blackjack is for ENTERTAINMENT ONLY1

[ScottH]

Joel read this post I copied and pasted from hitorstand.net and maybe you will at least open your mind to some different concepts:

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I have to share what is now my favorite casino story.

I have never been a big fan of so called advantage play. And as most on this board know I called out supposedly one of the better players of it in Bojack. He did message me that he couldn't make it to the casino I go to over the weekend, but if I could change it to a different day he'd be there. He also asked for a way to recognize me, and said he would approach me once he found me. Fair enough.
I get to the casino wednesday around at the agreed time of 10am. I go to a $10 table and buy in for $300 and start playing. At 11:00 still no Bojack and I lost $100 dollars already, I am not happy. About a half hour later this fella sits next to me and buys in for $500 in green. He's betting fairly heavy and playing rather stupidly and by 12:00 he's buying in for another $500. At this point his play has caused 2 people to leave the table, and the 1 remaining besides me is constantly getting on him. But Mr. green chipper just smiles and says sorry alot. He's a likeable enough guy and I really feel sorry for him for foolishly blowing his money away. Funny thing though, he's about halfway through his second buy in and he starts winning. In 1 shoe he gets all his money back plus a few hundred. The next shoe the same thing, except now the guy is up a few thousand. His good luck is even effecting us and we start playing his hunches because he's so lucky. At about 2:00 I realize there's no Bojack to be found, But instead of being mad at that chickens**t for not showing, I'm happy as hell because I'm up over $1000 for the day. At this point Mr. green chips colors in over 5 grand. I tell him he should go home now because luck like that doesn't come around much. He leaves and 5 minutes later a cocktail waitress brings me a coffee and a note she said one of my friends gave her. It says " I had a great time playing with you, hope you enjoyed the advantage. I wish you continued good luck. Bojack"

I'm still stunned, and I still can't explain it. I dont know the ryme or reason to his play, but I did see something unbelievable first hand. If what you were doing is some kind of advantage play, my hats off to you buddy you seem to be right about it. But I would really like an explanation for the strange way in which you play. Anyway I apologize for the coarse words in the past, and thank you for a great experience. 36 years playing this game, and this old dog might just rethink a few things about it.

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If you are interested in the rest of this thread, here is the link:

(Dead link: http://hitorstand.net/forum/showthread.php?t=3026)

That guy didn't realize it, but he was just introduced to shuffletracking. That would explain the "stupid play" because shuffletrackers make seemingly dumb moves because they know what the count really is, and not what it appears to be from straight counting.

I would love the chance to sit at the table with Bojack as well. Especially since I am an aspiring shuffletracker myself. As soon as I am done with my finals I will be practicing like hell with supercoolmancool. We WILL be able to do it, in one form or another.

But I am surprised that Bojack would do this for a guy that supposedly "called him out". Bojack does seem like a pretty nice guy, since he takes time to add his experience and knowledge to the board, but he is too reluctant to give out aspiring shuffletrackers insider secrets! But I probably wouldn't either if I could do it...

Very good story though, I liked it a lot.

 

[ScottH]

I went to that other board and I saw some familiar names posting. I dont think I have time to average 5 posts/day on another forum!

 

[checkmaterob]

Yea it is a great story.. But then again.. Bojack could have just made a second screen name and made the whole thing up and then replied to his post with his regular screen name! Hahaha just kidding, just kidding..

 

[shadroch]

Yea it is a great story.. But then again.. Bojack could have just made a second screen name and made the whole thing up and then replied to his post with his regular screen name! Hahaha just kidding, just kidding..

You cracked the
code!
Bojack is,in fact, a well-known pit boss who posts only disinformation in both his board IDS.The other,obviously,being ZG.

 

[EasyRhino]

Actually, we're all just shill accounts for ZG and bojack, and they're using this board for private messaging.

 

[Cass]

I went to that other board and I saw some familiar names posting. I dont think I have time to average 5 posts/day on another forum!

Learningtocount is pretty much in charge over there. BJinfo is a lot better site!

 

[azbetsgonewild]

Sorry I didn't read the whole thread, but to the OP-

Of course thats the way it happens!!!

Casinos have only one goal, and that goal is to seperate you from as much money as they possibly can.

When they say the house edge is 2% or 3%, that is over the course of MILLIONS of hands. Through shoe to shoe, you may lose 70% of the hands you play, and it may feel like it does that consistently too.

6 decks, hit soft 17 is the worst possible game you can play(with the exception of some of those side bet games)

Yet it is the most common rules throughout the US.

It is entertainment. Unless you have practiced for years at home with counting strategies and have perfected your game, never ever ever count on walking away from a win from a casino game. More than 90% of people that walk into a casino lose, and thats not because they are idiots, most people that play blackjack know basic strategy.

I never go in with more than $50-$100 because of this. My theory is if I can't win with a small amount, why risk even more?

 

[checkmaterob]

Sorry I didn't read the whole thread, but to the OP-

6 decks, hit soft 17 is the worst possible game you can play(with the exception of some of those side bet games)

Yet it is the most common rules throughout the US.

It is entertainment. Unless you have practiced for years at home with counting strategies and have perfected your game, never ever ever count on walking away from a win from a casino game. More than 90% of people that walk into a casino lose, and thats not because they are idiots, most people that play blackjack know basic strategy.

I never go in with more than $50-$100 because of this. My theory is if I can't win with a small amount, why risk even more?

6 decks, H17 is definitly not the "worst possible game" you can play by any means. For example, 6:5 blackjack yields a much higher -EV than H17. Also, if you are playing side bets to make money, there are very few that have potential for a +EV, and that is only when the count is high enough.

It is correct for you to say, "you should never count (as in dependent upon) on walking away with a win from a casino game." Obviously you will not win every time, or maybe you will even lose more sessions than you win. The point is that the totals from your winning sessions totals more than the losses from your losing sessions, regardless of how many losing sessions you have. One other thing that you stated is that, "most people that play know basic strategy." Maybe most people that play know OF basic strategy, or play it X% correctly, but most people do NOT play basic strategy 100% correctly. People lose money because they are playing a game with a negative expectation. Playing basic strategy alone will not give you an edge, only lower the casino's edge it has over you. If you can manipulate the edge in your favour, than you will win (in the long run, blah blah blah).

The last thing is that you say, "you walk into the casino with $50-$100." If you are playing micro amounts ($0.25-$0.50) that is a decent bankroll. But you have to keep in mind that blackjack has a lot of variance. Considering minimum tables are at the very least, $5, you have 10-20 units! That is close to the standard deviation within one hours of play! It takes money to make money in this game. Maybe you get lucky and start off winning, maybe you start off losing. The fact is that you will at some point be down and some point be up. To make it easier to understand, grab a piece of paper, turn it landscape style, and draw a straight diagonal line from the bottom left corner to the top right corner. Then, start in the bottom left corner again and draw a wavy line with relatively equal amounts and and below the straight line, and make this wavy line end in the top right corner, the same place as the straight diagonal line. This is like a simulation if you are playing a positive EV game, the straight diagonal line represents your theoretical profit and the wavy line takes into account, variance, standard deviation, etc. So if you start with only $50-$100, you could drop that right away and then be out of the game until next time, where you can see that if you have sufficient funds you can get back into the black (permitting you are playing a game with an advantage). Anyways, I'm just saying there are a lot of things to take into consideration if you want to make money from blackjack, aside from the game itself..

Rob.

 

[ihate17]

Where do you play?

More than 90% of people that walk into a casino lose, and thats not because they are idiots, most people that play blackjack know basic strategy.

I have been an advantage player for about 30 years, played throughout the world but mostly here in the states, and my observations are that 90% of the players play semi basic strategy and less than 1% play it perfectly.
Those players who play semi basic strategy are changing a game where the house edge might be less than .4% into a game where the house is winning well over 2%!
If not a counter, do you always:
Double your soft 18 vs dealer 3-6
Hit your soft 18 vs 9,10,A
Split 9's vs everything except 7,10,A
Hit your 12 vs 3
Not double your A,2 vs dealer 2-4
Split you 2's or 3's vs dealer 2,3, or 7

These are just a few of the very common mistakes people who most players think are basic strategy players make. There are of course thousands of possible other mistakes.

ihate17

 

[bluewhale]

More than 90% of people that walk into a casino lose, and thats not because they are idiots, most people that play blackjack know basic strategy.

I have been an advantage player for about 30 years, played throughout the world but mostly here in the states, and my observations are that 90% of the players play semi basic strategy and less than 1% play it perfectly.
Those players who play semi basic strategy are changing a game where the house edge might be less than .4% into a game where the house is winning well over 2%!
If not a counter, do you always:
Double your soft 18 vs dealer 3-6
Hit your soft 18 vs 9,10,A
Split 9's vs everything except 7,10,A
Hit your 12 vs 3
Not double your A,2 vs dealer 2-4
Split you 2's or 3's vs dealer 2,3, or 7

These are just a few of the very common mistakes people who most players think are basic strategy players make. There are of course thousands of possible other mistakes.

ihate17

basic strategy is a little overrated by card counters. that being said, i always stick to BS obviously, and any deviations that i know (if you know em, why wouldn't you right?). however, i see counters watch other players and think to themselves "what an idiot" when someone stands on a hard 16vs10 or not hit a 12 vs 3 or hit a 12vs4. moves like these, although wrong, don't have a significant effect on the house edge, and even if consistantly made, won't cost you much in the long run.
on the other hand, if you start standing on all stiff's, never doubling down, not splitting 99's then the house edge, as described by ihit17, is going through the roof and you better be loaded cause you're going broke pretty soon.