Trip Report/Review

[KungFuBac]

Baccarat Trip Report

Reflections on a Seven-Day Out-of-Local Market Casino Run

I recently completed a seven-day out-of-my-market baccarat trip.

Below, I'll detail some highlights and lowlights from the excursion.


Typical Wager Strategy and Trip Frequency

Some of my regular playing companions from this forum know that whenever I accumulate five or more pressed-up wagers at the table maximum in my local casino markets (typically $4,000 or $5,000), I set aside two of those five maximum wagers for a trip to a casino market where the table maximum exceeds $5,000. If Im fortunate enough to reach seven wagers pressed up to $5,000, I set aside three for a future trip, and so on. If I do get this favor, I travel interstate for baccarat.  Usually every three to four weeks, though sometimes it's >= eight to ten weeks between trips.

This particular trip, I only had three pressed-up wagers. I went one win and two losses, with the win losing on its very next attempt. Overall, it was less productive than I would have liked.

Casino Access

My main motivation for these out-of-state trips is the desire to play pressed-up wagers as soon as possible to compound winnings. Living in casino country, I have access to approximately 120 casinos within a three-hour drive. Unfortunately, I have to drive a couple hours to play at a casino with a  >$5K Table Max.

Current Trip Overview

Sports Betting

Sports bets:
Typically I try to find the best EV+ wager and choose  one per diem.  This trip I couldn't find one every day. So only three wagers for the whole week. I had one win and two losses, resulting in a net gain of 0.588 units. On my previous trip, I had placed a single sports wager and parlayed all wins for a $4,000 net win from a $240 BaseUnit(BU). This time, my optimism for a repeat faded quickly after losing my first two wagers and not finding many positive expected value (EV+) opportunities. I am generally indifferent to the sport, team, or individual I bet on, relying mostly on analytics. Sometimes I wager on hockey in Canada, tennis tournaments, boxing, or other events, and typically don't watch the matches, only checking the scores occasionally during the event.

I use AI to sort through all sporting events and identify the one to three highest EV+ offerings for the day, then tweak my selections using personal criteria to place one bet per day. Some days, there are no EV+ wagers worth considering (I prefer EV+ greater than 10.0 for further research).


Baccarat Sessions

Baccarat: I won all sessions except one. However, only a few easy shoes/sessions.

The losing session was due in part to leaving for a previously scheduled dinner while I was down 2.7 base units. After returning about an hour later, I made up the loss and left with a gain of 7.3 base units. Normally, I wouldn't record this as a loss, treating it like a routine break.

In my home market, a typical day at the casino involves playing four to seven shoes over eight to fourteen hours. I usually record four to seven sessions, though sometimes I play five to seven shoes and record only two to four sessions due to ongoing pressed-up wagers, even though I may be Net- until that larger wager(s) are decisioned. This trip mirrored these typical routines: I played all day, every day. Though often drawing down after one or more shoes and continuing until I was positive or busted  my buy-in. Thankfully I didn't bust any buyins but that is very difficult as I don't chase when guessing wrong. The key metric is having at least one active pressed-up wager. I always feel if I have 1-3  pressed-up wagers that haven't been decisioned I can overcome any initial drawdown. I just need one to slip through the cracks.

Side Note:

Compounding is a very powerful tool IMO as I do not perceive I could survive day in and day out wagering only Flat. In other words I perceive it is important for a player to know the average Wins-In-A-Row one gets from X# of tries(The buy in). Because some days I guess wrong more than I guess correct.

Back to the trip report

This interstate journey was uneventful for the most part. My largest per-shoe win was only 16.7 base units. Most shoes and sessions started with struggles, but I would eventually return to the positive. After all pressed-up wagers were resolved, I called it a session, or a end to the day, usually with just a few base units net win.

Free Play and Food Offers

FREEPLAY: I had $1,750 in free play, which I converted into a $905 gain. So not as good as I expected/hoped.

FREE Food Offers:
There was an abundance of food offers, but I generally don't eat in casinos. Most offers were used on  two players who traveled to meet me. It's not about the quality of food in most casinos; I'm just particular, avoiding fried, fast foods, and buffets, and prefer not to spend an hour eating when I could be playing.

Even at home markets casinos, I seldom eat during the day, opting to give away offers or take food to go. Some casinos in my local market allow one to use food vouchers at the snack counter or gift shop. I usually get bottles of Gatorade or coffee beans,...etc to take home.

On this trip, my host kindly booked a $200 dinner at a nice restaurant, anticipating my wife would be traveling with me. She didn't, so I attempted to eat for two,lol,  managing $140 worth:

Calamari with jalapeños as an appetizer, pan-seared scallops, and filet mignon.
All were excellent, though I wouldn't want them daily. I hadn't eaten filet mignon in about twenty years, preferring T-bone steak (grilled at home per my personal recipe), over ribeye, porterhouse, filet mignon,...etc. Nonetheless, the comped dinner was very good and appreciated.

A Couple Of The More Interesting Shoes

One shoe featured eleven consecutive columns of twos (e.g., ppbbpp, etc.). I went zero for two in the middle of the streak, trying to predict a one-in-a-row streak to break the 2x2 run,  then finally caught three wins near the end. Since it was late in the run, I parlayed+ the first W, then reduced to one base unit, and rode it to the finish. Obviously, I didn't capitalize as much as I usually would on such a long run of any similar streak. I kept seeing conflicting intel and was wrong.

The same shoe also had four streaks of four-in-a-row that each extended to five-in-a-row, though not consecutive columns. I guessed wrong twice, betting a four-in-a-row wouldn't become five.
Shortly after the above two-by-two streak ended, I caught a long one-by-one chop that went seven-in-a-row, finishing the shoe with a W of only +8.3 base units and one pressed-up wager left alive for a future shoe.


Another Interesting Shoe

Another shoe had a grouping of eleven player-in-a-row, followed by a sixteen banker-in-a-row just a few columns later. I was at the next table, hoping for a seat, but no one left. Two players fighting the player streak busted and rebought, but I was never able to switch tables.

In nearly three decades of play, including eight-plus years of full-time, 5.5—6.5 days per week of live table action, I've only seen one sixteen-in-a-row chop and one sixteen-player streak. I don't recall ever seeing two lengthy streaks of eleven and sixteen in the same shoe. Occasionally, I've seen two runs of something reach maybe eleven or twelve each(as best I can recall).

Sometimes, baccarat friends in other U. S. States or Macau send photos of boards showing runs of seventeen, nineteen, or even twenty-five in-a-row, usually after the table closes for the night. As it seems there are never players around.  I wonder if casinos make these entries after the night's last shoe for advertising "or torment me", lol.
Recently, an acquaintance sent an image of a twenty-nine-in-a-row Prun from what appeared as an online casino, but he said he wasn't on the streak nor playing at the time, so the source is unclear.

It seems some players upon arrival drift through a 8—12 table baccarat pit, snapping pictures of extreme boards for their YouTube channels or forums. I guess it makes for good conversation.

Unique Event on the Trip

One night, while playing baccarat near the craps table, a friend—a full-time player of blackjack, Texas Hold'em, baccarat, and only occasionally roulette or craps—finished his baccarat session and told me he was going to check out the craps table. He usually plays craps only a couple of times a month, . Ofwaiting on a Bac table to open. Typically sticking to line bets (pass or don't pass) and sometimes taking odds.

After about twenty minutes, he signaled to me to come over, showing a chip rack with about $5,000 profit from a $10,000 buy-in. I gave him a thumbs up and returned to my seat at the baccarat table.

The craps table grew loud and attracted a crowd; about 45m--hour later, my friend was up over $11,000 when the roll ended. Another acquaintance, that mostly plays poker/Bac, and typically betting $1,800 as his base bet, won $138,000 from a $25,000 buy-in, thanks to some shooter tossing excessive repeaters, though only making a few points. My friend only wagers the line (points), and occasionally one other bet. So he didn't make much on this high-repeater hand.

A Humorous End to a Long Day

On one night around midnight, several of us who played together about 14 hrs that day decided to call it a day. One local, whom I'd played with many times, but don't know personally, had done very well—up about $45,000 on his typical $20K buy in .

Most of us cashed out between $7,000 and $12,000 from buy-ins of maybe $5,000 to $10,000, so our cashouts were handled quickly by the two cashier clerks.

Mr. $45K winner then approached the VIP window with around $65,000. One clerk had just left for a break, leaving just one. It took about fifteen minutes for this clerk to handle his chips, counting and verifying each $10,000 stack of USD repeatedly, running through the auto counter, going into the back and getting someone to come out to verify. While a growing line of players waiting to cash out grew frustrated. Some started making snide remarks about "He must be a Baccarat plaer, high-stakes baccarat players taking so long for cashouts, those damn Asian players,...etc", "making them wait in line", making a request to the lone clerk to call someone else out to help, and on and on. My group had already checked out and was waiting for him, so we were just standing to the side/chatting about all the people complaining in line.

A security guard, waiting to escort our friend to his car, finally turned to the crowd and said, "You all sound like my grandkids whining. There's only one clerk, so just chill." We found that amusing. Our friend calmly picked up his  six $10,000 stacks and another $5,000–$6,000 bundle, and just tossed into his brown carry-out food bag, like it was no big deal,  and walked right through the middle of some of the complaining folks, requiring them to step aside for him.

We all walked out together, slowly migrating toward the elevators and escalators, paused for a couple mins, to discuss when and where to play the next morning. We were getting ready to depart on the escalator. The security guard and Mr. $65K were taking the elevator, to the parking garage. The security guard then informed everyone else waiting they'd have to wait for the next elevator. More complaints followed as a couple of those waiting were also from that initial whining group at the cage. That made us laugh as we headed down the escalator.  It seems some folks just love to complain about anything.

Thanks for reading,