Beating Blackjack at Bally's. Say that real fast three times. Ranks right up there with "I shot the city sheriff." The year was 2000. My wife's sister was going to be married at Caesar's Palace. To plan the wedding, my wife's parents, her sister and future brother-in-law went out to Las Vegas. We decided to tag along. Don't ask me why, but we were staying at Paris, Las Vegas. I did not make the plans, just went along for the ride.
I like Paris. It is nice casino in a great location. It sits across Las Vegas Boulevard from the Bellagio and adjacent to Bally's with Planet Hollywood casino on the other side. I also like the cute little French costumes the cocktail waitresses wear there. You should make a point of going up in the half-size replica of the Eiffel Tower, especially at night. It affords a fantastic view of the strip and the Bellagio fountain display across the street.
We had checked in during the middle of the afternoon and spent the rest of the day and that evening hitting the tables at Paris. The next morning, my wife's sister and her mother went over to Caesar's to begin work on the wedding preparations. Near the elevators leading to our room, I had seen a sign pointing to Bally's. So, I suggested that my wife, our future brother-in-law and I check it out.
So we ventured down a walkway that went past the guest room elevators, the buffet and a number of shops. Soon, we came upon signs that pointed right to various convention rooms and left to Bally's. After a very short walk, we entered Bally's casino. Bally's is one of the older casinos on the strip. The casino floor is a little smaller than most of the new themed mega resorts. However, it has become a favorite of mine in terms of where I like to gamble. As it was only 10:00 in the morning, there were not many blackjack tables open yet. But, as chance would have it, after walking up and down the row of tables trying to find one that had three open seats, we came upon a lady dealer just opening up a new blackjack table. So, we sat down and took out our money.
This trip was third visit to Las Vegas. The previous two trips included stays at the MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay. However, this time I had taken the time to read books on blackjack from John Patrick and John Gollehon. I highly recommend both authors. One of the gambling concepts I had read about but had yet to put into use was progressive betting. I made a decision to do battle with Bally's at the blackjack table using a relatively tame progressive betting system.
As it was still the morning, the tables limits had not been raised yet and our table had a minimum bet of $5. After experiencing some choppy action for about 20 to 25 minutes, I finally received some decent cards on got on a run. My betting progression went like this. I started out betting $5. If I won that, I would repeat that same bet. If I won that bet, I upped my wager to $10. If I won at that level twice in a row, I then would go up another $5 and so on until I reached $25. Were I to win at the $25, my plan was to drop back down to $5 and start over.
So, to recap, my plan was to bet the following $5, $5, $10, $10, $15, $15, $20, $20, $25, $25 and then drop back down to $5. A loss of any one of these bets meant that I was to start over at the beginning at $5. I was certainly hoping to make it all the way thru the progression. But, no one wins 10 hands of blackjack in a row, do they?
Yes they do! As you will discover in an article about streaks in gambling and blackjack win streaks, these kinds of winning streaks do happen. What separates the winners from the losers, in my opinion, is recognizing that you are in a middle of a streak and acting on it. And, more importantly, knowing when the streak is over and getting up and leaving the table.
So, you ask. How did I do? As I mentioned above, I fought a choppy table for about 20 to 25 minutes. I would start the progression and get to the third or fourth bet at the most and then have to start all over again. Then, in the middle of the third shoe, I got on a decent run of blackjack cards. I made it all the way thru the 10 hand progression, getting blackjack once and hitting a nice double down winner. After my drop back down to $5, I lost that drop down bet and cashed in a $200 winner! Not bad for a $5 table.
I have been a dedicated progressive bettor ever since. You can view our article on progressive betting and read about more betting progressions and some monster runs I and some of my friends have been on. The progression I used at Bally's was a relatively tame version. Not very aggressive. Nevertheless, I was very pleased with the result.