2000 hours of Professional BJ

Early last year 2001 I embarked on a full-time BJ career again. The goal was to make a decent living playing blackjack and to enjoy again the experience as much as possible.
I know at the time that I probably will not have a similar entourage like I did back in the 70s and 80s, but Hey! That�s life! - Since that time my life has been drastically changed anyway.

I am using the Silver-Fox counting system with about 60 indices. This system counts 2-7 as +1, ignores the 8, and 9-A as �1. I use the TC for playing deviations mostly for Hit/Stand and for some Doubling Down and few split decisions. Also I use +3 for Insurance. Now, my betting system has a correlation with the count but also with the fact if I did or didn�t won the previous hand. This helps me to avoid large losses while the dealer is on a wining streak and the count is positive. It also camouflage the fact that I�m counting. I was barred only once in this time and that casino was an old one where I�ve been barred about 4 years ago.

While I show a nice profit, the hourly rate is about twice the mathematical expectation for the 2000 hours of play that I just completed last night in Vegas. I never lost a single session. I had negative fluctuations but nothing spectacular and I was able to recover during that session and make some extra. But I never left the session with less money that I come in. A couple times I end up the session with one chip only but never with less chips that I start with. Probably because the discipline of not increasing the bet even on supper positive counts if I lost the last hand. The most increase in bet size was a parley of the last bet and many times I manage to reach the table limit while on a winning streak.

Did a lot of things right, played with extremely discipline in good games all over Vegas. I don't think I made a lot of strategically mistakes but you never know for sure. Biggest mistakes that I am aware of are: first, over tipping, and second probably applying to much index for when I had 12,13,14,15,16, vs. 2,3,4,5,6. I relay do not know how much I gained overall but for sure many times even during a single session I�ve made the hand drawing a small card and beating the dealer. I�ve been a couple of times in a close encounter with some of the pit critters for the fact that I hit 14 vs.6 hands like. The creature took the cards out from the discard and scanning several cards, I guess he was looking to see if big cards have been out that drop the count down when hit the hand. Well, I will be working on that in the future.

But again, �, probably was luck, .., But again, .., in 2000 hours I estimate that about 180,000 hands of BJ and I doubt that Lady Luck was there for me all this time. I will never know for sure.

Anyway, I�m home and I will take some time off from the game for awhile. I just order the CBJN the other day to mark all the clubs where I�ve played during my journey. Boy!, I did a lot of clubs and to my surprise I never fail to hit the best ones.

The biggest pleasure for me besides the money, has been making new friends. Now I look forward to my trips knowing I'll be seeing old friends again. An observation: with a few exceptions, most of the players I know are male, but the ladies that play professional blackjack that I�ve met are all intelligent, personable and very attractive women.

Puiu

No losing sessions in 2000 hours? Even if your average sessions were as long as 10 hours, that would be 200 consecutive winning sessions. Do you really want to ever be taken seriously around here?

and I don't have to prove it because I said I did.

About 30 hours. But, Hey - if people do not believe that�s fine.
Let then find for themselves what discipline is all about. I'm not saying that I'm the supper winner player and If I would have lost a single session it would make no difference anyway and I would say so. But I didn't. I had my negative fluctuations but nothing spectacular. The most I�ve been in the hole was about 80 units but I come out by the end of the week. I bet all the way from table MIN to MAX at all times. But my big bets have been made only when I was winning big else I guess I was at 2:1 ratio.

Puiu

is different than most. What you call a session is probably what other people call a trip, that may consist of many sessions of a few hours. I do know people who have had variance on their side and have gone a couple of years without a losing trip.

����PUIU: 2000 hours....I never lost a single session.
����DD': What do you define as a session?
����PUIU: About 30 hours.....The most I�ve been in the hole was
�������� ����about 80 units but I come out by the end of the week
����DD': it is still unbelievable, but your terminology is different than most. What you call a session is probably what other people call a trip, that may consist of many sessions of a few hours. I do know people who have had variance on their side and have gone a couple of years without a losing trip.

�����Nevermind: "Stinky", a/k/a PUIU, says his longest session was 30 hours. But 5 sentences later admits to having been down as much as 80 units, with it taking him a week to recover. How was he behind 80 units without it counting as a losing session? Even if he claims he played straight through that week, that would be more than the 30 hours he claims as his longest session

" I do know people who have......gone a couple of years without a losing trip."

���� I haven't had a losing trip to Las Vegas since Winter/Spring of 1987 (last losing trip included plenty of hours at the poker tables). "Trips" have ranged from 1 day to 6 months; total days in town from 540-600.

����When Stinky's rested, I challenge him to a BJ duel--neither of us plays without the other at the same table--30 days or until one goes broke. After 30 days, who ever has the most chips in front of them goes home with the other player's profit. Loser worked all month for nothing.

� � � Barring previous engagements, Stinky can pick the beginning date. I pick the table. You'll all know which one is me; I'll be wearing the clothespin on my nose.

Well, let�s call that trips or sessions, makes no difference

I just set myself up for about 30 hours/week to have enough ground to dig myself out when down in the hole. But, like I�ve said before, I didn�t have any spectacular holes. I come very close a couple times at the end of the week of not being able to dig myself out but I managed to just make it over the cliff. The rest was hard but rewarding work.

Now, the truth is that many times while on a winning streak I push extremely hard reaching many times the table MAX. Practically I was fearless while betting the table MAX. But, like I mention this before I did it only when I was winning big. I never bet big unless I was substantially ahead. I lost many table MAX bets but I also win a lot of them. But when I bet a table MAX I had at least double that amount in winnings.

Puiu

That spreadsheet that can be downloaded with a password?

IF you have very very deep pockets and have the physical stamina to stay awake, while continuing to play properly without making mental mistakes in play or in betting it may be possible. In doing all this, in theory you could continue to play UNTIL you get ahead and then quit, making your record book look nice BUT GOD help you when that one big losing trip comes along.....and it will eventually. Been there, done that!!

One big loss playing this way could wipe out 20, 30 smaller winning sessions or more. In fact if you get really stung it could put you in the hole for an entire year.

May all the dealers blackjacks occur while you're in the bathroom!!

Card.

he is clueless.

I do know people who have had variance on their side and have gone a couple of years without a losing trip.

Lucky bastards :)

he puts on a dumb act for reasons nobody knows. He is known to be a skilled and successful player. Why he comes here and acts like an idiot is anyone's guess.

Getting away with such blatant plaggerism for so long, implies connections that boggle.

Where do you get your information?

My guess is that "he" is a teenager who has NEVER been in a casino! He spends a LOT of time reading JUNK and then posting it here. Something a 13 year old would do. Supporting "voodoo" progressions one minute then acting like he's betting table max by the count the next. No Pro would waste the time here "playing" if that was even half true.

He has been around here for many years. I know people who know him personally. He has also posted as AC79. He even knows something about shuffle tracking. It could be that he plays a strong enough game to overcome his various superstitions. He is a strong high stakes player.

except that! :)

Been here about a year, posting infrequently but reading "nearly" daily. I know he has several aliases, but what is the point? He didn't seem to be aware of the "potential" of splitting 10's in a post above. Not that it's bad for cover... just that it is "unheard" of???

You have been a BIG help to me on my Blackjack questions, and I trust in you. An asset to this site. However... I think you have been misled by your friends. What do your friends say is his reasoning for "wasting" all his time doing this? Just having fun? You know, it takes quite a bit of WORK to "scour" the internet finding and reposting all that trash! Plus... some of his more recent posts tend to point to a "learning" curve. Not as silly as I have read from him a year ago.

I'm "new" to BJ but have been playing and posting about chess since before Al Gore invented the internet. I have seen and dealt with that type on many occasions. Lots of different reasons, motives, and such, but one thing in common... extreme youth!

who knows him. He said that Puiu is a nice guy and a good player. His Behavior here is just unexplainable. One think I know for absolutely certain, he's not a teenager:)

"...before Al Gore invented the internet."
-Al gore never said he invented the internet!
@^!
In a speech, he once said he was proud to have co-authored the bill that appropriated the funds which led to the development of the internet. (Something he did do.)
Later, conservative pundits used that speech to mislead people by telling them Al was claiming he invented the internet. They realized that most people just don't bother to check out the facts for themselves, since even a child could clearly see that wasn't, what Al said at all.
@^/
It is just a commonly believed, deliberately crafted "falsehood".
(Sort of like "Target BJ"!)
@^D
I've found that most fair-minded people usually stop repeating this myth, once they are aware of what Gore really said. That's why I brought it up.
Take care,
@^)
Cyclops

...Wasn't he a known member of a team, back in the "candy store" days in A/C? That was around the mid-to-late 60's, if memory serves.
If so, that would certainly make him no teenager, at this point in time!
@^D
DD', I always enjoy (and learn from) your posts, and agree that you are one of the better assets to this site.
Take care,
@^)
Cyclops