Shuffle tracking?

Is shuffle-tracking for real? this sounds like some used-car salesman idea. how useful is it? do you counters who shuffle-track ever throw out max-bets on the first hand? i'm not sure how this works. i read the summaries on shuffle-tracking books on this web-site, but it's not clear what the advantage is and how you learn to shuffle-track.

PS the other night, i saw the first card (again) after the shuffle. as the dealer lifts the decks off the table, sometimes i can see the corner of the top card (which does not get burned). i placed a huge bet on box one and caught the ten. unfortunately, the dealer also got a ten and my second card was a 5. i lost 4 times my max bet.