Woke up, got dressed and headed down to Starbucks - The crew had already begun putting up the 2017 decorations - When ordering at Starbucks, I noticed about ¼ of the menu items had a "Sorry, we are out of __________" written over it -- I attempted to order a cold brew with sweet cream (nope, they were out), skinny vanilla latte (nope, out of the syrup) - so, the barista informed me what sugar free syrups they did have lol and i ended up with a skinny cinnamon dulce latte - it was ok, not my preference
So as I was sitting down to play, a guy tapped me on the shoulder to tell me he just played at the table and the dealer was giving away money - oh boy - thanks jinxy!!! So the dealer shuffled and it was just another guy and me at the table - About halfway through the shuffle the guy notices that I have surrendered a couple of my hands and inquired as to what surrender was - I informed him you can give up your hand and keep 1/2 your bet - I see a lightbulb go off over his head - however, it was very dimly lit - This genius began surrendering 13's and 14's against dealer 7's and other such nonsense - Towards the end of the shoe I was 300 up and was dealt a 6,3 versus dealer 3 so I doubled - The guy at the table decides not to hit his 12 versus 3 even though he did every other time because he "had a feeling" this time - I was dealt a 7 for 16 (which would have given him a 19) - The dealer turned over a 7 then drew an Ace (which should have been mine) -I got up to walk away from the table but watched as the next card out was a 6 and waited to see what the dealer's down card was , a Queen (she would have busted and I would have been on the positive side of a 1200 swing) What is wrong with people!
I switched tables and played with a nice woman and we cheered one another on - towards the end of the shoe I had 200 up and was dealt an 8,3 versus dealer 6 -- doubled and was dealt a 10 for 21 - The dealer turned over another 6, drew a 4 then drew a 5 to push me on 21 - After that, I made a nice run - trip +2k
I headed to grab some lunch and relaxed in the room for a spell. Eventually, I headed back down to the casino floor, which had been swelling with NYE revelers -- I sat down at a table and basically was within a few chips up/down of my buy-in -- watched the guy at the table with me go on an amazing run in the middle of the shoe -- he was betting 100-300/hand and won about 7 or 8 in a row, eventually capping it off with a double down win of about 3200 -- all in all, he won about $15k in half a shoe - On the other hand, I had lost 1k Upon switching tables, I was unceremoniously disposed of, losing the first 6 hands, pushing 2, surrendering 1 and losing 4 more in a row - Trip even
I switched tables again and the blackjack gods were in rare form, once again not allowing a win for me after 10 hands - Trip -1k
I decided to take a half hour break and stretch my legs and mosey on over to one of the other pits...I started winning some hands and, upon a new shuffle, a younger guy sat down (apparently his buddy was at the next table) -- they were millennials who thought they were the second coming of EMINEM -- lots of MOFO and N---A comments -- well, he bought in with 300, played 50 on the match the dealer side bet and 100 on his hand and proceeded to go up 4k in a matter of a few hands by hitting the suited match -By the end of the shoe, I was down another 1k - I switched tables again and this was where I thought I was going to make my comeback
I started winning some doubles, was actually dealt some blackjacks, and had regained 1k WOOHOO
Shuffle -- enter another guy buying in with 400 this time - Of course this guy also started winning his match the dealer side bets and was soon up about 1k - Then, the dealer was tapped out, a card burned, and the demons of blackjack destroyed us both - He did not win another match the dealer bet, I lost 6 double downs in 2 shoes with no hand less than 18 - I split 8's on 2 occasions and lost both - I lost virtually every natural 20 I was dealt - It was truly a lesson in negative variance
All told, I checked out of the comped room and headed home - I have done a lot of soul searching over the past couple of years regarding my casino trips and gambling and have decided to end these sojourns.I will write up a recap soon but, for now, 2016 ends my attempt to have fun playing blackjack.