First, the rules:
8 deck, 1~ deck pen
DAS allowed
No early surrender
Dealer hits on S17
Min $15 Max $150
Split aces only get 1 card, and no natural blackjack from that
Dealer doesn't deal his 2nd card until all players' hands are resolved (slight house edge; will affect certain strategy plays like whether to double player 11 against dealer 10)
It was my first time playing bj in a casino, and I had fun! I had memorized the basic strategy charts (with common deviations) and my counting was accurate within 0-2 over 6 decks in my home practice so I was fairly confident of not losing the count.
Some key points from my experience:
1) I attracted no heat
It could be because I was using a super conservative bet spread (1 unit per true count up to 5) or I just wasn't winning big, but the casino staff didn't seem to care that I was blatantly counting.
I deliberately took Seat #1 as much as possible, and often delayed the game as I was trying to estimate the current decks dealt, count the other players cards etc. Pit supervisors were staring at the games but never said anything. Players were also quite tolerant when I took my time.
2) There are all sorts of players
Over about 4-5h of play across 6 sessions, I saw:
- newbies playing bj for the first time (e.g. not hitting a 8 (??)
- gamblers shouting 'picture!' hoping for dealer to bust
- semi counters who were saying things like 'the next card is going to be big, so I should hit' (I didn't think they were truly counting as they didn't make betting deviations)
- maniacs (there was a guy betting 2-300 per hand, gesticulating animatedly when he won/loss. He was highly entertaining to watch and there was a literal crowd of 10 ppl standing around watching him)
I don't think I saw another card counter, or at least someone who played perfect basic strategy (common giveaways are not hitting a 15/16 even on negative counts - most casual players will be afraid to hit those despite it being +EV to hit those in the long run)
3) There are all sorts of dealers
I'm not sure what system they had for rotating dealers - I've had dealers deal for a full 2 shoes; I've had midshoe changes. The 'worst' dealer I had was this PRC woman who was LIGHTNING FAST. I've never seen anyone deal so fast before. I was glad for her to switch out.
Then there was this PRC man who was obviously newer, and dealt very slowly and deliberately. In one of the hands, he even made a payout error - the result was a push but he paid out this other player... I don't know if the player noticed, but I didn't say anything to not cause any problems haha.
4) Variance is a bitch
I remember two memorable hands.
True count was +2 or 3, so I bet 2-3 betting units (can't rem)
- I was dealt AA against dealer 5. Split
- Each hand got a ten/picture card. The guy next to me was celebrating for me, saying 'good job' and stuff. I thought I had a double Blackjack.
- Dealer somehow made 21... and it was a push.
- ( I didn't know that splitting Aces meant u can't get a natural Blackjack, so I was happy for a second)
Count irrelevant, was betting min bet.
- I had 77 against dealer 5. Split.
- 77 7 (dealt a 7 on first hand). Split again.
- 77 7 7 (dealt a 7 again!). At this point I was already hesitating at putting so much money on the table, and I could hear several spectators gathering to watch as they noticed I had multiple hands in play.
- Split again.
- 7K 77 7 7 (first hand was a 17. 2nd hand GOT ANOTHER 7 what in the world. Couldn't split again as max number of splits was 3)
- 7K 774 7J 74(8) [I even hit an 11 on the last hand, so I agonisingly put in the double, and the small crowd (of 3-4 people) behind were watching with bated breath]
- My eventual hands were something like 7K 774 7J 748
- And. The. Dealer. Freaking. Gets. 20. There was an audible gasp and groan from the spectators it was almost comical, as they collectively empathized with me.
- This hand put me on tilt for a while, losing 5 betting units at once (thank goodness it wasn't at some high count, and I was still betting min bet). I had to skip a few hands as I was tilted bad
My overall stats:
Biggest winning session: $192
Biggest losing session: -$139
Total winning sessions: 3 sessions, for total of $259
Total losing sessions: 3 sessions, for total of $420
NET: -$161 loss
All in all it was a fun experience! I felt like I was fairly lucky in that I didn't have a long losing streak and I got a fairly accurate experience of about 50% edge - and I'd have to play more just to let the edge play out. Wouldn't mind going again! Next time, I'll try to spend more time :p
