I just returned from one of the Indian (Calif.)casinos... the one by Sta. Barbara... Doubled my $$ in about 4 hours of play... went in w/ $400, left with $800... (I've never had a job that paid $100/ hour!) ... My observation is, that my point of playing while I'm sooo new at this is to get some "live fire" practice; in other words, counting while actually playing for money. While counting, I tracked where the 'hot' and 'cold' parts of the deck were and played accordingly.
I lost track of my count several times, picking it up at an estimate of where I lost it... I have some observations to make:
1) The larger the 'pack,' that is, the more decks there are in the shoe, the less critical it is to maintain an exact count. Anyone care to dispute this? It seems logical.
2) It SEEMS that there may be a counting system that tests for 10s, aces and low cards ONLY in the round before and after the one you are playing... in other words, you are tracking the part of the deck you are being dealt from, not the whole deck. That's how it seemed to me. Has anyone ever developed and/or used such a system?
3) Previously, when I played at tables with a $5.00 minimum bet, I played $5.00 until the count got high... high for me being greater than 8. THIS time I kept a 'standard' bet of $15.00... bet this when the running count was between -3 and +3... adjusted it accordingly but never got over $6.00. THIS seems to be a large part of my success, believe it or not... A newbie (like me) might think that playing the minimum bet is the way to save money, but actually, being able to adjust the 'standard' bet up & down made the difference.
4) I finally left when I saw 2 pit bosses BESIDES the one assigned to my pit, PLUS two security guards, loitering in the area. Not giving the hairy eye to me, mind you, just loitering. I got paranoid (perhaps from too much free caffeine?) and cashed in. (Besides, having been a security guard for the last 8 years, I KNOW what a bunch of knuckle-draggers some of THEM are!)
5) I'm GLAD I have a place (i.e., this forum) to brag!!! I don't care to tell anyone else I know, about my new 'hobby;'not family, friends or co-workers... the only people who can betray you (to the casino or to the IRS) are the people you trust!
I'd like any feedback anyone can give me re. the above observations & story.