Tag: blackjack

Vegas, 2025, Part III

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My first post talked about my comps and the hotel, and my second post talked about the gambling. This post is about my bottom line, which involves some whining. You can find my review on Tripadvisor here, but this is the text:

I’m a blackjack player, and my trips are almost always just about that. That makes this a difficult review to write. In most ways, Park MGM is a phenomenal resort. The staff went out of their way to be helpful and make me feel wanted. It’s the only smoke-free casino on the strip. The spa was incredible. Just awesome. There were two issues. The first is minor: I had a Nighthawk suite. It’s bathroom wasn’t as nice as the bathroom in a regular room at Mandalay Bay. It’s floor plan is meh. Instead of walling off the bedroom, giving you the added privacy you’d expect from a suite, the foyer is instead what’s walled off. The foyer has no tables, chairs, etc. That results in wasted space. Not the end of the world. The second problem will keep me from going back. In my first four hours of blackjack, I won $1,150 on a $2,500 bankroll. Even by my standards, that’s remarkable. However, I was constantly taking with other players, so there’s no way I could have been counting cards, and how else could I be cheating? (Note: Card counting should NOT be considered cheating.) Nevertheless, one of the pit bosses made inappropriate comments towards me, constantly delivered dirty looks, and even made another player uncomfortable by suggesting I was cheating. This is unacceptable to me, but if it isn’t the sort of thing that affects you, then by all means, stay at the Park MGM. You’ll love it. I, however, will be highly unlikely to return. A single, unprofessional pit boss can overshadow the positive experiences I had with literally every other member of the staff.

This is an honest review. If you don’t gamble, or if you always lose, then you should seriously consider the Park MGM. My room is always comp’d at any MGM resort because of my M-Life Mastercard, so I don’t know how expensive it is relative to others. I’m sure you’ll spend less at Excalibur and Luxor, but among MGM properties, Excalibur is bottom of the barrel. You’ll survive there, but paying a small amount more for Luxor goes a long way.

Gambling

I skipped Vegas last year, and I’d never been to Park MGM, so prior to the trip, I went to that cesspool known as Reddit, found the Vegas subreddit, and asked what the betting limits on the tables were. I guess I bring out the trolls because all but a couple people that responded were arrogant and insulting. They all acted as if they were high rollers, ridiculing me for even inquiring about low-limit tables, which they defined as $50 per hand. (I seriously doubt these trolls play $100 tables, but if so, they’re completely tone deaf to the experiences of most gamblers.) They also accused me of thoughts I never expressed, and put words into my mouth (easily refuted by what I actually wrote) to justify their insults. I don’t know if they were ignorant or trolling, but either way, they flat out lied. Unfortunately, that subreddit gets far more foot traffic than my blog, so I’m posting this to both my blog and that easily-googled subreddit. You’re more likely to find the subreddit. This is the actual truth.

I visited (didn’t necessarily play) Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, NY, NY, Park MGM, and Aria, and I played from Monday evening to Friday morning. My comments are limited to these casinos on those days, which are the days I told the trolls I’d be gambling. I took notes so that I could verify whether the trolls were full of shit. Wanna guess whether or not they were?

Vegas still has many $5 tables on the strip at Excalibur, which goes out of their way to advertise them on a billboard of lights, and there are a plethora of $10 and $15 tables at Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, and NY, NY. Because of inflation, those tables aren’t the money-makers they once were, so it’s understandable that those tables pay only 6-5 on blackjack to make up the difference, but contrary to what the trolls claimed, $25 tables still pay 3-2 at Mandalay Bay, NY, NY, and Aria (at least). The trolls were claiming that you have to go to a $100 table for 3-2, but the $100 tables at Park MGM pay 2-1. I played at one for my “last hurrah” before flying out Friday afternoon. Moreover, at NY, NY, the $25 tables allow multiple splits on double aces, which is great for players. That is, I drew four aces in a row and played four hands. (On a table beneath $25, if you draw two aces, you get one card added to each ace, and that’s it. You can’t take a second hit, and if your second card on one of those hands is an ace, you can’t split again.) The point is that the rules on $25 tables are still reasonably fair to the players, and those are the tables I prefer for that reason.

The problem with Park MGM is that all the tables are either $15 tables or $100 tables. There were literally no other tables available. Of course, I can (and did) play $25 hands on the $15 tables, but then I was limited to 6-5 payouts on blackjack. My money was tied up in an account with Park MGM, so all I could gamble (practically speaking) elsewhere is what I had won. Fortunately, I won enough ($1,150) to move over to NY, NY, where things went particularly well because of the better ruleset on the $25 table. Next year, I’ll probably send my funds to NY, NY for that very reason. I could also send them to Mandalay or Aria, but Mandalay uses “continuous shuffle” machines, which I like to avoid. I didn’t notice if their $25 tables used those machines.

My strongest advice is to ignore the comments that follow on the subreddit because the trolls will just be trolls. I’ll immediately unfollow my own post because I’m not interested in what they have to say. They’re all full of shit or simply have no idea what they’re talking about. What I wrote above is what I saw with my own eyes. and it wasn’t much different than what I experienced two years ago. Ignore the trolls. You won’t get good blackjack payouts on low-limit tables, but they absolutely exist if that’s where your budget takes you. There’s no shame in that. If, like me, you play on $25 tables, then absolutely nothing has changed since 2023.

I’m no more a whiny little bitch than the casinos are.

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Vegas, 2025, Part II

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My earlier post talked about my comps and the hotel. Now, onto the good stuff.

I finally got to a blackjack table. I withdrew $2,000 from my accout and the spent four hours at the table. I won $1,150. This is very unusual. It’s tough to earn 50% of your bankroll, but to do it in fewer than 10 hours is nearly impossible. The only reason I stopped is because I was very hungry.

Then I went to dinner at Strip Steak in Mandalay Bay. It wasn’t open when I arrived, so I spent 45 minutes losing $300 or so. After dinner, I returned to Park MGM and spent 3 hours turning my remaining $850 into $1,400. So, as of Tuesday night, those are my earnings.

Two side notes. 1) For some reason, everyone wanted me to cut the deck, and before the night was over, they were calling me the Lumberjack. 2) Until tonight, I’d never had a pit boss watching me as if he thought I was cheating. Not only did a Park MGM pit boss do that, but he actually told another player he was watching me. He made sure I heard it, and he wasn’t kidding.

This means that all my expenses that comps don’t cover are paid for. came back and won another $250 in about 3 hours, which is more in line with what i should expect. Now I’ve made enough money to pay for my airfare (< $550), tips on meals not covered by comps (maybe $300 if I tip ridiculously), and a lower bowl seat to the Vegas Golden Knights game on Thursday ($350). That gives me $150 in wiggle room to assure that, in all ways, this trip will be absolutely free despite having so much fun and eating so well.

But it’s still Tuesday, so we’ll see how much damage I can still do.

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Vegas, 2025, Part I

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Well, I took a year off from Vegas and didn’t miss it, but this year, I came back because of all the ideas I had for a stateside vacation, it was hard to ignore the fact that my Vegas comps made the trip here so damn inexpensive. I arrived yesterday (Monday), and I’m fimishing this post up at about 10:30 am Tuesday. There’s some good and some bad, and as always some lessons to be learned. Let’s home the rest of the trip is more of the good and less of the bad.

The Good, or Should I Say the Really Good

First off, I have an M-Life Mastercard, which means that every time I pay for groceries, utilities, internet, dinner at a restaurant, etc., I earn comps as if I’m gambling. Over the course of a year, these add up, such that I walked into my trip this year with $465 to pay for meals — including alcohol but not including tips — and entertainment. I don’t drink very often, most of the entertainment options don’t appeal to me, and those that do aren’t available during the says I’m there. So, that meant steak dinner every night.

But wait! There’s more! My suite (yeah, suite) at the Park MGM was free for four nights without me having to spend any of my reward points. It just comes with the card. Nevertheless, my smoke-free room at the only smoke-free casino on the strip comes with a $400 resort credit, so in fact, I have $865 to spend. Maybe I *will* drink after all.

Oh, do you think I’m finished? Nope. It just gets better. I don’t play slots, so all these years I’ve built up a balance of “Slot Dollars” I never used. The current balance was $1,181, so I was expecting to have to burn through those dollars playing slots. If I made $10, it’d be a free $10, so why not. Well, I went to the cage to set up my account (I had wired my gambling funds ahead of time) and asked what I thought was a stupid question: “Can I covert my Slot Dollars to regular rewards?” They said yes, so now I have over $2,000 to spend on dining.

Pretty sweet.

There’s no way I’m spending that much, but the points don’t expire, and I’ll be heading down to the MGM National Harbor in Maryland in January for our office holiday party, so I plan to get there early and have a free, overpriced dinner before our event. Also, there’s always next year.

BTW, despite having recently reserved this room at Park MGM for this trip, I can still get a free room at any other MGM property. There’s got to be an upper limit to the number of nights I can get per year, but I’ve spent four nights here, and spent four nights earlier in the year (will explain in a second), and yet I havent reached that limit yet. Unbelievable.

One last thing before we get to the bad news. MGM’s program merged with Marriott Bonvoy, so those four nights spent earlier in the year? They were at a Courtyard Marriott in Ft. Wayne, IN.

I can’t imagine a better rewards program as long as you like Las Vegas.

The Bad: The Hotel Itself

The staff is great, and the fact that the entire building is smoke-free is awesome, but for me, Vegas is a blackjack trip. After eating breakfast at my favorite breakfast joint in Vegas (Ri Ra between Mandalay Bay and Luxor), I came back to Park MGM to play. There were only two blackjack tables open at 9:30 am, and both were full. I asked the pit boss if he was opening new tables, and he said, “Not until shift change at noon.” As you might expect, he unhelpfully told me that I could always play in the high limit room (minimum bet $100 per hand).

Gee. Thanks, buddy.

Moreover, those tables, and all the tables I saw last night, were $15 tables that paid only 6:5 on a blackjack.

For those not understanding, this is something of a scam. If I bet $10 on a hand and win, I get $20, which is my $10 bet plus the $10 I get for winning. Simple enough. If I get a blackjack on that same bet, I win a bonus amount instead. Traditionally, that bonus amount was another $10 (2:1), but over the past couple decades, that’s dropped to $5 (3:2). Now these low bet tables pay only $2 (6:5). There’s a logic to this — inflation makes the low bet tables worth less to the casinos — but it really cuts into any chance you have of winning without counting cards, which most people can’t do, and even fewer people can do without getting caught.

Fortunately for me, this year I planned to play only one day, which was Tuesday. I play $25 base hands, and I don’t count cards, so it seems like this isn’t much of a burden. However, if there are no 3:2 tables available, I’m stuck as if I’m playing only $10 or $15 hands. Considering that my money was tied up in an account with Park MGM, that’s where I had to gamble. If this were nothing but a blackjack trip, wiring funds to Park MGM would have been a disaster for me. In order not to have to carry $5,000 with me on my way home — I almost never carry more than $20 cash and have only $8 in my wallet for this trip — I can’t move my money over to another casino.

Side note: Because I was staying at Park MGM for the first time, I went to that cesspool known as Reddit to ask the Vegas subreddit what the tables were like there. In addition to these guys trying to swing their dicks and pretend they’re high rollers (or if they are, completely ignore the fact that most people aren’t), they all flat out lied about the nature of the tables while needlessly insulting me. (Seriously, there was no reason for the insults. They came out of left field.) On my walk to breakfast, I verified that Excalibur, Luxor, and New York New York still offer plenty of $10 and $15 tables, and $25 tables still pay 3:2. Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, I was stuck at Park MGM for gambling.

Now, the suite itself is large but not terribly impressive. Mandalay Bay’s bathrooms in ordinary rooms are far superior. It has a foyer separated from the bedroom and living room, which makes no sense. The bedroom should be separated from all the other rooms (but connected to the bathrooms). As it is, the foyer is simply wasted space. That still makes the room bigger than an ordinary room, but meh. It’s hard to ignore how great a slight redesign could be.

All of this is to say that despite coming here virtually every year for decades, you always learn something new.

More to come.

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Gaming the System #gambling #casino #blackjack #Tesla #IRS #tax

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Funny story.

With last week being pretty rough, I needed a win, and I got one. Granted, I’d rather have my cousin back, but I can’t have that, so you take what you can get.

I received my huge tax refund on Saturday. In order to make my Tesla reasonably affordable, I have to roll most of that back into the car. However, I earmarked $2,500 for luxury items. In particular, I’m getting a kitten (maybe two) along with everything I need to make the house cat-friendly and cat-proof. The other thing I’m getting is a treadmill. I expected to pay $1,000 or so for the treadmill but found a really good one at Dick’s Sporting Goods for $600 plus $36 tax. Remember that number: $636.

I got the treadmill, which wouldn’t fit in my car, so they’ll be delivering it. I got home and thought to myself, “While I knew I was going to spend this money, I really don’t want to pay for this treadmill. How can I have this treadmill but not pay for it? What do I always do in these situations?”

So, I got in the car this morning and headed to WV. I got to the casino just after 9 am, and 2-1/2 hours later, I walked away from the blackjack table with $631 extra in my pocket.

That treadmill cost me $5.

But it really cost me less than $0, because my comp points paid for lunch completely. Oh, and the casino charged my Tesla while I was playing. I overcharged my car battery to 95%, so by the time I got home, I had 84% charge (you generally should keep it at 80%), so I’ll be driving to work tomorrow on the casino’s dime.

I love gaming the system.

So, now I have over $2,000 I can spend on the cat(s). They won’t cost nearly that much, so I’ll probably take the leftover and add it to what I put back in the car. Maybe. I can think of a couple more luxury items I might want. I’d really like to replace my brown suit.

But never forget that gambling can be a problem. Don’t become a war story.

It’s a war I’m winning.

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Upgrade! #Vacation #Vegas #gambling #gamble #Caturday

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I’m headed to Vegas on Monday. This will be my first time staying at Mandalay Bay. It’s my preferred gambling spot, but for the past decade or so, I’ve stayed at either the Luxor or the Excalibur. I’ve always enjoyed a ton of success at the Excalibur tables, so I’ll probably make a stop there as well.

mandalaybay.gif

Since Columbus Day weekend of this year, I’ve visited a local casino four times to practice my blackjack and have won (after tips, gas, etc.) $3,375. This means that my entire trip has already been financed by gambling winnings even if I lose $2,000 or so (which I won’t; I expect more of the same success). So, for only the second time in my life, I decided to upgrade to first class (for my return trip).

Livin’ in style.

Why? First, it cost only $399 to upgrade, keeping me well within “the trip is already paid for” budget. (I probably paid too much for my coach ticket, so most of the additional expense has already been paid.) Second, the plane is a #Boeing 777-200. This means that first class has “lie flat” seating. This is important b/c my plane leaves at 11:45 pm PT and lands at 7 am ET. Sleeping on a plane will never have been so easy for me. Perfection will be if there’s a socket to plug in my C-PAP. If not, that’s as much the other passengers’ problem as it is my own. 🙂

Oh, and I almost forgot.

Caturday shall not be denied!!!

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My Crazy Sports Betting Success Last Week #Vacation #Vegas #gambling #MGMBet

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mandalaybay.gif
I wanted to stay at ParkGM because it’s 100% smoke free, but I’m staying here instead for $25/night.

I go to Vegas in September or October each year on what’s essentially a blackjack trip. I also make my annual sports bets. Most of them are silly “homer” bets (e.g., the Capitals to win the Stanley Cup, Maryland Terps to win the basketball and football championships) regardless of the odds. A few are legitimate bets based on who I think will actually win (e.g., Buffalo winning the Super Bowl). Last Thursday was the start of the NFL season, and because my Vegas trip is delayed until December, I decided to do all my sports betting via MGM’s online betting portal. I never do this sort of thing because it risks gambling addiction, betting your mortgage money, etc. In fact, I don’t even visit the MGM casino in nearby Maryland for the same reason. If I’m going to bet, I do so only if I take a week off from work, invest money in a plane ticket, and invest time on a 5-day trip. It’s a good way to control the process. This is the only reason I didn’t place money on Usman to lose his UFC title a couple weeks ago. I was tempted to place the bet but didn’t, and it cost me some money. In the big picture, that’s smart.

When I entered the portal, I saw that I had a free $5 credit to bet. MGM does that for people to encourage them to bet. On a whim, I decided to bet that $5 on a crazy parlay on the game that night (Bills at Rams). If I lost, I’d make a deposit and place all my bets for the year. If I won, however, I’d be able to make all my bets with the winnings, still banking about $300.

First, I selected the Bills to win by 2.5 points or more. That’s reasonable. After all, they’re my pick to win the Super Bowl. Next, I picked the total points scored to be less than 47.5. That was a bit risky. It relied on one of the two teams to get manhandled. No one expected that, but I went for it. Third, I picked Cooper Kupp to score a touchdown. That was my safety valve. After that, I picked Stefan Diggs to get a touchdown. Again, I think that’s risky based on my fantasy football experience with the guy. Teams always focus on shutting him down, so he’s hot and cold. However, he’s also a fellow Good Counsel High School Falcon and a fellow University of Maryland Terrapin, so I trust him.

This brought me to odds of +2000. If I won, my $10 would turn into $200. That seems good, but on a hunch, I thought Bills quarterback Josh Allen was going to run in a touchdown. Is that a smart pick? Nope, but I’m betting with house money. The potential reward of a larger payout justified the risk of losing someone else’s money, so I added it, doubling the odds to +4000. The bet was now set: A $10 bet pays $400.

I could describe in great detail the drama of the game with respect to this crazy parlay, but I’ll save you that and just say I was on the edge of my seat until the last 30 seconds or so of the game. Even after Allen somehow got a touchdown run, I was two minutes and 15 yards away from a Rams touchdown and extra point that would have lost it for me. Von Miller came through, and I made $390.

The Smart Play

The smartest gambler makes sure he sets a floor to his losses, and a winning gambler makes sure that floor is a positive number. I immediately transferred $300 to my bank account leaving $96 in my account after a processing fee. That was plenty of money to make my annual picks, so I expected to make my picks and then make another small transfer to my account. However, after I had made all my bets (e.g., $5 on the Washington Wizards to win the NBA championship pays $1,255), I had $35 left. I noticed another promotion for a UFC bet — adds a bit to your payoff if you win — so I made a crazy parlay on three underdogs to win their fights Saturday night. A $10 bet would pay $296.10 if all three fighters won. I then looked at some other bets. I picked Maryland to cover the 27.5 point spread against Charlotte. Maryland won 56-21. Winner! I took that $5 win and picked Hawaii to beat #4 Michigan at Michigan. Sure, there’s no chance that will happen, but a $5 bet it pays $225.50. I was on the fence between that pick and instead picking Georgia Southern to beat Nebraska, but Hawaii being the crazier bet had a bigger payout.

Hindsight is 20/20.

They weren’t all stupid bets. I bet $5 on the Washington Commanders to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars by 3 points because Washington is my home team, and bet $5 on a parlay that pays $21 if the Ravens, Dolphins, Bengals, and Eagles all win in week 1.

In any other context, this looks like addiction and/or desperation, but remember, I’m playing with house money. I have nothing to lose, and in fact have already banked $301 and used some of the house money to place bets I would be paying out of pocket if I hadn’t won Thursday night. No matter how stupid these bets are, I’ve already won, and that won’t change because I won’t deposit any more money into the account.

The Weekend’s Results

As I said, Maryland beat their spread, which just led to an insane bet for Hawaii to beat a top 5 team on their that team’s home field. It was 21-0 Michigan at the end of the 1st quarter.

We’ll call that a wash.

A questionable decision on the first of my 3 UFC fights killed my parlay as quickly as it began, so I did what an addict would do and placed a new bet. I wanted to bet on Kevin Holland, but as soon as Li lost, the betting for Holland’s fight closed (even though the fight hadn’t started), so I was forced to be on Nate Diaz. The payout would be less, but based on a $9.55 bet on Diaz, I’d get back that $10 I lost on the parlay plus another $1.49. (This definitely looks like addictive behavior, but remember: house money!) Diaz won, so I did indeed get my money back, and Holland lost badly so that bet would have screwed me. Hooray for technicalities! I end Saturday night with $41.49 of house money in my account.

On Sunday, due to Cincinnati’s best efforts to lose their game to Pittsburgh, I lost my 1 pm parlay when Miami, Philadelphia, and Baltimore came away with wins, but Cincy lost in overtime. That $5 bet would have paid only $21, so I’m over it. The real question of the day was my homemade parlay. I bet $15 to win $203.77, which required Tennessee (-5.5), Minnesota (-1), Las Vegas (+3.5), and Denver (-6.5) to cover their spreads. As of the end of Sunday games, I had already lost 2 games, leaving last night’s Denver/Seattle game. Because I had already lost that parlay, I spent $10 on a new one. It was complex, having five requirements. I came close, but Denver failing to win by 7 killed it. I now have $15.00 left for next weekend, but because I’ll do stupid things bound to fail, that will probably evaporate, and my sports betting will be done for the year.

Merry Christmas

I eagerly await the blackjack.

Well, not really. My Vegas trip will be the week before Christmas. I fly home on Christmas Eve. I’ll have only one full day before my friends arrive, so I’ll have only about 15 hours to gamble before they pull me away towards fattening foods and goofy shows. Honestly, it’s about time I do that sort of thing again. Maybe I can convince them to zipline or ride the Stratosphere rides. Every year I plan to see Penn & Teller but never do. Perhaps I’ll finally see them.

Vegas, baby!!!

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Vegas is Back, Baby! #Vacation #Vegas #Caturday

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As of today, I’m officially vaccinated, as in two shots plus two weeks. I’m still wearing my mask to reduce contact points for those that aren’t vaccinated. Why? Well, why not? My masks are cool.

Everybody’s politics can suck it!
I take that back.
Freedom!!!

Anyhoo, because I’m good-to-go on that front, I’m resuming my annual trip to Las Vegas this year, which will be in mid-September instead of the typical Columbus Day week. I fly out on September 11th.

Michael Scott Disgusting GIF - MichaelScott Disgusting Gross - Discover & Share GIFs

The timing is a shame because a coworker is flying out Columbus Day week to renew her wedding vows in a DC-comics inspired wedding. Her husband is currently choosing between Batman and Catwoman being married by the Joker, or the Joker and Harley Quinn being married by Batman. But that’s another tangent.

Blackjack

I take blackjack very seriously, and since developing a regular system, I always come back a winner. Part of my success is that, whereas your credit card may earn you free gas or airfare, my credit card that I use for everything earns me gambling comps with MGM hotels. (I should be paid for that link.) I’m going to enjoy fine dining every night and pay only for tax and tip. I win automatically just for paying my phone bill or filling my car’s gas tank. A more on-point part of my success is practice, so I’ve brought out the gambling set to start practicing. I’ll be using this to train the aforementioned coworker as well.

The system is progressive betting (not card counting), and the trick is a difficult combination of patience and discipline. If you look up progressive betting online, the definition changes depending on who you ask. Many conveniently use the term to refer exclusively to regressive betting, which is the exact opposite of what I do. They do so because they’re card counters trying to sell you their system, and they can easily prove that regressive betting is a big loser. I increase my bet while winning, and my maximum bet per hand is capped. Despite the criticism, its only genuine downside is that it cuts against human nature. That’s where the discipline come in. Without it, you’ll lose. Stick with the plan for the long haul, and you’ll likely win. My personal experience, both long-term and short-term, is too one-sided in my favor to worry about what those blackjack entrepreneurs say. Here’s my greatest war story.

mandalaybay.gif

Trial by Fire

My favorite gambling spot is Mandalay Bay. Three trips ago, I showed up with a $3,000 bankroll, but I was playing as if I had only $2,500 ($25 base bet). That gave me a $500 cushion. The first day, there were no $25 tables on the floor, so they opened one in the high-roller room for me. After 4 hours, I was up about $400, and they moved me out of the high-roller room. Normally, I play between 10-15 hours a day with only one break to eat, but the casino had forced me to stop, so I took the opportunity to get some lunch. It wrecked my rhythm. I then went back to the grind. After another 10 hours of gambling, I lost about $2,200, so I was $1,800 down (out of $3,000). I didn’t panic, but it forced me to readjust my routine.

The next day, I head over to Excalibur, which always likes to hand me money. I spent about 12 hours on the table betting as if my bankroll was $1,000 (which makes sense; I had $1,200 left), and for the last hour I was by myself. I was already up quite a bit at that point, but it was rapid fire. The dealer and I were on a freaking roll, but I was killing her, departing from the system and betting over $100 a hand at times. When all was said and done, I won $1,900, so I was $100 up over all (even factoring huge tips to the dealer).

How do you think I reacted to that?

I wasn’t satisfied. I don’t care that I was up $100. I don’t care that both casinos were part of the MGM network. I wanted my $1,800 back from Mandalay Bay, dammit! So, for my last day of gambling, that’s where I ended the day. (I beat up Luxor before heading there.) It was the longest day of gambling I ever had: over 16 hours. Obviously, people come and go over that period, but every table makeup was filled with people who knew what they were doing (like my now-Facebook friend, Kaia) or wanted to learn. The table was perfect for almost every minute of those 16+ hours. By 3 am, I was up only $650. If I didn’t have to fly out fairly early the next morning, I would have kept going. With all the comped food, I ended up about $1,100 (40% of my betting bankroll) for the trip.

Of course, no one believes any of this until I actually show them, but those that have seen it never doubt me again. And if you doubt me, I don’t care. My winnings have paid for a Surface Pro 3 and a laptop, and almost every year it pays for my hotel for my other regular vacation in February. Believe me or don’t believe me; I don’t give a shit. Unlike the card counters trying to sell you something, I don’t make money if you believe me.

BTW, card counting absolutely works and is the best system if you can pull it off. I used it successfully when I first started my trips, but a good betting strategy is more relaxing and far less prone to fatal mistakes. I’ll occasionally do it as a mental exercise but rarely base my bets on the card count.

What’s Next?

Are you kidding? I’m wiring my gambling money to Mandalay Bay ahead of time, and as soon as I’m checked into my hotel, I’m heading downstairs to win that remaining $1,150 back! Okay, not really. I’ve already done that in past trips, thought New York, New York is still up on me. I do need a new laptop, and sure, I can afford to buy one, but I’d rather have MGM pay for it. 🙂 However, I raise an issue for those heading to Vegas. Some casinos will accept wires ahead of time. Mandalay Bay is one of them even if you aren’t staying there. Whatever money you want to apply to gambling, wire it to them. Otherwise, you have to find a branch of your bank off-Strip that’s open, or you’ll have to carry a bunch of cash on your flights to and from there. That money is earmarked for gambling only, and after your trip, they wire whatever’s left back to the account from which you wired it. The only money you can withdraw from those funds as cash are winnings. For Mandalay Bay, you can transfer the money to any MGM casino if you want a change of scenery. They have a lot of properties in Vegas.

N.b., no system is fool proof. Always go into a casino being fully prepared to bottom out, which means you should never bet your rent money. You can spot people doing that all the time, and it’s sad. Pit bosses and dealers are always impressed with my calm demeanor and sense of humor, even in the face of big losses. If you can’t afford to lose everything, or you don’t appreciate that losses are part of the game (it’s just math), don’t play. Period.

Oh, and I almost forgot.

Caturday shall not be denied!!!

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