Ah, BlackJack…

“There’s one!”

Yes friends, I had exactly one BlackJack in my first dive into the competitive tournament style of gameplay last night. And yet, I still had fun.

Let me break this down for you. Foxwoods’ BlackJack tournaments are run with 25 hands per round. There is a minimum of $100 per round, maximum of $2500. All bets are in increments of $100, except insurance. Everyone is given $5000 in chips to start.

In the first 14 hands, I lost none. That’s right, none. I had either 2 or 3 pushes, I can’t remember. And I still finished dead last at my table with about $3500 in chips (the table winner had over $19k, by comparison).

“How could this happen?” you may find yourself wondering… Well, it is actually very simple. I got overconfident after winning my first five hands (with nothing less than an 18 in front of me, mind you), so I started playing strategy WAAAAAAY too early. By that, I mean that since everyone else had to catch up to me, I figured I’d make them do just that. They kept betting $2500 to catch up, I bet $100 to play safe. And you know what happened? The dealer kept breaking. I couldn’t have felt more like Mike Martz if I’d taken a knee with all of my chips and started jogging off to the buffet…

Normally, a dealer who consistently breaks is a godsend. But when I’ve got 20’s sitting in front of me in a tournament, I’d prefer to see her make a 19 and bust out at least a couple of the other players. Needless to say, I found myself a bit behind by hand 15, when I made my first max bet of the night, and promptly lost my first hand (doubled an 11 against a 5, got an Ace, so naturally the dealer drew to a 19…)

After all was said and done, I learned a lot about the world of competitive BlackJack tournaments, and I’ll be a lot more ready next time around (in a month. I expect to win that one).

Oh, one last note from last night.

So I decided to go play for real after I got bumped out and got some food. Sat at a nice $15 with a couple of interesting kids. I say kids because for once, I think I was the oldest player at a table (at 22.5 years old, no less). Anyway, I’m playing $25 a hand for about ten hands, not doing well (probably down about $150 at this point). Played everything right, but the dealer kept drawing to make hands. Finally, he’s got a six up and I’ve got 2 sixes in front of my $25 chip. To my left are two kids who obviously don’t believe in basic strategy, because one just hit a 12 against the six (and got a 9, the bastard!), and the other has been staying on 14, 15, and 16 ever since I showed up, regardless of the dealer’s up card.

I decide to split my sixes, which is the “correct” play (of course, the “correct” play is only correct when you play it out over 1000 hands; then percentages take over and you win more than you lose…). Another $25 up, and two new hands. First hand, got the five. Double for another $25, got my 10. Second hand, a four on top of the six. Double it up for another $25; got the 10.

“Beautiful!” I’m looking at two gorgeous hands with $100 on the table, about to make my great comeback.

Dealer flips the hole card under the six to show a two. Not bad, since the ten gives him 18 and me two wins. Hell, even an Ace gives him 20 and I win and push. But no, he has to go and draw a three for the next card. 11 total, and now I’m sweating. Then he saves us all (momentarily) and pulls an Ace for a 12 and a miracle bust… until the nine comes down next.

Instead of winning $100 I lose $50, and the night was never the same. I caught a couple of nice mini-runs, but they all puttered out. So I made $300 on Monday night, and gave back all $300 of it and then some on Tuesday. Ah BlackJack…

This past weekend I held my annual “D-B-Q”; a barbecue for as many of my friends as want to attend. First off, thanks to all of you who made it - I had a great time and I hope you all did too.

This year, Vinny made the suggestion that I write a column about the New York Mets (pffff) and how they’re finally making a run… at .500. Sorry Vin, .500 is not a number I’m too impressed with, even if it’s the Mets. Make a run at .600, then we’ll talk.

However, there is a National League team making a little run of their own, right to the top of the NL Central, and it’s surprised the hell out of everyone, even me. Again, back to my “Predictions” column on April 8^th, I wrote that “Cincinnati is actually not far away”. Guess objects in the rear view really ARE closer than they appear.

Paul Wilson and Danny Graves have both resurrected their careers at exactly the right times (congrats to anyone who grabbed then early in fantasy leagues. Hey, while you’re out, could you pick me up a couple of lottery tickets?), and Junior is looking more and more like the Junior that the Reds vastly overpaid for.

Let me tell you all something. I’ve been an avid fan of Ken Griffey Jr. since 1990, when he broke in and I got to go to a Sox game and watch him clobber a ball to right field with absolutely the sweetest left-handed swing I’ve ever seen. For years in Little League I modeled my swing after his. In 1995, I went to a Sox game against the Mariners on a field trip from school and happened to sit three rows behind the kid that caught a Junior home-run – Jr.’s 200^th career shot.

Let’s not all forget that this guy was once considered to be the only threat to Hank Aaron’s career record. That Jr. was often called the only player who had a legit shot at making the “All-Century Team” for both the 20^th AND 21^st centuries. And after a myriad of leg and shoulder injuries, it looks like he’s finally made it all the way back.

With Jr. in the lineup and swinging for the fences (he’s got 492 career dingers now after last night…), the Reds actually have a chance to stay in first for awhile. Or at least until Mark Prior and Kerry Wood get healthy.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“What exactly is a reverse curve anyway? Isn’t that just a straight line?” – Dom (surprisingly, this WASN’T a quote from my mom…)

RANDOM THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

Why is it that you can only split aces once, but tens up to three times? If you get 21 in two cards either way, it still counts as only 21, not BlackJack. It’s not like the house would lose money here… Yeah, I’m still sore about last night.

IN PREPERATION FOR NEXT WEEK

I really hope some major story comes out of the world of pro sports next week, so I’m not left with nothing to write about but the NHL (No Hope for the League) and NBA (Nothing But Arrogance/A$$holes/Adulterers – your choice) playoffs. God these have been bad.

posted by Big D @ 12:00 AM