I am a little worried about the state of the limit holdem games at Oceans-11. With the new management, and the policy of no longer giving a drop reduction when the game gets short, has really had an impact on the number of players willing to play, especially at the 20/40 level. We used to be able to keep a 5 or 6, or even as short as 4 players game going pretty consistently, but a number of players that used to be willing to play short aren't willing to do it, plus some of the more marginal regulars (either break-even or slightly losing players) are no longer even willing to sit in the game unless it's super good. The regulars need to realize that if they aren't willing to keep a game going, that pretty soon there won't be any game, as the occasional recreational players aren't going to even bother to show up if they can't get a game. Not sure what's going to happen with the prop players either. If there is no 20/40 game for them to prop, there is really no reason anymore to employ them, which is not good for their future prospects.
Here's a summary of my major gambling activities over the summer:
| Game | Result | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Blackjack | -37.8k | 29 |
| 8/16 kill | 3.8k | 53.75 |
| 20/40 | 23k | 286.75 |
| 40/80 | 9.5k | 122.25 |
| 2/3 no limit | -0.25k | 0.5 |
| 5/5 no limit | -3.35k | 27.25 |
| totals | -5.1k | 519.5 |
So excluding my blackjack results which is mainly due to my implosion at Aria over my weekend Vegas jaunt, I basically crushed it at poker winning 32.7k over 490.5 hours for an hourly rate of $66.67 per hour, while getting crushed at blackjack. The blackjack is obviously not a large enough sample size to do it justice, but you can see the variance in blackjack is just huge. I can easily make that up in a single good session of blackjack. I have won over 20k in blackjack in a single session over 15 times in the last year alone, and over 40k in 7 sessions. It just goes to show that blackjack has a huge variance, and you really need to put the hours in before it all starts balancing out. Advantage blackjack play is all about getting the hands in, particularly when the count is good and you have the edge.
Don't know when I'll get a chance to play some more serious blackjack. Barona is being very strict with me. I went out there with a buddy a little while ago, and I was sitting at the table with him watching him play, when I topped off one of his bets with some of his chips when the count was good, and within 30 seconds I got a tap on the shoulder and was told that I was not allowed to sit with my friend while he was playing, nor touch his chips or his wager. Sheesh.
Barona is still sending me promotional offers in the mail. The August promotional offer was good for $250 in cash, which I made sure that I went in to get. However, the September mailer was only good for $30, so I'm not sure if they are trying to send me a subliminal message or what. I'm guessing that their offers are determined by some formula based on the amount of action you have given them in the past 90 days, and since I haven't been playing there much my offers have gone down significantly. When I get the October mailer, I'll be curious to see how much it is worth.
Well that's about it for this update. I'll try and post more often, but with my increasingly busy schedule, not sure how many interesting gambling stories I will have to tell. On a personal note, my 8-year daughter went out on her first "date" with a boy. We ended up getting our two families together for dinner at a local Korean BBQ restaurant, because my daughter and the other family's son wanted to have dinner together. It was cute, and every time I ask my daughter about her boyfriend she gets embarrassed. It's funny.
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