by Arnold Snyder<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (From\u00a0Blackjack Forum<\/em>\u00a0Volume X #4, December 1990) Fast Action Jackson’s Distractions by Arnold Snyder (From\u00a0Blackjack Forum\u00a0Volume X #4, December 1990)\u00a9 Blackjack Forum 1990 A fixture at the blackjack tables of Las Vegas for almost a decade, Fast Action Jackson has never had much of a bankroll. Standing 5-foot-3 in his Western boots, what\u2019s left of his hair slicked back over his tanned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[631,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123512"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123512\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u00a9 Blackjack Forum 1990<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nA fixture at the blackjack tables of Las Vegas for almost a decade, Fast Action Jackson has never had much of a bankroll. Standing 5-foot-3 in his Western boots, what\u2019s left of his hair slicked back over his tanned pate, like so many card counters I\u2019ve met, overeducated and undercapitalized, he holds a masters degree in philosophy from some obscure east coast college. I don\u2019t know if he\u2019s ever been married. Every time I visit Vegas, he\u2019s living with a different woman, always at her place. He\u2019s not an easy guy to track down.
\u201cI\u2019m living proof, Bish,\u201d he says, \u201cthat you can play your system perfectly, study your ass off, know more about fluctuations and standard deviation than most statisticians, have the persistence of Sisyphus, and still never make it into the big leagues. If you can\u2019t take the flux, you can\u2019t make the bucks. It\u2019s that simple.\u201d
I had asked him to write an article for\u00a0Blackjack Forum<\/em>\u00a0on how a player with a small to moderate bankroll goes about surviving as a professional blackjack player.
\u201cYou don\u2019t want that article,\u201d he insisted. \u201cIt\u2019s too depressing. I once went ten weeks sleeping in my car so I wouldn\u2019t have to use my precious bankroll on such a luxury as rent money. I\u2019ve lost two girlfriends who believed in me enough to invest in me at the wrong time. I don\u2019t know what it is about women, Bish, but they get very irritable if you lose their paycheck a few times. Even when you finally pay \u2018em back, it\u2019s all over.”You alienate your friends. You take chances with advances on your credit cards. It\u2019s a rotten life. Right now, I don\u2019t owe anybody anything. The past two months have been great. I\u2019ve dug out of yet another hole, saved my credit rating again. My bankroll is back up to six thou. Unfortunately, in this game, six thou is nothing. I could be flat broke two weeks from now.\u201d
\u201cThe fact remains, Fast,\u201d said I, \u201cthat you\u2019ve been doing this for ten years. It may be a tough grind, but you\u2019re making it. You make your living playing blackjack, and you\u2019re not rich. My readers want to know how you do it.”Most of them aren\u2019t wealthy, but they say they\u2019re willing to work. What most often happens is they learn a system at home, build up their fantasies, then find out they can\u2019t hack it in the casinos. The table conditions are lousy. They get heat when they start to win. And the casino environment is nerve-wracking\u2014the noise, the smoke, the constant interruptions. I always tell them to play during off hours\u2014weekdays, early mornings\u2014in order to minimize the distractions. Am I right?\u201d
\u201cWrong,\u201d says Fast. \u201cCasinos are designed for distraction. That\u2019s their game. As soon as you take away the noise and the crowds and the booze, you\u2019re not playing their game anymore, you\u2019re letting them watch your game. You\u2019ve got to keep in mind that what distracts you distracts them. As long as I\u2019ve been playing in this town, my action is still welcome everywhere. That\u2019s because I follow the crowds. That\u2019s the only way to survive, to have staying power. But, Bish, it\u2019s a rotten life. Believe me.\u201d
I asked him if he had any favorite casinos. \u201cMy favorite casinos are always the busiest casinos,\u201d he said. \u201cRight now, in Vegas, the new stores are great. The Mirage. The Excalibur. The Rio. These places are attracting crowds. I used to like Caesars because that\u2019s where the big money played. Money is a great distraction. Who\u2019s going to look at my $50 bets when the george sitting next to me is betting table limit? It\u2019s all over for Caesars now, what with the Mirage next door. Even the over\/under won\u2019t save them. Caesars is empty. You can\u2019t play there anymore. They\u2019re dying a slow death.
\u201cThe Rio may be off the strip, out there next to the Gold Coast, and they canned the liberal rules they opened up with. But they\u2019ve still got good games and great crowds on the weekends. Plus they\u2019ve got that hot double exposure.\u201d
\u201cDouble exposure?\u201d I asked. \u201cAt the Rio?\u201d
\u201cNot on the tables,\u201d he explained. \u201cI\u2019m talking about the cocktail waitresses. You see, Bish, I\u2019m a connoisseur of distractions. Just check \u2018em out sometime. You\u2019ll see what I mean. I order a lot of drinks when I play, and I spend a lot of time looking for the waitresses. It\u2019s all part of the strategy. Drinking a lot of booze is very distracting. Counters don\u2019t drink.\u201d
\u201cBut doesn\u2019t that affect your accuracy?\u201d I asked.
\u201cNot if you do it right,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a trick to it. Always order a drink that comes with cream. Kahlua and cream. A toasted almond. You just never swizzle it. You can be damn sure the bartender doesn\u2019t have time to stir it. The booze sits in the bottom of the glass. You drink the milk off the top. By the time you finish the milk, the waitress is bringing you a fresh drink. I\u2019ll tell you my health has improved significantly since I started ordering so many drinks. Lots of calcium.\u201d
\u201cSo, Fast,\u201d says I, \u201cYour advice to my readers who really want to enjoy that wonderfully romantic life of the professional card counter, where you lose your girlfriend only after you lose her paycheck, ever rejoicing that if you jeopardize your Diner\u2019s Club membership, the collection agency probably won\u2019t be able to find you since you\u2019re sleeping in your car, all you have to do is play in the noisiest, most crowded casinos, order lots of drinks, and ogle the waitresses while playing?\u201d
\u201cThat\u2019s my secret,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd except for the double exposure, there\u2019s not much fun in it.\u201d
\u201cHmm\u2026,\u201d says I. \u201cHave you ever stopped to consider that maybe the reason you haven\u2019t made the big leagues is because the distractions are killing your game?\u201d
He shrugged. \u201cI know what I know,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd any big time pro would tell you the same thing I\u2019m telling you. Maybe you should stop to consider that I\u2019ve been making my living at this game for ten years, while you\u2019ve been writing about it.\u201d
Point well taken.
Advantage Jackson. \u2660<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"