Thought I would go ahead and post what pump number I got gas at this morning on the way to the casino in Kansas City. Is there any other pump number but this one that's appropriate?

My buddy is with me and he's got all the songs programmed in for the ride and it starts something like this; Twilight Zone, Radar Love, Funkytown, I want a new drug, The Pusher, Cocaine, Another one bites the dust, Dude looks like a lady, Money, Walk this way, and lots more should get us over to the casino.

You know it's just after 2 AM and he's got the Twilight Zone song playing, how appropriate. If you know the words to the song, you would understand what that means.

Later.

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! 


















***NOT FINISHED YET***






>>>STILL TYPING—NOT FINISHED<<<

Link to article.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/foreign-syndicate-taiwan-malaysia-baccarat-formula-mbs-casino-3938776

In the end, more than anything else, you will regret the chances or choices you did not take. Stop allowing 'pop-up' regrets and info to control yourself, it is a huge disadvantage and will wreck your decision making process.

9 THINGS TO DO FOR ADDING ADVANTAGE TO YOUR PLAY

1) Stop letting others tell you what to do. (In an above an occasional or few camaraderie plays when you are on a win streak with others at the table);

2) Do not forget the real factual priorities of decision making and applying experiences in the correct way;

3) Don't allow uncertainty to stop you;

4) Be careful to focus on your failures and losses rather than your present opportunity;

5) Not allowing knowledge and experience to play advantage roles;

6) Never claim your a victim;

7) Stop any over analyzing;

#8. Do not allow yourself to classify and limit positive and advantaged playing;

9) Stop the "If Only" statement and belief, which will normally throw you off track.

Fortune 7s at hands: 3-4-5-21-35-50

3 back-to-back Fortunes.  Never saw this before.  I have seen plenty of back-to-back F7s, but never more than 2.  Saw a few triple Fortune 7s in a banker streak separated by regular banker wins and I have posted those here in the past.

Hand 3:  Player 6/4 flops a 6. Banker 10/F flops a 7.

Hand 4:  Player 2/2 flops a 6. Banker 5/A flops an Ace.

Hand 5:  Player 8/7 flops a 7. Banker 9/5 flops a 3.

Note:  My theory about 0-1-2-3 low or no ties is PREVALENT and extremely factual here as well in the first 50 hands!

Second picture is how I would do the Sections.

Best Wishes to all on my forum here, members that contribute, those that continuously browse and all the people coming on to read without signing-up as well!

Happy Thanksgiving 2023! 

Alrelax
Administrator and Forum Owner

I wish to spell it out.  Plain, simple and clear.

There is to be NO posting Links or Advertisement(s) of anything/any kind on my forum without the following:

1). You contact me and you are verified and certified through myself;

2). You become a sponsor of my forum;

3). The links and/or advertisements are verified and certified by myself as well.

If you are legit, responsible and care about your fellow forum member/potential customers, you would have zero problem with this.

If you post without contacting me the way many attempt with links and advertisements, I will immediately delete them and ban you in several ways.

This is my policy and it is never going to change.

I am open to sponsors and sponsorships if you wish to venture down that road.  So, that leaves out all the spammers, phishers, scamsters, drama link posters, etc., etc., etc.

Sincerely,
Alrelax
Administrator and Forum Owner

Last night.  I wanted to take pic of the scoreboard but too many casino personnel around the bac table actually.  Thought it was better not to attempt. 

Below I am posting my hand written casino bac card with the Bs and Ps the way I normally keep them most of the time. The circled Bs and Ps were natural 8s or 9s wins.

I copied my friends clip board detailed notes he keeps with each hand written out.  My notes are added.

3rd numbers are the third card draws for the side, I circle those. 

I only stayed for the first 28 hands. I firmly believe and subscribe to the; 'Play serious—risk the buy in capital-you can only win short blasts healthy and happily more so than playing long hours with unlimited goals type of play trying to win more and more or come out of debt', etc., etc.  Bac is super influencing to the person playing, no matter whether he is winning or losing or struggling with back and forth.  And IMO the shoe is not an easy follow whatsoever and certainly a sizable win, is even harder to hold and leave with. Okay, onward.

1st hand.  A Fortune 7 for the bankers.  And everyone is literally hyping the bankers side and ready to wager heavy and hard on the bankers. 

2nd through 12th hands. All players.  Love those players win with a total of 7 points. 

Hand 13.  Banker with a Natural 9 win.

Hand 14 through 20.  All player wins with 1 tie hand 15.

Of course my 0-1-2-3 no ties/low ties come into huge reality once again here, BIG TIME!  Which 0-1-2-3 ties to me, dictates it will continue doing what it's doing.  And it certainly did my friends!!

Love that 6 players followed by the 5 players after those double bankers.  What a set-up for those 5 players, 1 less-the same or 1 more.  Yes sir!

22-Players.  5-Bankers.  1-Tie.  First 28 Hands.

>>>When it's there, it's there.  Period.<<<

Side Note:  So many continuously played for the 'cut' during this whole first 30 hands period when the players side was strong, real real strong. 

* I lost hands 13-21-22 & 28.
* Did not bet the first hand after the tie won.
* Won the first bet as I wagered banker and fortune 7 and Dagon Bonus as well.
* Switched to players side and stuck there, first two players side wins wagered smallish, then kicked it up.  Yes, I did desire to change to bankers side numerous times, but I did not and I an sure glad I did not. 
* Notes on left side were my wagers.
* I switched to bankers on hand 23 and lost that wager, that was immediately after losing 2 wagers on players to the 2 bankers that won on hands 21 & 22.
* Frustration started to set in, but I got around it by concentrating on what was happening and accepting the bankers were not going to make an immediate comeback.

When it did the players mini-streak of 6iar which took hands 14-20, it made one of those famous 'boxes' on the scoreboard. 

The electronic scoreboard at the table is 8 hands from top to bottom, before the turn right.  It coordinates with the card I was manually using.

Certainly a banker heavy shoe at the end, but equalization and near equalization occurred a few times.

Now that I am writing about some of the shoes I play, I watch the other people more, pay a lot more attention to what I wrote about, with NOT applying experiences subconsciously and as well, concentrating on reality interpretation, etc.  I feel the benefits both physically with decision making and the results there of, wins. 

(It would be great if many could do the same and post on the forum!  I have even read on other forums how several like to come into BetSelection here and view the real boards and results I post, but they do not post, lol.  Whatever, guess it's just the mentality of most and how many of the forums have an abundance in drama banter and that endless search for the never found holy grail wagering system(s), rather than actual gaming reality and results.)

The Shoe.

Fortune 7s.  Hands 3-8-19-28.  Love the 0-1-2-3 'Low Ties' happening as well!  One of the factors that I always look for. 

Just before the 7 player IAR, it was 12 bankers and 6 players. Then equalization comes about 12 Bankers and 13 players. Then it turns to 19 Bankers to 14 players and then 19 Bankers to 17 players.

Then the next section after the back to back ties after the triple player.  2 sets of triple bankers and three single players brings us to 26 bankers and 20 players.

Sitting at hand 51 with serious conscious thought of a classic (and so commonly occurring) 1s and 2s and maybe a triple for the next 25 or so hands, is the way I was actually figuring it out.

But the banker started and it was a strong banker with several hands that should have lost easily to the players, but did not. A hint I love to follow!  I will post 2 board pics as examples as to what am I talking about with 1s and 2s and maybe a triple or so after some clumping like what happened already in the first half and then some. Because that is what happens in the highest majority of the shoes.

I liked it and believed in it continuing with the banker when it made that 4th IAR win (hand 55). The 5th and 6th wins were clearly favoring the players side when their first two cards were flipped but the bankers prevailed. The tie caused most everyone to wager on players or back off as I do recall.

Two more naturals won over the players 2 card 7 and a players natural 8. The bankers side was unquestionably strong.  The triple players that occurred convinced almost everyone the players side would equal out, but they certainly fell off.

On the third Banker all I saw, which doesn't come that often, was a 'BOX' to be made and I said it out loud and everyone looked at me like I was absolutely crazy and it would never happen. There were a few comments how it was going to chop or just make 1s and 2s and there is no way the bankers are going to make a come back.

THINK & SEEK IN REALITY!  Is all I can stress about what I did.

Three more bankers were made for a beautiful clean 'BOX'

A great shoe for those that played it in sections, believing in what was happening for short periods of time, not engaging in the cut wagering consistently as so many do, and doing a couple positive progressions and just pulling down until you lose the last one and starting over again.

Additional Note.  By the 28th hand I was up well over $3,000 (buy-in put away) even with giving back a good $1,500 + on that 7 IAR players.  Just had it consciously in myself to set my buy-in safely away, and risk half of what I won already. And that paid off nicely with multiplying that $3,000 win numerous times when that 'BOX' was beautifully built out!!!

The first two pictures are this shoe I am making reference to. The last two pictures are examples of what I made reference to the 1s, 2s and a triple or so after some clumping or a stronger shoe, etc.

The following will be a continuing series of posting.

Long and hard research here. Analyzing countless past play with why I did what I did, textbook study and a lot more. Now I will start this thread with the goal to allow you to change your response to what you cannot control, which is the presentments of the shoe.  But you can allow yourself to grow stronger and understand your decision making, which affects your buy-in, bankroll and producing a higher profit.

Know what is really happening at the game of baccarat, relying on your experience; is it a negative advantage? But truly using interpretation can be to your advantage.  You must know what the differences are and how they both affect the decision making process. 

Sit down and seriously measure yourself against your wins, losses and the decisions you made with the reasons you did. Interpretation of your experience is what will clearly give you real advantage with your decision making process in the game of baccarat. 

Interpretation occurs as the result of a combination of several factors. The mind has an automatic tendency to interpret an experience and create a story/a fallacy about it based on your memory, past realizations, and situations you have encountered yourself or with others when you were present. Your mind then selectively gathers data from within the experience(s) to support its interpretation. It may seem to you that your mind is simply trying to figure out your experiences, but really it's screening for evidence to support the decisions you are making from your story it is clinging to. However, your story is delusion because your mind is being clouded by extremely strong emotions brought on positively or negatively with each hand presented from the shoe.

Therefore, a crucial skill for minimizing emotional chaos and sustaining clarity in your baccarat game is the ability to distinguish between your experiences and your interpretation of your experiences. Your experiences are simply whatever is happening at the moment; the hand, the wager won or lost, the camaraderie, high-fives or fist bumps, the long faces and the banged chips against the table, etc. etc.

Your interpretation is your minds reaction to those  experiences. One way to understand this difference is to picture that when you are directly experiencing a moment similar and you are within it. When you are truly interpreting it, you will put yourself outside of it and give yourself a true advantage.

You must become committed to a particular and interpretation regime to the point that it becomes a habit, a story that you repeat in related circumstances. For example, your interpretation generated by your reactive mind usually will become your primary experience which will usually be opposed to whatever is actually happening in the game of baccarat that needs your full attention and be considered advantaged response. Then what normally happens is we continue on with the shoe, but our attention is split and far less than complete. That causes us to allow frustration, emotion and disarray to sit in fast which will add poor decision making forcing us to revert back to our experiences having no direct correlation to the shoe we are playing.

The shoe is not your battle ground! Your mind is your sole battle ground you face at the table. It is the place where the conflict resides, the place where we develop habits that put us in direct opposition with the reality of the shoe being played. It's where the things we figured would happen, never happen; or were the things we believed and desired to happen actually happen. But we fell prey to our own train of thought because of direct opposition with reality. Therefore, if we were right we tend to repeat and we all know the game of baccarat will never repeat itself over and over the same way we want it to. And on the other hand, if we were wrong then we correct ourselves and the shoe reverts back to producing what we believed was wrong. 

That is what you call direct opposition with reality in the game of baccarat.

It is where our expectations get the best of us and we fall victim to our own trains of thought, again and again and again. It is our own fault within our own mind, not the shoes fault, or the shuffle, or the cut, or the other players wagering against us, or the dealer, etc. etc.

Truth be told, in the game Baccarat we will receive a unique set of unexpected and unknown limitations and variables within a shoe. The advantaged question is:  How will you think and respond to the hands being presented?  You can either focus on the lack thereof (experience), or empower yourself to play the game resourcefully with full and real advantage, making the very best of each outcome as it is presented (interpretation), even when it's hard to accept with a loss of your wager.

The bottom line here is, that you cannot control what is happening around you and with everything that has already been set. So you challenge yourself to control the way you respond to what is happening to straighten out those habitual, spiraling patterns of thinking that clearly the highest majority of all baccarat players engage in. But that is much easier said than done though, for all of us. Because it is hard to change the habits we engage in mostly at a subconscious level. But we can get better by bringing more awareness to what we are doing through our own experience and proper interpretation of such that will give us viable advantages with our decisions concerning wagering.

Will post again when I finish my next part.

Started off good but with excessive ties as you can see.  The shoe had a total of 16 ties with two more sets of back to back ties.  Lots of natural 8 or natural 9 ties within those 16.  Probably 8 of those were natural 8 or 9 ties. 

I hit the fortune 7 as you can see from the picture I snapped. 

I was playing $225.00 to $350.00 build outs, positive progressions for my base wagers.

Right after the score board shot I snapped, it turned to all chop chop.  There was a total of 9 additional chops, bringing the shoe to hand 38. 

I was not playing the chop.  I stuck with banker and fell outside the groove, big time!  It was a big time easy 'give me' playing the chop, most were naturals for either side, as well as reductions to zero for the side that just previously won, etc.  But I did not play it.  Would have been a quick $5k-$9k. 

I was staying even at best, winning one, giving it back, winning one, giving it back, etc.  I took it all the wrong way and the frustration built.

The shoe then turned to all singles, doubles and 1 triple for the next 37 hands.  10 singles, 12 doubles and the one triple.  Like I said, there were 6 additional ties as well.

Not a good shoe for me.  Big time stupid me!  I just didn't play it as it was being presented.

Went and played a shoe the other night.  Lots of classic easy to read give-me's in the shoe! 

The sections occurring, the strong, the weak, the mini run of 6 by each the bankers and the players and those being side-by-side, the 3 beautiful fortune 7s, and a lot of great dragon bonuses of 7 and 8 and 9 to zero bonuses for pay outs of 6 or 10 or 30 to 1.

Fortune 7s at hands 6-11 and 55. There was one more F7 at the end of the shoe as well.

Here is a picture of the shoe a little better than half way with the first two sections marked up.  I was playing this particular shoe in 3 sections. 

Here is a picture of my 3rd fortune 7 win, which was a 7 to 0 win, so the F7 $20 bet was an $800.00 payout and the dragon $30 bet was a $180.00 payout.  The dealer is getting ready to pay me as you can see, he has the $180 cut out for the dragon win and is getting 6 hundred more of green out, as that is what I asked for.

This was a great shoe if one believed in it. Although only myself and about two others really did throughout the majority of it. It was a full table with some back betting going on as well.

Most of all the belief was, the players side will come back and come back strong. Lots of Martingale wagering on the player side with consistent and repetitive player side wagering going on. The mentality of most of the people was totally amazing.

So so many people these days wager against any streaking and for the chop when there is obviously one side dominating; Or they wager for the streak when the shoe is producing repetitive chops or 1s and 2s. 

Best I can recall is the following. In the beginning was just about the bankers side winning by one point or a drastic reduction in the players side to a zero or near zero. Those three natural back to back hands number 4-5 and 6, were  players natural eight and bank natural nine, players natural nine And banker seven, players natural eight and banker natural nine.

When the first streak of 6 bankers happen the players side had pretty good opening cards such as a two card 7 and a natural 8 on the first two. The next two hands 12 and 13, players five and bankers one, Players pull a three and bankers pull an eight. Then players open zero and bankers opens zero also. Players pull a seven and bankers pull an eight. Last one was a Fortune 7, see picture.

The players make a single win. Everyone but myself and another are verbally pumping up the player side with belief that the players will have a strong come back with almost every hand played. And they're all wagering on it.

Hands 18-19 and 20 are all natural nines for the bankers side and the players side once again had natural eights or open with a two card seven. Then the second Fortune 7 happens.  See picture.  Another natural for the banker.

Now one of my favorite dealers turns to be and mouths the word, "TIE".  I seldom wager tie, very seldom. So I throw up a black chip on the tie wager. The dealer flops a natural 8 for the players side and I look at him and he looks at me while holding the two cards for the bankers side and he says, "don't worry I told you tie". Of course all I see was the loss of about $650 on my bet, $30 on the dragon side bet, $100 on the Tie bet and $20 on my fortune 7 bet. I said, "yeah right you just cost me $800"!!!

So he flops the two bankers cards and it is a natural 8 as well, and on top of that he says, "TIE and I gave you an exact 6/2—6/2 Tie". Looks at me and rolled his eyes, one for the books. See picture, I kid you not!  Now this game is getting interesting! 

Only myself and one other person had the tie as you can see. The other guy had two green chips on it.

The players side makes a triple with back to back wins. I religiously stick with the bankers side, but I tone it down a bit because there's like zero camaraderie and very little excitement except for one or two of us and a favorite dealer. But I don't jump on the player side as most all were doing.

If this shoe was at a $10,000 max table it would easily be a $250,000 shoe plus, but unfortunately it was not.

Then came the small chop. Jumped on that, but not using positive progression which of course I should have. I still did not see what was going to happen in real strong vision. It was now right at the +10 mark that the bankers were ahead and which I do believe the highest majority of the times, will continue with chops or turn in favor of the lacking side with doubles and triples. And I'm a firm believer on what I just said.  See picture 7 in relation to this.

But what happened, what was set to happen, happened!!

Hand 32 through hand 46. When it made that bankers win on hand 33, I started to envision the bankers side is going to remain strong and will get stronger. Hand 33 went players zero and Bankers 2.  Players pulled a seven and bankers pulled a six. The next two hands, Players side once again had a natural eight and then a seven and the bankers side had a natural nine and then a natural 8 to beat the players side each time.

Not many couldn't believe what was happening. Mouths were physically opened and repetitively saying, "WTF" as well as "OMG I can't believe what's happening", etc. etc.

Hands 36 to 41 were a strong show of banker power. With each hand the players side had a six or seven and the bankers would win by pulling a 7 or 8 or 9 or the players side was reduced to zero or possibly a one and the bankers won each hand by having a two or three total point value. 

Both of the back to back ties were natural nines. The bankers side finished with a 13 streak win. See picture eight in relation to this. 

The game continued as you can see in the next picture. See picture nine in relation to this. What is interesting, was the bankers had a lot of hands they normally would lose to a pretty good opening player hand or a 3rd card players pull, but almost every time that happened the bankers would just dominate and have to pull one or one of two cards and they would pull that one or the other card necessary to win the hand numerous times.  Example.  Players having a 4 and bankers having a 3.  Players pulling a 4 and bankers pulling a 6. 

Another fortune 7 came with the last winning banker hand of the shoe, hand 68.  See picture 10 in relation to this.

The last picture is my reward for playing the shoe the correct way.

PICTURES:

1st. Up to the end of the 2 bankers side runs starting the domination.  Shows the two Fortune 7's.

2nd. The first Fortune 7

3rd. The second Fortune 7

4th. My tie bet, showing what I had out there.  PLEASE NOTE, THIS IS A LOW DOLLAR TABLE, $25.00-$1,000.00.

5th. Getting paid on my tie bet and showing you the cards as I stated.

6th. Stacking up some early wins, while others are continuously buying in due to their employment of the martingale on the Players side!

7th. Showing the strongest the players ever got with that triple win as I wrote about.  The point most all got influenced IMO to commit to the players side. 

8th. Showing the board after the 13 streak banker run.

9th. Showing the board where the dominant bankers side continued with no equalization that normally happens.  Especially at or near the ending of the shoe!

10th. Showing the last few hands of the shoe with the 3rd fortune 7. 

11th. The profit.

The questions are tough, the questions are ones that most never find the answers to, never really want to deal with, or ones that are quickly dismissed as unanswerable.  But they MUST be!

I desperately struggled for years to engage into finding answers and just thinking about it stressed me out countless times. So I simply avoided the questions and the soul-searching it demanded of me. Until............Recently.

The tangled and the misunderstood realm of the game entered my mind and remained in the forefront at the end of every single session I played. The presentments, the shuffle, the dealer, the amount won or given back, the published and written Q's & A's and stories. All ran through my head on the way out of the casino after each session.

Think about it. The shoe produces presentments that fall within the sphere, the domain within which anything and everything can occur, prevail, sometimes dominates the field, or fails to produce anything recognizable. Other times the presentments are totally recognizable and they match our beliefs, desires and decisions spot on, sometimes even allowing us to win like 7 or 8 times out of 10 leading us to fantastic wins. 

And with that said, onward with what this is really about, decisions and making them while winning.  How would it have been great if we previously left? Think about it, sure we are after anything to protect our buy in and a small or smallish win.  But IMO and experience, the greatest wins and 'great' sessions come after an 'up and down' of my buy in.  Which means, a drawdown of my buy in, evening out and getting a little bit ahead, once even twice, like being on a roller coaster ride. 

Larger wins take a climb, meaning a bit back-and-forth, winning, losing, pushing back-and-forth, etc. Parlay and positive progression wagering really boosts the person's chip stacks, visually and physically which will definitely assist in relieving the person's emotional downturn and stress factor, making it easier for clearer and more focused decision making.  It does for myself every time I get within the event of a nice ongoing winning session. 

IMO there is no magic percentile when to stop or continue play when you are winning. But one thing for 100% certain, if you stop, you cannot win more. And the more you win the more you want to continue playing. I don't care who you are, that applies to each one of us.

One example comes to mind that happened to myself not long ago. I arrived at my regular casino and no one was playing and one of my absolute favorite dealers was sitting there bored to death. We engaged in some quick small talk and I was gonna go get something to eat and kill an hour or so and come back. Anyway I took out only $100 from my buy in risk capital I brought and I laid it out on the table. She said, 'WHAT'?  I said, one hand be nice, just checking you out before the real play when I come back from eating. I put $80 on the banker and $20 on the fortune 7. She gave me a fortune 7 for an $800 win. I played a few more hands, and I won most of them. Not many hands later she gives me a second Fortune seven. A few people sat down at that time. By the end of the shoe I had over a $2,000 profit, got up to well over $3,000 and gave back about $1,000. She is telling me to take it and leave. Not a bad return on the next to nothing investment of my only $100 buy in.

But I felt something and not just because I had a huge return on my $100. So into the following shoe, I reached well over $8,000 of win money and I called it quits once I drop down to $7,000 of pure win. All of it off that next to nothing $100 buy in. 

And I remember her, seriously telling me to take the money and leave when I was at the $2,000-$3,000 mark. Thinking back on that, at least twice I almost did, but the ups and downs were quick and I stalled out at that $1,800-$2,000 mark and again at $2,900-$3,300 mark as well. Then I took off again with winning most all parlays and positive progressions for 1-2 or 3 hands and losing only those when I backed down to my base unit wagers.

So if I left with say $2,500 I never would have reached the $7,000 to $8,000;mark. I was basically doing a 1/3 risk of what I was winning once I reached the $3,000 level which I have written about countless times in my money management method, that I normally use.

Here are three quick examples of what I am talking about here actually was applied and gave me clear advantages.

1)


2)


3)



NOTE:  Reference #3.  I have several pictures of the scoreboard and will post them.

So many believe it is an easy decision to make. I guess it depends on your experience, outlook, desires and goals. For myself, I love the point of working my drawdown, getting a bit of profit, working that into my money management method and looking for the 'takeoff'. And for me that is where the money is really at. At least it is for myself and most of the people that I play with at the casinos. Buy in safe-a but of profit. But I do know playing on all win/won money is what I strive for.  But, it gets confusing at times. How much longer to quit, risk the win money further, leave even if winning fails to continue, etc., etc.

So many repeatedly write/say on the forums, win 1 to 3 units and leave. Lose 3 to 5 units and stop. I can't fathom that and I don't play that way. I don't have those kind of win stop, loss stop rules. I can never see making anything substantial if you play like that. Maybe I'm wrong? However mine are like so many. They want to win sizable amounts and I do, quite often. My loss stop is my buy in money. My buy in is my risk capital for the session. My win stop is unclear without definitive numbers. Once I takeoff, if I do, I govern myself by my 1/3rd, 1/3rd, 1/3rd Money Management Method.  Which works like a rock-solid rule manuscript maintaining success or having further profitability 1,000,000% of the time!

It works extremely well and I know it does, because I have no regrets if I was winning nicely, then gave back 1/3rd win and continued my play with my second 1/3rd of my win as my playing money. If I took off again, great, that is what my 1/3rd sectors are designed to do. If I lost a 1/3rd sector and struggling with my second 1/3rd sector, I am normally done. I have my buy in plus 1/3rd to 2/3rds of my win.  Cash out, leave, done and that emotional, 'I shoulda and coulda' doesn't exist!!!

So many win and see their session as unprecedented and a labored win they so rightfully deserved. They get into a zone, tuning everything out and become their own worst enemy most every single time they win or when the wins are happening for them. But they have nothing to govern themselves with.

It is easier said than accomplished at the table, but the only way to really excel is to focus, be extremely conscious and forget the past and what the shoe has produced or failed to produce in the past hands. Wager with the shoe's presentments and do not wager for your own desires as to what the shoe should produce or what your desires are. 

We talk about it all the time, especially with the ones we actually gamble with. The questions go something like; "How long do you play" or "If you are winning how long do you stay" or "If you are losing, how long will you attempt to come back" or "If you keep winning do you just up and leave at a certain point". And so on and so forth.

Tough, real tough if you soul search. By theory, so simple. If you are winning and start to lose, leave. If you were losing and can't get above your buy in or your buy in is depleting, leave.  But, it is not easy because we all know the presentments can certainly match our decisions and blast us into the positive if we were losing, or if we were winning, can blast us even further ahead. 

There are no easy, simple answers and never will be. However, you will wish you left much more than staying when losing. Because you experience the loss of your funds if you lose them. However, if you win/won or broke even and left, you probably will not really know what would have happened to really come about with a definitive conclusion. 

The 4 things I found that give me advantages into my play.

1). DO NOT ATTEMPT/LIVE to beat the game/session.  You can't and will never do it!  I promise you that;

2). TRULY UNDERSTAND what you are up against;

3). CALM AND PATIENT.  Hard as heck to do with losses, but you must.  Don't dwell and don't have the mind frame to recover and win something; 

4). UNDERSTAND AND REMAIN CONSCIOUS of the following.  Anything and everything can happen in no particular order or protocol whatsoever. 

Mid week, long day, ate and cleaned up as well as took a nap. Woke up well after 10 PM, felt real positive with a very good feeling. This particular casino I wanted to go to, I normally buy in with $1500-$2500 (having $100-$300 beginning base wagers, X's about 10 or so chances) but somehow I grabbed $500 thinking to wager two or three bets only, and attempt to parlay three or four times one of those wagers successfully.

I get there, full table, just started a new shoe. Everyone saying how bad all the previous shoes were and lots of lost money from all the players. The aura was not very good at all. 

I sat down and bought in immediately after hand 4. I place a Banker wager looking for the continued chop chop. 7 for the prayer and 6 for the banker. I stick with the banker and the F7 and the dragon bonus side bets. Boom and Boom!  Fortune seven and a 6 to 1 pay on the dragon bonus as well. Push on the banker base bet and up well over $1000 now on the second hand.

Stick with the banker, back to the chop-chop, lost a $200 wager.  Stick with the banker. Natural 9 over the players 7. Stick with the banker again, a natural wins for the players. Stick with the banker again and win the next two hands. Stick with the banker again and lose to the players. 

Now we are at hand 13. Stick with the banker and win hand 13 with a natural 9 over a natural 8 for the players.  Parlay the win and win the next hand. Now everyone pulls down siding only twos have been happening. Myself and one other person stick with the banker and we pump it up. Players flop a 7 and people are saying, watch the banker fizzle out right here. Banker gets a Natural win.  Once again most start wagering $500 plus on the player side. Let me tell you about hands 16 through 20.

HANDS 16-20.  Four out of five of those were 6 or 7s for the first two cards fon the players side. The banker won every one of them of course and it was all on the third card draw. Say the player at 7 with their two cards and the the banker had a face and a 4, the banker would pull a 4 or a 5 for their third card. Like I said, it was four out of five of those the banker won on the third card draw when the players opened with a 6 or a 7. Kinda unusual! 

Hand 21 was a tie and it was a Natural 8 for the player and a natural 8 for the banker.  Now most everyone was convinced it was going to switch to player, they kept buying in with extra funds or wagering what they had left on the table on the players side.  Only myself and maybe two others stuck with the bankers. 

Hand 22 was a 6 card draw, the players opened with a 7 and a 3.  Bankers opened with a 5 and a face card.  Players third card was a 6 and bankers third card was a 2 for the second fortune 7 win. 

I've talk to a lot of people about this next event and I don't ever recall seeing it happen quite like this. What happened was hand 23 and hand 24 were exactly the same. Player side opened with a 9 and an 8 and the banker opened with a 7 and a 2. Both hands were exactly the same, back to back and all the cards in both hands were either clubs or spades, as they were all black.  There were no red suited cards.

Played about half the shoe and I was up well over 10 times my buy-in. Tried a few more sections going forward, started to lose what I call, being in the groove. Gave back about 25% of my win maybe a little less, but I was well staying within my 1/3rd, 1/3rd, 1/3rd money management method that I've talked about so much.

Shoe reinforces so many thoughts I have, including those about most all players giving back most all win money in the hopes to keep replicating what has happened.  As well as remaining unrelentesly neutral with not being influenced by previous issues and experiences and allowing those to dictate what you should or should not wager on or for. 

NOTE:  Hand 3 was a 3 card, both sides 7-7 tie, which is a 200:1 side bet at the 5 Treasures bac branded game, but this table was not one of those.  I do like that 2 card 7s/3 card 7s tie bet, paying respectively 50:1 or 200:1 on the same wager.

Well back in Atlantic City prior to the close of the Atlantic City Hilton (previously was Bally's Grand) our casino hosts used to walk around and hand these out for extras, besides all the comp they arranged, etc. 

Sure we had promo chips, which were always play until you lose, unlike todays, one time use style.

We used these primarily at the gift shop or restaurants when we didn't want to get a hold of a host or we could give them to our non-comped friends.  They were valid for any bearer. 

Like I said, unlike today!

Recognizing Suspicious Activity - Red Flags for Casinos and Card Clubs

PDF
fin-2008-g007.pdf    85.46 KB
FIN-2008-G007
Issued Date
August 01, 2008
Guidance Subject:  Recognizing Suspicious Activity - Red Flags for Casinos and Card Clubs

This guidance is intended to assist casinos and card clubs1 with the reporting of suspected money laundering, terrorist financing and related financial crimes. This guidance contains examples of circumstances or "red flags" - based on actual reports, the observations of examiners and the experience of law enforcement - that may indicate the presence of money laundering, terrorist financing, and related financial crimes.

Casinos that are subject to the federal Bank Secrecy Act ("BSA") have an obligation to implement anti-money laundering programs that include procedures for detecting and reporting suspicious transactions.

Casinos are required to implement risk-based anti-money laundering programs that assist with the identification and reporting of suspicious transactions, including employee training and written procedures on recognizing and addressing indicia of suspicious activity and vulnerabilities that may arise in the provision of particular products and services.

Recognizing Suspicious Customer Activity

Casino employees who monitor customer gaming activity or conduct transactions with customers are in a unique position to recognize transactions and activities that appear to have no legitimate purpose, are not usual for a specific player or type of players, or are not consistent with transactions involving wagering. Many casinos routinely obtain a great deal of information about their customers through deposit, credit, check cashing, player rating and slot club accounts. These accounts generally require casinos to obtain basic identification information about the accountholders and to inquire into the kinds of wagering activities in which the customer is likely to engage. Attempts to Evade BSA Reporting or Recordkeeping Requirements

Be alert to customers who try to keep their transactions just below the reporting or recordkeeping thresholds, such as:

Two or more customers each purchase chips with currency in amounts between $3,000 and $10,000, engage in minimal gaming, combine the chips (totaling in excess of $10,000), and one of them redeems the chips for a casino check.

A customer seeks to cash out chips, tickets or tokens in excess of $10,000, but when asked for identification for completing a CTRC, reduces the amount of chips or tokens to be cashed out to less than $10,000.

A customer pays off a large credit debt, such as markers or bad checks, of more than $20,000 over a short period of time (e.g., less than one week), through a series of currency transactions, none of which exceeds $10,000 in a gaming day.

A customer receives a race book or sports pool payout in excess of $10,000 and requests currency of less than $10,000 and the balance paid in chips. The customer then goes to the cage and redeems the remaining chips for currency in an amount that is less than the CTRC reporting threshold.

A customer, who is a big winner, enlists another individual (who is not a partner of the customer in the gaming activity), to cash out a portion of the chips or tokens won to avoid the filing of a CTRC, IRS Form W-2G or other tax forms.

A customer attempts to influence, bribe, corrupt, or conspire with an employee not to file CTRCs.

Using a Cage Solely for Its Banking-Like Financial Services
Be alert to customer activity involving unusual banking-like transactions at the cage, such as:

A customer wires funds derived from non-gaming proceeds, to or through a bank and/or a non-bank financial institution(s) located in a country that is not his/her residence or place of business.

A customer appears to use a casino account primarily as a temporary repository for funds by making frequent deposits into the account and, within a short period of time (e.g., one to two days), requests money transfers of all but a token amount to domestic or foreign-based bank accounts.

Minimal Gaming Activities Without Reasonable Explanations

Be alert to customers conducting large transactions on the floor with little or no related gaming activity and without reasonable explanation, such as:

A customer purchases a large amount of chips with currency at a table, engages in minimal gaming, and then redeems the chips for a casino check.

A customer draws casino markers (e.g., between $5,000 and $10,000) which he/she uses to purchase chips, engages in minimal or no gaming activity, and then pays off the markers in currency and subsequently redeems the chips for a casino check.

A customer makes a large deposit using numerous small denomination bills (e.g., $5s, $10s and $20s); and withdraws it in chips at a table game, engages in minimal gaming, and exchanges remaining chips at a cage for large denomination bills (e.g., $100), a casino check or a money transfer.

While reviewing computerized player rating records, an employee determines that a customer frequently purchases chips with currency between $5,000 and $10,000, engages in minimal gaming, and walks away with the chips.

A customer using a slot club account card inserts $2,990 of paper money (or an amount just below established thresholds) into a bill acceptor on a slot machine or video lottery terminal (e.g., contemporaneously inserting $5s, $10s and $20s), accumulating credits with minimal or no gaming activity, presses the "cash out" button to obtain a ticket. The customer goes to three other machines and conducts the same activity for $2,990 at each machine. Then the customer redeems the tickets for large denomination bills or casino checks with different cage cashiers at different times in a gaming day.

A customer transfers funds to a casino for deposit into a front money account in excess of $5,000; and withdraws it in chips at a table game, engages in minimal or no gaming activity, and exchanges remaining chips at a cage for a casino check.

Unusual Transaction Characteristics or Activities
Be alert to transactions with any unusual characteristics, such as:

A pair of bettors frequently cover between them both sides of an even bet, such as:
- Betting both "red and black" or "odd and even" on roulette;
- Betting both with and against the bank in baccarat/mini-baccarat; or
- Betting the "pass line" or "come line" and the "don't pass line" or "don't come line" in craps; and,
the aggregate amount of both bettors' total wagering is in excess of $5,000.

A customer routinely bets both sides of the same line for sporting events (i.e., betting both teams to win) and thus the amount of overall loss to the customer is minimal (known as hedging).

A customer requests the issuance of casino checks, each less than $3,000, which are made payable to third parties or checks without a specified payee.

A customer furnishes a legitimate type of identification document, in connection with the completion of a CTRC, or the opening of a deposit, credit or check cashing account, which:
- Does not match the customer's appearance (e.g., different age, height, eye color, sex); or
- Is false or altered (e.g., address changed, photograph substituted).

A customer presents information for the completion of CTRCs for different gaming days that contains conflicting identification information, such as:
- Different address or different spelling or numeration in address;
- Different state driver's license number; or
- Different social security number.

A customer makes large deposits or pays off large markers with multiple instruments (e.g., cashier's checks, money orders, traveler's checks, or foreign drafts) in amounts of less than $3,000.

A customer withdraws a large amount of funds (e.g., $30,000 or more) from a deposit account and requests that multiple casino checks be issued each of which is less than $10,000.

A customer arranges large money transfers out of the country which are paid for by multiple cashier's checks from different financial institutions in amounts under $10,000.

Criminal Activities
Be alert to a customer conducting illegal activity, such as:

A customer conducts transactions that the casino believes to be the result of some illegal activity or from an illegal source (e.g., narcotics trafficking).

A customer or a group of individuals forge signatures or use counterfeit business or personal checks to obtain currency, chips or tokens.

Questions or comments regarding the contents of this Guidance should be addressed to the FinCEN Regulatory Helpline at 800-949-2732.

1 See 31 U.S.C. § 5312(a)(2)(X) and 31 C.F.R. § 103.11(n)(5)(i) and (n)(6)(i). In this guidance, the term "casino" is used to refer to casinos, card clubs and other gaming establishments that fall within the BSA and FinCEN's regulations, unless otherwise noted.

Financial Institution
Casinos

First Time Baccarat Players.......Oh Yes!.....Sit Riiggggghhhhhtttt on Down!!!!!

Like the title says.  After many many years of playing, there is one phenomenon that pretty much held true from property to property. 

There is one such player I remember to this very day.  That was at the old Bally's Grand in Atlantic City.  Shortly after Steve Wynn sold his property it became Bally's Grand.  I am thinking this was in the very early 90's.  We were playing in the high limit pit, big baccarat table.  We were all pretty much losing.  Pretty miserable, no in fact....downright nasty.  It was very late at night.  You know the mood, you would be betting on Banker and the dealer would flop over a natural and you peek at the cards, 2 face cards, LOL.  Yeah, for hours on end.

Here comes this young kid, probably early 20's.  Had on blue jean jacket and a motorcycle helmet tucked under his arm.  You know back in those days, the casino attire was a tad bit different than today's.  People actually wore slacks, shirts, jackets, dresses, etc., especially to the high-limit rooms.  Anyways, the kid comes up and it was a full table, both sides.  Someone blurted out, after the kid asked a few questions about what the game was about, 'hey newbie want to sit down and play'?

So now this guy gets up and the newbie sits down.  A few of the regular players are mouthing, 'follow him-follow him'.  The kid places his helmet on his lap and starts playing.  Just about everyone follows him and you can just feel the renewed anticipation in the air!  He starts winning and he keeps winning.  Every hand other players are throwing the cards in face down and telling the dealers to give the cards to that kid to turn over, etc. 

Now we are winning like 7 or 8 wagers out of every 10.  Every player is stacking up money like crazy.  The kid keeps shoving all his winnings in his helmet.  The pit boss comes over and tries to give the kid a plastic rack to stack his chips, he refuses.  Claims his helmet is his lucky charm.  He was betting 1 or 2 or 3 blacks, most others had orange (which in AC at the time was $1k) bets or better.  This went one for the remainder of that shoe and the following shoe. 

I saw this many times since.  It might not have been on that scale but first time players are usually pretty lucky.  At Bally's Grand, which was a small casino and held many of the same dealers and floor people for years, the kid with the motorcycle helmet became kind of legendary.

OMG!  I received this gift yesterday.  Absolute Beauty with its Leather Binder.  Brand new! Gold Gilted Pages!  Silk Marker Strap!

The Special Edition Of:
THE BACCARAT CASE

FROM: The Notable Trials Library

This edition was published in 1992.  Originally published in 1933. 

This Special Edition has a introduction by the very well know, Alan M Dershowitz, Esq. 

The Baccarat Case is about A British Nobleman and close friend of the Prince of Wales that had cheated at baccarat.  The trial in the law courts, Queens Bench Division of London during 1891 about playing Baccarat the year before in 1890. It is about slander of William Gordon-Cumming against Mrs. Arthur Wilson and others.

Going to be a great read of historic legal history involving baccarat.  A nice addition to my book collection!

Nothing to beat the house ITLR.

OK let's admit it. That statement is correct. Frequently written, frequently sided, frequently argued about.

Books, systems sellers, forums, etc. Plenty of written material out there. Tons and tons of promises, guarantees, sworn by reviews and so on. There are a handful of good basic books no doubt, but deciphering through what's available to find those is kinda like draining the swamp to see what will benefit you.

In my opinion and that of others I respect, admire and know are experienced and serious players, is the following. There is no secret, magical, developed, mathematical or scientific protocol-formula or procedures for winning at any casino game that will guarantee wins each and every time you sit down by employing them.  Period! 

With that said here are just a few of what a random search of casino gaming books provided from the dust covers, by the authors or a customer review from a 'verified purchase'.

FIRST ONE I READ:  "I am not going to claim you can win every time but reading this book allowed me to win $987.00 starting with only $100 after reading the book. The next time I made $375.00 starting with only $50.  So over three days I made over $1,300.00.  Simply because I followed what the book said that I paid only $29.00 for!"

NEXT ONE:  "The book I just mentioned is how to control the dice so you can hold them on average 15 to 20 minutes every time you step up to the table. Sometimes you can hold them for 45 minutes. You learn how to set, grip and throw to get predetermined numbers."

NEXT ONE:  "The power betting strategy pays for the book thousands and thousands of times over and over. No questions about that."

NEXT ONE:  "This fast reading best seller is updated to show beginning and intermediate players how to beat the casino at all the popular games including the latest slot machines."

NEXT ONE:  "I'm selling my secrets for under $100 because I care about my fellow player, I dislike the casino that takes most all players hard earned money. There's no doubt about it you will win large amounts of money with my system."

Now with the above said, with passion-purpose and experience you most certainly can profit from table games within the casino. But it is never going to be by reading a simple book or following a system you purchased with all kind of enticing promises and so-called 'proven results'. Never ever, seriously.

How do people survive writing and publishing worthless books, systems and related information? Because of money. People will buy them and believe in the written promises as proven, real, and so called 'proven' ways to get over on the casino as factual, researched and luckily made available. 

But in true reality most all of the information, systems and conversions of data and techniques and of course, the 'deciphering of statistical results' are wrong. Their promises of what most everyone of them publish is more than obnoxious, it is offensive and wrong. Especially for playing sessions at a casino consisting of anywhere from 1 to say 8 shoes each time.

Of course the carelessness and neglect of the consumer comes into play.  Which are all the people that believe it is math and statistical technique applied to any game, which will allow them to profit thousands and thousands of dollars with the easy winnings just waiting for them.

Bottom line. This sensationalized information turned into 'How to beat the casino' or 'How to win easy money', etc. etc., are coming from authors that are well aware their material can never be the definitive protocol to consistent, easy, repetitive and for sure winning sessions.  Never ever.  Period. 

Those making the type of statement and promises, "read my book or follow my system" and "you will make easy money, guaranteed wins, beat the game" and so on, are all inappropriate and unprofessional in every way whatsoever.

Baccarat.  Our wagering decisions are frequently and enormously fueled by lies from others as well as our own beliefs that most would be better off without.

To understand how to win, what might happen and how presentments probably will not-but might follow something; you will never find definitive answers to.  Baccarat is unlike all the scholastic, mechanical and technical/industrial teachings, the way we were/are taught-instructed, whereupon there is a definitive solution for most every situation or problem.

Coupled with, "I have won previously by wagering so-and-so after such and such", or the event of "XYZ almost always appears and it has not yet", etc. Those are powerful subconscious things that do influence most all players at the baccarat table. Every single time.

There are basically three modes of wagering at the table. 1)  Your decision based on what you believe;  2) Follow others because they are winning or seem to be in the groove; 3)  Sit and watch.

Let's look at those three modes.

1)  When it works it's great. Adds win money, adds emotional positiveness and confidence. However, our beliefs, which you must realize, are well less than 50% in most every session that will come about and we can capitalize off of. And that is the key, see explanation below. (#1 Explained)

2)  Usually works for one or two wagers, but the absolute highest percentile of time fails after those and your frustration level will be compounded with large amounts of, "why in the F*** did I do that?".

3)  If hands develop and win that you picked, you will become frustrated and add to a larger clouded judgment you already had.

#1 Explained.  I will state that in all the years I have played, my wins are most certainly less than 50% of my wagering. Not one doubt about it. That is why flat betting will never prevail in the highest of the high percentile grouped any way you care to analyze it. Positive Progressions will add advantages and fuel to your play if you know how to develop and apply a Money Management Method that works in your favor and to your advantage when you win.

And of course we attempt to duplicate our wins with reasonings. Such as equalization, naturals cut or stick, ties cut or stick, chop chop, etc. etc. And if we start to win numerous Wagers (more details at: https://betselection.cc/index.php?topic=11605.0), we open ourselves up for, "I knew it-I found it-It's going to happen again without a doubt", and those types of self promoting statements. And most mistakes are made if flat betting again after initial wins—then it happens and you win again, so you are further convinced the parlay and use progressiveness should be employed but the highest majority of all times, it falls off and you lost the wager. Of course because you convinced yourself you found it and were right, etc., you wager once again with progressiveness on the same and another loss amounts. And that becomes the typical, "I gave it all back and I lost my win money as well as my buy-in money scenario.

There are so many false hoods and so many lies that are either published, sold as systems, talked about with great drama on forums  or sold in books, that it is pitiful. Take all the statistics you want. Attempt to deduce those down to one or two or three or four or five shoes and the odds of being able to win the wagers preached, session after session after session are so totally in favor of the casino, I hate to think about it. 

Sure, whatever you are believing in by using some kind of statistics might occur, but it will not under any circumstance, be consistent and repetitive shoe after shoe or at any time within a session continuously, session after session after session. And the few times it works gives you such fuel and motivation to continue the attempt, if you don't wind up continuously losing your buy-in risk capital, you put huge amounts of strain and unnecessary risk on your buy-in and/or previously won profits.

Fortune 7s at hands:  19-43-60.

Low Ties.  As I always say, low ties equal clumping, repeats, tends to follow what it previously did within sections, etc., etc.  And this one sure did big time.

Second game.  Hit the Fortune  7  and the bankers and left. 

Last night.  String players shoe.  Second shoe had two close Fortune 7s.  More later.  Both shoes about midnight and later. Extremely slow, well over 2.5 hours per shoe without a doubt. 

Those 7 non naturals in the players streak, were 3 card  totals of 8 or 9 for at least 6 out of the 7 non naturals.  The other non natural went something like, players first two cards, face and an ace, and bankers first two cards, 10 and a 2.  Players third card a 10 and bankers third card an 8.  Lord those wagering bankers were mad and as always, they tried everything.  Martingale, flat betting, reductions, etc.  Couldn't do anything except watch the players beat the hell outta  the bankers.  Lots of mouths open in disbelief.

Here's what happened.  At the Baccarat table.  We were all winning (our group of 5), mostly playing together for a couple of shoes.  Full table with plenty playing over our shoulders.  All spaces have 3 spots, one seated and the other 2 standing.  Anyways, like I said we were all winning.  Dealer change and we were working on 3 Winning Bankers hands and the dealer gets tapped out.  New dealer, we all look at each other and mouth the word 'Players'.  (For some unexplained reasoning, most of the time it does fall off or cut from Bankers with the new dealer coming in.  Why?  No reasonable explanation, but it certainly does.)   

A second look at each other and we are all at table max wagers, we mouth the word Bankers.  Okay, we are all on the Bankers.  Players return a Natural 8 and I say, "Houston, we got a problem".  Then the Bankers return a Natural 9. 

The 5 of us get paid, color up and walk away.  We cash out and decide to go off property to get dinner.  Once at the restaurant and seated at the table the others look at me and say, "Houston, we got a problem".  Laughs and high fives.  Good times.  So I say, let's all name as many famous movie quotes and whom they are from within 5 minutes each without stalling and the winner, second and third runner up pays nothing for dinner and drinks.  The other two pay the entire bill.  We all agree.  We all had steaks or seafood and the drinks included cognac, brandies and other premium types.  The bill is always over $100.00 each.

I got second place and here are mine.

Batman:  "I'm not going to kill you.  I want you to do me a favor.  I want you to tell all your friends about me"

Superman:  "I'm here to fight for truth and justice"

Clint Eastwood:  "But being as this is a . 44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?"

Al Pacino:  "Say hello to my little friend"

Clark Gable:  "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn"

Judy Garland:  "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore"

Strother Martin:  "What we have here is a failure to communicate"

Robert Duvall:  "I love the smell of Napalm in the morning"

Pat Welsh:  "E.T. phone home"

Sean Connery:  "Bond.  James Bond"

Cuba Gooding, Jr.:  "Show me the money!"

Jack Nicholson:  "You can't handle the truth"

Alfonso Bedoya:  "Badges?  We ain't got no badges!  We don't have to show you any stinking badges!"

Arnold Schwarzenegger:  "I'll be back"

Tom Hanks:  "Houston, we have a problem"

Sylvester Stallone:  "Yo, Adrian"

Tom Cruise:  "I feel the need for speed"

Those were my 17.  Other guy got 22.  Someone jotted down mine and I copied it last night. 

One for the books.   

From my heart and soul. Winning is everything, but you must handle it with complete consciousness. Most all will shrug off everything I'm saying here and lose not only their winnings each time, but continuously their buy-in amounts.

Winning is nice, of course. But winning is what leads to danger in the game. Without a doubt, the number one largest cause of immediate and aggressive losses. Newbies will never understand so just skip the article because it will probably only confuse you.

Yes, without any doubt whatsoever, without winning there would be zero reason to play. With that admitted, said and laid out, read on if you want to learn.

1). Winning feeds large amounts of positive emotions into the player.  Most have no idea how to handle the influx of winning within a shoe or at the end of it. 

2). Winning tends to override all plans, guidelines and paths all players believe they have and plan to play by.

3.  Winning alters thought.

4.  Winning fuels additional play which is almost always based upon emotions and hype.

Winning convinces most all, that whatever came about allowing the win or wins, will continue or will be repetitive within the shoe. And most of the time it was probably a coincidence. Hard to decipher at the table, I agree, but factually and statistically true beyond a reasonable doubt.

So many players, both new ones as well as experienced, never recognize the concurrence and casual connections between their reasonings and the appearing outcomes from the shoe with winning hands. Sure there might be a few that were absolutely planned, but the majority of them were not at least how they came about. If you care to admit it, you're honest.  Those that link the concurrence and label it factual and statistical are dead wrong and causes great future losses trying to be repetitive with those. 

Would've-Could've-Should've. We have all been there, honestly. No purpose served, only adding frustration and bad emotions every single time. Reference what is coming out of the shoe, the total additions and/or reductions to each hand, how long the same trend lasts, how a series of hands were formed, etc. etc. etc., the list is long and that is what I mean, Would've-Could've-Should've, frustrating yourself into another world.  Especially after a series of wins.

The win is extremely powerful and absolutely convincing to the person playing. And without even knowing it, that is what changed your mind, thought process and will cause you to give it back and begin the ugly chase to regain it. That is exactly what happens the highest majority of all times with players capitalizing nicely during a shoe.

***Because winning is the most influential event of the game. Nothing else compares. Huge psychological subconscious and some conscious beliefs are immediately formed from winning. Be careful.  Those beliefs normally take over and altar most all players thoughts, don't be one of them.

We normally follow what has won us something. Naturally we don't follow or wager on what has lost us money. However, we tend to forget about the 'change up', that so frequently happens. When you win, stop a second and think about what I just said, consciousness and not following only what has just caused the win. 

How are you engage or disengage is the key and because there are no written protocols, that will always work in your favor, remember that. Wins and further wins are capitalized on by being able to continue and stay in the groove, knowing how to cope with drawdown and using win money as capital, will work in your favor. Allowing win money to alter your emotions, clarity and picture will force you to give it all back and jeopardize your buy-in aggressively.

***Unfortunately, expectations and characteristics of what has happened, as well as what has not yet happened with the shoe are usually the largest factors most players allow to govern their play. Reread that and hopefully you'll understand it.

Unfortunately wins are not a clear path to additional wins, what so many truly believe each and every session. It is because those very same things that caused the win, do not and will not at work other times. And unfortunately any way you slice it, the reasoning to your wins work less when you tally the characteristics of them up.  Hence, is why I say, win and give it back and chase for the loss.

Understand winning and how it comes, why it came, why it doesn't and most of all, how to apply it to your Money Management Method.

How you engage or disengage with the winning process is the absolute key.