I awoke this morning and readied myself for the second round of the tournament. As play began, we were informed by the dealer that there would only be five of us at the table, rather than the usual six. Two hands went by and another player showed up. He claimed to have been sitting at the wrong table. The table asked if we would start over and the pit boss informed us that the additional player already lost 200 at the other table. As such, he was the chip leader at our table as we all were betting between 300-500 per hand for the first two hands. Our protests fell on deaf ears. From the time the new player arrived, I lost every hand but two and was quickly dismissed from Round 2. After checking the rules, it was clear to me that the pit boss did not follow the written rules, which called for a forfeit of $500 in chips for any player that showed up late between hands 1 and 5 (he showed up at hand 2). Maybe it is just me but there always seems to be some sort of controversy when I am entered into a blackjack tournament. I don't seek drama but somehow it follows me.
After my Round 2 loss I headed to the High Limit room. There was a gentleman at the table who had a cigarette burning in an ashtray on the chair next to him while smoking another one. I sat down at the 2D game and proceeded to be assaulted by the blackjack gods. The dealer had 3 naturals in the first 5 hands and made a 20 and 21 on the other 2. By the end of the shuffle I had lost 900. I switched to a 6D game and here is how the first hand went: Me: 7,7 - Dealer: 6 - I split and was then dealt as follows: First 7: dealt 3 doubled for a 17; Second 7: dealt 7 and split -- then dealt a 2 and doubled for 18; Third 7: dealt another 7 and split -- then dealt a 3 doubled for 16; Fourth 7: dealt a King for 17 - There was now 700 riding on this hand, which would have gotten me close to the 900 I had just lost on double deck - So, to recap, I had: 17, 18, 16, 17 v dealer 6 - dealer flipped over a 10 - drew a 3 -- just pure perfection for beating all my hands - I had now given back approximately half of what I was winning for the trip in the span of less than 7 minutes. I walked away in disgust to attend the blackjack tournament wild card drawing.
There were 20 wild card spots open and they drew about 40 names (a lot of no shows for the drawing). Alas, it was not meant to be and my name was not called
I dutifully headed back to the High Limit pit in an effort to get back to my previous high water mark of +3450. Naturally, I lost or surrendered the first 8 hands, creating an even bigger mountain to climb. I steadied myself by remembering that I was still winning for the trip and played on. About halfway through the shoe, I had a streak wherein I was dealt 5 doubles in the span of 13 hands. Amazingly, I won them all! This helped correct the course and I now had 2800 of the 3450 back. The dealer then shuffled and I was dealt a first hand blackjack. I then pushed a couple of hands and won a double plus another blackjack. I got to +3200 and decided to take a lunch break.
Onward and upward. After taking a brief respite to relax and watch a Law & Order: SVU episode, I headed back down to play and landed at a 2D game with one of my favorite dealers. Things started out nicely with a blackjack, although hidden beneath his 10 was an Ace, so I did not collect any chips. However, the rest of the shuffle went nicely, with my pushing or winning more than losing. By the end of the shuffle, I had surpassed my previous chip count high and was +3600 for the trip with a day and a half to go
I Took a dinner break at Vic & Anthony's: Filet mignon and duck fat potatoes
A post-dinner walk on Fremont followed by relaxing poolside followed by a quick blackjack session:
Played with the 🍷 guy who was again getting brutalized at the same 6D shoe game (luckily, he must have received a dispensation to play 50 instead of the table minimum which had wavered between 100 and 200 minimum all weekend). I joined in after a fresh shuffle and 🍷 guy started off nicely with a blackjack, some wins and pushes followed by another blackjack. After about 10 hands, I was 400 to the good and colored in. I said I like to win a few chips here and there in the short term as long sessions get me in trouble. The dealer gave me a sly smile as if to say "this guy should listen to you". I smiled and left the table +4K for the trip