I am ready to talk about this now as this play is over for us (my brother and I). We have worked this play for 9 weeks traveling the country. I am aware that there are other players and teams working this play, that may not have given up yet, trying to locate and eek out the last of it, but the play is essentially dead and will be officially dead everywhere if it is not already.
My brother located this play in early March at a small local casino in Las Vegas. I discussed it with several players, including Mickey on this forum. And I asked 4 different guys that would know the math, just what it was worth. I received 2 replies in the $200/hour range. The other two math guys I asked, didn't want to provide an answer without me revealing the machine brand and location. I wasn't surprised nor mad, as that is how AP's operate. One of those that wanted a cut of the play in exchange for the information, was Shackleford. While Mike didn't provide the answer I wanted, just the fact that he was interested, confirmed the other numbers I had received were probably right or close, as Shackleford wouldn't have been interested for peanuts.
I never said that it was an electronic machine on this forum, but several people guessed that it was and that this hit after doubling down was a computer error or glitch. The way it worked is that after doubling down, and drawing a double down card, the "hit, stand, double down" options, lit up again, for a quick second, or more like partial second. If you acted quickly, you could hit and the extra card would be added. Think of it like this: You have a 10 vs dealer 8. You double down and draw a 3. Your double down is now likely a losing hand. But hitting again, you have a chance to improve your hand. You might still bust or draw a 2 or 3 and still lose, but you have the chance to improve your hand and that makes everything +EV.
Unfortunately, due to controlled speed of game and betting limits, it is only worth several hundred dollars an hour. Otherwise it would be a goldmine.
This game is by one of the big manufacturers. They make several different models of electronic blackjack. Unfortunately, this was their least popular or the one with the fewest placements. I think it might have been their newest. I was able to come up with a list of locations where the game was placed and it was only 28 throughout the U.S. It is possible that list wasn't up to date, but that is what we worked off of.
So two were in Las Vegas and that is where we started. The first location, we played for 8 full days. It turns out that was the longest we were able to get in anywhere. On the 9th day we were met by a group of casino suits at the game and asked for I.D. I refused. One then said we were trespassed from the property and read the standard statement. I am not sure how a trespass works if they don't know your name. Now that this is over, that is a question I will ask of someone who knows. As we made our way to the door, we were weakly threatened with arrest for cheating. I practically laughed in the guy's face. I responded that we were not cheating, just playing with the opinions presented to us. He asked "what I meant"? That is when I realized they didn't even have a clue what we were doing...how we were winning. They only knew we were winning. I said no more and we walked out the door.
At the second Las Vegas location, we encountered other players playing the 3 available stations. I wasn't sure if they were together (seemed to be) so we just watched for a bit, eventually ate lunch and when they were still playing and had the machines tied up several hours later, I concluded they were together. Some sort of team or group of AP's, none that I recognized. We decided to cross out that location, as they were surly well on their way to burning it out.
So we took to the road, traveling 4 neighboring western states, playing a total of 5 locations. This lasted two and a half weeks and was the best of it. We encountered no other players or teams, but only were getting 3-5 days per location, before we were backed off or the machines disabled. I was hoping for longer periods of play at each location.
The next trip was to the Gulf Coast area, and this is where things started to fall apart. 6 locations. We were only able to play 2 of them. This is where we encountered a second team or group of players playing at 2 locations. I assume they were the same team. Not necessarily the same players, but the same group. At 2 more locations, one the machines had been disabled and placed "out of order", and the second, I couldn't even find the machines. I think they had been taken off the floor. My suspicion was that these two locations had already been hit by that team or group of players. So we played the remaining two locations for a few days each and then headed towards the middle of the country. At this point that I knew we were burning through the locations and not even able to play some, and this play was not going to be nearly as lucrative as I was hoping. I was hoping for 4-6 months and making a couple hundred grand.
After several successful stops at 2 locations in the middle of the county, things took a worse turn. On the first double down opportunity, my brother said "it's not working". Playing the station next door, I hit had my double down opportunity moments later, and also was not able to hit afterwords. Of the remaining stops in the several states in the middle of the county, we only found 1 that we could play and still hit after doubling down.
It was apparent there was some kind of software upgrade or "fix" eliminating this opportunity. We still had the East Coast on 7 locations in the mid Atlantic area. I was hoping we were running ahead of this play ending software upgrade or fix. It turned out to be a mixed bag...mostly against us as we were only able to play 2 locations for a brief time. One location was playable one day and not the next.
At this point we had hit all but 3 locations. There were stand alone locations, one being in Reno, which I was saving for the end, due to past problems at that location. We decided to skip these final 3 locations. Over the final 3-4 weeks were finding fewer playable games, and getting less actual time in (meaning less money). And traveling and spending expenses doing so.
In the end we made some money, but not even half after expenses of what I was hoping for. But pretty good money for 9 weeks of work and as far as I know, no consequences as far as database issue or anything like that. i will have a friend double check that. The worst of it was that very first location with the trespass, and weak threat of arrest.
After thoughts: When we discovered this play, my first decision was whether this was something we could milk for a long period of time. I decided it wasn't. And the reason I thought that is that unlike the Nester/Kane double up bug (you will note I don't credit anyone else with playing the double up), this was not a popular machine available at many casinos. It was very limited. But the bigger reason is also comparing to the Nester/Kane double up bug, there was no sequence of things needed to activate the bug or glitch. The option just lit up without doing anything to trigger it. So I figured there would be players, both AP's and just regular players that recognized this, so it wouldn't last long. I was hoping for longer than it did, but I think I made the right call.
Anyway, I am sure you trolls will do your thing, so go to it.
Reply With Quote
