A Concert and Blackjack at Winstar World Casino

Last evening the wife and I made the trek up to Winstar World Casino to see a Harry Connick Jr concert – and gamble a little. The concert proved to be very entertaining. If you have never seen him in concert, I highly recommend it. Mr. Connick has a great stage presence and is a very engaging performer – talented too. It was also quite the experience to see 30 to 50 something women going gaga over this guy. You would almost think you were at a Justin Bieber concert. That aside, the man really puts on a great show. Definitely worth the price of admission.

After the concert got out, I headed straight for the blackjack tables. One thing I have never liked about these Indian casinos in Oklahoma is the fact that you have to ante 50 cents per hand. If you are only betting $5 per hand, you are already at a 10% disadvantage before you figure in the house odds! I decided to pay $25 so that the effect of the ante was only 2%. This is still huge when added to the casino edge for the game, but, what can you do? There I was, so I had to make the best of it.

The action started out choppy for me. Win a hand, lose a hand. For about the first half hour, I was never up or down more than three betting units. A couple of hands into a new shoe and then the dealer started getting cards while I was getting hands in the low teens. These are the kind of streaks that just piss you off. No double downs or splits that you get beat on, just a steady, no-action run of bad cards that beats you into submission. I managed to hold on until we hit the end of the shoe and the deal had to shuffle. By then, I was down $475 and was thinking about calling it a night. But, I started to stick around and see what the next shoe would bring.

The very first hand I got dealt blackjack. On the next hand, I got dealt blackjack again!. Clearly things were turning my way. The next hand I doubled down a 9 to the dealers six and was rewarded with a king! I won four out of the next six hands and started upping my bets. Within a few hands I had $100 out there as my bet. Halfway thru the shoe I was up $325. Then the cards turned on me once more.

After I got beat on a 20 and two 19′s, I decided my run was over and left the table up $125. Not bad. I went to find the wife as it was getting late and we headed back to Dallas. Tonight we are headed up to Choctaw Casino and I am thinking about playing roulette.