barneypip

Welcome @baldi41, @ese and any newcomers I may have missed. At Last! You have found the BEST game to play and the BEST club to show you how to play it right! (PROFITABLY!) Enjoy your time here! (I KNOW you will.......everybody does!!)

Are free hands as hard to get in Hollywood as they are in Tampa? In Tampa only the first 8 hands of the shoe are free hands. To get more, you have to be in a "reserved" game. Here's the kicker: To reserve a game, you have to have a credit line with them of at least $100,000. (not a typo) Or, have at least $100,000 deposited in their cage. I'm posting the whole story in a new thread titled "Tampa Hard Rock Update".

@Max66 I see a descending trend on the bank side, and the player side starting to ascend. I'd bet player here.

lizi610 - You mean like at the Borgata? HA! Seriously, even pre-shuffled cards with bias can be beat -- but the disparities that BTC members look for and profit from are less frequent and don't last as long. Join the club and learn how to handle them!

Asked to make sure. Vegas is also on DAYLIGHT time. The time for tonight's practice session should read 8:00pm pDt -- Pacific DAYLIGHT time. 3 hours difference between Eastern and Pacific.

Most states are now on DAYLIGHT time. So 8pm PST would be Midnight EDT. Correct? Did someone forget the time change or am I the one who's mixed up? (The latter would be likely!)

Yes, but there aren't nearly as many active tables in the high limit area. Most of my time is spent looking at tables in progress, hoping to find a table that's doing what I want it to do. If a good table for me happens to be in the high limit area, then I can get free hands and new shoes, no problem. But most of the good tables I find are in the regular areas, simply because there are many more active tables there to scope out.

Thanks, Winbac! I never play a full shoe - get out at -2 or +3. (excepting runs, which I'll stay with until they buck me) If I put my partial shoe records together to make full shoes and then compute the average profit per shoe, it's about 4u. Gettin' there..... Love this game! And love BTC!

BronxAl - The original scenario posed by Bac-Mac had the player at the table by himself. Asking for a free hand or a new shoe in that case works for me in Vegas, Biloxi or AC where you can shop around for casinos that offer them. But RARELY....VERY RARELY will I get EITHER in Tampa when I ask for one. They're the only game in town and they KNOW IT! So they do whatever they want!

Happens to me a lot. I'll wait a few minutes and see if someone new will sit down and place a bet. If no one plays, I just leave and find a new table. In Tampa, at most tables if you want to bet both sides, you have to bet TWICE the minimum on one side, and the minimum on the other. I REFUSE to play THAT game!!

Junketman - That is correct in Tampa. I don't know about Hard Rock Hollywood......they did not have stadium bac last time I was there, but that was a year ago.

I like Hollywood but it's TWICE as far away. Almost 300 miles. Tampa's 160. I stay overnight when I go to Tampa - usually for 2 nights per trip with free RFB. I get the same deal in Hollywood but only go once or twice a year. It's just too far to "commute"

About 2 1/2 to 2 3/4. I take I-95 to I-4, bypass Orlando on the 429, then I-4 again. Costs more but a much nicer drive. ANYTHING to not have to drive through downtown Orlando when it's busy!!!

Bac Mac -- I play at the Hard Rock Tampa, usually every couple of weeks. (Live in Palm Coast, North of Daytona) Don't care for their "no free hands after the first 8" rule, but I LOVE the large number of bac tables that are usually in play. So if I get stuck in a game where nobody wants to make a bet, I'll just find another table. Usually pretty easy to do over there. We should play some games. When do you usually go? (I'm recovering from a broken kneecap currently but should be ready to rumble again in the next 2 or 3 weeks.)

What's the difference between a Legacy member and a member? "Legacy Member" sounds special -- until I read that a Legacy member has to pay 497 for the seminar and a "member" only 197. ??

Winbac - I'm ALMOST there. The only reason I use a scorecard is because many times a "tie" takes up an extra square on the toteboard, making it difficult for me to simply scan across it and see how many Ps or Bs are in a column. That tie gets in the way and can make it look like a run went longer than it really did. It's an easy mistake for my little brain to make. I can also get screwed up when a toteboard only goes down 6 spaces, and a run goes longer than that and the toteboard starts going sideways. A few of those alternating long runs in a row can really make it hard to see what the shoe has done -- especially if there are ties in there too. On my scorecard, I don't log the ties. They mean NOTHING to me. Plus, I'm able to log 8 Bs or Ps in a row before having to go sideways. And lastly, I keep a scorecard so I have a permanent record of my play. My hit rate is in the upper 50s but with good money management, I too am able to win around 80% of the shoes I play. (anywhere from "barely winning" to a "major win". A win is a win!) I'm also a flat bettor of yellows. I can't play fulltime because the closest casino is 160 miles away, but those yellow chips allow me to enjoy a fulltime income while "working" only part-time. (averaging a 2-night stay about once every 2 to 3 weeks) BTC members reading this already know I'm not just slinging bull here, because many are enjoying equal success. Quite a few do considerably better than me!! Those of you reading this who are not BTC members, let me say this. Had it not been for BTC, I am ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that I would NOT be enjoying anywhere near this degree of success. Join the club!!! You'll work your tail off learning how to play the right way...but MAN will it be WORTRH IT!!!

OK I get it now ---- I should have said "Why should anyone not want to be a winner?" instead of "not want to walk away a winner?" Because just like you said, the way to consistent winnings is to "win a little a lot. Not a lot a little" That's a GOOD quote. So True! Keep increasing that unit size as you accumulate units. AMEN! That WORKS! I am living proof!!

Why would ANYONE not want to walk away a winner? Without a win goal, why even play at all? Some things I'll NEVER understand. And that's ONE of them!

Mookie! I left a comment here before I saw your post. Please move mine too. Good idea! Thanks!

I like watching the superstitious play. Like the guy who spends 30 seconds on each card. He'll SLOWLY lift one side of it, then the other, and if he doesn't like what he sees, he'll spend the next 10 seconds rubbing the card on the felt. Then he'll look again. If he STILL doesn't like what he sees, he'll rub it for another 10 seconds before he FINALLY turns it over. I guess he figures all the rubbing will somehow change the number of spots on the card. If it doesn't work, he'll totally destroy the card before giving it back to the dealer. Weird!!

I would really enjoy following a thread on superstition at the baccarat table! Have a few stories of my own to share. Somebody start one!

I buy in with 5u and play with a stop-loss of 2u. That gives me enough to play 2 losing games when that happens, plus cover the commissions on the bank wins before having to buy in again. I try to buy-in as infrequently as possible because it holds up the game for everybody else. If you're buying in with your stop-loss amount just so you won't go over your stop-loss, you might need to work on your self-discipline. Once a lady walked up to my table in Tampa with the game in progress and bought in with about $2000 in small bills. Must have taken 20 minutes! And THEN....she walks away with her chips without even placing a single bet! There oughta be a law!!!

Thanks Mr B - I average only about one bet every 4 hands and rarely play a whole shoe. Anything more is just not conducive to coming out ahead, at least not for me. Can’t win without being really picky. Thanks for the well-wishes!

Thanks, Nate! But even when I'm fully functional I only get to Vegas maybe twice a year. Now I'll be lucky to get to my closest casino (Tampa) sometime in January. Glad I saved my money! Wanna push me around Tampa? LOL!!

I'm close to those suggestions altho I feel safe stretching them a bit because I flat bet. Total bankroll is 90 units, daily (or trip) is 20, this year's profit was 66 ish. (commissions and tips already taken out of that figure. I'm done for the year because I fell in my driveway last week and fractured my kneecap. Gonna be out for 6 - 8 weeks!! 😒 (Thank God I'm insured or my profits would have gone to the hospital!)