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Atlantic City
Journal It was one year ago when I last played in Atlantic City. I still love it, and I used to frequent it on an almost weekly basis back in the early 80s. But as I developed my Precision-Shooting, I enjoyed the crowded, high-minimum tables less and less. I can mix-it-up with the best of the strong personalities that New York, New Jersey and nearby Phili players and dealers have to offer, but getting to throw the dice once every hour certainly limits my earning capacity. I now make a pilgrimage back there once in a while. Since I am planning an upcoming trip to the shore, I was reviewing the notes from my last trip there. I thought I would share a peek with you. Heres
an insightful daily journal of my last visit. DAY ONE After
arriving on a 10:30 am flight, I checked-in at Caesars, and was surprised to find
that my suite was ready. Thats one
advantage of an early Monday morning arrival; the other is that the whole Boardwalk is
much less crowded than on a busy weekend.
I
unpacked and knew I had several leisurely hours before my confederates would arrive. I wandered by the craps pit to check out the
action. I was again pleasantly surprised that
the table minimums were reasonably set at $5. I
had pre-sorted all of my Players Cards for each casino, with the one for CP A/C
right on top. With a decent buy-in of $1,000,
I had an acceptable session. Heres the
results: Session
#1 Caesars
Playing time: 40
min. My hands: 2 My Rolls: 14 & 29
Total
profit: $740 Session
#2 Caesars
Playing time: 50
min. My hands: 3 My Rolls: 12, 21 & 37
Total
profit: $1820 I
met up with my friends awhile later. We had a
great dinner at Primavera, and discussed various ways to maximize our time in town. These guys dont get away from their
wives very often, so they wanted to bank as many waking hours as they could
gambling, drinking, chasing women, and generally having what they consider to be a GOOD
TIME. They immediately started to act like
life-sentence convicts out on a weekend-pass. No
warnings about all things in moderation for this group of revelers. We played at Caesars before moving down the
Boardwalk. Session
#3 Caesars
Playing time: 45
min. My hands: 1 My Rolls: 11
Total profit: $85 Session
#4 Ballys
Playing
time: 90 min. My hands: 3 My Rolls: 18, 17, 19
Total profit: $420 Choppy
tables and trying to get the guys to keep the dice on the table limited my profit and fun. They moved on to a couple of other houses like a
herd of drunken cattle, while I headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep. DAY TWO I
awoke to a free continental breakfast that is set up for every guest on each floor of the
Temple Tower. I knew that the rest of the
crew wouldnt be alive for hours, so I had one quick and profitable session. Session
#5 Caesars
Playing time: 25
min. My hands: 1 My Rolls: 31
Total profit: $570 I
headed back up to my suite to change, and proceeded directly to the Spa. A good workout followed up with the whirlpool and
sauna, chased away most of the cigar-smoke that had permeated every pore the previous
night. When I got back upstairs, there was a
message on my phone from one of the wide-awake, but hung-over party survivors. I met up with the gang at the appointed place, but
not at the appointed time in the Resorts lobby. Several
of them were late, and wearing sunglasses even though we were inside. They
actually didnt look any worse from the previous evenings wear and tear. Some of their eyes were as pink as milk-fed veal,
but other than that, I was surprised that some of them could still stand. The one thing that each of them made sure that I
heard about was the great time they had at the Sands and Caesars after I left them to
their own devices the previous night. Funny
thing was, each one had a different version of what actually happened. I think that alcohol clouded their collective
memories. As best as I could piece
together, three, four or more of them had strung together several hot hands over a period
of six or seven hours at the two casinos. All of them were flush with newly-won cash, and
all were eager to play. Session
#6 Resorts
Playing
time: 45 min. My hands: 2 My Rolls: 17 & 29
Total
profit: $485 Session
#7 Taj
Mahal
Playing time: 90 min. My hands: 1 My Rolls: 2
Total
profit: (-$75) Session
#8 Showboat Playing
time: 105 min. My hands: 1 My Rolls: 20
Total
profit: $310 Session
#9 Resorts
Playing
time: 30 min. My hands: 2 My Rolls: 24 & 5
Total
profit: $220 A
couple of notable things happened that afternoon. When we arrived at the Taj, the place
was rockin. Several tables were hot all
at the same time. As soon as we got onto a
good table, the streak would end. It happened
at five straight tables, so we felt about as welcome as the black-death coming for a
visit. I only got to shoot once in that whole
session, and it was a disappointment. The
only up-side to all of that, was that my losses were the lowest of the group. Most of the guys lost anywhere from $300 to $4700
during that one session. We
moved over to the Showboat where again the tables were busy. We all couldnt fit at one table so we spread
out over three of them. As fortune would have
it, one of the guys put together a monster roll, but there was no room at the table for
the rest of us to join in. Still, we all made
back our Taj losses, and we ended the afternoon back at Resorts for another decent
assembly. When we returned to Caesars, some
of them played craps until dinner, while I made a few phone calls while relaxing in the
Jacuzzi back in my room. Dinner
was courtesy of The Sands based on their rip-snortin great time they had the night
before. We ate like ravenous wolves on a
steer carcass, only not as daintily as wolves would eat.
The Brighton Beach Steakhouse at the Sands serves a decent meal that tasted
all the better after a long, profitable afternoon. We
played a couple of additional sessions, but the booze once again clouded the minds,
judgement and speech of the group save for one. I
wont make you guess who the lone hold-out was.
I like to drink too, and I have a bar at home that rivals some of the most
well-provisioned bars in the world. However,
when I play, I NEVER drink alcohol because it makes it easier for the casino to separate a
man from his money. I do this for a
living, and my earnings depend on my clear-headed focus.
I dont want my lawyer, brain-surgeon, pilot, or driver to drink while they
are working, and I certainly dont want my skills to be adversely affected by it when
I am working either. Sermons over, go
home and sin no more! Seriously though, if
want to make money at this pursuit, if you drink, please dont play and vice versa. Session
#10 Sands
Playing
time: 120 min. My hands: 3 My Rolls: 21, 16, & 18 Total profit:
$580 Session
#11 Claridge
Playing time:
120 min. My hands: 4 My Rolls: 24, 16, 22 & 5 Total profit: $805
The
Claridge session was memorable because the table stayed lukewarm for the entire two hours. My last hand was actually the shortest roll for
the entire time there. We were all pleased,
and took a couple of taxis back to Caesars. DAY THREE I
followed the same routine as yesterday morning; free breakfast, one short session followed
by the gym, spa and steam-room. Session
#12 Caesars
Playing time: 20
min. My hands: 1 My Rolls: 19
Total profit: $360 Once
again, a telephone message told me to meet the posse at the Hilton. I
got there and waited, and waited and then waited some more.
I called the various rooms where everyone was staying back at the hotel, but
there was no response. I decided to head to
the Hilton craps pit to see if they were possibly there.
Not recognizing anyone, I bought in for my regular A/C session bankroll of
$1,000. By the end of play, I had fattened
that into $6,100. Session
#13 Hilton
Playing time: 75 min. My
hands: 1 My Rolls: 58
Total profit: $5100 When
I finished, I checked back at the little coffee-bar where we were supposed to meet. Still no sign of any recognizable faces, I treated
myself to a large Hazelnut Mocha Cream coffee. So
Im sitting there, drinking off my coffee, and in rolls my rag-tag bunch of
craps-misfits. Once more I have to endure
their story about another craps session that I missed.
Apparently, a few guys were late to rise, so some started to while away the
time playing craps while the remainder were resurrected from their graves. What started out as a short session dragged out
over THREE HOURS. They made a little, lost a
little, made a little and gave back a little over that period until all of them were
present and accounted for. It was my turn to
tell them what they had missed out on, but I was a little coy. So I brought them back to the same table that I
had the long roll at and acted normal. All
the dealers and the box-man applauded as I approached.
Even the floor-supervisors nodded their heads in smiling approval. The box-man said, You arent going to
bet all $5000 in profit back are you? There
was a collective gasp from my compadres, as I shook my head no. I told the boys that they had missed out on my
decent hand while they were still comatose. By
this time, some had sworn off booze for at least a full hour, while others didnt
have that kind of rock-solid resolve. I
enjoyed the last few sips of coffee, as they tipped back libation of a stronger sort. Session
#14 Hilton
Playing time: 240 min. My
hands: 5 My Rolls: 24,
12, 17, 22 & 9 Total
profit: $980 Those
four hours didnt produce anything amazing, but as always, I was grateful to pocket
ANY profit. A couple of guys actually dropped
about a thousand each when the table turned ice-cold for five shooters in a row. I simply switched sides, and made some decent No-4
money on three of them. I asked for and
received comps for my entire crew to eat at the Oaks Steakhouse. If you can picture a pack of mangy junkyard-dogs
with ribs showing through their fur, being unleashed on a defenseless rabbit; then you can
picture my guys going full-rip at the fine carnivorous-offerings at The Oaks. Its a wonder no one lost any fingers, or
TOES, for that matter! I
had a full set of comped tickets to see Howie Mandel, which was the reason, and excuse,
for this entire trip. Knowing that I
wouldnt be playing any more that evening, I partook in a number of bottles of Poilly
Fuisse that had been uncorked. We headed over
to see what turned out to be a very funny show, as always, from Mandel. DAY FOUR Once
again, the Temple Tower buffet started my day, followed by another short session at the
tables. Session
#15 Caesars
Playing time: 20
min. My hands: 1 My Rolls: 20
Total profit: $470 We
all met up at Ballys Wild West Casino, and everyone actually showed up on time. We resolved to finally do what we set out to do
several days earlier, and that was to play with a coordinated plan with the goal of
maximizing fun and profit. I told them the
two ideas werent exclusive from the other, but they had to remain focused on the
profit part, if they were to have on-going casino fun.
We agreed to play until everyone had at least one hand with the dice, if we
could get on an uncrowded table. We had the
following experience: Session
#16 Ballys WW Playing time: 45 min. My hands: 1 My Rolls: 19
Total
profit: $265 Session
#17 Ballys PP Playing
time: 55 min. My hands: 1 My Rolls: 2
Total
profit: (-$75) Session
#18 Trump Plaza Playing time: 45 min. My hands: 1 My Rolls: 20
Total
profit: $390 Session
#19 Tropicana Playing
time: 40 min. My hands: 1 My Rolls: 4
Total
profit: (-$5) Session
#20 Hilton
Playing time: 75 min. My
hands: 1 My Rolls: 39
Total
profit: $785 Session
#21 Trump Plaza Playing time: 60 min. My hands: 1 My Rolls: 22
Total
profit: $430 We
had dinner at a fine Italian restaurant at Trumps Plaza. I think it was called Robertos, although I
didnt make a note of the name. The
veal, pasta and tiramisu was enough for me, and I slowly walked back to
Caesars. The tables were crowded, and I
hardly felt like bulldozing my way in. I went
upstairs to catch-up on the worlds events by reading USA Today from front to back. DAY FIVE At
check-out, the first two nights were automatically comped because of my previous play and
invitation. Since we were all there as a
group, and the rest of the guys had played at Caesars quite a bit more than I had, our
casino host wrapped all our play together, and graciously picked up my other two nights. I was pleasantly surprised. I silently thought to myself that a couple of the
other guys either dropped a bundle that I didnt know about, or some of them had
played a LOT LONGER than I knew about. Either
way, I was pleased. Even if I had had to pay
for some or even all of it, I would still be happy with the net profit. Heres a summary of the sessions. Total
sessions: 21 Average
session time was 68 minutes I
played quite a bit more per day than I usually do, but I didnt play when I was
tired. If I had stayed out late and enjoyed
their own good set of rolls at the Sands and Caesars, my profit may have been higher. On the other hand, that one late night probably
would have adversely affected my subsequent shooting on the following day. As
I plan to re-visit Atlantic City, I am looking forward to hitting all of the casinos
including the marina area. I anticipate
typical summer crowds, but if I can do as well as last year, Ill be more than happy
with the results. Good
Luck & Good Skill at the Tables
and in Life By:
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