Help. I am down 50 units lost last 3 out of 4 trips. Harder to win than thought. Closet game is 6 deck dealer hits s17 no surrender. I plan to return soon. I have BS almost memorized and practicing hi/lo. Any more recommendations? Advice? Thanks
Don't gamble.
1. Learn Basic Strategy.
2. Learn HiLo Counting System (with index plays).
3. Practice keeping a Running Count ("RC") through 6-8 decks of cards (1 shoe).
4. Practice counting down 1 deck of cards in 20-25 seconds (or less) without errors.
5. Learn how to estimate number of decks (needed for True Count conversion of the RC.
6. Practice keeping RC and converting it into True Count.
7. Figure a bet spread and betting ramp that you can afford with a minimal Risk of Ruin (purchase CVCX from qfit.com).
8. Tie 1-7 together.
9. Practice, Practice, Practice.
10. When you can run through at least 2-3 shoes without error, keeping RC and True Count, and correctly play all hands, then, think about heading out to casino.
Oh yeah, consider purchasing at least the 2 books in the subject line of this response.
Disclosure: I am a low stakes player, an infrequent player and a hobbyist with no aspirations to become a professional player. I am drawn to blackjack by its underlying mathematics and the legal and political controversies that have surrounded the game, rather than by aspirations of big wins, comps, etc.
1. Play primarily for fun.
2. Avoid books with incorrect basic strategies, e.g. those by John Patrick or John Scarne. There are many others with incorrect basic strategies.
3. Read the books by Stanford Wong, Arnold Snyder, Don Schlesinger, Bootlegger, Norm Wattenberger, Peter Griffin, John Bukofsky, Ed Thorp, Julian Braun, Olaf Vancura and Ken Fuchs, Lance Humble and Carl Cooper, George C., Kevin Blackwood, Allan Wilson, Rick Blaine, Dave Stann, Ken Uston and Richard Epstein and Lawrence Revere. This list is not exhaustive.
Read the most recent editions. Basic strategies and count strategies in the books by Thorp, Epstein and Wilson are obsolete, as are Revere's count strategies. They are not incorrect. They were the state of the art at their time. Basic strategy has been slightly refined since the first essentially correct basic strategy was published in 1956.
Ignore the material on betting in Braun's book; he did not write it. The book by Humble and Cooper has correct basic strategy and a good count strategy--Hi-Opt I, but some non-scientific material.
4. Learn basic strategy. Basic strategy has some differences for different rules and different numbers of decks.
5. Learn a simple, effective counting system. The most popular count system is Hi-Lo. It is presented in books by Wong, Bootlegger, Stann and Snyder. Arnold Snyder presents a streamlined version. If you want to just add and subtract 1, and not have to divide the running count by the number decks remaining to be used, then learn Arnold Snyder�s Red 7 Count or K-O
6. Use QFIT's software. www.qfit.com
7. Understand expected value and that casino games have negative expected value for the player. This is why casinos win and almost all players lose. Casinos do not win by cheating with sleight of hand, stacked decks, etc. They win because of expected value and the law of large numbers.
8. Understand the effects of different rules and different numbers of decks on expected value of a game.
9. Understand the difference between sampling with replacement (independent trials) and sampling without replacement (dependent trials). Games with wheels, e.g. slot machines (including fully electronic machine) and roulette and with dice are sampling with replacement. Blackjack is sampling without replacement because the decks are not shuffled after each hand.
10. Understand that card counting works because (1) blackjack is sampling without replacement and the expected value changes after each hand, (2) the after the shuffle expected value for the house for decent games�they are getting harder to find�is low enough that it can become in favor of the player, (3) the player can bet more when the expected value is in his favor, (4) the player can vary his play from basic as the composition of the remaining deck(s) to be played changes and (5) the count is an accurate measure of expected value of the remaining deck(s) to be played.
11. Know your legal rights as a player. They are usually very limited.
12. Understand that no system of bet variation such as double after each loss, add 1 unit after each win or a predetermined sequence can overcome negative expected value and give the player an advantage.
13. Read books written for casino managers. I recommend Card Counting for the Casino Executive, Advantage Play for the Casino Executive and Casino-ology, all by Bill Zender, and Practical Casino Math by Robert C. Hannum and Anthony N. Cabot.
Bill Zender is a former casino manager and is currently a consultant to the casino industry. He is a casino man, but he understands the following: very few card counters are sufficiently skilled, disciplined and capitalized to be a threat to the casinos; countermeasures like bad penetration can cost the casinos by decreasing the actual time of play; unbeatable games and adherence to the notion that every player must lose cost the casinos money and that if it is "necessary" to back a player off or restrict his betting spread, then he should be treated with respect. Zender has good relations with members of the card counting community.
14. If "something" seems too good to be true, then it most likely is not true. "Something" includes simplified systems touted as effective against bad games and bad games with a favorable rule or playing condition. Consider a 6:5 single-deck game with S17, double on anything, DAS and late surrender. The three favorable rules do not combine to negate the gross unfavorability of 6:5. Suppose that a system that requires counting only aces and fives is touted as capable of giving the player an edge in a 6-deck game with double on anything, DAS, S17 and resplit non-ace pairs. This is the best game available in Atlantic City. An ace-five count will not give you the edge in this game or even in the game with those rules, plus late surrender and resplit aces. The latter game is available on the Strip in Las Vegas, but is getting harder to find and requires a higher minimum bet.
15. Understand that the casinos are the adversary, the ENEMY. They operate a racket that is unlawful and contrary to public policy, but for their license. They offer games unfavorable to the player and most players do not understand things like expected value and the inefficacy of betting systems. They ply their customers with the illusion that they can be consistent winners, free drinks, comps, a seemingly luxurious lifestyle and the hint of obtaining sex to induce them to subject their money to the negative expected value of their games. Competition between casinos has greatly diminished as major companies own more and more casinos. Thus, tables with less unfavorable rules and playing conditions and with low minimum bets are harder to find. Casinos refuse to make their premises smoke-free, notwithstanding their knowledge that second-hand smoke is an easily avoidable, non-inherent health hazard to employees and customers alike. In many states, casinos are the only places of public accommodation, which have not been forced by the government to become smoke-free. The government all too often fails to regulate the casinos effectively.
Playing BJ as a Business
Color charts
Practice charts
Practice counting card combos = to zero at end to verify your count is correct
Lawrence Revere's Playing Blackjack As A Business was the state of the art when it was first published, but that was a long time ago. It was probably the first book to have the correct basic strategy, including for 4+ decks, as we now know it. Otherwise, the book is geared to the single-deck games prevalent at the time. The book has no surrender strategy.
Playing Blackjack As A Business advises not to play if there are bad players at the table. This is rubbish. This book advertises Rever'smore advanced card counting systems, which are still sold by his daughter(s). They were the state of the art at the time, but have been surpassed. If I am not mistaken, Revere's $25, level 2 Point Count for 4+ decks is superior to his $200, level 4 Advanced Point Count.
Revere gave private lessons. He demanded perfection and did not suffer fools or unprepared students. He also was rightfully very critical of ineffective systems widely sold at the time. He was wrongfully critical of the highly effective Hi-Op1 I and Hi-Opt II systems.
Both are very sound advice.
The phone practice app from Norm at qfit.com is an excellent tool for practice. For $14 it is a steal.
1. Join Green Chip
2. Learn about standard deviation and volatility of results.
3. Learn about bankroll management and risk of ruin. If you play with "mad money" when you go to a casino, rather than a bankroll that you treat as an investment portfolio, then you can modify this point to concentrate on the probability of doubling your "mad money" bankroll, rather than things like 5% or 3% risk of ruin for a large bank. This approach to play may make you into a gambler with an edge, rather than an advantage player.
The "classic" texts were genuine classics in the 60's and 70's when they came out. Most of them however dated horrendously badly.
Major problems:
1) Games in that era were ridiculously profitable for counters by modern standards.
2) No one knew or understood the importance of penetration properly. You will fail as a card counter if you do not have a comprehensive understanding of penetration.
3) Information on money management is usually vague or actually dangerous. You will fail as a card counter if you do not have a sophisticated understanding of risk of ruin.
4) The emphasis on cover made sense when you had great games in a few states. It makes no sense nowadays where you have casino gambling everywhere and universally crappy games.
5) All of the writers from that era seem to think they created the perfect count system. Go figure.
No one should be directed to these ageing texts without getting a grounding in modern conditions first. Then read them for the historical value and entertainment.
Games in that era were ridiculously profitable for counters by modern standards.
I missed out on the 70s and early 70s, but I played in Atlantic City during the three-year early surrender and low minimum bet era. I played some decent games at $5 and $10 tables in Las Vegas.
No one knew or understood the importance of penetration properly. You will fail as a card counter if you do not have a comprehensive understanding of penetration.
Games were dealt to the end of the deck or nearly to the end of the deck, probably until the mid-60s. Thorp mentions end play and the classic can't lose subset of 8,8,8,7,7 in any order for heads up play. His strategy is to make the maximum bet and stand.
Information on money management is usually vague or actually dangerous. You will fail as a card counter if you do not have a sophisticated understanding of risk of ruin.
Both statements are true, but Thorp has decent coverage of rate of profit and risk of ruin, especially in the first (hardcover) edition, which has the gambler's ruin formula. I suspect that the publisher removed this for the second edition as to advanced for most readers. Thorp was primarily a mathematician and an academic, later an investor, and minimally a gambler or purveyor of gambling systems.
The emphasis on cover made sense when you had great games in a few states. It makes no sense nowadays where you have casino gambling everywhere and universally crappy games.
Games have gotten abominable. There is too much ownership of casinos in to few hands. There is ineffective regulation of the casinos. Perhaps, there are more ploppies in the casinos than ever today.
Kids in school should be taught concepts like expected value and standard deviation. Math courses provide too much fun and games with graphing calculators and not enough practical material. In the 60s, an American had to go to Nevada, the Caribbean or Europe to play in a casino, not just get into the car or take a bus.
I am a low stakes player flying under the radar, so I am not concerned with cover or disguise. Higher stakes card counters, who frequent casinos in the same locale primarily, need to concern themselves with concealing what they are doing.
All of the writers from that era seem to think they created the perfect count system. Go figure.
There were good books and bad books from that era. There was intense rivalry between some of the writers. It resulted in hostility, at least one match play challenge and some lawsuits. Mush of this is described in Arnold Snyder�s Big Book of Blackjack.
I missed out on the 70s and early 70s, but I played in Atlantic City during the three-year early surrender and low minimum bet era. I played some decent games at $5 and $10 tables in Las Vegas.
should be
I missed out on the 60s and early 70s, but I played in Atlantic City during the three-year early surrender and low minimum bet era. I played some decent games at $5 and $10 tables in Las Vegas.
There were good books and bad books from that era. There was intense rivalry between some of the writers. It resulted in hostility, at least one match play challenge and some lawsuits. Mush of this is described in Arnold Snyder�s Big Book of Blackjack.
should be
There were good books and bad books from that era. There was intense rivalry between some of the writers. It resulted in hostility, at least one match play challenge and some lawsuits. Much of this is described in Arnold Snyder�s Big Book of Blackjack.
Thanks to all.
Professional Blackjack by Stanford Wong
Blackjack Attack by Don Schlesinger
Blackbelt in Blackjack by Arnold Snyder
Blackjack Blueprint by Rick Blaine
Card Counters Guide to Casino Surveillance by D. Cellini
I'd add
Modern Blackjack by Norm Wattenburger
Million Dollar Blackjack by Ken Uston
Beyond Counting by James Grosjean
Casino-ology by Bill Zender
Shuffle Trackers Cookbook by Arnold Snyder
Gambling Wizards by Richard Munchkin
Advanced Tactics by Abram Alexander
The Color of Blackjack by Dravot
Burning the Tables in Las Vegas by Ian Andersen
Blackjack Ace Prediction by McDowell
Spanish 21 by Katrina Walker
and
The Frugal Gambler and More Fugal Gambling by Jean Scott
Comp City by Max Rubin
Whale Hunt in the Desert by Steve Cyr
Just change the second "Fugal" to "Frugal" and "Katrina" to "Katarina." :-)
Don
I would definitely add The Theory of Blackjack by the late Prof. Peter Griffin. The appendices are high level math, but the book has a lot of less difficult good material. A "mathophobe" learning to count cards mechanically, without trying to understand too many of the whys and wherefores may want to skip this book, but I think most card counters should read at least some of the material therein.
Also recommended:
The Big Book of Blackjack by Arnold Snyder for its historical information and information on blackjack variants
Playing Blackjack to Win by Baldwin, Cantey, Maisel and McDermott, Beat the Dealer by Edward O. Thorp and How to Play Winning Blackjack by Julian Braun for their historical background. Ignore the material on betting in Braun�s book, which was NOT written by him.
Blackjack: Play Like The Pros by John Bukofsky
Play Blackjack Like The Pros by Kevin Blackwood
The World�s Greatest Blackjack Book by Lance Humble and Carl Cooper � Correct basic strategy and presentation of Hi-Opt I, but some silly stuff like playing �smart� w/o a system, overemphasis on the role of the dealer and a combined count and progression-based betting strategy, along with some good stories
The Casino Gambler�s Guide by Allan Wilson � Out of print and dated, but it has detailed information on blackjack and the inefficacy of progression-based betting systems
You must have basic strategy and departures from basic strategy memorized; and you must be able to keep the count effortlessly; and you must know exactly how much to bet with the count.
I retired from a scientific job, knowing that I could earn, a minimum of $100 to $200 per day for five to six days per week. Which could amount to up to $50,000 per year.
But it's also harder to win than I thought it would be.
The dealer wins too many hands, especially against our good hands with big bets.
There is a lot of terrific advice in this thread. But to a new player it might be overwhelming ("yeah, but where do I start!?!") I started studying BJ in 2000 after a business trip to LV where I knew nothing. I spent the next six months reading and practicing several hours a night. I've read most of the books mentioned in this thread, but here is my advice on two books to start with:
1) Beat Blackjack Now - Frank Scoblete
Some might scoff at this choice, perhaps because Scoblete advocates advantage play dice control in other books. However what I like about this book is it's a great introduction to BJ for someone that does not know BS, counting, or anything. He clearly explains why BS works, he clearly explains why a lot of BJ myths are bogus. He does not discuss counting systems in detail. It's a fun and light read. NOTE: The version I read was called 'Best Blackjack', but from looking at Scoblete's web page he has updated it with a new name, that I gave above.
2) Knock-Out Blackjack - Olaf Vancura and Ken Fuchs
This one book clearly explains what card counting is and then chapter by chapter rolls out elements of the KO system going from easiest (and smallest advantage) to harder (and greater advantage). Lots of good charts help convey concepts. After years of playing Hi-Lo, I switched to KO and I recommend it. One reason is there is no True Count conversion. That's simpler and it means I don't have to glance over at the discard try all time.
-Jeff
