Vegas in August part 4 Blackjack

Looks like I waited too long to go for a swim. Looking out my window, I see the pool is no longer in the shade and I don't really want to show everyone my lobsterboy impersonation so I guess I will wait till later.

No poker tournament for me today - save it for tomorrow - bigger entry on a Saturday. Today was 133 people - tomorrow maybe close to 200 with bigger and more prizes.

Had my morning espresso machiatto with Svetlana and a friendly Somalian dealer called Tigist who always roots for us.

Midway into the first shoe I sensed something funky was up and asked her if anyone had played these cards yet. She confirmed they were new an hour previous and no one had yet played them.

In spite of the dealer's pathetic attempts to "wash the decks" to create a random outcome; new decks are usually very clumped - and you see many low cards clumped together and dealer not busting when she should and you never catch your face on the non-soft double downs

You have to tread cautiously until you break in the cards and they get to know your play. After a few shoes they are properly trained - assuming you have been playing perfectly.

So Svetlana sat out and a young Asian guy seeking his fortune sat down on my left with $100 to try his luck. I played two hands at $25 apiece to start each shoe and adjusted according to my read of the cards.

T'was a bit volatile but in the end (read - after 20 minutes) I was up around $275. Asian guy decided when he was up $50 that two hands for him was also a good idea - it wasn't - not for him and not for me - so I retired then; having peaked at +$350.

I left the shoe in Svetlana's capable hands and went to do some office work in the room. I came down an hour later to find Svetlana morosely nursing the last $50 of her $1000 stake at a different table playing one on one with the dealer.

She begged me to come into the game and I agreed; providing I could have the table to myself and she watched.

I again started with two hands. Glen from Texas ( an advanced-middle aged successful banker)came over after watching me jump up a couple of hundred, and as he was nice enough to ask if he could play with me, I let him and we went at it together. He played one spot and I played two.

After a couple of shoes I was up about $400 and he was up about $300 and he decided to be smart and opened a second hand for himself. I suggested he should not mess with the optimal number of three hands but he was still not housebroken by that point so he went ahead anyway.

After losing the whole $400 and another $200 by way of large bets in favorable count situations I subsided and watched him pooch himself down to his last $100 from an original $1000. (When the count is very favorable I maybe bet up to $150 on two hands. I tend to be conservative in spotting these situations so I look for extreme counts and it may only come up once, if at all, in a session).

I asked Glen then if he was prepared to follow my advice and he did, and we played again in a new shoe - only this time I felt that 4 hands were right (!) and I told him to play two with my two.

We went on a very nice run of several shoes where he got back to $1300 and I popped just over $1000 - with tip bets for the dealer on almost every hand. Winning 3/5 all the way.

Glen realised he was back in the black and asked me nicely if he could play only one hand again as he really wanted to conserve and not go in the hole again. I decided ok but I would only play one myself. I broke even while he lost half his profit. He sat out finally and I played three hands - winning the first and losing the next two - and said that's enough.

I slid the whole session profits over to Svetlana and told her to enjoy herself and went on my merry way.

It may be premature to say anything yet, but I am starting to feel the blackjack juices flowing again. Another reason I eschewed the poker tournament today. Since tonight and all Saturday it will be hard to get a cheap BJ game (that is not crowded)when the hotels are always packed on a weekend.