Counting advice

[Casino Royale]

This question is for u big shot counters here,

ive recently picked up counting about a month ago and i can already tell its gonna be one hell of a job to master counting and being able to profit of it, especially when im not even 21 yet and can only go to an indian casino.

When u guys first started out what would u guys do to practice at home or what methods do u prefer? and how long did it take for u to truly know that u were ready to go to the casino and use ur new counting system to bring them down?

[fogcity]

Since you are new to counting and not yet of legal age to enter a CASINO,
then there are several steps one must pursure to gain the necessary education on becoming an advantage player.

Most Blackack books (as you must know) offer first to completly master Basic Strategy.

From there, one has the choice of several counting systems that may appeal to you based on ease of understanding and of practical use.

Now, from the point of selecting a counting system(s) to learn and master to put to use in actual play in a Casino, for the 'average' as far as I've read in books and the internet (and my own learning curve), in takes dedication, and a whole lot of time in practicing the 'count' ; for some, mastering the count techniques are like second nature and is understood and playable in a heartbeat, while others on the other hand spend months at practicing and refining thier 'game' before adventuring to a Casino even for a 'dry' run.

Finally, I read an interview about an accomplished and succesfull BJ player, who before and during her many BJ sessions spent hours in her apartment which was as she described, was a 'mini' blackjack pit as she had a blackjack table, six deck shoe, chips and an eratz automatic deck shuffler - and by her own word, she spent over a year with this setup, learning how to 'beat the dealer' One more thing - these days, and as she did then, camoflage was very much part of her game.

So, if you have the 'juice' and are a quick study, then you might be well ahead of the curve or otherwise if you are in a sense likewise dedicated to the adventure then the curve is again shortened to allow confidence in your play.

[NYB]

I hit my first casino three weeks after I started learning to count.During that three weeks,I practiced perhaps two hours a day counting.Not playing,just counting.
When I got to the casino,I learned that I wasn't quite ready. I'd be able to count the first two or three rounds but end up flat betting the rest.Over time it became second nature. I rarely practice anymore.

[sammylightfoot]

What I did..

Buy Casino Verite Blackjack. www.qfit.com
Play it for 40 or so hours, checking often if the count in my head was the same as what the software has.. Once I started with 200 and went to 2000 in the software making no mistakes, then I was pretty sure I was ready to enter a casino.. Also good if you have the TV on loud or other distractions as you play as playing on a computer isn't the same as inside the casino.. And pay attention to the TV too as you don't want to look like your are counting..

And don't forget about camoflauge, wonging, catching dealer mistakes etc... First learn Basic Strat, then counting, then a little bit about cat & mouse before even trying counting in a real casino.. It takes a lot of dedication and you must be perfect at it. Casino's actually like people who try to count because most don't play perfectly enough to do it right.

SL

[nuvi]

my two cents:

Learn Basic Strategy:
I would recommend practicing basic strategy on www.hitorsplit.com as well as this site. HitOrSplit allows you to customize the types of hands you are dealt, so that you can practice only the trickier hands, like pairs and soft hands.

Learn to Count:
First, decide what type of count you are going to use. Then begin by counting down a deck. Repeat, repeat, repeat. You should be able to count through 52 cards with perfect accuracy in less than 30 seconds - and you should be able to pause at any point, knowing the count. Once you have mastered counting down a deck, try playing while counting. On HitOrSplit, you can control the pace of the game, so you can start out slow. As you get better, speed up.

[WINDAR]

Although this BJ strategy trainer program has nothing to do with card counting, you can still count cards while using this program because it shuffels at the end of the shoe. It is only a one player game. I am not a card counter. I hear that card counters only make money 40 % of the time. I have better luck with Basic Stategy and a disiplined use of the Martingale system of money management. If Sage Blackjack is still on the internet they have a trainer program with mulitiple players.
www.BlackJackInfo.com/bst/bst.htm

[WINDAR]

1. I just read something about card counting. If you can count down one deck of cards in 25 seconds, then you are ready for the real casino. However, it takes more than 25 seconds to flip through a deck of 52 cards. At a real casino the cards are on a table. So take your 52 cards and lay them on a table and count them that way and just maybe you will do it in less than 25 seconds. I am not a card counter because perfect basic strategy and doubling my bet after every loss works great for me.
   
   At my neighbourhood library I just skimmed through a book on casino secrets and I found one person who has a different style of basic strategy than anyone else. His strategy is no doubling down or splitting against a dealer upcard of eight or greater. Thats right, no splitting 8s or aces against a dealer upcard of eight to ten. I tested his strategy on a SAGE blackjack simulator with 3,000 hands of blackjack. Starting with $1,000 and betting a flat $25 over and over again, he went down to a low of minus -$1,600 and ended up with a positive $3,200. His strategy seems logical and I like it. I just did another test with 5000 hands of blackjack with several players at the table. The new basic strategy kept the player above his starting amount and went up to a profit of $5,200.

[nuvi]

1. 
   At my neighbourhood library I just skimmed through a book on casino secrets and I found one person who has a different style of basic strategy than anyone else. His strategy is no doubling down or splitting against a dealer upcard of eight or greater.

I would highly recommend playing only basic strategy - the strategy that has been mathematically proven to be the optimal strategy.

Other strategies may do well in the short run, but in the long run basic strategy will always win. May I suggest running 1 trillion trials on that alternative system, and comparing the results to basic strategy? I would bet on basic strategy winning.

It makes sense when you think of a simple example. Suppose you are dealt [A, A], and the dealer has an 8. This alternative strategy would probably tell you to hit? Well, you can bust if you hit. Basic strategy says to split. If you split, you will get exactly one card on each Ace, so you will never bust. And if you draw 8, 9, T, J, Q, or K, you are in pretty good shape. Even if you draw 7, it is likely you will push.

It turns out that for every $100 bet, hitting with [A, A] results in an expected loss of about $9. Splitting results in a $36 gain.

-Nuvi
www.hitorsplit.com