MVSeahog

All, With a few forums coming up with "online casino" threads and which ones to play, I had to go back out and see which casinos are using who's studio for their live games. As it turns out for me, I've just "rediscovered" the following. . . . . 5Dimes' "Vegas" live baccarat table is the same as the Black Orchid studio. 5Dimes' HD live baccarat table is the same as Sportsbetting's studio game. So, depending on where your "home casino" is, depends on which studio you'll get to play. I did prefer the 5Dimes/Sportsbetting (HD) casino play for the larger screen and normal cards but playing on the Black Orchid front end is not a problem either. I have just recently been put back on to Sportsbetting dot ag so that's why I've been looking around again. I'm still a full time player on BetPhoenix but will continue to "test" Sportsbetting/ag. MVS

Monte, Hmm, that name sounded familiar. I went over and logged in and doggone if I didn't have $56 in the account. I hadn't been over there for a long time as the "shortcut" I had on my computer listed it with another name. The interface to get to the "live" casino was a bit cumbersome, but I made it. Then I had to figure out how to get money from my account to the live casino account (hint, click on cashier) and then I could make a few small wagers to test it out. The game is VERY fast. Much faster than BetPhoenix but if you have your tracking sheet made out quickly, you can get the wagers down in time. I ran four quick hands and won three of them. Woo-Hoo! Then had to negotiate my way out of the casino. Evidently there is no graceful way to do it other than just close the screen. I then went back into the live casino and hit cashier to move the money back into my account from the live casino account. A very nice, large video of the live casino worked well and you can "chat" with the girls if you're into that kind of thing. I don't unless specifically addressed for some reason. Anyway, I'll try to get some sporadic play in over there now that I'm aware I've got the account funded for a bit. Thanks for bringing it back to my attention. MVS

DarkValefor, Try a little "decaf" tomorrow morning. MVS

No. I've been playing there almost 4 years now. Other than the occasional drop out of the game it's been relatively smooth play. I do not play when I don't get a good video feed though and will usually just wait for another time or day when that happens. At the time I made my one and only deposit, it was kind of a trust type thing, which nicely got around the prohibitions on US credit cards. I had done my homework and read over the deposit and play agreements on the site and then actually called them on the phone to get a feel for the operation. All of my questions were answered and we did a "cash advance" to pay for the deposit. Nobody in their right mind would EVER use a cash advance on a credit card for any normal reason (very expensive if you don't pay your cards off on time) but it was the only "valid" way to get the money to them at that time. They did reimburse me for the "advance" fee that my credit card charged, which was a nice touch. As it was only a $200 (40 units) deposit, I figured I could immediately cancel the card if anything funny started to happen on it. Nothing ever did and that card eventually expired so it all worked out fine. Also, be aware that playing online, and actually taking money OUT of the casino will require a substantial amount of documentation and personal information to be transmitted to them. To a lot of people, this is unacceptable so be sure and email or call them to find out just what they will want before you can take your money out. I do not know how they accept funding these days as I've not had to do it. Hopefully there's a better way now but there will always be a certain element of implied trust when you do these things. Also, I did not, nor have I ever, taken any bonus play. I find the play through requirements to be very lopsided in favor of the casino and it does tend to hamper efforts to withdraw money at times. If your game is good, you won't need the bonus money. They did for me and I haven't heard of any players lately on the various forums who have said they've been turned down by them. I have found that being able to play from the comfort of my desk, surrounded by scoresheets and computers is much nicer than being surrounded by chain smoking losers. I will play in the brick and mortar casinos when it is presented to me, but my time actually inside the building is generally just enough to beat the shoe and get out of there. My tolerance to heavy cigarette smoke gets smaller by the year! Like I've mentioned in several other threads. Be sure and do your homework when chosing an online casino. Read the signup agreement and then read it again. Be sure you understand all of the banking rules. How to pay. How and when to get your money out! What are the fees? Some online casinos charge a LOT of money just to take your own winnings out! READ THE AGREEMENT and if there's something you don't understand, call them and ask about it. After all, it's YOUR money you will be dealing with. Understand just what you're buying into. Also be aware that there are casinos out there that attempt to tag on to a good casino's reputation but having a similar sounding name. BetPhoenix is not BetPhoenixCasino. One is good. One is really bad. I almost found that out the hard way. I am in no way associated or affiliated with BetPhoenix dot ag. I'm just a member and player. If they sucked, I would be among the first to speak up about it. Hey, it's my money too! MVS (off soap box for now)

Well, this looks like as good a place as any to ask this question. I was playing tonight on BetPhoenix and during the shoe, about hand 45 or so, the "tote" board just kind of disappeared. It was very disconcerting at first but as I was keeping the usual running record anyway, it wasn't all that big a deal, but the tote board never actually came back and I finished out the shoe. Anyone else seeing this in their online play? For those who wish to play "that" shoe, here it is, as I recorded it. AD (I made up for my losing Sunday football bets. Arrrgh) Bet Phoenix 10-29-2013 10pm B242132132 P1112311111241 B212212214111

No. Not that I'm aware of but that does sound like a good idea. Yes, as it were. You most probably won't, especially "online" as everybody online is an expert and any expert will tell you that baccarat can't be beat so "those guys over at BeatTheCasino" are lying weasels. (I've been called worse!) That's what I do about every other day and I've been here about as long as anybody reading this. 8 decks, the dining room table and the wife out of the house makes for a perfect warm up or practice session! That's something above my pay grade but what most guys have done is just pull back a bit on their casino play and put it towards the course. Not a video directly about NOR/NOR+ but there are several seminar videos that the guys have made and for the people who attended, they all seem to be in agreement that they were good. The NOR/NOR+ plays build on a lot of earlier work and once you see "where they came from" it really helps smooth out the learning curve. For guys who have been here several years, they've seen the direction. For people who are relatively new, they wind up learning the older material as it directly relates to the newer material. They're all good, just some are better and choosing which one is the key!! No problem with the questions. Lots of them and everybody has "new" fever and the questions come pouring out. Luckily we have guys in here who will take the time to answer questions as they see fit and when they really have some time, it gets pretty detailed. There is a thread running right now that is bringing me up to speed on some things I should already know!!! You never stop learning, that's for sure. Good luck with your future decisions. MVS

Lou30, I remember the day I made the decision to become a fully paid up member here. I put a lot of thought and time into it. Probably the best "gambling" decision" I've ever made. I won my "fee" back mostly with online play and have never looked back since. MVS

Lou30, Where are you based? If someplace other than the Colonies, you're good to go with several international brands, most based in Europe with a few across Asia. If you're US based, you're pretty limited at this time. With only two that I'm aware of, only one of which I'm familiar with. Be prepared to produce a LOT of pretty private information to whatever casino you do decide to play on. Well, not really to play on but when you go to take out your winnings, you will be asked for a lot of information to confirm who you are. Go slow with chosing your online casino. Test it a lot in free play. I would recommend ONLY playing the live dealt games and not the RNG, but that's my own personal preference based on past experiences. Once you do chose one or two, check back in and see if anyone else on the forum is playing there. There are a few sites online that track online casinos. You may want to check out casinomeister dot com and take a look around. MVS

Yes, and if I'm reading that scoreboard correctly, I show something like +18 running basic NOR on it using the new start and a very conservative staking plan. MVS

Ellis, Thanks for the play by play in this thread. Very much appreciated. In fact, I just went back and read the entire thing again to pick up the little bits I may have missed the first time around! MVS (uh, that would be the new start. Got it now)

Ellis, That's what I thought but for some reason I couldn't track down the thread with that in it and just wanted to double check. Thanks. MVS

This looks like the correct thread for this hopefully, simple question. It has to do with changing modes. Are we keeping track of modes based on running into a straight run vs a ZZ run? I think what I'm asking is if we're in Mode 3 and lose the third bet on a ZZ run, are we changing to Mode 2 in ZZ's only or do both types of runs change to Mode 2 until the next loss in that mode? I am tending to think that the modes stay separate for each type of run. MVS (wife is gone up north for a bit. Lots of time to practice and play now.)

pipecub, Hmm, I worked until I was 60 and so have most of my friends. I would tend to think that 60 is a good target age for retirement but most people work past that. MVS

Just double checked my Baccarat directory and it's not there. Thought it would still be somewhere in the background but alas, not here. MVS

Pipecub, You're starting to "lose focus" now with these daydreams. Try to make your practice time really practice and not just tossing cards and thinking about what could be. Practice "for real" and it will be time well spent. It is imperative to understand the reason for any particular wager during practice so it will be almost automatic when playing for real. MVS

Emeraldeagle, I've only played baccarat up at the Tampa casino a few times but never in the "closed in" area that is set up for it. They may have changed around a bit since my last trip but I played way over by the restaurants with a set of tables located, literally, in the middle of a several banks of slot machines. It seemed pretty odd to me, but that was the set up. I may get up there next month so I'll stop in and see what's changed since my last visit. MVS

Emeraldeagle, No, you're probably thinking of Tampa or Hollywood. This was in Flatbush, I mean Immokalee. No real high roller table there at all. Unless it's hidden somewhere behind a bank of slot machines. The tables in Immokalee are rarely crowded at the times I'm usually there. MVS

I try to track down and monitor as many "creditable" sites as I can in a given time period. Believe it or not, there is a serious lack of baccarat discussion around the net. Yes, you've got the single setup, break-away type of semi-private forum still around, but they eventually all seem to collapse under their own weight and particular predjudices. Some of the "requirements" of these sites border on the silly, but it's their forum and they can run it the way they like. Several of the roulette based forums, not already paralyzed by a single owner, have tried to start baccarat sections, but they eventually just wither away due to lack of participation. The Martingale and chasing Banker are always high on the list of "new and exciting discoveries". I keep looking and searching, but there's nothing really out there with the staying power of being right here. I'm always willing to entertain any new ideas in baccarat, but they just aren't showing up like the almost daily blasting of "new" roulette systems. You may find this funny, but the one guy who actually had a chance to run a reasonably intelligent public baccarat board was "Garnabby"!! Really. His board was planned out well and other than his propencity to copy/paste almost everything ever written, the board had possibilities, but he eventually strangled it to death by slowly banning anyone with an idea that went against his theory of gambling, which was pretty much everyone. He has popped up recently in a few of the roulette boards, but is up to his old tricks of just posting reams of inconsequential data to make sure everyone is duly impressed. Never a mention of actual gambling or winning, of course. So, if anyone else has found a decent (and civilized) open baccarat board, I'd love to hear about it. MVS

All, I'm posting this up mainly because I rarely play a full shoe anymore. As I knew we were only going actually be in the casino for a short time, I elected to use all of it and got this one shoe in. A few notes go along with it. As I'm finally moving into NOR/NOR+ (I'm slow to make big changes in my play) this was almost a new experience. I've been playing it live, online, but in the brick and mortar place, this was a major "test" for me and more of a confidence builder on making the change! Anyway, started off OTB4L/M3 U1D2M1. I was also thinking about just playing the straight 1,2,3 but the first actual play where I had to make that decision didn't come until hand 33 with the 5ZZ. Good choice. At this point it gets sticky. They changed the dealer on me at hand 43. They brought in the absolute worst baccarat dealer on the planet, at least according to me. I've been at her tables before and she drives me nuts. Instead of drawing a card and placing it P-B-P-B or even P-P-B-B, she just pulls 4 cards out IN A PILE and then proceeds to kind of spread them out and turn them over. This absolutely drives me nuts and I generally just leave or don't play until she takes a break. I have complained about her to the pit bosses even wrote a letter to the management office, but she's still there!!! Anyway, you can see that she dealt me a win at hand 43 and it went downhill from there. Concentration shot. Attitude gone. Mood changed 180 degrees out of phase. There was no way she was getting more than the 6 from that 44,45,46 run. From +22 to +16 in the last half. That's enough for me. I did elect to stay at the table and play the rest out on paper. As you can see playing U1D2M1 would have worked as would 1,2,3 to play out the shoe. Good thing to know. Anyway, here's the shoe, warts and all. MVS

PeterUK, Nicely played shoe. I ran through it in my head while reading it "play-by-play" and it looked like a clean run to me! MVS

Ellis, Good idea! MVS

Peter, When I find myself not quite getting a play or a method that is new, I'll back off, drag out the 8 decks of cards and clear off the dining room table. Then it is back to basics. Dealing one hand at a time, recording it. Playing on it correctly and writing down the reason I made that play. Once the shoe is done I can go back and review it play by play to make sure I understood what I did and WHY I did it. Yes, it's painfully slow, but eventually I do "get it" and can continue on at a more normal play speed. The good thing about this is that once you play it correctly AND understand why, the whole game moves much faster and you can start to plan ahead as you play. MVS (the guy with the very worn out 8 decks of cards)

Google is our friend. Here is an excellent explanation of what all of that means and how it came to be. A long read, but interesting if you're into the Roads and Roaches. MVS http://www.worldgamingmag.com/en/gaming/gaming-insights/item/70-fate-in-the-cards-understanding-baccarat-trends

Interesting first post. Can you get to the price and then answer why you're posting it here? MVS

Well, let's see if this will work. I've got the files here on the local computer and will see if they'll be accepted back into the forum's database. We shall see! MVS Edit.... Nope, they didn't take. I'll email them out to you.