Other than Las Vegas, I can play at convenient northern California venues that offer double-deck games with good penetration and no restrictions on doubling down.
Even though I am used to it, over 200 hours of play with hardly more than a break-even result is frustrating. I understand the bankroll swings of blackjack but haven’t enjoyed positive variance on several of my recent trips. However, during my last trip, though my partner and I played over 70 hours of quality play, we barely broke even after expenses. The conservatively-calculated EV is $120 per 100 hands, resulting in an expectation of about $216 per hour. I don’t like the restrictive Reno D10 doubling-down rules, but am able to achieve on average about 180 hands per hour using the Omega II count and Illustrious 18 index numbers. I play heads up at single-deck blackjack for most of the time in Reno with a $25 to $200 bet spread. Questions: Coming back from a card-counting trip to Reno during which I incurred backoffs at about half of casinos I played, I’m seeking advice on where to play and what to play. Bigplayer is a long-time, high-stakes professional player.
