by “igotthesplitz”
I’ve been busting my arse practicing, with myself, with CVBJ, with friends on Tuesdays and Thursdays and felt pretty good!
I wanted to test things out in the real environment. I planned it and a couple of friends wanted to go with. We get to a local shop where I’ve had heat before (a new PB in town made dealer drop the deck), find a spot and start the night. The same DD table the heat came from, but the weekend was lit and this PB knows me from before and waives as I sit.
Table is somewhat crowded and my friends stand back, knowing I spread to 2 hands they didn’t want to take the one open spot. Count climbs the 2nd round in and I make my spread to max at 2×25. Winning that round and “letting it ride.” Count drops and I lower my bet. Count goes negative and mother nature calls me.
I get back to the table with a fresh deck. Count jumps and I go back to 2x$25. I won one and lost one. The 2nd hand after the dealer removes the bet, the guy to my left throws money in that spot raising his hands to 2, looks at me and says. “Sorry.” I play 1 @ 50 and after that the count dropped and I bailed. My friend spotted an open table where all 3 of us could play.
We take the table, loud, obnoxious, hitting on the dealers/PB and waitress, things start of great after being down $800 from the previous tables. My friend announcing at the beginning of every round, “double down opportunity coming up!” My other friend (not sure how to play basic strategy yet) is almost confused after telling him to split everything and double down on it.
During all the noise on the outside, there were countless moments that went into slow motion. The training that kicked in. The Running/Deviser/True. Sitting at the end to scout everyone else’s cards to make the plays. The 16 vs 10 was -1, but the friends take hits making the count shift. My friend sees me tuck it and looks extremely confused cause he just hit his 16 and got a 3. Dealer flips and busts with 25. The other friend leans over and says, “it’s a different play.”
It happens continuously throughout the night. 12 vs. 3. A quick glance at the table and it calls for me to stay (T2), dealer takes on 23. Dealer pulls an Ace, count T3, the insurance pays off. Dealer pulls another Ace and dealer wants us to throw up more money, (counts negative by the time the cards get to me) I laugh and say “NO WAY you can have it twice.” She didn’t.
What I’m trying to get across, is I’m starting to really see how vital these deviations are and how they can add a huge percentage of EV. The night ended up positive after rat holing $1,700 in green cause they wouldn’t give a partial color, but I’m back to the grind and practice routines for the next couple of months!
Thanks for reading and I wish everyone the best in EV!
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