Best way to train counting?

[Royam]

I downloaded the demo of CVBJ and the basic strategy drill was great.

Now I want to train counting but the drill does not seem to work (count is always 0; maybe because it is a demo version). Before buying anything, I would like your advice on the best way to train:
- deal cards to myself?
- or use a software (I like this idea because it tells me if I am wrong)?
- if yes, which one?

Your advice will be much appreciated, thank you,

Royam.

 

[john]

you got the best

I think CVBJ is the best there is for drills/practice/ index generation. It is expensive. If you are going to play green or black, I would definitely purchase CVBJ. If you red chip, you might want to consider other options. The only thing I have is CVBJ so I can't give my opinion on anything else. Yeah, you can definitely just count threw a deck of cards or even 2 decks of cards to get practice. Do 1 deck in 30 seconds or less. Even though I've been counting off and on for a year and a half, I still get slow sometimes.

 

[Royam]

Help needed to compare counting software

Ok, thank you for your review of CVBJ ($81), John.

Ne Plus Ultra ($38) and SmartCards ($54.95) were also mentioned in an older thread. Can anybody help comparing these products?

Thanks for your help,

Royam

 

[Waldo]

Practice! Practice! Practice! *LINK*

On this site under "The Mayor's Essays", in the essay titled "Practice Practice Practice", he has some good tips on how to "practice" BS and counting. I recommend reading all of the essays, they're quite good. The best part is it's free. You can go to hitorstand.net and practice BS on-line. I like the difficult game, it makes you think fast. You will also find some free programs at freshmeat.net, OpenBlackjack is not a bad program that tracks the count and offers suggestions for BS. I've just started creating some flash cards for BS, Generic Eight Deck, S17, DOA, DAS, NS. I only have the soft totals completed right now. You print out the first 8 pages then flip them over and print the last 8 pages on the back using 80lb paper or higher. I made them the size of standard playing cards so I could put them in my automatic shuffler. The link to the PDF file is below.

 

[Royam]

Thanks for the flashcards

I ordered a software that was elected best for practice and was rather cheap ($38) and also train counting with a real deck. I'll tell you how good the software is when I get it.

Royam

 

[wc21]

Being abe to count 2 decks in 50 seconds was Revere's recommendation

before playing in a casino.

I recommend getting to the point where you can do this 10-20 times in a row with no more than 15-20 seconds breaks. There is a fatgue that sets in and practice helps the endurance.

Then start all over learning to count two cards at a time....Then try doing these while watching TV and talking with someone...Practice makes a big difference.

wc21

 

[Royam]

That is more or less what I was doing

Going through a deck, turning cards two at a time (which is somehow easier as high cards sometimes cancel low cards), and trying to keep both the count and a reasonable pace.

At this stage, it takes me about 50 sec to go through a SINGLE deck, so I got a lot of improvement ahead of me! Also, I usually don't get the count right but about 0.5 or 1 too much/little (using halves count), which means that I'm probably a little too quick. I'll try to slow down, get to the point where I make no mistake, then increase the speed. I'll also get used to doing not one but two decks.

Thanks for the guidance.

Royam