., in response to Spring Trip Report [long] Part 1, posted by Barfarkel on 24 April 1999, at 11:07 p.m.
REMOTE_HOST: 152.163.197.192; REMOTE_ADDR: 152.163.197.192
Having checked into the Flamingo the day before, I walked down to the casino this morning and noticed that they had one $10 DD table going. Usually I don't play Flamingo because I only play single and double deck, no shoes, and their DD tables are usually $25 minimum-too rich for me. I sat down, joining 2 others, and using my players card, bought in for $200. Played for 1/2 hour, losing steadily. Quit with another $140 down the drain despite the decent [65-70%] pen. Walked over to Bellagio, my favorite DD casino last trip, and promptly lost another $195 in about 1/2 hour. Pen at the B was 70% and the ambience was wonderful as usual, but I just couldn't win. I had lost $635 in my last 3 sessions and was down $665 for the trip so far. |
I began to have a mild case of the panics. What is all that counting and practice for if I'm just going to get dumped on and lose my money anyway? Then I took a deep breath and thought, "ok, you have a losing streak like this at least once each trip. So what? This time it just happened earlier than usual...maybe I've just gotten it out of the way...now I need a win...any win no matter how small just to reestablish some confidence..." |
I re-assessed my play. Was I keeping the count? Yep. Was I accurately converting to True? Yes again. Was I making the correct strategy changes based upon my memorized index numbers? There hadn't been too many opportunities for those, but I had made a few. So, what was the problem??? |
Allright, let's just call it standard deviation [or it's synonym = bad luck]. Happens to everybody sooner or later... I walked over to the IP and played at a $5 DD table for 1/2 hour getting ahead by $30 and quitting with a buffet comp. Pen was decent, not great...wish I could say the same for the barfet...the worst in LV. Went shopping the rest of the day and changed rooms to a western [strip] view. |
Bought a new pair of jeans, 2 belts, some socks and a new watch at the Belz outlet mall. |
That night I saw Steve Lippia at the Rio. Steve does Sinatra about as well as you can imagine, and he has the Vincent Falcone Orchestra [they played with Frank] backing him up. He does mostly songs that Frank has sung, plus a few he hasn't, and you could imagine Sinatra doing those few songs exactly the way Steve sang 'em. Very entertaining show for Sinatra fans and it was only $20. |
Drove to the Boardwalk where I sat at a $5 DD table where I saw the best pen of my trip, a true 75% and sometimes deeper! Played for almost 2 hours with 2-3 other players. I was up for awhile, then finally quit with a loss of $50. Used a 5-25 spread. |
I use the Silver Fox [Ita] count, a balanced level one with true count conversion and 40-50 indices. BC=.96 PE= .54 IC= .69 Good enough to get the money despite my results so far. |
Next morning, down but not out, I returned to the Bellagio DD pit for some more punishment, but after 75 minutes, found myself ahead by $50 and quit to go get breakfast. Still a nice 70% pen in the mornings there, and very few other players. CW's still bring the best coffee in LV at the B. |
Having printed out some LV coupons from www.vacationweb.com, I decided to use the "free breakfast" at the IHOP at Howard Johnson's Casino on Tropicana. The coupon had blurred printing and when I presented it, the gal said it was "buy 1 get 1 free". I paid for the breakfast and met some gal in the next booth who looked somewhat down and out, so I had her food put on my bill so I could use up the coupon. It didn't cost any extra and earned me her gratitude as she sat with me, smoked one after another of my cigarettes and yakked on and on about her job prospects and her past [Jersey girl]. I asked her to come up to my palatial suite at the hotel, but she declined. So now, stimulated from coffee an', I thought I'd drive out to Parumph for a little boom boom at Sherrie's Ranch. When I got to the turnoff at Blue Diamond, there was a line of trucks to the horizon all creeping along about 4 mph. Forget this, I thought, it's an hours drive if you do 90, at this rate it'll take all day...doubled back toward Silverton and played the SD $5 table with 2-3 other players, buying in for $100. After an hour, ahead by $65 I left. We got 2 rounds to 3 and 3 rounds to 2. Hmmm, I seem to be doing better at the lousy pen games, I grinned to myself. Maybe I should try the Barbary Coast next... |
Tune in tomorrow for the next exciting adventure as Barfy tries to dig himself out of a hole... |
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