BLACKJACK IN PARADISE: PARADISE ISLAND

On Friday, I played too much. I had a winning session in the early afternoon and then made the mistake of playing again a lit-tle later without sufficient rest. This led to the biggest loss of my trip: two hundred dollars. The conditions were crowded, I was tired, my psychological resistance was low, and I was making a few playing errors. Even though I was up twice during the eve-ning, I didn't manage to walk away a winner. I was trying to win one thousand dollars on this trip and was pushing too hard. If only I were bionic at times!

On our last day I saw Hank and his family on the beach again. Hank told me he had played at my table the previous night and was astounded at the intensity of my concentration. He said I hadn't even noticed him at the table. He was right, I didn't notice him at all. I was preoccupied with the drunk sitting to my left, who was standing on all 13s through 16s and winning hundreds of dollars. Who says luck can't play some part in Blackjack?

Hank and I went "shopping" together for the last time that afternoon. The wonderful aspect of traveling is the fine people you can meet. Among our closest friends is a couple we met on a trip to Freeport. Of course, another consideration is the amount of money that can be made in the casinos!

My playing record for the Bahamas trip is shown in the table. Although conditions were crowded most of the time, I won at a good rate. The reason is that the dealers were not paying atten-tion to my bet range. I found I could very easily implement a range of one to eight or even one to sixteen without causing any disturbance. My impression this time was that the game in Para-dise Island casino was completely honest.

The playing conditions were not ideal, but this could have been avoided by coming some-time other than the height of the tourist season. The rules are not ideal, either. However, the honesty of the game and the location override the conditions. Charlie the Great, wherever you are I want you to know, "It's better in the Bahamas" means Blackjack, too.

IN PARADISE [ 1 ] - [ 2 ] - [ 3 ] - [ 4 ]