Thanks again for a wonderful trip report Neb...

sucks about 75k loss at the end, but damn good overall trip.

please trip report all your sessions here! love the action and the pics

Great TR, Neb!

Just one small bit of nittery...People keep saying that your virgin roll at a craps table is supposed to be lucky. It's lucky for women rollers not lucky for men. Lol superstitions.

awesome TR, thanks for the awesome ride.

and who needs craps when you can make 168k in 22 hours.....

If you are out there July 4th week shoot me a PM. Craps = the nuts!

Yep. The superstition is that virginity is good in women and bad for men (not just in craps).

That being said, did Neb say he's never ever thrown dice? I know he doesn't play craps, but I "don't play" craps either although I have bet the Don't Pass line a while 2-3 instances (never rolled, though).

Great TR...don't worry, they'll have more money waiting for you later!

Last night after my second brutal poker session in a row I totally rescued my losses playing blackjack and channeling Neb. You are an inspiration, sir.

sent from my smarty-phone

Thanks again for wild ride, the $$$ amounts alone draw me in!

Best trip report I've ever read.

Just curious what your comps were? I have a feeling you are very much under comped for your play. Great trip report, exciting to read.

Actuallty the "dealers" stand on the backside of the table, so it can be difficult standing right next to them. They are always happy to answer questions. You CAN stand next to the "stickman", he's the guy with the.. stick.

Or you can go to one of the casinos that have an actual craps lesson scheduled in the mornings. It's a class aimed at complete newbies.

Not that you couldn't get a dozen 2p2'ers to stand next to you teaching it to you.

Hey Neb sorry to miss you. Next time for sure. Thanks much for the tr. Great stuff.

Neb, Thanks again for sharing! wonderful read and pics.

Stupid question. I obviously think I can now go on a BJ heater so is there any recommended reading or heck even a YouTube video you'd recommend before I go set my roll on fire?

Nice TR!

+1

If its not out of bounds to ask, I'd love to hear how you learned how to count seemingly so effortlessly. I tried it 30 years ago when I was 18 and couldn't stand the boredom of all the memorization. I think the book I read was called Million Dollar Blackjack by Ken Uston. I guess I should have persevered since security probably wasn't as tight back then, although they might have broke my legs or worse.

I wish I had taken pictures of the first time I went to Vegas and went to The Dunes. I remember walking up to the poker room and watching them play for a while but I didn't play because the books I had read said the game was full of cheats and couldn't be beat.

It's weird to realize later that I might have been watching Doyle, Chip Reese, Amarillo Slim and maybe even Anthony Spilotro or his guys long before the game became what it is today.

I just got a room, my food covered, some spa treatments, and a couple rides around town. Nothing special. I'm sure I was under-comped, but I don't know what else I would've asked for?

I don't know what the best introductory book would be, sorry. It's a pretty straightforward and popular thing, so I would imagine tons of sites would cover the concept pretty thoroughly.

I think the reality is that, a little like poker, the variance and human factors doom most would-be counters. BR theory will tell you pretty quickly that you need a lot more capital than most are willing to amass. (Or, alternatively, you need to play at stakes that are a lot smaller than most are willing to tolerate.)

Maybe you were trying too fancy a count. There are a lot of variants that add massive complexity for very little incremental return. The basic count captures most of the advantage and requires no memorization. Just... counting. (It does take practice to do it effortlessly.)

the count was pretty simple, IIRC +1 for 10/J/Q/K/A, 8/9 neutral and 2's thru 8's -1

That was pretty easy (although I rarely got a single deck count correct when I practiced). The boring part I was too lazy to master was all the rules associated with various counts

I tried it halfass at low stakes and lost quickly and gave up, I'm the type of person who even if I counted perfectly and knew all the rules would still be too bothered by the variance and it would mess up my head.

You seem unaffected by big losses which would have made me puke

continued success & thx for the reply

Don't play at a full table. Card counting becomes less effective. (6 players at a table seeing 12 cards + dealers 2. 14 cards total)

It's better to play 1 on 1 and spread multiple hands.

Learn "Zen" card counting. It's hair +EV in the long run and it's better than hi/lo count.

Assuming Neb works in the software industry. He probably memorizes most cards and puts them in discard folders in his head.


OP, my wire just came in today. HA!

Yeah, all those rules are just refinements that improve profitability. A lot of them, however, also act as markers that "give you away" to the casino now. So they are markedly less valuable than the math geeks that invented them thought they would be at the time. In real life, if you just want to play blackjack at a neutral or slight advantage, you can pretty much skip them and be most of the way there.

Is that your goal or are you doing something more refined?

I doubt I'll ever try this again, I can't stomach variance plus the boredom of the game just to attempt to eek out a few comps. Its tempting to give it a go at much lower stakes in order to try and win a few bucks and possibly get a few comps, but I'm pretty sure my laziness will prevent that from ever happening so I'll continue to enjoy living vicariously through your trip reports.

Looking forward to the next one & thx again for your replies

amazing trip report and great run up and small run down!

question Neb - how does the casino reach to your counting? do they know you're doing it and are ok with it? or are you disguising it? if so how?

ive always wanted to take a shot with the counting but havent built the courage

sorry for bumping late, but why would you split 4s vs a 6 upcard with a 7+TC?
seems dumb