a few thoughts

What is more fun? playing blackjack as a gambler where sometimes i walk away a big winner and other times not. Or counting cards where i don't mind the up and down swings and only look for my 1.5% gain.

I have put a lot into learning how to count and play blackjack for a year now and I geuss because my limited bank roll I think i am better off gambling aggressivly and hoping to ride the wave of varience as it goes up. The result of this would send me home either broke or with a phat wad of cash.

I am curios to know how many people actually succeed in counting and what they go through to find and play games worth the time these days. With what I have seen at casinoes around me, I am wondering if a counter turning over a consistent profit still exists. That is all for now...my bong is lonley. Later

Yes, there are people making money from card-counting. They don�t necessarily post on the Free Pages. You will see a higher proportion of them on Green Chip than here.

But to answer your question about �fun�. It isn�t really �fun�. It is a job.

Every job may have some element of �fun� in it�. But if it exists, it is a secondary aspect. The reason people go to work is not ot have fun, but to make money.

You may find this hard to believe, but even teaching Math ceases to be fun after you have done it a while.

Playing BJ has been my job for over 10 years. I won money. I lived at LV 3 years. CC became boring after about 3,000 table hours. I am about 12,000 hours now. I travelled playing new countries and sightseeings. CC in foreign countries are more enjoyable than US:
1. Less heat, I am new face in most cases.
2. More beyond counting opportunities such as shuffle tracking and O/U.
Admittedly playing BJ at foreign lands are more costly and riskier than US. I was jailed 76 days at Nepal, robbed at Colombia etc. I still play at foreign countries because I will bore to death playing at limited areas. I have been to 52 countries playing so far... so I found good games. I plan going to 100 then decide what I like to do next, stop travelling or stop counting or...?
Counters turning over profits consistantly still exist. I met many. I know a guy played over 100 countries travelling 15 years. I have never lost money in single year, rarely single month. I won $85k for the past 6 months...: )

Interresting story!

I myself had one short period playing pretty serious BJ. I was in LV at two occations. We made some $ but i was banned from all the good casinos after only days...

Can I ask what level do you play and what spread and counting techneque do you use when you are playing six decks european no wholecard rules?

Have you played at any UK casinoes? At the moment I live in UK and am considering starting to play again. However I find the rules here pretty stiff.
Kjelle

I have not played UK yet because I believe games are better at less developed countries such as... many mnay. I have quite big bankroll (: )) and I hit many casinos maybe only once so I spread very aggressively on all games. When rules are good such as full ES, I spread less. I play mostly no hole card abroad US. Playing aggressively can overcome most poor rules such as the Eurotrash rules you have at UK but one can't last long at any casino playing aggressively... hence the travelling. Shuffle tracking can prolong playing life in many casinos and shufflings are less complicate abroad US. e-mail me at tzlsyh@yahoo.com if you like. I wil play UK in the future and like to have some local CC for informations like musicals and flea market. I have wrote 6 Chinese gaming/travelling books, am translating one into English titled BJTravelling, the First 50 countries. Hopefully the book will come out soon.

> What is more fun? playing blackjack as a gambler where sometimes
> i walk away a big winner and other times not. Or counting cards
> where i don't mind the up and down swings and only look for my
> 1.5% gain.

The swings are going to be large whether you count cards or not. Either way you will have long losing streaks and big winning streaks. If you�re going to put yourself through all of that, you might as well be playing with a 1.5% advantage instead of the 1.5% disadvantage of a progression gambler. It may not make much difference in the short run but at least you are giving yourself the best chances of winning.

> I have put a lot into learning how to count and play blackjack for
> a year now and I geuss because my limited bank roll I think i am
> better off gambling aggressivly and hoping to ride the wave of
> varience as it goes up. The result of this would send me home
> either broke or with a phat wad of cash.

If you are under-bankrolled you should not be gambling at all, AP or otherwise. However, there is nothing wrong with a �hail mary� approach to card counting as long as you understand the consequences and are comfortable with your ROR. Just don�t tell anyone I told you that! =)

> I am curios to know how many people actually succeed in counting
> and what they go through to find and play games worth the time
> these days.

There are some amazing games out there. Advantages of 3%-12% are out there if you know when and where to look. I�ve stumbled across a few of these in my days, and I�m sure there are twice as many more that I have missed. The only way to find them is to keep looking and be prepared when you find them.

> With what I have seen at casinoes around me, I am wondering if a
> counter turning over a consistent profit still exists.

The casinos near me are also worthless. I would suggest that instead of taking a do-or-die approach at a terrible game that you find a good game and take a more reasonable shot at it. Your bankroll will thank you for it.

> That is all for now...my bong is lonley.

Your bong will be even more lonely if you blow all your money at a crappy casino.

-Sonny-

I use Hi-Lo. My play depend on rules, shuffles etc. If the rules are good, I spread less. If rules are poor, penetration bad, I spread very aggressively such as jumping from one box $5 to table maxes such as 7 boxes $200 in one shoe. I use shuffle tracking as camouflouge so that I can bet higher off-the-top to pro-long my playing life. If the shuffle are very simple, I take advantage of course. For example, I once won Euros 17,000 from one casino in 10 nights then been barred. Because I have been to many countries, I have the leisure of selecting best games such as ES, bonus for 678, Double or hit splitted Aces etc. then take side trips to new countries and I enjoy higher EV and lower financial risks.

I am sure if someone robs the 20k+ you have on you that could definitely hurt your bottom line. I don't think it is smart to play in a country where something like that could get you robbed or killed, it's just not worth it. Have you played in Eastern Europe or Brazil? How are the conditions? I heard the woman are great. Is it true that in France they short shoe you? Are the games in Monaco/ France beatable? And how are the French women compared to the others in the world? I think that is relevant because when you are traveling most people want to relax a little when they aren't working.. SO they can have a clear mind when they are counting of course.

i just got back from vegas this past weekend. i try to go there once every year or two. to answer your question if people actually succeed by counting, for me "success" is spending the weekend in vegas and breaking even, which i did. even though i'm a caual player, before i go to vegas, i like to memorize bs and cc, because it keeps more money in my pocket. one thing i noticed this past trip is that there are more tables paying 6/5 for bj's, csm's, and no das on single and double decks. that sucks royally. as long as ploppers are willing to play these games, vegas will keep offering them. on a side note: binions had a ten dollar dd game where you could das, but that table is always full on weekends. good luck to everyone who ventures to vegas trying to find a good game.

Buy some B.C bud, bring it back, sell it to your friends and you have your br.

So if you are getting heat and you would normally count instead of track the shuffle because it is only slight trackable you'll cut some cards to the top and bet a little more? Were you on tv? I thought I saw you on the travel channel or breaking vegas?

It depends. If the shuffle is easy, I take full advantages of it even give up normal counting jumping bets, try betting biggest off-the-top. If the shuffle is not easy to track and I will not play that aprticular casino long, I spread as high as possible, hit and run. I have never on American TV, once with JohnnyC on Taiwan TV Satation at US, many times at Taiwan and HK TVs.

I bet the Chinese books sold well, right?

How can I tell a Chinese friend of mine to find your book
in Chinese? (The one that you are going to translate to English.)

is how much you are ended. I won $30K on that trip, been robbed $24K but I won over $150K from that country. For your other enquiries... read my book...: )

that is the issue? If your EV in the dangerous countries is bigger
enough to cover the long-term probable losses to theft then your net
EV is bigger playing the dangerous countries. But of course the
negative EV of death is difficult to estimate :)

had been listed as top weekly Chinese books in US many time...: ), 5 of my books sold over 20,000 copies in total. My 6th Chinese book, titled 21 BJTravelling(means travelling with BJ and travelling to 21 countries) will be offered next April on the Spring Chinese Book Fair where I will give speeches. My English book will be coming out when the co-write, Mark Dace, is not so busy...: )

can be bought from bookstore at LV Chinatown, World Bookstores, and World Daily Newspaper Book Department. My 6th book may be published by the Publishing House of World Daily in Taiwan.

no glory. I like go playing 100 countries, will play less at dangerous countires of course.

> on a side note: binions had a ten dollar dd game where you could
> das, but that table is always full on weekends. good luck to
> everyone who ventures to vegas trying to find a good game.

Yeah, Binion�s DD game is decent but the penetration isn�t much better than the game at Fitzgeralds (also DAS and more plentiful. Very easy to backcount as well.). You should have walked a block down to the Vegas Club and played their DD DAS 75% pen game. They have several active $5 tables and there is almost always an available spot at the $25 table. If they are too busy you can check out the Plaza with their DD S17 DAS 70% pen game. Their back pit is open on weekend evenings and is often empty.

I could go on and on about the sloppy downtown dealers, trackable shuffles, lucrative side bets, positive payout errors, card flashers, etc. but this really isn�t the place for that. Besides, all you have to do is pay attention.

-Sonny-

i checked the vegas club, but the tables were full. i should've checked the plaza, but didn't. thanks for the heads up. maybe i'll go during the weekday the next time i travel to vegas. gambling during the day is tough, because of the commitment to the wife to go shopping and sightseeing. again, thanks for the heads up.