TomM

Too funny Sam, Yeah, The live dealer casinos are a great way to practice. I particularly like the faster shoes at D-bet because it puts you to the speed test, do or die mentality. I wish they were around when I was breaking into this game in the early 90’s. I bought the NBJ manual from Ellis via Jerry Patterson (who had just moved down the hill from me in outside of Carson City). I remember I would read a little then run down to the casino check out what was going on and head home to read the next section. That made the learning curve easier. I never played high stakes BJ but pretty steady for a year and half or so. Even so I ended up playing Ceasars more than the other joints in town. After a while one of the swing bosses there (a lady) would just follow me around and try to spark up a conversation while I was trying to concentrate on the game. It got so annoying I started to play another shift. I didn’t think I was all that great at NBJ but I guess I could hold my own. It didn’t come without a lot of study though. When I got the first BAC edition from Ellis in 94 I said to myself, I’m not going to spend two months studying before I play my first hand.I grabbed the easiest system in there, System O, practiced for a few hours until I figured that I had it down and wandered into Harveys and sat down and played that system there from Oct.94 to Jan.95 and won almost every shoe (I think I may have won every shoe tripling the bet once in a while) playing red and green. Jan.95 they brought in the 1st shuffle machine in Tahoe and that game went bye bye. One kind of funny story that may illustrate both dumb luck and matching a system to the house shuffle was that early game at Harveys. I had absolutely no idea of the little intricacies of baccarat then, yet I was able to win virtually every shoe playing 5 days a week 6-8 hours a day. I will never forget the day I was sitting at that table with the other two local guys that kept the game going, when an unlikely looking guy came up to the table dressed to the nines and told us he was the recent European baccarat champion or some such thing. I remember him sitting and buying in over our heads and just not doing well at all. That continued for a couple more shoes at which point he got up declared that those were the worst shoes he had ever seen in his life and split. Meanwhile back at the ranch I was doing my usual and was as happy as a clam. I had accidentally stumbled into the perfect casino to play System 0 and it stayed that way until they brought in the shuffle machine three months later. I always complained about the machine every chance I got and wouldn’t play there unless that was the only action in town. Even if the shuffle machine produced the exact same shoes as the hand shuffle I would still oppose it just because it never needs a break like we do. I miss things like having a casual opportunity to go to restroom or duck outside for a breath of fresh air and a cold slap in the face. I couple of times when I was sitting next too the shuffler I would smash my palm into it as I was slipping into my coat and really ring its bell, but those suckers are really built. It took awhile for the shuffle machines to get a foothold in northern Nevada but when I went to Vegas they were making more of an impact around town. If there is anything good about a machine shuffler is that I don’t feel as obliged to tip being that the dealer really has little control over the cards. I still tip if the dealer is pleasant and deserves it, but I really don’t feel the obligation to tip as much under average conditions. Well there blows old smokie again. I took a break from snaking out the kitchen sink and now I got to go back and finish that rat bastard job. Copper pipe had a pin hole in it that must have just opened up due to the snake. I was losing my mind trying to figure out were that drip was coming from. Now I got to drill it out and break out the epoxy putty. I hear the boss coming, got to make like a plumber. Adios.

Hey Sam, Good to hear from you. Yeah BOC is a lot of fun and could be very profitable down the road too. A lot to think about this year for USA players with the possibility of having some Bush era restrictions removed next year if Barney Frank and friends can change things One other kind of weird thing happened while I was online at BOC last night. I went to remove my bet and started to pound my right click button on the mouse (forgot that doesn’t work there) and it bought up a bunch of computer codes where the dealer normally sits up to the top half of the screen. I could make out part of the email address I signed up with and some computer script and such. I couldn't make it go away and hoped it was not going out to the world but finally after hitting a bunch of buttons on my keyboard to no avail I had to reboot the computer to get going again. Not all was a loss. I made myself another baileys & coffee during the reboot. P.S. I think it is pretty cool there, particularly while they are just getting up and running and working the bugs out of their system. If we are not too obvious we can probably keep this going indefinitely. Heck, when I logged on last night I was already burnt out from playing D-bet and I still managed +18 in 1st shoe and the next 3 were all easy winners too, and most of that time I was by myself and keeping up a lively chat with the cuties. What more can you ask for: Smoke-free, nice friendly dealers going the extra mile, and easy shoes. Oh yeah, checks not in the mail yet. I’m going to have to write my congressman about that! P.S. Stan, Right, It was a variety of things. I really didn’t get much hassle from my local casinos once I made the move from BJ to BAC. It was more stressful in life events surrounding me than the game itself. Ultimately, it was second-hand smoke more than anything that forced me out of the game. I made a couple of tactical errors that hurt me at that time and there were several personal life events (insert long story) that were not even on my radar that kind of blind-sided me then too. As far as the game of baccarat goes I think when I was in the best position in the past to really hit it, I was more or less satisfied with making a good living regardless of how many hours I needed to spend at it. Frankly I enjoyed the challenge. I wish then I had the insights of the game that I now seem to have developed since SAP and now SKOR. Management didn’t seem to mind my act. Tahoe is a kind of close-knit community and it doesn’t pay to make enemies there because you are bound to run into them at the store if not in the casino, etc. I gave as good as I got, I think. For a couple years my game became a little one-dimensional while I was chasing mega-streak with the Fib. This was only because the opportunity presented itself at that time with the super streaky shoes Caesars was dealing then. Had I played the streak full tilt I would have had turned some good wins into huge wins and probably packed up and reluctantly headed to Vegas. The newer Vegas casinos were always well ventilated and much easier for me to tolerate. In Tahoe I resorted to playing more day shifts to avoid the smoke but at the cost of missing more super streak games that normally happened on graveyard shift. Also when I played days I had to play every hand at $5.00 minimum bet because it was usually heads-up which was OK until the ZERO shoes came along were I got good at dragging a poor unsuspecting bastard into the game that was probably on his way to breakfast. Desperate times call for desperate measures right. Baccarat was not a popular game in Tahoe when I was there. The Caesars pit knew I was good for their game because most people would not sit at a BAC table thinking it was some mysterious exotic game. By the time they were getting the hang of it they had lost part of their roll and went away shaking their heads. I wasted a bunch of time breaking in partners also. That’s some of the little stressors along with having to work longer hours after my wife was injured. I wasn’t really looking to have to resort to card play to provide for the family but it just sort of happened for a while. A lot of other people were going broke then as Tahoe was going through hard times during the 90’s. The town was falling into disrepair and too much of the customer base were heading to Vegas then with all the new casinos opening up every few months. Ski season was the only saving grace some years.

I must have missed you guys last night at BOC. I was there Costa Rica time midnight to 3:00 am. I am USA GMT -5 and BOC is GMT-6 so I play there (fun mode unfortunately) about same time zone. For me that is when I do a quick session over @ D-bet and then I check out BOC. It is such a nice change of pace from D-bet, and each time I have played there I already had my nightcap so I am just messing around playing and chatting. Too much fun for this old man. We should probably be a little careful about giving the Pit any ammunition to use. All of these online casinos keep records of play even in fun mode I believe. Even though I have had a fun account at D-bet for over two years I routinely dump my winnings just to keep a normal profile. I hope to do business in the future with all of the legitimate places when the online gaming laws change here in the USA or I just move to a different country. I was just reading online that Italy passed favorable online gaming laws recently and if I believe the stats I read it is already a giant industry there. We will see more and more live dealer sites like BOC in the future so it will probably be difficult to get a word in edgewise in chat when the casino gets popular. I plan on making these legitimate live online casinos fund my retirement and save the brick and mortar joints for the occasional high stakes game. I went full time for a couple years in the 90's but second-hand smoke drove me away. Quite stressful at times also in the casino. I am very much at home now with the live online BAC as long as it’s a real and fair game I would prefer it most of the time. I always check with CasinoMiester.com or something like that. Very good site that rates the online casinos and doesn't pull any punches if they’re caught cheating. One thing I heard in a sports book forum is some of the books keep track of you and if they think you are a Pro they will hassle you and say that their book is for recreational gamblers etc. if you are hitting them hard. Then you have to spread your action around a little bit more if you are a consistent winner. Food for thought!

I also ran across Black Orchid Casino a week or so ago and opened a fun account and was very impressed with there live dealer baccarat. It looks on the up and up to me playing in fun mode. The dealers are very friendly and I managed to keep up a lively conversation with them and still managed a nice win. I thought they catered to USA players but when I went to deposit was told sorry no USA action presently. The casino (studio) is very nice. Clear picture etc. They did have a couple technical problems that suspended play for 10 minutes or so but I didn't see any monkey business during the break, and when play resumed the shoe took off the same as it left off before the interruption. Looks good to me on the surface but make sure you check it out further if your playing for real money. This place is run by the former CEO of VUETEC of Dublinbet fame so that may explain the nice feed and setup. It's also nice they use normal size cards unlike most live dealer baccarat places that I've seen. This would be a nice thread for input on online casinos.