By George C.
1D S17 DDAS LS RSA 13 cards cutoff
I played this marvelous single deck game for about 2 years in the 1970s. Caesars motto back then was “we take on all comers“. They did place a restriction on me that I could only spread 1 to 4. In black playing 150 Hands per hour my expectation was around $600 an hour. I played 20 hours per trip making 18 trips per year. So I had an expectation of $200K per year. On almost every trip that I made there was a guy playing 2 hands of $100 up to 3 hands of $3K.1)EDITOR NOTE: In case you are not a regular BlackjackReview.com reader: 1D=One deck, S17=Dealer stands on all 17s, DDAS or DAS=Double after splitting allowed, LS=Late surrender, RSA=Resplit aces allowed. An incredible game with only 13 cards not being played before the shuffle.
Many trips go by and then, on a trip I was horrified to see all 4D shoe games. The main pit still had four 1D games. I was relieved but only for a very short time. One 1D game was reserved and two were $500 and $200 minimums. That left me with only one playable game. I played it but the game was always crowded and play was painfully slow thus knocking my expectation down to less than half of my usual win rate.
I couldn’t wait to get home to develop a strategy that would restore my $600/hour expected win playing the 4D games. Yep, that reserved table was for my guy.
I’m now home and my task was to devise a system that would retain a $600/hour expectation playing the 4D shoe. Bankroll considerations would also come into play. At that time there were three blackjack simulators that I used simultaneously: Karel Janecek’s Statistical Blackjack Analyzer (SBA), John Imming’s Universal Blackjack Engine (UBE) and Stanford Wong’s Blackjack Count Analyzer (BCA).
I had a Mac computer and it didn’t run PC software. However there was a program called Soft Windows that when I added it to my Mac it would run the software. I ran several different strategies three at a time. I tried to get the results down to a standard error of 3% but running software through an emulator was so terribly slow. I thought my poor Mac was going to blow up.
I finally arrived at the following strategy: Play two Hands spreading 1 to 5 in black chips. I had to play 150 hands per hour with a deck or less sealed from play. My risk almost doubled from the 1D game.
Lights camera action!
Caesars had 46 blackjack tables spread over three pits. Subtract the four tables of 1D games left me with 42 games. This opened up some opportunities that I hadn’t simulated. Firstly, Caesars kept their excellent rules and some dealers only sealed off 26 cards from play. Naturally I played these dealers. Secondly, if a shoe was hopelessly in the houses favor, I would abandon it and start a new game. This provided me with less risk and fewer rounds needed to play to make my expectation.
They moved the goal posts again
Now I was Wonging 6D games with $500 chips. I received advanced notice that Caesars went to 6D games with a full 2 decks sealed off from play. Flat betting this game required that I play 30 rounds per hour and only when I had the edge.
I taught my brother Larry, my nephew Chris and a local Satellite Jack to track the cards. They would identify the 6D shoes that were favorable to play and I would jump in. This method also required an additional amount of bankroll – essentially twice the amount of the 4D games.
Those four 1D games in the main pit were now 4D games. And yep, there was my guy playing 2 hands of $100 and now spreading up to 3 hands of multiple $500 chips.
Day 2 of my Wonging adventure brought on some unwanted heat. The bosses dispatched two guys to follow me wherever I went. They didn’t suspend my play but simply followed me wherever I went. My nephew Chris remembered these two: Domenick and hey Joey?
Even my guy’s reserved table was suspended. I would spot him playing the 6D game in what would become the carnival pit in the future.
The lazy way to Wong
I take my dog and pony show to Caesars in Lake Tahoe. Stanford Wong published blackjack games and conditions that existed all over America. His latest report showed that Caesars Tahoe only cut one deck off the same game that Caesars Las Vegas dealt. This translated to an extra 0.4% of expectation.
With my nephew Chris in tow we set up shop. Here’s how it worked. I was stationary most of the time only playing when I had the edge. There were tables to the right and left of me with players. Chris would sit either to my left or right depending on when there was a fresh shuffle. When a shoe became favorable I would move to that table. Rinse and repeat. The bosses didn’t have a clue. A belated heartfelt thanks to my nephew Chris for his help.
On any given weekend, Caesars looked like a card counter convention. So this is what I did. I would identify several advantage players and one by one I would Wong in their games. Since I was flat betting, all I needed to know was that I had an edge. The idea is a modified version of a team formed by Al Francesco (Frank Schipani) where Ken Uston was the big player.
My guy was Ian Andersen. We would become friends and would carry a long term correspondence. We even talked about writing a book together but it never came to fruition. All in all a fun adventure for many years.
IMAGE CREDIT: Researchgate.net
IMAGE CREDIT: Caesars Palace Casino Las Vegas
Footnotes
| ↑1 | EDITOR NOTE: In case you are not a regular BlackjackReview.com reader: 1D=One deck, S17=Dealer stands on all 17s, DDAS or DAS=Double after splitting allowed, LS=Late surrender, RSA=Resplit aces allowed. An incredible game with only 13 cards not being played before the shuffle. |
|---|
Great story, Rocket! I used to love the Ian Anderson stories. I remember us using John Imming’s software. He constantly kept upgrading his program. I forget how many upgrades he had. No one knows where he is or even if he is still alive.