Gidday XXVV

Do they have low fret wheels at Sky City, which make it more difficult for dealers to section spin, aim for number (yes specific numbers, yes that is doable). What I experienced of playing Roulette at both Auckland and Adelaide was nothing short of horrendous and utterly disgusting.  I've discussed at length with dealers in other casinos both down-under and in the UK, dealers and pit-bosses finding it staggering what I went through, the biggest load of cheating bastards there ever was.  To balance things out I've also been run ragged by what I shall term an experienced croupiers in the UK.

The reason I bring this up, is because I know you are regular competitor at one of the venues I mention.  Those betting the table minimums will never appreciate it, never experience it, start slapping down ponies and pinks, win regularly and watch what happens.

Honestly even though it was 10 years ago, I still get angry thinking about it, not only do you have to beat the game, but also the dealer as well, because they are there to take you down and are unbelievably rewarded for doing so, WTF

I can share what I went through on both sides the pond, will try and refrain from using expletives but would really like to insert a five letter plural that begins with a C and ends with a T.  You must have a few tales of your own, if you don't think this is appropriate here, just remove this post m8.

Greetings Rolex

You have caught me in holiday spirit and yes it is election day here in Aotearoa. This time round ( every 3 years here so it is like a merry go round) and everyone gets a chance and this year the fairground has got some extra bizarre horses - from a right wing Christian Party with a young property investor leader with an unfortunate mesmerising gaze that really looks part insane, to an obese German internet mogul who is fighting extradition to Hollywood and who has set up an Internet Party whose leader is called Mr Dotcom. We all rather like him because he gives the finger to America.

No offense please intended to Americans or to Christians. Some of my best friends are both.

Now to this business of Sky City.  Yes they do come across as part of the Evil Empire all right and from the outset they have been involved in Sky City but it was Harrahs who had the original and Sky City took control from them. They took an interest in the lovely little Christchurch casino which had a major original shareholder in the brilliant John Aspinall - so had some special quirky charm. When Sky City took control it went downhill fast. They have now been kicked out after a few scandals and the little boutique casino is healthier again with some delightful staff who have been there the full 17 years since opening.

Clearly Rolex you have 'anger issues' with some aspects of live play. That final word you were struggling to say "Can n't" is quite revealing. Short for CANNOT it reveals a psychological block. Permit me to 'take the p...' and try to help you through this.

Did you ever see the film 'The Croupier', the 1998, 94 min long film that launched the career of Clive Owen. Murky goings on in the twilight zone of casino life.

Yes the scalloped wheels are mostly used here as are often much lighter and smaller little white balls. In the private club the frequenters prefer the 'bucket' wheels but both types are offered and you have the right to request the larger white ball if desired wherever in the casino. A backward step introduced by the Evil Empire was that a second zero was placed within the Euro wheel layout between 5 and 10, so that 38 numbers are available for punters on the cheap $2 tables. When you play the rapid roulette at $1 min or the $5 table ( both of which I utilise) normal service is resumed with the sanity of the single zero.

Amusing nonsense but yet another tax upon the naive.

There is no 'en prison' play in NZ or Australia that I am aware of, and of course Adelaide ( a beautiful city indeed where I shall be in May next year) has Sky City firmly in control. Their management of Auckland, Hamilton, Adelaide and Queenstown casinos is unfortunate in my view - they of course are in business to strip as much cash from the pockets of the innocent lambs that wander in, and they do take an adversarial stance in my view. Gone are the days when in Auckland they would comp me a luxury suite and 3 course dinner for 4 of us. That was 12 years ago, and I was well looked after when I would stay 2 or 3 nights in the very good hotel they run above the casino and I could come down to the gaming floor before the shift change when it was quiet in the very early hours  and enjoy various table play. My experience then was actually very good and I knew several dealers including a brilliant French professional dealer ( a life in Europe) who respected my play and I his style. As often happens in such context I did very well. Later in the day our paths would cross when he visited the TAB - where I also did very well. We never exchanged brown paper bags. I attribute my success there and large trifectas to luck. I would frequently buy 10 x $3 random draws for a race (easybets). I recall there were 2 major trifectas I won that way within ten days and the second larger win paid for a trip for my wife and my daughter around the world to study music in Amsterdam and Germany for several weeks - instrumental in her education. Good Karma.

In those days Auckland and Sky City was a more relaxed place. Now its become very intensified and space seems tight.

You should ask SqzBox what he thinks of the set these days - quite negative I expect although the niche for Baccarat I think is quite pleasant in the new floor layout.

My stay there recently has been at their new 5 star Grand across the road from the Casino and 'the experience' as they like to term it was quite good  ( food by Peter Gordon) but not the style of Sydney or Melbourne. As for the dealers - my own view on this subject is worth a volume or two.

Queenstown Casino ( there are two and the one not controlled by Sky City) is magical and overlooks the Lake Wakatipu and is built on the wharf. Fabulous and a bit like the very early Sydney Star City was when down on the wharf. Worth a flying visit for a fairytale location especially during the snowy Winter Festival.

Dealers in Christchurch. I have said this before and will say it again. The young guys sometimes get a little competitive but the  staff in training ( regularly displayed in the casino interior during the day) are 50/50 male and female, and in my view delightful. Most are very pleased to see you win.

If I lose at the table and I blame the dealer and show any negative emotion then I know I have a problem and I take a break - sometimes a few days off.

When I have won jackpots at the slots ( rarely played but only when using a percentage of earlier roulette winnings) I attribute this to 'my psychic response', yes intuition, to the energy/ phase of the machine in its current phase.  As the Day Manager stated fairly to me ( he was later implicated in a cheating/ con scandal) "you were in the right place at the right time" when they paid out $11,650 to me one morning. I knew the machine and I often had smaller jackpots on it. Luck. In the Chinese sense.

It is true, positive associations with 'winning dealers' is a powerful suggestion to subconsciousness, and yes it works! It did for me yesterday. I had earlier lost a little but came back to the table when a favourite dealer was on ( she often seems to spin zero section stuff 'for me'- and she acknowledges that) and I hit 26 twice and then a picture bet on 32.

I will be candid, I really like all the dealers at the boutique casino and they are well known to me. The problem would be in returning to Sky City now and they would be strangers, impersonal and part of a fast running river of chips going down the hole. I would need to invest time to re-establish a pattern of play, a routine, a stake in the place so to speak, and then I could start climbing. That's my mental game. Watching, waiting, and getting to know them. And that is just for my comfort.

If not I feel alone and at the mercy of cold forces. A loser - but that is the energy being put on me.

But of course 'it is all in the mind' is it not.  All fantasy really and yet it really matters, to me. I try to bring order, calm and confidence to my play - not too much but just enough to tip the scales to' a small edge' and the bias to which we are hard wired.

The 'edge' of course is another volume.

So I turn the CANNOT to CAN DO - still five letters but what a difference.

Gidday XXVV,

I first started Roulette at Sky City in the city of sails back on 2003 and didn't have a clue what I was doing, therefore lost a packet.  Somebody said to me, double up until you win, so I tried that on all three EC's at the same time.  Now when is the last time you saw the same three EC's repeat?  A pretty rare event I would say.  My Marty plan stretched beyond three spins.  Losing is not so important, it was what happened the other side of the table which is more revealing, suffice to say I did not win a single spin.

Stood behind the dealer was a smirking pit <insert word I can't use>, after cleaning me out, the dealer turned to the pit $£%^ and said, "maybe I was being too hard on him" WTF.

I  was warned by the regulars faces you see in the place what dealers were capable of, I didn't buy into it.  So I started my slow beginners journey into playing a system.  My first involved playing two columns out of three, after some no-show, can't recall exactly what, with the usual triple up.  Lose, lose, lose, okay now I am in for the table max.  Maori bitch of a dealer, maybe good at here job, but still a unintelligent-behind for opening her beak, blatantly aims for the zero.  I'm still green and wet behind the ears and doing things like placing bets before the ball was spun.  The ball hits zero but bounces one pocket, obviously she hadn't memorised the wheel, because I knew the outcome before she did.  Either side of zero are two middle column numbers, I'm on the outside columns.  When it finally dawned that I had lost after tripling up for the 4th time, she simply could not help turning around to the female pit boss and said as clear as day, "I got him".  The pit bitch did look embarrassed, it was a busy table, everybody heard it. 

The Asian spinners you need to be very weary of, I've been spanked betting the dozens, sure others are winning, but I'm usually betting a heck of a lot more. 

I started getting better at my game and finally began winning, some Chinese dealer comes to the table, again I'm betting the columns.  I was up a few thou' so I lose a spin, as he took my chips, he looked straight at me, eye to eye contact.  Usually dealers just scoop the chips and be done with it.  It was like he was warning me, it's time to leave, I didn't and didn't win a single spin there-after. 

On another occasion, I was losing, some male Maori dealer comes to the table and asks me how I'm doing, so I tell him how much I was down (4 figures), so he says, let's see what we can do about that.  So I say, all I need is random spins, hint hint.  So I proceed to win back all my money, I thank him and there is a dealer change, not a normal shift change, just out of the blue.  Bang, everything back in the chip stack, unreal mate. 

I watched somebody plonk down $25 on some table during the graveyard shift, an Indian dealer was behind the table, whom was so desperate to spin against this guy, the ball barely made 3 revolutions, one of the slowest spins I have ever seen, because he was trying to line everything up, the punter called him a cheating bastard, took his $50 and walked. 

Now why do they do this, why do they even care, the answers are three fold;

In the public area back in 2003, when you could bet a .50c game and the social problems that imposed locally, the tables were very busy.  People pushing and shoving, late bets, dealers getting harassed, having to do lots of pay-outs, don't recall if they had auto-chippers back in those days.

As relayed to me, "If you are good for the house, you get rewarded".  WTF these $10 ~$12p/h employees get rewarded for taking the punters money?  Basically if you are good for the house, in other words, can control a ball and where it lands, you get promoted to the high-rollers area, where you don't have to deal with the riff-raff  trying to lay down .50 chips. 

If you are exceptional for the house, you win employee of the month and can be rewarded with quite expensive jewellery, more on that later when I post about the other Sky City venue. 

The third factor is jealousy, they at the time were earning $10~12 p/h, you are betting their hourly, weekly, monthly wage per spin.  I found the dealers couldn't divorce themselves from he human side of things.

Of course you'll get the naysayers, saying they can't do this or that,  you weren't there, probably bet so low that they simply don't care.   

Next time, I'll  share what my roulette experiences from across the ditch, it gets worst, even more openly blatant about it.   

Typing on this board is such a pain, with these keyboard lock-ups. 
         
   

I'm not as experienced in the other casinos as XXVV, but I can tell you that Skycity Auckland's culture has not changed. It is completely corporate, automation is everywhere (even to the free non-alcoholic drinks), and the majority of dealers are a-holes. Because tipping is illegal in this part of the world you would think that the dealers could be a little more dispassionate about the whole thing, but no, they revel in taking you down. Most dealers now are either asian or indian. These people fear for their jobs and so are completely corporate brain-washed. There is one particular (asian) dealer who I am sure they consider to be their ball-breaker. He spins barely 3 rotations before the ball drops - all the time. I recall one trainee dealer who was an absolute delight - she was full of personality and joined in the fun to a degree that made everybody smile. Guess what? Never saw her again after that first night!  What a crazy mentality these corporate people have.

I would disagree with XXVV on one thing - Mr Dotcom is a piece of garbage and the sooner he gets deported to face the music for his crimes in America the better - in my view.  He is attempting to sabotage our elections for his own selfish purposes and because of the money he can inject into his campaign he has managed to buy a couple of rather (again - in my view) sleazy politicians who I wouldn't trust to feed my dog!

You don't have a dog.

Yes, one can be sure that 'politics' like 'religion' is divisive (lol).

My reference to 'we rather like him' was a tepid recommendation as the big oaf - always dressed in black- shot himself in the foot the other day addressing a mob of what looked like 'boy-racers' as we refer to them in Christchurch - very disturbed part adults who seem to have transferred their affection for humanity instead into passion for their lowered high powered and noisy anti-social cars - and in a frenzy of unfortunate rather embarrassing Germanic passion started inciting the mob to hysteria in his election rally. In the frenzy which was unpleasantly personally aimed at our innocent looking current PM the big man forgot himself and like a previously unseen gem from Dr Strangelove,  started giving fascist salutes and chanting in a warped half comic version of a mini nazi activist rally in a land very very far away from NZ. Alarm bells were ringing.

This one act probably cost him any chance of honourable mention in the results tonight.

The results came through and Mr Dotcom was indeed a poisoned chalice (his expression) to his partners and to the election as a whole - with Kiwis taking the understandable route of reinforcing playing safe and sticking with what they know rather than risking chaos in a ramshackle ad hoc patchwork quilt of mix and match.

Quote from: sqzbox on September 20, 2014, 03:05:40 AMBecause tipping is illegal in this part of the world 

this is a good thing.  The term "customer service", is kind of alien in the UK

Quote from: sqzbox on September 20, 2014, 03:05:40 AMI recall one trainee dealer who was an absolute delight - she was full of personality and joined in the fun to a degree that made everybody smile. Guess what? Never saw her again after that first night! 

Wow, how very apt.  I moved across the ditch and gave gambling a wide berth due to my experiences in the City of sails.  Bar the one exception when relatives came to visit and wanted to visit the casino.  Reluctantly I went along and won $400. 

Due to let's say a trigger, I went to the casino, already aware that covering 24 numbers wasn't going to cut it, aware of what dealers can do, I devised a method of play that covered 28 numbers with all losing numbers being surrounded by two winning numbers.  Betting $350 per spin playing $25 chips, the place was packed, there was a young girl who was obviously a trainee.  Smiles all round, never looked at the marquee once, just random spins.  Each time I lost a bet, it took me 3.5 spins to recoup.  I was pocketing chips left right and centre.  Totally unaware of how well I was doing, after many hours I quit, moved away from the table and counted up.   I had just won $5k and felt very elated. 

So I returned Sat' found the same young girl, said hi, again the tables were heaving and played the same way as I did the previous night.  Not a word of a lie, I won another $5k after many hours of play.  At home I was totally buzzing, I had just picked up $10k from two nights action, this covering 28 numbers is a sure-fire winner, all my troubles are now gone, who cares, I have it made (LOL).

Sunday return for more of the same, to be honest I don't recall what happened because it was so long ago, all I recall is that I couldn't see the nice young trainee, instead noticed lots of strange faces behind the wheels.  Well the system works so who cares.  All I know is that I didn't win that night, but something convinced me to build a progression around what it was I was doing, rather than try and ride out losses and hoping not to get hit twice inside 3.5 spins, I would "double up", my biggest mistake ever.

Monday night, I place by $350 on an empty table, Robert was the dealer, one of my fixed losing numbers is #24.  24 comes in, oh that's a bad start, double up now have $700 on the table.  Green as anything, paying no attention to ball release, no putting down chips after ball release.  #24 comes in again, WTF, there is no-way back now flat betting, I'm in too deep.  So I now lay out $1400 and stupid me, I even walked away from the table to stump out a cigarette.  Winning number #24, I was floored.  Now obviously the math-heads will say, it was a triple spin, no big deal it happens all the time.  The thing that got me, as Robert was scooping my chips away, he looked straight at me at said, "what were the odds in that".  He made it obvious what he was doing, had done.

I varied a few things after that, such as covering 30 numbers in a hit and run fashion, but never recovered from what I considered Roberts deliberate action.  In this place you see dealers wearing very expensive gold bracelets, very expensive.  Pictures on the wall "employee of the month", these pieces of jewellery are casino gifts?  I've heard from a good source to win these awards, it is not about being nice to the customers, rather you have to be good for the house, go figure.

I still didn't stop playing roulette, it would be a constant battle against dealers.  I was at one table, won a few spins, out of the blue a dealer change.  Another of my losing numbers was #6.  I swear to God the pit boss said to this new dealer, "put it on 6".  Again being wet behind the ears, I didn't move or take off my bets.  Instead I thought, if he gets anywhere near #6, I'm going to another table.  Too late, first spin #6, unbelievable. 

Coincidentally a few years later I popped into the casino during my lunch hour (my work was very close to the casino) and dropped about $4k on the Baccarat table, on the way out the same pit-boss said to me "a few more of them", the *$^".  Yes I had a great afternoon in work afterwards.

I returned at 5pm and played $500 units simply waiting for a streak of four and using a Fibonacci betting against its continuance.  I won a lot of first placed bets and afterwards won within two bets.  After winning 30 purples, I stepped down to black to protect what I had won thus far unfortunately and proceeded to win a further 10 black chips.  Basically I had just turned the initial $500 chip into $16k.  I had to leave because I was scheduled to attend some Windows administrating training session.  On my way out, I made a beeline for the same pit-cretin, ensured he saw my fist full of pinks and gleefully said to him "a few more of these", laughed at his red face and left.  No I couldn't give a damn about the Windows 2000 admin course as I sat through it with over $30k in my wallet, buzzing to the max. 

I've played and had dealers literally studying the marquee wondering where I was going to bet next, as I slowly adapted the strategy of placing chips after ball-release.  Those that don't subscribe to them being able to hit specific numbers under the correct conditions is a load of toss.  Their loyalty is to their employer not some stranger who thinks they can make more than they can earn, plus there are incentives in taking you down.

Returning to the same venue many years later, I noticed these skilled croupiers are now mostly pit-bosses, yes when I feel like it and have had a big bet out on the Baccarat table which comes in, I say in a very loud voice, "section spin that".  They are a load of cheating B*s***ds anyway, so why not rub their noses in it (more on that when I post about Canberra), other times I keep stum because either way, I know consistent winning players irritates them, so it's subtle payback either way.

Losing my shirt many years ago on the Bacc table, I plonked down two sizeable bets on the two outside columns of a roulette table in a do or die manner, dealer says good luck, aims for the top of the wheel, missed the zero by one pocket, says "oh" while taking way my chips.  He is also now pit-boss, it's crazy to let them see where you place your bets before they let go of that little white ball.   On the older Huxley wheels you are simply asking for trouble. There was a case of a friend via friend an arrangement was made for somebody who was getting married and needed some money.  Groom is playing Roulette in the VIP room, dealer is spinning for him, soon he is $10k up, dealer signals that is enough, no doubt a back-hander was given far away from the place.  Casino's are full of all types, anything you need or want doing can be arranged once you make the right contacts.  Things are not all fair in love and war, there are a lot of shady things going on both sides of the table, a player needs to keep their eyes open and wits about them. 

I've spoken to dealers whom I met socially, one is family friend.  They tell me the same thing, course they can take down any player if they want to, one was horrified that I risked so much money playing the game.   I don't care what the maths states and loses were due to the HE, it is the comments, signals that bugs me, hence the move to playing Baccarat years later.

Next time, I'll post about what I witnessed in Canberra and the professional roulette player, who was for me an absolute joy to watch given my own negative experiences, plus battling the dealers in the UK. 

It took me a while to re-find this, how easy is it done!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm5wMxvHwg4