Anniversary in Budapest

Several months ago, the lady and I celebrated our anniversary and for the occasion, she found a good deal for a long weekend in Budapest + Queen concert. Naturally it was only half of the original Queen's cast + Adam Lambert.

 

On the first day we went to the famous Vaci St. and the boardwalk there.

It took around 2 hours to cover the street from beginning to end, and believe me, 2 hours of window shopping is more than enough. For me at least.

We spent the first 4 days together touring the city, from the Opera house to the open spa (going into a heated pool in the middle of the winter is quite an adventure. Believe me). On the last day, the lady informed me (didn’t ask/consult/ wanted to think together on how to spend the time) that she wanted some private time on Vaci st.

After I took away her credit card, I said why not. OK, OK joking, she kept one credit card…

The real reason why I said why not was that at the entrance to the Vaci boardwalk there were two casinos, a block away from one to another : The Las Vegas Casino and Tropicana Las Vegas Casino.

These two are part of the same chain that holds 3 more casinos in Budapest.

But since the others were not in a walking distance, I decided to focus on these two.

 

The strange thing was that although both are part of the same chain, they offer different games with different rules.

Headed to the first of the two, the Las Vegas Casino.

After I had to show my passport and have my picture taken, and I was free to enter.

Only one blackjack table was open, maybe because it was afternoon, I don’t know. Anyway, standard European game (no hole card) but cards were being dealt from a CSM.

It took me more time to register than the time I spent inside. After 3 minutes there, I left since CSM is a big no-no for playing and for two reasons : (1) no shuffling so more hands per hour so higher losses per hour for the non-counters and (2) no point in counting.

 

Went around the block to the Tropicana Casino.

The same registration process again and I am in.

Slots and Roulette were active but although I looked for an open Blackjack table, I couldn’t find one so I went to the manager and asked. It appeared that Blackjack will open at 15:00 so I had to wait for a while.

Oddly enough, I couldn’t find a bar or lounge to spend the waiting time.

Finally the dealer came and the game started.

House rule is that at any time, at least two spots must be active, so either more than one player is actively playing or a single player must play two spots.

Since I was the only player at the table I had to play two spots.

The count stayed around zero for the entire shoe so kept betting the minimum, that is 1,000 Furint (around 3 euros) for each one of the spots.

Another player joined, so reduced to one spot. The bad thing was that the other player was probably over betting since it took him several minutes to lose all his chips and leave.  Again I am the sole player at the table but now the count declined rapidly.

So after couple of minutes, told the dealer I had to leave and check on my wife.

 

Returned 15 min later just to see another player at the table.

Back counted the game but after almost an hour no count was bigger than 1, which means this is a break even game at best. No edge for me

The other player left so I took a seat to keep the cards rolling, but still, no significant positive count.

After another hour, I said enough. I counted my chips and saw I am up 3 units.

As you can imagine the shopping spending was greater than the actual wins

 

It was just one of those days when nothing seemed to work

 

Conclusion

At each casino I visited, only one Blackjack table was active and then there is the house rule of two active spots.

On one hand, Its not that bad as the minimum is low (3 euros per spot), but on the other hand, not too many gaming options.

When I changed currency at the cashier, the exchange rate was the same when changing to and from Furint, so the casino is not charging any commission to change currency.

 

Pic of the trip