Winter Spring 2021 Vegas Trip

[MDawg]

The Mdawg Challenge was witnessed and attested to by Michael Shackleford, the "Wizard of Las Vegas."

For the MDawg challenge (courtesy of DarkOz), the Wizard and I met in the high limit salon and first went over the logistics of the Challenge, and then had some general chit chat about Baccarat in general. I explained to the Wizard that if given a good shoe I would always win and that there was in fact a difference between a good Baccarat shoe and a bad one. I already stated in all my session reports, and repeated to the Wizard in person, that I preferred to play alone, and that the salon looked empty which was good.

We went to the table where I had won yesterday, but the shoe was already mid session (someone had started playing the shoe and then left before it ended), and I commented to the Wizard that I preferred to play a shoe from the beginning. Many dealers, pit bosses and drink servers greeted me as a familiar guest, which I am sure the Wizard observed. I sat down at a fresh table, alone, and pulled an 8K marker.

The table minimum at this table was $200., so there was no way to bet less than that on Bank or Player. I free-handed the first hand, which turned out to be a Player, and then I bet Player again, won that hand, bet Player again, lost that hand, bet Bank, won that hand, won the next Bank hand too, and then free handed one hand, until I declared out loud to the dealer, �two two, two two� meaning that the hands were dropping in sets of two. With one exception where I deviated (and should not have deviated), I followed this pattern and won, pressing my bets up from 200 to as high as about 600, until the pattern changed.

Then there followed a period of about a dozen hands where the shoe was random and I was neither winning nor losing much, although I did win my larger bet during this sequence of the shoe. My bets during this period varied from 200 � 1000. After two banks, I declared that the Bank ran only two, and that a Player was absolutely certain, dropped 1000 on Player, and won. I then pressed to 1500, won again. I then pressed to 2000, won again, and then pressed pretty much every hand, by a unit of 500. My highest bet in this run, which I lost, was 3500, although I kept this up winning each hand prior to the final 3500 one, on an 8 player run, all the way down the line. While in the salon prior to playing I had mentioned to Wizard that I always always caught runs or patterns and always pressed into them. As this Player run was happening, just a few hands into it, I pointed out that this is exactly what I was doing now, and that it was not as hard as it sounded to detect a run and press into that.

I didn�t just catch some of the winning hands in that 8 Player run � I caught every single one, losing only on the 9^th bet, when it switched to Bank. I do this all the time, catch runs, and press into them.

I caught another sequence in the shoe when I followed another series of side by side runs, pressing into them again.

During this latter part of the shoe, there was one hand where I mentioned to the Wizard that the sequence of cards that had landed prior plus some other factors led me to believe that the next hand would be a Player, and I increased my bet and won on Player that hand. However, in general I simply played, rather quickly, and did not comment on how or why I was betting the way I did.

I frequently placed bets for the dealer side by side with my bets, ranging from $5. to $35., and the dealer and I won pretty much every time we bet together.

My bets for this session ranged from 200 � 3500.

After I had played (placed bets for) exactly 57 hands, the Wizard declared the Challenge over, and we counted up. At that moment, with all commission paid off, I had 14,915. in front of me, meaning that I was ahead 6,915. (This does not include whatever I tipped out, which was at least 150 at my end, doubled to 300, at the dealer�s end since it was placed on winning bets.)_ That +6915 was the official end WIN and does NOT include what I tipped out.

Note: At some point after the Challenge was called, the Wizard realized that he had counted two �tie only� bets I had placed as hands played, even though they were 100 only (although � 100 is actually not such a small sum to place on the tie wager). However, the two hands after the Challenge was called, I won one and lost one, so they didn�t affect the Challenge or the final tally of 6,915. The Wizard did witness these two additional hands played.

I played alone for most of the shoe, although two players did show up and play for periods during the time I was there.

To summarize: there were no long periods of flat betting. If anything, I pressed into runs quite successfully time and again, and my bets ranged from 200 � 3500. There was no Martingale betting; in fact, I would tend to lower my bet after losing a hand versus increasing.

End win: +6915 for the MDawg Challenge.

The Wizard shortly after the Challenge was called as �clearly a win� (the Wizard�s exact words) remained either at the table or in the salon, and I kept playing to end out the shoe (ended at 71 hands), and walked with +5100. (I dumped a little of my winnings during the last 10 or so hands of the shoe.)

This is a typical shoe for me, netting around five grand. Not the greatest shoe, but certainly not a bad one. (During the shoe I in fact commented to the Wizard that this was merely an �average� shoe, although I did make this comment before the 8 Player run landed. Once that, and the subsequent side by side streaks occurred, the shoe went from average to better than average.)

After the session was completed and I had paid off my marker and pocketed the 5000 chip and hundred chip I had won, Wizard and I took a �Victory Stroll� to VIP where I was given new keys to my suite, because we had just extended our stay (again). During the course of my conversation at VIP the VIP host (VIP host, not casino host) mentioned in a positive way that I had already been in the suite for some time (exact time will not be disclosed, but it was substantial), and then said that expected that I would be there even longer.

Wizard and I then walked up to my suite, where he observed my Vitamin Bar, and also will corroborate that it is a very large suite, in a top Vegas Strip casino � and by no means just a typical Vegas suite, but among the largest on the Strip short of the obscene ones that are for uber whales.

In my suite, Wizard and I relaxed and discussed some of the finer points of my casino play and Vegas casino �hustle,� including details of any �concessions� I have negotiated with the casinos. Most of that conversation is confidential, although one thing I did discuss with him that was not private was my opinion of why the two Players who stepped briefly onto my table lost. The one, I explained, lost because flat bet � pretty much just 200 each hand. The other lost because of two reasons: (1) because got too greedy. This Player stepped up with I believe it was 1000, and parlayed it all the way to 6000 in three bets, but then got greedy, and greedy in a bad way, because then (2) bet against the streak that was obviously happening at that time (a streak I was winning at). This second player didn�t play too many hands �won quickly, then dumped it all and lost quickly. The first player lasted a while longer, but also lost.

While in the suite, Wizard commented on my watch, and I handed the watch I had been wearing that day - my Rolex DD 40mm platinum - to the Wizard to hold, along with a heavy platinum chain I sometimes wear when wearing my platinum watches, and he remarked on how heavy both the watch and the chain were, because they are platinum. Wizard and I discussed the relative malleability of platinum versus gold.

Wizard paid me the 2000. for the wager in cash, and gave me an autographed copy of his Gambling 102book. My wife wasn�t present when Wizard visited the suite so they did not meet, but I showed her the book and she Googled his name and found various pictures of him, which she showed me.

In sum, and I mentioned this verbally to Wizard at the conclusion of our visit, this established the following:

(1) That I am in fact in Vegas in a very large suite and have been here for some time.
(2) From the fact that everyone seemed to know me in high limit, that I do play regularly and did pull an 8K marker for today�s play.
(3) That I did do exactly what I have posted in countless other session reports � that is follow and press into streaks/runs/patterns in a Baccarat shoe.
(4) That I did in fact win over the course of our session, +6915 over the course of the 57 hands minimum play decided for the Challenge.
(5) That I was wearing a quite heavy platinum 40mm Rolex Day Date, and equally heavy (but tasteful) thick platinum chain, both of which the Wizard handled.

In all this was an enjoyable experience and thanks and respect are in order and due to DarkOz for making it happen.