So after dinner last night I headed back to the tables, still down 5200.
I sat down and after a shoe I had regained 200 of the 5200 WOOHOO!
I took a break to hang with my friend who was in town and eventually headed back in to play some more blackjack. I was thinking positively and was hopeful that I would get back to even steven for the trip.
I sat down at a table with two other guys who seemed to not be having much luck - I should have taken that as a sign. The dealer shuffled and we all won the first 2 hands. Then, that dealer got tapped out (we all cried out there was a conspiracy against us as we had finally won a couple of hands). Well, this dealer would give Wallace Shawn a run for his money. It seemed as if the dealer would pull 21's at will. I think the best hand I had in the shoe was a 17. I proceeded to lose 4400 of the 5400 I had. At this point, out of 10k, I had 1k left.
I switched tables, resigned to the fact that I would lose the 1k and thusly, cancel my upcoming trip to Vegas and take a few months off from the game of blackjack. I decided to play with a dealer I normally avoid. I figured, can't get any worse. For once in my life, I was right -- I proceeded to win back 2500 within one shoe -- I was, in the words of George Constanza, "be-boppin and scattin' all over the place" -- I was winning double downs and was able to press my bets. However, the shoe ended with losing 5 hands in a row but I was now back at -6500.
I switched tables to play with a dealer I used to play with at the Revel -- she was rooting for me the whole time. However, I had to ride the roller coaster once again. I lost 1k very quickly and was back down to having only one quarter of my original bankroll. I asked for a shuffle, took a deep breath and began anew. I was dealt a blackjack to start then was able to press and actually win 5 double downs. By the end of the shoe, I was up to 4500 of the 10k .I took a deep breath and began another shoe. About halfway through the shoe, at 2:30am, I had 5k in chips in front of me. I joked that I should go for it on one hand but, knowing my luck, I would get a three way split with double on each so I resisted and went to bed only getting back to the halfway point. However, the Vegas trip is still on and I hope to be able to place in the tournament while I am there.