I was Kansas City the other night and I must say, I had been involved in a couple of shoes, that were absolutely incredible! The vibe was way north of infectious, 100% bad a*ss show of passion for the game by several of the players. The back-and-forth was ridiculous in every way, every shape and every form!

The table was Macau/Midi style. The limits were $50-$10,000. It was a 5 Treasures bac game, so there was a Panda 8, the Fortune 7, the Blazing 777s (three card seven ties both sides 200:1 or two card 7 ties both sides 50:1, and the Heavenly 9s (three card nine ties 75:1 or three card one side build out 10:1, as well as a 6:1 coverall wager which covers all for the side bets.  Also the standard tie bet 8:1. 

Sat down at one of the numerous active bac tables.  It was probably around hand 70 with about 10 hands to go. Won a few, lost a few, upped my bet to about 10 times what I was wagering. I think it was like 35P, 30B and 5 ties.  I placed my wager on player because it was 1s in 2s and there were 2 Bs showing. I turned over and 8 and then an Ace and B responded with a face card and a friggin 9.  I said out loud, "Fu*k can't even win with a Natural 9"!  I increased my wager again and kept it on the P. I turned over a pair of fives and the B responded with a total of 6. I got the Ps third card and upon looking at it, said out loud it was a 3 line card. 

There were two other very large wagering players that were also on the P side. They didn't desire to handle the cards because they were losing, as they so stated to me. So I did. I turned the card and saw there was not a dot in the middle and said, we either got a 6 or 7. I turned the card to the opposite side and those two guys are now standing up and calling for a 7.  I saw it was a 6 and threw it down. Banker drew and returned a face card. Tie hand again.

Both of those guys increased their wagers to table max. I increased my wager again considerably. Once again I got the cards. First one was an Ace and the second one was another Ace. Banker returned a 7. I got the third card and saw it was another 3 line card. I tell everyone, 6, 7 or 8. Of course they were saying no snowman-no snowman then started yelling, no snowman. I peek at one end of it. There is a dot. I see now I either have a 7 or an 8.  I say I have a 7 or an 8, they are both repeatedly saying 7 extremely loud. It was a 7 for a beautiful total of 9, high-fives happened! 

They asked me join them down a few tables and not play the last few hands where we were at. I did and we all moved, sat down and got the other table opened. 

We start the shoe. The camaraderie is starting to be in the air which I absolutely love.

I am trying to lineup in my mind everything I write about on the forum, not easy. With my win I am nicely  ahead.  And I've just taken 1/3rd of my win and locked it up.  Put 2/3rds of my win in a separate stack for my play money and my buy-in, off in separate stacks as well.  So I employed my 1/3rd, 1/3rd, 1/3rd MMM. 

Staying conscious of too much time playing is what I was trying to really focus on. I even wrote on my scorecard off on the side, TIME-TIME-TIME, three times and kept outlining it with my pen.  The other things I was focusing on was not going overboard with negative  progressions if losing started, hand after hand. As well, several other things were bouncing around in my mind-frame. However, I am also conscious of the powerful win possibilities and hitting it hard and fast if it is being presented.

It was late at night and the casino floor had a large amount of people on it.  This was in Kansas City and it was one of three largest casinos there out of all the gaming properties in the metro area. 

We were all wagering heavy on the P, as we were all in agreement that P frequently dominates the beginning of the shoes.  At the table there are the 3 of us plus one other person that walked up and sat down.  The 'outsider' places a small wager on the B side.  The other guy opens the cards and a beautiful Natural 9 is slammed down.  All 3 of us high five.  The other guy on B had a face card and a 2 or a 3. 

Both of the guys increase their wagers to table max.  I am not there yet for some reason I can't define.  Mine is increased, although not anywhere near table max, still heavy though.  We return a 4 and an 8 for the Players side.  B returns a 7.  Our third card after much peeking and peeling, was a 7.  Once again we are all high-fiving and standing up now.  Interestingly to note the music overhead was by The Talking Heads, Burning Down The House.  So appropriate in every sense!  The aura was building in a real physical manner. 

Now, we all agreed just to leave our wagers on the P and pull down the wins.  We kinda prayed for one of those 8-10-12-14 P streaks in the beginning.  Next hand was a Face and a 6 for our P side.  The B side had a 10 and a 5.  All of us and the outsider were on the P side.  The dealer flips an 8 for the B side.  Again beautiful!  Feeling good.  Floor supervisor joins the pit manager close to our table behind the dealer.  Watching without doubt. 

Once again,  we all agreed to leave on the P in hopes of a streak.  Visions of really stacking it up and with no real risk of my buy-in was flashing in neon lights in front of me! 

All of us are on the P side.  We get the cards and a 4 and a 7 is flipped over.  The B side got a Face and a 4.  We got our third card and it was a 6.  Of course a total hand of 7 against a 4 was in our favor.  The Dealer flips a friggin 4 for the B!!!!!  WTF! 

Now the board is looking like this:

P-P-P-B

So we discuss and all agree on the Player to continue. One of us mentions the B to even out or streak, but we decided to stay with P mostly because of the stigma following the board and following the shoe, as well as changing up on initial decisions, etc. We all stick on P. We return a 7 and a 10 for the P.  B returns a pair of 9s and we lose once again! 2 out of 3 of our wins now go right back to the rack!!! Damn! Slipping a little bit and we could physically feel it.

We all look at each other. Once again we agree on the P side. Not heavy wagers, but considerable amounts nonetheless.  We turn over a face card and a 5. The B side has a 9 and a 10. We lose a third time. We look at each other all quiet, just shaking our heads.  Won 3 in a row, lost 3 in a row, gave it all back. Embarrassing!

We all agreed once again, 3P and 3B. Once again we stick on the P. We all increased our wagers with a negative progression Martingale.  We turn over an 8 and a 7. The B turns over a face and a 4. We are all saying monkey out loud of course. We turn over a 5.  We are saying, "WTF", "Really" and "Oh Come On", etc.  The B turns over a 7 for that 100% insulting nasty 1 to Zero win. Now I lost like the others, four in a row. Keep giving it back. 

Almost all the win money except for a very small amount from the other table, and the previous three hands as well, was given back to the house.  Those wins totaled up to be sizable!  Gone back!  I was seriously considering leaving with a small amount of my win money. Both of the other guys were just about wiped out. Their wives or girlfriends were standing behind them. They held her hands out and moved their fingers, as if saying give me more cash. One did and the other one said no.  An outlandish verbal confrontation happened right there at the table, when the player stood up and demanded more money to play. It wasn't pretty. I was really going to pack it in and leave with my little win and get the hell out of there.

Seriously again, I was just about ready to pack it in because the aura turned totally against the game. I started to get up and the guy next to me says, stay—it is coming I promise. I've been around this well known block way too many times and it was nothing new. But for some reason undefinable to me I stayed. Call it getting sucked in, call it being a fool, but I stayed right there.

The guy's wife or girlfriend eventually gave in after a few minutes and slammed down a stack of cash in his hand.

The board looked like this now.

P-P-P-B-B-B-B

The lyrics from Golden Earrings song, 'The Twilight Zone', are repeating themselves in my head over and over, "I'm falling down a spiral, destination unknown.  Can't get no connection, can't get through".  At times it is wrong to play every hand, but without thinking I was and there was no turning back.  I was hell bent on some kind of sizable win.  The emotions, frustrations and those well known 'I Want It'(s) were building up inside of me.

NOTE:  Bear in mind while all this is going on, I am a heavier Bankers side person then Players side. And I also love that equalization and the last four hands that drained my win money, really messed with me. Bear that in mind so you understand where I'm coming from at this point.  The win was taken away from me just as fast as I won it. 

So the buy-ins were completed for the other two gentleman and I am back using the last of my win money and some of my original buy-in is back at risk.  We quickly discussed P or B wagers. We all agreed on P once again. At this point if we lost, I highly doubt we would have jumped on the B that was forming. We all been there and done that way too many times!  Playing for something to happen and changing up and jumping on something different after losing numerous hands, such as we just did almost always is the path to greater loss almost every time. 

The other guy that bet on B three times with a small wager, pushes out a large wager greater than 5K on the B now. We are all wagering between 2K and 5K on P once again. We return a natural and win. Smiles and high-fives start once again. The three of us are now once again on the P and the other guy is at table max and throws it on the P instead of the B.  So now all four of us are in concert and on the P. 

Another few people quickly come over from the other tables and wagers are placed on both P and B by them.  We get the cards and we have two face cards and the banker turns over a black jack. Our third card is a 10 and we're sitting with a total of a miserable zero. The banker gets its third card and the guy is turning it and turning and turning it and finally peels it back and flops over a 9 and we got our first tie hand. LOL! 

So now after the tie, I dedicated myself to $225 a hand on some side bets which was going to be $100 on the Fortune 7 and $100 on the Golden 8 which is also known as the Panda 8 and $25 on the Blazing 7s which is either a three card seven tie for both sides for 200:1 or a two card seven tie for both sides for 50:1.

NOTE:  I want to stress how I was feeling for the experienced players that read these threads. What was running through my mind, extremely consciously was hit and run and I was kind of passed that point, but also was this one of those elusive great shoes that I can really rack up six figures plus?  I've done it in the past although not common, but can happen especially with the $10,000 table max limits. There was good camaraderie and that is a key point for myself to really stack up the wagers.  What happened earlier before things turned around, whereas I gave back everything I won plus I was using my original buy-in a second time, was really haunting me. 

FOR REFERENCE WE ARE AT:

P-P-P-B-B-B-B-P-T

Now, we all stacked it up with the win and had a total positive progression on the P side.  We got the cards and had a total of 6. The B returns less than a 6 (my notes are messed up I can't read what they had) and gets its third card. The guy peaks at it who's wagering on B and quickly turned over face card after seeing the black line I guess. Again we all high five and are verbally boasting ourselves and the P side.

We all have extremely heavy bets on the P side. Two people had small bets on the B side I think one had $75 and the other one had $100. The guy next to me, that had table max was asking the two people to pull their bets down and he placed a black chip at each one on the rail side to cover them, if the banker won and we lost. He didn't want their money up on the banker for them to handle the cards and they both agreed. Pure superstition but it is all good. 

We noticed the music once again overhead and it is Rod Stewart with that song, Da Ya Think I'm Sexy begins.  We got our cards and the guy flipped over two 10s after much ado thinking one was a 9 or they both were. The dealer flips over an ace and a 5 for the B.  We get the third card for the P and the guy is working it and says it's a three line card when he looks at it horizontally. We all have money on the Fortune 7 and the Golden 8.  Although if it was a 6, it would've cost us all our side bets probably but the bank would have had to draw to see if it was a tie or possibly a bank win with another Ace, 2 or 3.  Anyway he turns it vertically and says, it's a 7 or an 8 and of course we want that snowman for the P side to win plus a Golden 8 win.  This is no exaggeration; I'm telling you the guy starts singing, come on sugar let me know, come on honey tell me so, just let me know, just reach out and touch me and his wife is behind him hugging him and singing along with the music. The guy still has the card face down, but we all know it's a snowman. The guy  reaches over and grabs the $75 and $100 the other were going to bet on B, along with his two black chips and throws it up to the dealer and says that's for you. Guy slams down the snowman and says, "do you think that snowman is sexy"?  We're all happier than a pig in poo!  $2.500.00 plus the P base wager won.  The game is getting real! 


















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