Practice counting down a deck

I have read many accounts of people saying that they practice their counting skilld by counting a single deck one card at a time, with the objective to end at zero when done. They say that the really good counters can do this in about 15 seconds.

I have tried to flip through a deck in 15 seconds, without counting, just flipping the cards as fast as I can, and my best time is about 20-25 seconds. I am starting with the deck in my left hand and taking one card at a time off it with my right and putting that card down on the table. Then repeat 52 times.

Am I doing something wrong? Or are some people just incredibly fast at dealing cards?

Thanks!

I can't seem turn of the cards that fast either. If I start coming close, the stack of cards will spill over and create a mess. Naturally, I take the time to straighten the pack, and but then no hope of finishing the count in 25 sec or less.

Two places I have seen the 25 sec benchmark. One is in Blackjack Attack by Don Schlessinger, chapter 7 I believe, where the performance standards for being accepted to a blackjack team are presented in a sample team handbook. The other is an article by Porkbeli, dated 98/02/03, that can be found at the novice corner at www.bjmath.com/main. He too talks of a 25 sec goal for counting down a single deck.

Here is what I have been able to do. I use the Hi-Lo count. Instead of flipping the cards, I pass them from my left to right hand in a fan style and count them as they pass before me. And for a single deck I hit 18-20 secs consistently, and meet the 25 goal always. (That is with my removing 2 cards face down to check on my accuracy.) Using the same technique, I usually hit 40-45 secs without error with two decks, and always make 50 secs (here I pull 4 cards to check myself). It took me a few hours of practice, spread over a number of weeks to get this fast.

Currenly, I have no problem keeping up with the count during play at the tables.

And I also practice with Casino Verite with the speed setting up high. Single and double decks are no problem, and shoe games on CV I am off by one point about 1/4 of the time after 3 decks in a 6 deck game with 5 players. For now, I stick to pitch games at the table, although the speed of actual games is far slower that the CV practice so I feel confident of success at shoe games.

One other thing I do to practice counting is watch Celebrity Blackjack on the game show network, counting as the game goes on. If you've tried it, you'll know that each cards is only on camera for a second or two...I think it makes for good practice. Last night, I was able to keep up with the count despite my wife talking with me the whole time--and she wasn't talking about blackjack!

Anyway, I, as perhaps you do, have my doubts about the 25 sec measure as described in the sources noted above.

Good luck. And continue to practice, I do daily.

Bravo on getting so good @ single-card counting, but there is not only an easier, but much more effective method of counting drills. Hold the deck in one hand & with the other, flip TWO CARDS at a time face up in front of you. Then, instead of looking at two different cards, look for opportunities to 'cancel out' the cards. For example, using Hi-Lo, if you flip a King and a Six, you just ignore the result (the two cancel each other out). That way you not only get faster with the drill, but you are actually doing less work. Plus -- and the biggest reason to practice this way -- you brain starts to recognize CLUMPS of cards rather than just a slew of individual plusses and minuses. That way, when you are playing in actual casino conditions, you have learned to look @ a table and automatically 'cancel out' the majority of the cards present. By matching every hi and lo card, and ignoring the neutrals, you are left with a relatively small number of actual count-affecting cards. This is how good counters get to a point of being able to quickly take in the count of the entire table all @ once.

-holly d.

Click on the link below. A guy in the UK has a site with a FREE applet program that deals the cards one at a time for you. You can control the speed at which the cards are dealt and even define the count that you use! After you get to his site you are gonna want to click on the link for the applet page which is under the "What is on this page" topic. The controls for the program are listed under game in the top of your screen. After you get good with this go buy CVBJ for even more intense drills.

...if you can count a table by recognising sets of cards and cancelling out the pairs of high and low cards, then you don't even need to watch them come out one at a time. You can happily order a drink, talk to someone behind you or whatever, as the dealer is dealing. Just make sure to look at the table before first base busts. Even better, sit at first base yourself. Makes for pretty good cover.

Learn to count three cards at a time after you've mastered two.

sitting at 1st or third makes this easier to do.

But the original question in this thread was how to step up from single-card counting drills... one must learn to walk before they can run.

& he was jogging, so I ran with it