Woke up, spoke to a friend (he was my brother-in-arms from the Revel Tournament fiasco) and my cousin about the blackjack goings-on and they commiserated with me. My friend half-jokingly stated that the "long run" of those basic strategy blackjack simulations of "a billion hands" won't be on my radar until I'm dead 100 years. He has a point - not that I'm going to stray from basic strategy or even certain content dependent basic strategy variations - but, in the short term, the guy/gal who refuses to split hands can win and the guy/gal who plays perfect basic strategy can lose. As for the $3k I'm down, the trip is still young and I've come back from far worse situations - I think I'm going to "try my luck" outside of Caesars Palace today though. Maybe a change of scenery will do me some good.
I am headed over now to Harrah's to play in the first round of the blackjack tournament - though it would be amazing to win, I'd actually settle for 48th place and get $750 in free play. So it was not until the 11th hand of the shoe in the tournament that I actually won a hand -- I had been playing conservatively so was still in the mix - by hand 17 there were only three of us left and one woman was way ahead of everyone--controversy: the dealer and her assistant dealer refused to tell the table what the chip count was after hand 17 when they were supposed to - instead they argued with the table and even refused to grab a floor person - finally they did and they were told they were wrong and we were informed of the chip count - why are people so obstinate? It was now left to the other guy and me to battle it out for second place to advance to the second round. On the last hand, the other guy busted and, based on bet size, all I needed was a push and I would've made it to the next round - I had 17 dealer had 7 showing and turns over an Ace for an 18 - so I lost by $25 to the other guy left at the table. What a f**ing disaster!
Half on tilt, I decided to calm myself down by walking down to the Aria to play. I had a gingerly stroll to the Aria as the weather has been beautiful today. Upon sitting down I bought in for 2k and proceeded to lose 7 of the 10 first hands, with 1 push and 1 win. There were two doubles in there as well. As such, I was now down another 1200. A gentleman asked if he could jump in and I remarked "can't get any worse" to which he replied "Story of my life" and we both laughed. of course, it could always get worse. He bought in for 5k and was averaging $500/hand. By the end of the shoe (about halfway to the cut card when he joined in), I had lost the $2k and he had lost his $5k. He took off and I switched to a double deck game. It seemed as if the dealer could do no wrong as I was quickly down another 1500, making it -6500 for the trip.
I was down yet another $1k and contemplating how quickly I could pack and get to the airport when I was dealt the following: 7,7 versus dealer 6 - First 7: dealt a 4, doubled for 21; Second 7: dealt a 7 (re-split) then dealt an Ace for 18Third 7: dealt a Jack for 17dealer turns over a 5, then another and then.......a King YES!!! I was able to press and have some cushion after being down 7500. At this point, I had regained 3300 and now stood negative 4200 for the trip - much much better than 7500
I went to the MLIFE desk to ask about comps and they reiterated that table games players no longer earn Express Comps but that a floor person could issue a meal comp. I asked what my tier score was as well as my play for the day and the MLIFE employee replied that she sees I won $400 yesterday and played for 30 minutes today at a $50 average bet. I looked at her thinking I jumped into a time warp again - telling her I was not at Aria yesterday - she finally realized she was looking at June instead of August. With that matter cleared up, she told me I was halfway to maintaining my Platinum status and needed 100,000 more tier points by September 30th (goodbye Platinum status lol).I made my way back to the pit and the floor person informed me they don't have any authority to issue comps - she called a host and I was given a $30 comp for the Burger Lounge. I wanted to first head back to Caesars to shower and rest up for a bit before eating and playing any more. I headed to the Aria tram - stepped off at Bellagio and made my way down the escalator to walk back towards Caesars. As has become custom in my trips to Vegas, I randomly run into someone I know. Out of nowhere I heard my name called and lo and behold, it's a guy I used to know from Revel who would also play in the high limit room there. We exchanged pleasantries, he told me he was playing at Aria later and I told him I'd probably see him there. Such a small world.
Now back at Caesars for a brief respite before heading to eat - staying positive! 👍
Headed back to Aria and chowed down at the Burger Lounge - ordered a double classic without cheese and pickles, side of fries and a drink. Was good, very filling while only finishing half the order of fries. Taking a walk around Aria digesting before heading to the tables and just got myself some more caffeine
I'm hoping for a nice run without having to be up all night but good to plan in advance! So I was sitting chatting with a dealer and floor person while digesting my dinner and two separate guys sat down at the table I was at and asked if they could join - I told them I was just relaxing and they sat down to play - the first guy lost 8 hands in a row before leaving and then the next guy lost 9 in a row. Some dealers seem to be unbeatable. I finally bought in for 1k hoping to double it up and then head back to Caesars and call it a night. Naturally, the blackjack gods laughed at those plans and I quickly lost the 1k plus another 1700 on top. It took the better part of 90 minutes to regain the 1700 + another 800 (out of the original 1k)
I'm taking a mini-break down 4200 for the trip. Positive vibes please.
Went back to the tables after a few minutes and ran into a floor person and shift manager I'm friendly with and we caught up. I then saw another guy in a suit in the pit who I thought was a dealer I knew that got promoted - turned out I was wrong but always good to meet a new floor person, especially after making a jackass out of myself by saying "hey look at this guy in the suit - too good for us commoners" as he looked at me quizzically lol Suitably embarrassed I sat down and quickly lost the first five hands but then won the next 5, including two doubles. Very quick session netted me another 200 on the comeback trail - Trip -4K
Took another break and eventually headed back to play - exchanged some war stories with the floor person (he told me about two Reverse Royals he hit 10 years apart) -- anyone know what game the Reverse Royal is from (I assume some sort of Video Poker)?
I finally got in a groove and within two shuffles of double deck, I had regained another 1k. I was getting tired and did not want to push it any further - as such, during the course of the day, I went from being down 7500 to only being down 3k.
As I was walking in Aria a young girl almost walked right into me with her drink and she looked at me like it was my fault. I mentioned this to some employees I know in the Carte Prive and they said, oh yeah she is 23 and giving everyone an attitude - I told them sometimes we have to admit when someone is better than us - we all laughed lol
I'm now heading back to Caesars and hope to find something open to grab some food to bring up to the room where I can relax and call it a day - I'm in a positive mood and, as I stepped off the tram at Bellagio, it began raining - feels good to have some of the raindrops blowing on me in the breeze. Like the universe cleansing me of the day's events. Sweet dreams everyone and thank you for being a part of my blog.