Stories

Those of us who have played many events have undoubtedly experienced more than a few memorable situations. Many of them are related to betting situations and/or how the hands were played, or should have been played. However, there must also certainly be some stories worth telling, strictly for their entertainment value. At first, I thought that this might merit a forum of its own, and I considered asking Ken if he would create one. But perhaps one thread will be sufficient (Ken, if you disagree, then you can always move this thread into a new "Stories" forum).

So let's tell some stories here of all kinds: remarkable situations, hands, outcomes and just plain entertaining tales. You need not restrict yourself to blackjack tournaments, blackjack or even gambling. And just so that we can truly appreciate each tale as something remarkable, let's keep it as true stories only.

 

Close Encounters of Two Different Kinds

I'll start with something that happened to me while playing at a UBT sit-and-go table in April of 2007 at The Palms. I was just getting into blackjack tournaments, had watched a few episodes of the UBT and had played online. I was thrilled to learn that this event would be held during a weekend when I already had planned on being in Vegas.

Anyway, they were playing sit-and-go rounds on the Friday before the big tournament (which never aired as far as I know) and I decided to give it a try. A few of the UBT pros were there, including Ken and I thought it would be fun to see how I would do. I played a few lower priced tables to get my feet wet, and didn't do very well. I then played at a table with a $200 entry fee for which the top prize was entry into the big tournament and some decent cash for 2nd and 3rd place. Ken was seated to my left and an older fellow was seated to my right. I knew who Ken was, but was too shy to introduce myself, and I wanted to appear as a competent player as opposed to some star struck fan, so I just played it cool. I was imagining it coming down to the final hand with me vs Ken and wondering if I could beat him with some clever bet or play. As it turned out, Ken was eliminated early, simply because the cards didn't go his way. So much for the dream encounter.

One amusing thing did happen later in the round, however. On a later elimination hand, I was in last place and the older fellow to my right (who, I guess didn't think much of my skills) bet to cover me high, leaving me the low. When I did bet to take the low, he was visibly annoyed. When he subsequently lost his hand and was eliminated, he gave me a long hard look, stood up, paused, passed some gas near my face (the table had low chairs) and then walked away. My wife and friend, who were standing nearby watching, almost collapsed in laughter, but no one else at the table seemed to notice. I never found out who that fellow was or if he was anyone notable.

I went on to finish second at that table, making some nice cash, but missing out on the big tournament entry.

Later that night, I ran into Ken at the Venetian where they were also playing UBT-style sit-and-go rounds for cash. These only ran for a few weeks and were a dismal flop. This night was no exception. There were 4 tables available but only enough players to fill one and these players were not giving up their seats. While I was waiting for a seat, Ken arrived and I did work up the nerve to chat with him a bit. He asked if I was a member of this site, and I said that I was and told him my handle. At that time I was only a lurker here, so it understandably didn't ring a bell with him. After a while, we both got tired of waiting and he gave me his business card and we both left. A few minutes later, I realized with horror that the fly of my pants was down. To this day I wonder and hope that he didn't notice.

 

Near Miracle at the Fallsview

This just happened to me last week at https://www.blackjacktournaments.com/tournaments/blackjack-21-tournament.1235/

I had made it to the semi final where the tables are 7 players, 1 advance, $25 minimum, $500 maximum. I had just lost a big bet on the second last hand and was in very bad shape. In fact, I thought that I was already locked out. They did the official chip count and it came out as BR1: $5025, me $2500, everyone else locked out (provided that BR1 did not go crazy with a big bet and multiple splits). I rolled my eyes and thought to myself (sarcastic inner voice): "all you have to do is get 5 max bets down and win them all while BR1 loses her minimum bet and you can tie". Yeah right -- like that will ever happen.

Well BR1 did in fact bet minimum and I pushed out my max bet and the cards were dealt. BR1 got 11 vs the dealer 3. I was dealt two face cards. "Hah", my sarcastic inner voice said, "you're still on track and if she doubles, your 5 max bets could beat her". Remarkably, she did exactly that, receiving a 4 for a total of 15. I was now sitting up a little more alertly. The dealer came to me and I split my 10's receiving an Ace. I reached for my chips in order to get the first of two required doubles on the table with no risk of busting, but as I did so, the dealer hit my second hand with another face card. It turns out that the rules would not allow me to double the first hand because it was 21. At first I was annoyed, and let the tournament supervisor know it. But I then realized that this new face card was far more valuable to me as the card which would make the required second split possible. I was now guaranteed to be able to at least place my 5 max bets. So, I split again and was dealt a 3. "Not bad", my now hopeful inner voice said. "You need to double these two remaining hands, and 13 is almost as good as it gets". I dared to hope that I might actually pull this off. However when I doubled the 13, I got another face and the dream was over. I doubled my next hand anyway and it also busted.

If you know me here, then you know that when I got home, I immediately simulated the situation and learned that before any cards were dealt, I had only a 0.01% chance of advancing. The moral of this story is to keep fighting until your chances are actually zero. You never know what might (almost) happen.

 

Yeah, that second smiley looks exactly like I did as I realized that the barn door was open.

 

You right, Gronbog, things happen
I got curious to see what your probability to advance was in already given situation:
First of all BR1 should lose, which means that Dealer must make a Hand.
After that you should beat the Dealer by points.
Assuming (H17 - Dealer hits soft 17) we come to the following formula:
12.64(D17) x 4/13 x 7/13 + 13.2(D18) x 3/13 x 6/13 + 12.71(D19) x 2/13 x 5/13 + 12.18(D20) x 1/13 x 1/13 = 4.32%
So, you had already 432 times better chanses of advancing, comparing with .01%(according to your info) before any cards were dealt!

 

Tirle_bj can you elaborate on your calculation? I can't see how it covers all of the possibilities of winning 5 max bets while my opponent loses. Did you perhaps mean the probability of advancing after the initial cards were dealt or at some point after that? Also FWIW, the rules were S17.

 

My bad, Gronbog. I forgot that your second split hand still need another card before you could double. And I calculated this for the situation right before you busted.
So the probability is much, much less. Thanks for correction.

 

I can't remember the year, but probably in the early 80's.

I was playing a single deck game at the Horseshoe in Vegas. Suddenly some guy walked up to the table and reached across and pulled chips from the dealer's rack. The dealer, of course was startled, and started to say something. However, the guy was being followed by a security guard and 2 pit bosses who just motioned for the dealer to relax. The guy played 2 hands for a chip, lost both, and placed the rest of the chips back to the dealer.

The entourage moved off. I ask the dealer what that was. He said the guy played for 10K per chip and did all kinds of weird things.

I have never seen anything like this since.

 

This is one that I did not personally witness, but was seen by a good friend of mine on a trip we both took to Vegas. It falls into the category of bizarre and a bit disgusting, so if you are easily offended, consider yourself warned!

It was Oct 21, 2005 on the graveyard shift at The Mirage. My friend was playing blackjack and the casino was not crowded. While he was playing, a well-dressed couple sat down at the table next to his and began playing. They were both pretty drunk and having a good time. Enough of a good time to be noticeable. According to my friend, the woman would occasionally ask where the restrooms were. Each time, she was told that they were on the other side of the casino, and each time she would consider this information, but continue playing. After about a 1/2 hour of this, she asked once again where the restrooms were but this time announced that she didn't think she could make it that far. According to my friend, she looked around in a panic and then, grabbing the napkin from under her drink, she placed it on the floor in front of the table, squatted down and had a bowel movement right there on the napkin. As if this was not bizarre enough, everyone nearby stopped and looked on in amazement as her companion, also in a panic, wrapped it up in the napkin, picked it up, and put it her purse, before grabbing her by the hand and leading her away.

 

Several years ago I had an experience at the Stardust that was similar to Ken's. Myself and a buddy had just finished breakfast at the snack bar and were just re entering the casino when we heard "pop, pop" and witnessed most patrons hitting the floor. It was a shooting in the sports book (maybe 25 yards from us). The victim ran out the door but died in the parking lot and the shooter offered no resistance to casino security that held him until metro police arrived.
Pretty exciting stuff but sad that someone died. The motive was supposedly a bad tip on a sports bet.
Never give sports tips. Packers 38 Bears 12!

Billy C

 

Nah .... he didn't signal for a hit using his middle finger.

 

Final Answer?

I witnessed two "incidents" during the $50k blackjack tournament at the Atlantis on Nov 9 (https://www.blackjacktournaments.com/tournaments/50-000-blackjack-tournament.192/) caused by the procedure that was in place for betting.

In this event, the players are allowed to assemble their bet in any way they see fit and can add or subtract chips from their bet even after placing them in the betting square. When a player is satisfied with his bet, he then taps the table to indicate that the bet is final. At this point, the bet cannot be changed.

In the first incident, a player was all in and was dealt a stiff hand. He tapped the table, which is, of course, the signal for a hit. He received a card that busted his hand. He then tried to claim that he was tapping the table in order to "indicate that his hand was final" (i.e. to stand). As this was late in the round, it was obvious that he knew the difference between the signals for hit and stand. He made quite a fuss, but was unsuccessful. It is amazing to me what some people will try to get away with.

The second incident falls into the category of sneaky-but-legal. It was the final hand at a preliminary round table with one advancing. There were two players remaining and BR1 was to bet 1st. Before BR1 placed his bet, BR2 announced that he was all-in and pushed his chips into the betting square. BR1 had a relatively small lead and so he responded by holding back one chip, betting the rest and confidently tapping the table. At this point BR2 changed his bet by pulling back 2 chips. He had not tapped the table after announcing and placing his all-in bet and had tricked BR1 into giving up the low. Once again there was a lot of commotion as BR1 protested, but the tournament officials upheld the rule that BR2's bet was not final until indicated by tapping the table. Justice was served however (in the opinion of some of the observers), when BR1 was dealt a blackjack to win the table.

 

HEY!!!!!! How did I get sucked into this thread?????????

Gronbog's memory for detail is amazing. He is referring to my very first live BJT table ever, a CBS broadcast of a UBT final table in a seat won online. I told a close friend that I'd send a signal during the show to show that I was thinking of the folks back home who were rooting for me. That middle finger was very active during the taping - pushing up my glasses, scratching my head, merely sitting there with my arms folded, and more. The pre-broadcast edits caught them all but one. Yep, calling for a hit with a blatantly obvious upside-down middle finger firmly tapping the felt. Bad enough they missed that one but they actually featured the play of that hand when they came out of a commercial break.

 

I can't remember what I had for breakfast, but in 1977 my wife and I drove to Las Vegas from Las Cruces, NM during the summer. The temperature was over 110 every day of the trip and we did not have an air conditioner in the car. We stayed at the Castaways which was probably about where the Mirage or Treasure Island is now. We went to one of those property shows and got free tickets to see Rodney Dangerfield at the Tropicana.

We got to the Trop before the show and there were people standing around watching a BJ game so we went over to see what was going on. Their was a guy playing 3 hands of BJ for 100-300 a hand. At the time I was debating whether I could play for $2 hand so this was a lot of money. He was playing a no-bust strategy which is awful. However, everytime dealer busted, he would lean across the table and say in a relative loud voice "Busted your ass, didn't you dealer". Can you imagine how irritating this must be to dealers. This guy suddenly turns around and noticed my wife. He motioned for her to come and play one of his $300 bet hands. She hesitated but asked me what to do and I told her to hit the 13 against a dealer 10. She caught an 8 and won. He handed her a $100 chip.

She then told him we had to go to get in line for the show. He proceeded to get up from the table and march us into the show not even slowing down at the matre d. The guy hurried after us and put us at one of the booths. He told the matre d to give us anything we wanted and he would take care of all necessary tokes (a term I wasn't really familiar with). Sat with us maybe 5 minutes said he came to Vegas 2-3 times a year, lost 30k-50k and said he had to get back to the table.

After the show, we went back into the casino and he was sitting at a table with another couple. They suddenly got up and he escorted them into the follies.

I guess he was a nice guy.

 

Heh, thanks, but have you seen the thread where I admit to not being able to remember more than 4 bankrolls at a time? (See https://www.blackjacktournaments.com/threads/supplemental-skills.8320/). BTW, I sucked you into that thread too . Also, in all fairness, I didn't notice that on the broadcast. You told me the story yourself over a beer at a Kewadin event.

It is amazing though that many of us can remember the fine details of some critical hand years later. That's the proof that our memories are ok. We just have to find a way to re-enforce the things we want to remember.

 

Remembering Kewadin reminds me of something funny that happened there during one of their blackjack tournament weekends. There were several members from this forum there and, on the Saturday night, a few of us had taken over a table and were having a good time playing together. I won't mention their handles, in case they are worried about being identified, but if they recall this, they may chime in. After one particular hand midway through the shoe, we all suddenly stood up. It was so sudden that I think we all surprised one another. It certainly was surprising to the dealer and must have looked comical to anyone who happened to be watching. After a pause of a few seconds, we all then muttered various excuses for having to leave the table --- bathroom break, phone call, need to check table assignments for the next day, etc. As you have probably guessed by now, the count had taken a major nose dive during that hand. Now, I've had other AP's leave the table at the same time as me before, but never until then had I witnessed the entire table stand up and scatter in all directions at the same time!

 

This is a reminder for the counters among us. We probably know quicker than the casino that there are other counters at the table. Back when I used to play BJ, I left relatively quickly (of course at a negative deck point) as soon as I noticed another counter at the table. I just didn't want to play with other counters, it just might draw too much attention.