Experiences with MDB in Casino

[kshatria]

I took MDB to the casino last night and had mixed success. I ended up down, but that was mostly due to my becoming distracted and making a couple blatant play errors. Nevertheless, I think this method has promise and I am wondering what others who have played this in-casino have to say about it? Does it work as well as it seems to?

[djricardo]

This is a good thread to start. Perhaps it is also good to mention which location you played at.

[kshatria]

I played at the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh - they have three mini-bac tables. Generally a good scene but the cards there actually seem a bit tougher than what I've played in Vegas for whatever reason.

[ztomsk]

I played at the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh - they have three mini-bac tables. Generally a good scene but the cards there actually seem a bit tougher than what I've played in Vegas for whatever reason.

That's where I play. So far I won 14 out of 16 shoes using MDB. I practiced at home with 50 shoes before I played with real money at the casino. MDB does work – but you have to be disciplined and be ok with having to ride out a shoe for a win even if it’s only a unit or two. There will be rough spots and you won’t always be in the positive throughout the shoe. My average is 3 units per shoe... I'm winning but I still need to get better with my application of SAP and switching when needed. I hope that will get my average up to 5 units.

I've never been to Vegas, so I can’t compare... but the shoes at the rivers can be tough sometimes in my opinion. Sometimes they are easy though... I don't know - I think that happens everywhere. I don’t keep a scorecard so I can’t post any shoes. Maybe I will try to snap a picture of the tote board the next time a tough shoe comes up and we can dissect it here on the forum lol.

[gman72]

I took MDB to the casino last night and had mixed success. I ended up down, but that was mostly due to my becoming distracted and making a couple blatant play errors. Nevertheless, I think this method has promise and I am wondering what others who have played this in-casino have to say about it? Does it work as well as it seems to?

Post up the shoes and let's have a look. Yes it works. If you post up a shoe or two we can play it out and see if it was just a tough shoe or if it was just player error. It will help us all learn.

[Quizzical1]

Post up the shoes and let's have a look. Yes it works. If you post up a shoe or two we can play it out and see if it was just a tough shoe or if it was just player error. It will help us all learn.

Same here guys. Don't have the shoe with me at the moment, but I went -6 only to see I could have ended up +7 if I didn't make a blatant error after replaying the next morning at home.

I think the tricky parts are (for me at least) knowing what system to switch to when three are high (Ex 6 12 12 12). I kind of got lost but in all fairness I played this show before I read Ellis' post regarding system selection based on what is high.

If this is true:

1 and 2's high = BaS40

1 and 3's high = BaS40M1 (weak)

1 and 4's high = BaS40M1 (strong)

2 and 3's high = OTB4L (strong)

2 and 4's high = OTB4L (weak)

3 and 4's high = S40M1 (strong)

Does it also mean:

1,2 and 3's high = BaS40?

1,2 and 4's high = BaS40M1?

1,3 and 4's high = BaS40M1?

2,3 and 4's high = OTB4L?

Again, my bad for not practicing more (especially OTB4L's two OTR modes for iar's and zz's).

[ztomsk]

For me I consider a tough shoe when the selected system hits a run it doesn't like - then you have to grind it out. Playing 2HI and 1HI for S40 M1 with a 123 secondary prog can take a while to recover.

So far I won 17 out of 19 shoes. The two shoes I lost were when playing S40 M1 and I hit a TT run. And the other was OTB4L and I hit a back to back straight run into a ZZ run and wasn't able to recover playing the runs.

Still at an average of 3 units. Mostly because almost every time I hit +5 I lose the next bet and have to capture +4. Happened last night... hit +5 early playing bas40. Lost 1 unit and left. Immediately after it was nothing but 1s and 2s with long ZZ runs. Would have been +20 no prob. Made me sick. Keeps happening to me!

[MVSeahog]

I played at the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh - they have three mini-bac tables. Generally a good scene but the cards there actually seem a bit tougher than what I've played in Vegas for whatever reason.

Hey! That's where I play when I am forced to visit the in-laws up in Pittsburgh.

MVS

[Guest]

For me I consider a tough shoe when the selected system hits a run it doesn't like - then you have to grind it out. Playing 2HI and 1HI for S40 M1 with a 123 secondary prog can take a while to recover.

So far I won 17 out of 19 shoes. The two shoes I lost were when playing S40 M1 and I hit a TT run. And the other was OTB4L and I hit a back to back straight run into a ZZ run and wasn't able to recover playing the runs.

Still at an average of 3 units. Mostly because almost every time I hit +5 I lose the next bet and have to capture +4. Happened last night... hit +5 early playing bas40. Lost 1 unit and left. Immediately after it was nothing but 1s and 2s with long ZZ runs. Would have been +20 no prob. Made me sick. Keeps happening to me!

Not a bad report but ztomsk, there is a reason why you quit immediately if you hit +5 after more than 15 plays. The quality of the shoe does not support attempting to go further. On the other hand if you hit +5 at play 15 or less from wherever you started you are in a high quality shoe that DOES support attempting to go further.

[Guest]

Same here guys. Don't have the shoe with me at the moment, but I went -6 only to see I could have ended up +7 if I didn't make a blatant error after replaying the next morning at home.

I think the tricky parts are (for me at least) knowing what system to switch to when three are high (Ex 6 12 12 12). I kind of got lost but in all fairness I played this show before I read Ellis' post regarding system selection based on what is high.

If this is true:

1 and 2's high = BaS40

1 and 3's high = BaS40M1 (weak)

1 and 4's high = BaS40M1 (strong)

2 and 3's high = OTB4L (strong)

2 and 4's high = OTB4L (weak)

3 and 4's high = S40M1 (strong)

Does it also mean:

1,2 and 3's high = BaS40?

1,2 and 4's high = BaS40M1?

1,3 and 4's high = BaS40M1?

2,3 and 4's high = OTB4L?

Again, my bad for not practicing more (especially OTB4L's two OTR modes for iar's and zz's).

Glenn, I don't think you can make those assumptions. You are looking at 4 numbers. Two of them are highest and two are lowest. That gels with the fact that each system likes TWO things.

[Guest]

I played at the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh - they have three mini-bac tables. Generally a good scene but the cards there actually seem a bit tougher than what I've played in Vegas for whatever reason.

Vegas is preshuffled. I'm guessing Rivers, Pittsburg is still regular cards. While MDB can play both, it prefers preshuffled.

[Guest]

This is a good thread to start. Perhaps it is also good to mention which location you played at.

Right, and whether the cards are regular or preshuffled, new or old.

[ztomsk]

Vegas is preshuffled. I'm guessing Rivers, Pittsburg is still regular cards. While MDB can play both, it prefers preshuffled.

I asked the pit boss and dealers and they said that the cards (Rivers) are preshuffled. They actually just got different cards from another company. They come in preshuffled bundles and put into the shuffling machine.

They don't seem too concerned about the "patterns". I played once and the shoe messed up causing miss deals. This caused the electronic reader to not read the cards right which made the tote board wrong. I was shocked that they didn't reset the board. I left and told the pitboss the rest of the shoe will be displayed wrong. He just smiled a me with a smug smirk. I'll never jump in mid shoe there after I witnessed that. I played new shoes and never had a problem since though.