Did rather well.  Stayed longer than anticipated, but friend was hell-bent to profit at least $10k and he was hovering around $6-7k.  Finally he did it and we colored up and left Chicago. 

I must say they do not nickel and dime their players, at least those playing black and purple at the bac table for comps.  The offer nice meals and snacks without even having play history once they see what you are wagering, etc.  I'm talking about $50.00-$100.00 comps. 

More later.

Two shoes advise played.

First was extremely choppy in the beginning.  Mostly 2 card draws both sides.  Very close together, like Players 6 and Bankers 7, Or one side a Natural 8 and the other a Natural 9.  8-9 hands. 

Then a Players IAR streak of 9, followed by 2 and 3 IAR Bankers with mostly a single Players hand, maybe one double Players out of at least 12 additional after the 9 IAR appearing. 

1s and 3s the final 20% or so of the shoe. 

Will add additional tomorrow. 

We are staying off property and enjoying some great food places. 

  Tried to take a pic of the score board but the floor people had an atomic fit about it.

Played half a shoe (second half), mostly chop chop and some doubles.  Did pretty good.  We are going to play another shoe in bit from the beginning. 

First half of the shoe had a run of 11 for the Players and a run of 6 Bankers followed by a single Player and then 7 additional Bankers. 

Almost there with another bac friend.  Stopped to get gas and had a late breakfast. 

Seems these Chinese players got caught as most all eventually do because of their own greed and believing they can outsmart the system. 

Anyone remember the Tran Organization??


https://www.casino.org/news/multi-state-baccarat-scam-nets-1-5m-cops-hunt-cheating-ring/

https://cdcgaming.com/brief/six-charged-in-1-5m-baccarat-cheating-scheme-at-casinos-across-the-usa/

IMO they brought it all on themselves.  They took their bread and butter and made it so others can profit on it from their own customers and future customers in other jurisdictions. 

https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/las-vegas-casino-dealers-face-layoffs-amid-tourism-slump/

Read into anyway you want but I know they caused it all themselves.  It all began around 2013-2015 with the revamping of the two largest brands, points and promotional programs.  Then the rising on all prices by the branded chains as well as the local establishments, etc., and so on. 

The payment could be split among more than a million people in the class-action suit, and after lawyer fees are taken into consideration, it could result in as little as $2 per person.

Despite the low relative payment to get out of the situation, O'Neal is still going to lose out. He was paid roughly $750,000 to promote FTX, and will now pay out more than $1 million in damages after the company's collapse.

https://www.mensjournal.com/sports/shaquille-oneal-agrees-to-pay-1-8-million-settlement

I posted earlier that the Chicago gaming destination market was getting extremely aggressive.  I will tell you they have some of the highest table maximums by far, for 'Off The Street' walk in, no front money players. 

Lots to do in and around Chicago with great food as well!  Prices all around are cheaper as a plus for your out of pocket expenses.

From Timeout:

News

A new study says Las Vegas isn't the best casino city in America—here's what beat it

How could this happen?!

For gamblers—both high-stakes players and people who can barely push a dollar into a slot machine—there's one destination that comes to mind when you think of casinos. It's a city famous for its neon, its enormous themed hotels, its successful ad campaign that promises secrecy and blanket forgiveness for whatever happens there, and a reputation for constantly coming up with new things to entertain visitors. That city is Las Vegas. But shockingly, a new study says that, despite all of that, Vegas isn't the number-one casino city in America—so what the heck is?

RECOMMENDED: The most fun city in America? Las Vegas, of course

In fact, in the list of best casino cities in the U.S. by gaming aggregator SlotMatrix, Las Vegas isn't even in the second or third spot. Somehow, Sin City came in fourth, while a city that few people associate with casinos—Chicago, Illinois—managed to wind up in first place.

Let's look at how that's even possible: The study looked at a variety of data, including how many casinos there are per 100,000 residents of the city; how many casinos have connected hotels or restaurants; the number of slot machines, table games and poker tables in each casino; the number of late-night bars open in the city; average hotel price; and  the percentage increase of online searches since 2022 for casino-related travel to that city.

After crunching all those variables, Chicago shows up as the clear winner. Okayyy.

To be fair, Chicago does have the highest number of table games and poker tables per casino—159 per casino—and the third highest number of slot machines, at 2,100. Interest in traveling to Chicago for its casinos has increased by 258-percent since 2022, according to an analysis of Google searches. Yet both Detroit and Philadelphia have higher percentage of online interest, with 340 percent and 336 percent, respectively.

In second place is Detroit, Michigan, another destination we don't necessarily associate with gambling, yet it came out with the most slot machines per casino and the largest increase in travel-related searches. Atlantic City—finally, a city that does have a casino-based reputation—came in third place overall, with the highest number of casinos per 100,000 people.

As for Vegas, well, darn it. The Nevada town does have one of the highest densities of casinos per 100,000 people, but its hotels are expensive (that's because you can literally pretend you're in Venice, Paris, Egypt or medieval England while you're there, fantasy elements that cost a pretty penny). However, the priciest hotel night actually is found in Detroit, where an average night costs $304. In comparison, the average hotel cost in Vegas is $210, the fourth highest behind Pittsburgh ($285) and Chicago ($232).

We're all little unsure of how all the metrics are weighted because scrutinizing the data actually makes it look like Detroit should win out over Chicago—and Atlantic City and Las Vegas should be worlds above those cities. Ah well, whatever happens in Chicago will be immediately shared with your significant other.

Here's the list of the top 10 casino destinations in the U.S.:

1. Chicago, Illinois

2. Detroit, Michigan

3. Atlantic City, New Jersey

4. Las Vegas, Nevada

5. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

6. Everett, Washington

7. Prior Lake, Minnesota

8. St. Louis, Minnesota

9. Biloxi, Mississippi

10. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Among others things, the other night I cooked a dish of manicotti with homemade sauce for fellow baccarat players getting together for one of our regular discussions.

I snapped a picture when I took it out of the oven.

Deadly shooting outside the Bellagio last night concerning online YouTube social media posting between two competitors.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_aDS6eJp_uM&pp=ygURQmVsbGlnaW8gc2hvdHRpbmc%3D

This next one will explain it all.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0QR49os0UNI&list=RDNSdS-Qm2Mof4I&index=5

To grind it in a bit for the serious students and those that desire to improve their play, I offer the following.

Bank Rolls Versus Buy In Amounts

I read and hear both terms all the time.  My buy-in and my bank-roll.  There goes my bank roll, I lost my buy in, I can increase my bank roll, etc., etc., and so on.

To me, Bank Roll and Buy In amounts/items are two entirely separate things with different functions. 

Bank Roll.  Bank Roll is your total funds you have for gambling. 

Buy In.  Buy In is the amount of money you bring to the casino for the session or trip you will engage in.

While we all have varying amounts and guidelines or desires for our gambling, I learned the following is paramount to the longevity of gambling. 

1)    Allocating a certain amount of my Bank Roll to be my Buy In depending on how long and how many sessions I am planning to engage in.  Also, playing local versus a trip out of state to a major gaming destiny, etc. 

2)    Local Play.  Approximately a Buy In amount of 5% to an absolute maximum of 10% of my Bank Roll for the session to be played.

3)    Out of State, Longer trips.  I would probably bring 50% of my Bank Roll, and then divide it up among the amount of session/days I was to play.

4)    I personally keep my Bank Roll at the same amount as I do not believe in a continual upping/increasing of play level according to one's Bank Roll.  Personally, I found that led to my own downfall numerous times as well as everyone I every talked with, that were long time players of baccarat.  (Winning can be handled with the instant win money for higher levels of play within a session).

5)  Replacing Lost Bank Roll Amounts.  I found it paramount above all else to replace any removed Bank Roll funds at the earliest time possible when funds are won during a session. 

Money Management Guidelines

I have previously mentioned what I feel is, that of a proper Money Management method that will boast the player's buy-in/bankroll and capitalize on sizable wins, cutting down large amounts of play time at the table. 

My Money Management method is made up of 6 areas. It works for myself with years of fine tuning:

1)    Capital Risk.  The buy in.  Partial bank roll, a fraction of it for a session.

2)    1-3-2-6 and/or 1-3-2-4 type of positive progressions.  Max of 2 negative progressions.

3)    1/3rd--1/3rd--1/3 Dividing up your wins every so often.

4)    1 + 4 Parlay for sideways wagers excluding my B or P wagering.

5)    Pull down and use their money for clear thought process. (Important.  If you cannot think clearly, you cannot win).

6)    Length of play time.

The above will govern how long I play and what happens to me.  I have no set win stop or loss stop.  However, I am governed by my buy in and subsequent losses. 

One thing is rock solid, going to happen, will never change, cannot change and will 100% of the time, be the ultimate outcome.  That is; turn of events, change of presentments, the failure of the player and countless other things that all equate to one thing.  And that is, you will lose what you win if your play continues.  That is why your Money Management Method must be allowed to make you more in quicker and larger denominations if you win, and you must walk away from the table with a portion of the win, if you begin to lose. 

Risk.  Pure speculative risk.  Complete open mind with extreme consciousness and awareness.  Stop loss/stop win does not exist in a sense where it is equated to a few units each way.

1/3rds.  If you do not win you have nothing to manage.  If you win, you must protect yourself and I have referred to and almost regularly allow the following to manage my win money.  1/3rd back to my buy in, in front of me.  1/3rd to my pocket and locked up, never to be used again.  1/3rd to a reserve pocket in case I do lose and still decide to play that same session.  If not, then 2/3rds to the locked-up section and totally off limits, etc.   

1 + 4 Side Parlay of wagering.  I use a very little part of my win money before splitting it up to 1/3rds as I mentioned for the allocation of 3 to 5 side wagers that I will attempt to parlay each one, up to 4 times.  Say I won $700.00.  I would put $500.00 aside for 5 attempts at my 1 + 4 Side Parlay wagers.  Each one I would attempt to build up to $3,200.00.  A $100.00 wager parlayed 4 times will equal $3,200.00.  I give myself 5 chances to do that.  Or perhaps I spilt up $1,000.00 for 5 chances at $200.00 each or greater numbers.  In the first example, then I put the other $200.00 to my win money, etc.  These wagers have nothing to do with my straight up B or P wagering, they would be on top of them without regards to my buy in stack, etc.

Pull down and use their money to positively progress with clear thought.  Self-explanatory.

Length of play.  It will turn.  The sole governing factor in my length of play, is how the wins versus the losses are occurring.  What I already won.  You cannot do anything except fall prey to the events waiting to come out.  That is what most do not realize in their management of their time at the table. 

These things combined is my Money Management Method.  It works for me, more times than it does not.  A few units here and few units there or a stop loss of 3 units, will not do anything for you after numerous times of playing except grind you down.  IMO.

NOTES/EXPERIENCE: I have made more larger wins using my 1/3rd-1/3rd-1/3rd and my 1+4 Side Parlay block of wagering, than anything else.

My 1 + 4 Side Parlay wagering thing, is not bets placed on F-7s, P-8s, Ties, or any other side bet, they are all placed on B or P along with a regular wager.  The 1 + 4 Side Parlay block of wagers, derived from win money might take me 20 or 30 or 40 hands to complete.  Varies.  Think of someone betting blacks or purples or stacks of greens, takes $200 and gets 2 stacks of red chips and occasionally throws a red chip or two on a F-7 or a 200 to 1 (3 card 8/9), etc.  Same type of wagering. 

This method allows me to use the casinos money as well as maintain a much clearer mind.  To me it is sideways money I call it.  Not even from my buy-in stack. 

It has worked and worked very nicely for me. 

Remember, Money Management Method is not (NOT) betting /wagering strategy or decision.  It gives you the largest and best advantage a players can possess.  I certainly wish I knew these things early in my playing. 

There are many parts to good solid MMM. Probably the most important Single aspect of one is the drawdown.  A drawdown is the amount of buy-in you will lose before you really start winning.

You and the results of your wagering have to do the management of your money. The Management of your Money is the Method. Money Management Method.

From what I have observed over the years, there is a large misconception of win money.  Most all players are under the belief that they must replenish their last lost buy-in to get 'EVEN' and then accumulate some kind of a unknown profit amount as well. 

You must reserve your buy-in after you have won, do not risk it any further. You must divide up your winnings when you do win. Towards Bankroll. Towards Pocket. Towards Continued Play.  Those three revert back to my 1/3rd, 1/3rd, 1/3rd, I have often wrote about.

All the testing you desire, will only add real confusion along with misrepresentation of what the game is actually about. Seriously be careful what you practice and attempt to figure out. Live it in real play and be serious.  RNG's and their results are not awfully similar to live baccarat.  RNG's in free play mode are much more predictable and use as a definite 'suck in' to whatever online game they are promoting you to be part of.  BE CAREFUL!

RISK CAPITAL.  I use the term 'Risk Capital' within my writing.  It is paramount in gambling MMM protocols.  Most will not recognize that.  But it is by far and large.  Please understand Risk Capital and the purpose of classifying your Bankroll and Buy-ins as strictly and solely Risk Capital.  Same as any other investment for a pathway to earn a profit.  You have to be willing to lose your Buy-in with little to no emotions and frustrations or you will suffer harm in many many ways that will be detrimental to your gaming pursuits. 

I have witnessed countless players in brick & mortar casinos, that maintain no Bankroll and their Buy-ins are what they consider their Bankroll.  If they lose the session, they have to wait until they have additional funds to gambling again.  Hence, their Buyin is their Bankroll.  And that my friends is completely wrong and extremely mind boggling when they gambling.  It creates pressure and emotional city to the max! 

It is generally a Catch-22 to gamble that way.  Lose and your falling into an emotional and frustrating pit.  Win and your mind is battling with building a Bankroll or larger and larger and longer play at the table, which will 99.99% of all times grind you right down. 

So, what is one to do!  What is a good player advantaged and solid Money Management Method? 

Bank Rolls, Buy-Ins, Money Management, Wagering, Believes, Etc.

Money Management Methods tailored for your style and profit goals, etc., is the way to fuel your $$$ into your pockets when you gamble!

Lack of it will make you unsuccessful, not your choice of wagers or most other things, but lack of a money management system will hurt you more than any other thing in gambling, period!

The whole picture is your Bank roll and what you risk when you play out of your bank roll.  Personally, when I am playing locally and not staying for a week, say in Las Vegas or another major gambling destination, I only take my buy-in which is a small percentage of my dedicated bank roll.  Personally, I do risk my buy-in for the session without a stop loss.  More times than not, meaning the majority of times I can profit.  The few times I do loss my buy-in, it is far outweighed by my wins, because I use a 1/3rd Money Management System that, I refined to allow myself to leave with win money and as well?replace my original buy-in without further risk to that either. 

Buy-Ins.  So, buy-ins are totally separate from the bank roll.  They have to be, there is no other way! My recommendation is a 5-10% buy-in at the most of the bank roll.  Personally, I cannot envision playing every day as many state they do or desire to do, unless it is for a small few units profit and the gambler has an extremely large drawdown Bankroll of sheer risk capital available.  The fallacy of winning every day or having large enough bank rolls to survive hundreds of units of down swings to make a few units, is still 'dreamsville' to me after playing for around 40 years, at least for aggressive play anyways.  Personally, once or twice a week is about it, at least on a regular basis, IMO and experience.  My other rock solid iron clad rule that I might break once every 100 trips, is never buying in a second time if the buy in was lost without being able to play on win money. 

Win Money.  Personally, I employ my 1/3rd-1/3rd-1/3rd money management system which cannot and will not fail me to replace my buy-in and always leave with win money.  Period. 

What so many baccarat players I have played alongside, observed and been associated with over the years, make a single mistake.  Which is, the continued buying in after they lose their initial buy-in.  They have no structure or self-control, none whatsoever.  They will drain themselves in the worst catch-22 situations they create and entrap themselves in.  If you lose, you lose.  That is it.  If you can't get past this, nothing can or will ever help you.  Nothing, zip.  I promise you from the bottom my heart.  Keep losing your units and keep flat betting or even negative progression and all you do is sink yourself worse and worse.

Win money causes more clouded vision and obnoxious behavior at the baccarat table.  Get over it.  Know what wins are and how they come or do not come in proportion to losses.  You will do yourself a huge justice by learning what I just said. 

Stop believing what you play on paper using a free game, such as the one on Wizard of Odds website or any of the other on-line casino websites where they offer practice shoes.  There are other factors within a casino that come into play that do not exist on the internet. 

If you have no plan or a haphazard notion, or you sometimes do this or that with your win money---you will risk it and lose it every single time.  Those that use their win money to fuel their positive session they start to encounter will eventually lose it all, because you will play until you get back all your losses, you will lose it all plus anything you have access to.  Happens over and over, each and every single day at the casinos.

Do not keep adding to your bank roll.  You will doom yourself.

Do not play larger because you won a few sessions.

1-2-3-4 or 2-4-6-12, etc., positive progression will kill you if you religiously do them over and over.  I talked about this numerous times in other posts I written.  It is easy to win one or two wagers, it is really hard beyond comprehension to continually win 4 or more in a row.  300 to 600 to 1,200 to 2,400 will happen rarely, your lost units will outweigh by huge amounts, your won units!  That is why I subscribe to 1-3-2-6 and other versions of that style.  If I win one or two, then I ride free to win larger.  Another story and like I said, I wrote and explained that in detailed before on the board.  I promise you that it is the only way to do good-okay or at least better in the long run. 

Concerning playing every day or say 5 to 6 times a week, your mind will not allow you to play level headed and repeatedly profit a set amount of profitable units and continually build you bank roll.  So many preach it, it is not realistic or doable for beginning or less experienced players IMO.  Sorry to harp on it, but I see it all the time.  It is not going to happen.  You will lose more than you win.  Again, looks great on paper and in theory, but you cannot and will not do it and religiously profit every week, week in and week out.

So much talk about 1's, 2's and 3's.  With it or against it.  The times you are correct you will eventually (seriously 100% of the time over say a period of sessions) give it all back by continually believing and wagering the way you just won.  That same shoe will produce just as many 1's, 2's and 3's and "cuts", the opposite way that you wager on, and if that one does not---the subsequent ones you will be playing that same day or the following days, will.  Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it will happen the absolute highest majority of the times. 

The way you can be successful at something like that, is to be there when it happens with a certain wagering thought, but immediately after you profit from it, you have to religiously subscribe to 'refreshing and resetting' and forgetting about that.  Not particularly easy as the psychological effect will attempt to steer you to what just made you $$$ and made you delightful and feeling good all over.  Then as you attempt the replication of that same series of wagering, the shoe presentments went the opposite ways. 

Money Management Methods.  M.M.M. is much more than a negative or a positive progression.  Much more than a win-stop or a loss-stop.  That is where so many will fail as well.  They play all the time, every session as if attempting to repeat their best one or copy in real life as to what they learned on paper or the internet.  Real life is a bit different than Doctor Seuss books once you are older than say 10 years old, IMO.  Realize it.

There are coincidences and phenomena in baccarat, and that is what will cloud your vision and confuse you, more than anything else in this game!  Instilling a bad sense of knowledge you will (I promise you!) wager on.  Meaning, what you saw altered your good vision or your good sense of judgement and you believed the shoe will present the hands according to what you desire through wishful thinking or fallacy beliefs.  Once you figure all this out through experience and losses, you can become a very profitable baccarat player.  Real life analogy.  Think of what I just said in this paragraph as erotic foreplay you seen in a movie.  Translate that to yourself and your erotic desires.  How many times will you lay your eyes on a female, grasp each other, go buy the bottle of wine and strip each other's clothes off and find yourself on those silk and satin sheets with the wind blowing through the open window and the dove that, suddenly flew in and perched himself on the bedpost as you make love to the most beautiful girl you happened to meet in your life and you don't even know her name?

Playing wagers of -?-, -?- or -?- of the shoes or only wagering after ever 4th repeating banker or player for the '1s' or the 'cuts', does not matter.  As many times as you win those, you will lose when those do not happen.  Simple.  But those that go into dialogs, real convincing and real slick ones will probably convince you otherwise.  Counting, waiting and looking for an event will not work in the long run.  It might for the same day-one session and if you only play once or twice a year, but it will not if you play on a regular basis.  Playing that way will kill you, it will wipe you out, I promise you!

As Asym has highlighted numerous times, fewer wagers are better.  Although most all will not care to engage in an everything in, one-time wager for each session, there are ways to gain advantages IMO.

The following has suited me well.

Take for instance a $1,000.00 buy-in.  You can adjust with anything you feel comfortable with of course.

I favor a 4 attempt to get the feel for a session.  Although grinding has not (NOT) suited me well over the years, personally need a visual and physical stack increase to really start my session wins and get power along with clearer mind-set, etc., etc., and so on.

So like I said a $1,000.00 buy-in. 

Split into 4 attempts of $250.00 each. 

Attempt 1.  $250, if won full parlay to $500.  If won full parlay to $1,000.  If won, pull it all (ALL) down and move on to attempt #2.

So you are shooting for 3 wins and then reset with each base wager, in my example cases that is $250.00.  If I lose my other 3 attempts I still almost doubled my money.  That is winning any one of the 4 attempts anyways.  Win 2 and really start getting ahead.

To those 10 or so members that emailed me and PM'd me, here is my way of thinking and why it is better IMO and long time experience.

* Because small number are a sheer and dangerous grind.
* Because grinding will suck you in and hurt you.
* Because grinding wears you down.
* Because grinding forces most all to chase.
* Because it is much easier to win quicker.
* Because you can only win a smaller amount of wagers in any session unless it is a rare session.
* Because if you are going to win, you will generally do it from the beginning or near the beginning of your play without harming your session.

If I won 3 out of the 4, I would continue into another session of the same type but pocketing double and/or triple my buy-in along with my buyin. 

Win more with greater safety!

As you wrote:

"At baccarat bighorn.sh.it happens just in the eye of the beholder. Since we can choose from an infinite amount of random walks and wagering whenever we wish and with the amount we wish, the strategy cannot be prevented by any kind of "perfect" randomness."

And that is exactly the way it is, 100% of the time no matter what is or what is not occurring. 

The sole problem 99.99.9/10ths of all bac players is, that they continue with far too many wagers past what they should, after they so called got the pattern/trend or the 'anti-trend', etc., all figured out as to what is going to happen. 

Period.

Backing out of my buddies garage to go to the casino.  Yeah, nice ride for sure.  Absolutely mint in every way.