Shuffle tracking

Can someone tell me the basics of shuffle tracking and/or where to place the cut card to cut off the low cards etc. Any good books? web sites? articels? Thanks in advance

1 You must be a proficient counter using a balanced count.

2 Finding games with an exploitable shuffle is mandatory.

3 Not all blackjack players are going to become good counters, and not all good counters are going to become good trackers.

4 There are many good tidbits of information around. You need to do some seaching.

5 Purchase a copy of Arnold Snyder's new book The Blackjack Shuffle Tracker's Cookbook. It contains the complete famous 3 part series on shuffle tracking from the Sept. '94, Dec. '94, & Mar. '95 issues of Blackjack Forum along with more information. The book can be purchased on this site. After reading it, you can decide if you want to purchase software.

I have posted the first page of Arnold's Cookbook in a couple of other places, and I feel it should be posted here as well:

Warning to Players

Experienced trackers will notice some pertinent pieces of information I have left out of my discussions. I do not identify the shuffles of specific casinos. I leave out discussion of which pile is grabbed from first or last and various other fine points of tracking. All of my omissions have been purposeful.

It is my feeling that would-be trackers who follow the discussions in this book, and do their homework, will inevitably discover the importance of such fine points themselves. When they make these discoveries, they will be thankful that the full explanations are not in print for all to see. I have no interest in mapping specific casino shuffles, nor in defining their weak points, for the benefit of casino personnel.

Copies of this report will be purchased by casino and surveillance personnel. This is not a problem, since only the most dedicated will make their way through this material. But some casino personnel will attempt to lure players into explaining this material to them, usually over the internet where they can remain anonymous, posing as players.

In order to protect opportunities for players, I strongly urge players to refrain from discussing the contents of this report on any of the blackjack or gambling web sites.

- Arnold

I did subscribe to Blackjack Forum for some years. I will go thru old issues. Also will try to get the book. I also found some material written by Michael Hall. Is that any good? I am off to London (no good BJ!), Sri Lanka (some say they have the best rules-ES etc-but poor pen) and Egypt this Saturday (3 weeks in all)-for work/vacation-but will try to play some BJ too. I am practicing how to model the shoe with chips-representing each deck (Hi-Lo count), averaging as they are shuffled etc. Is that a good start? Thanks

I did subscribe to Blackjack Forum for some years. I will go thru old issues. Also will try to get the book.

You won't need the series if you get the "Cookbook". It's all there.

I also found some material written by Michael Hall. Is that any good?

Absolutely. His The Blackjack Shuffle-Tracking Treatise is excellent.

I am off to London (no good BJ!), Sri Lanka (some say they have the best rules-ES etc-but poor pen) and Egypt this Saturday (3 weeks in all)-for work/vacation-but will try to play some BJ too.

I hope you do well.

I am practicing how to model the shoe with chips-representing each deck (Hi-Lo count), averaging as they are shuffled etc. Is that a good start?

Hi-Lo is what you should be using in order to best facilitate tracking literature. I'm not so sure about the use of chips to represent card decks as visual acuity is needed, and requires practice. I'd have plenty of casino decks, a shoe, cut cards, and a discard tray on hand.

Thanks

You're welcome.

I will give you a serious advice : if you are new to tracking, don`t risk your money trying to track on your next trip without having put at least 50-75 hours of reading, thinking, reading again and practicing a lot about the whole thing. Tracking is an advanced form of counting and you won`t get the benefit of the method if you try any sort of improvisation while visiting another country. Every shuffle should be carefully analysed and your eyeballing and betting technique must be close to perfect. Remember this: wannabe trackers are like system players, they end up loosing their bankroll.

I have counted (Wonging etc) for about 10 years with success-mostly in Vegas, Reno SD, South & Midwest 6D-and have not tried tracking before-I understand it is not easy. I will take your advice seriously-and most likely bet with the TC. I was hoping that even if I could cut off some of the low cards out-that will be better than just counting from zero (then I can start with TC+ what ever I estimate). Most shuffles in the US are not trackable-and probably not worth trying-games with good pen are beatable with counting alone. But a few overseas (developing) countries have one pass shuffles (no automatic shufflers), rules are great! with ES! (+ve off the top!) but lousy pen-almost half shoe in some cases-counting alone will not help. Most folks who play do not even know Basic Strategy. I have played before in Sri Lanka (had good pen one time!) and Macao (as well as most of Europe) but not in Egypt. The person who gave me all the inside info by email said not to give a trip report-but I am willing to provide info by email to folks interested in that region.