Counting Goal

[Bojack1]

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too. Cna yuo raed tihs?

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at
Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be
in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!


The point here is, I have always stressed that counting can become as easy as reading if practiced enough. When reading becomes so ingrained in the mind that even jumbled words can make perfect sense instantly, it shows you how easy counting can come also. So many that learn how to count stop their learning before it becomes second nature. Counting can be thought of as a language and numbers being the letters that spell it out. Numbers are actually even easier then letters due to the fact that they always carry the same value and while counting them the sums are going to be consistent in their patterns. There are no grammatical differences in each character based on placement such as with spelling.

Basically, what I'm saying is being able to count quickly is nice, but whats even better is to do it effortlessly. Once you can trigger your brain to read cards like words, you will no longer worry about what the count is anymore. Its like reading a second graders book, there are no hard words that need explanation, its all basic stuff. To think this stuff is taxing only means you have never crossed your comfort zone threshold. Once you do, then counting is no harder then reading a stop sign on the street. When you can't shut it off then you know you've got it.

 

[rukus]

Basically, what I'm saying is being able to count quickly is nice, but whats even better is to do it effortlessly. Once you can trigger your brain to read cards like words, you will no longer worry about what the count is anymore. Its like reading a second graders book, there are no hard words that need explanation, its all basic stuff. To think this stuff is taxing only means you have never crossed your comfort zone threshold. Once you do, then counting is no harder then reading a stop sign on the street. When you can't shut it off then you know you've got it.

well said.

 

[Harman]

Nice

Wow, really good post my friend

 

[Sonny]

For the first paragraph I though I was reading a post from CardCounter! :laugh:

To think this stuff is taxing only means you have never crossed your comfort zone threshold. Once you do, then counting is no harder then reading a stop sign on the street. When you can't shut it off then you know you've got it.

That’s a very important point. If card counting seems too difficult it means that you haven’t practiced enough. I’ve experienced this many times. When I first started I had problems keeping the RC while adding up my hand. It seemed impossible. That’s because I wasn’t very good at either task. I decided to learn how to play the hands first, then learn how to count the cards. After about a week I was playing very quickly with no problems adding up the hands. Most if the time I wasn’t even adding up the cards because I already knew what all of the 2-card and 3-card combinations were. It was incredibly easy. I wasn’t doing much math at all, I just knew the answer.

The same thing happened with card counting. At first it seemed impossible to keep the RC at casino speed, but eventually it became second nature. I started canceling cards and suddenly I was barely counting at all, I just knew the answer. It happened all over again when I started learning full-deck TC conversions, then indices, then quarter-deck estimations, then quarter-deck TC conversions, then bet adjustments, etc. Every step of the way seems impossible at the beginning, but after enough practice you don’t even have to think about it. You aren’t really doing much math in your head anymore, you just know the answer. I can play faster now than I ever could when I was using full-deck TC conversions and no indices. It’s more difficult but I know it so well that I’m not working as hard anymore. I know what the TC is before the dealer has collected all the hands. I could never do that before, but now it’s easy.

Not to get too technical, but there was a guy named Lev Vygotsky who studied human brain development from back in the 20s and 30s. He realized that the human brain always learns faster when it is pushed just beyond what it can actually do. He called it the zone of proximal development, but it’s the same thing as Bojack’s comfort zone threshold. Just like a baseball player on deck always swings a bat with weights on it, people always learn better when they push themselves a bit farther. Once you learn something new, everything that you knew before that seems much easier. Before you know it, everything that you are struggling with now will become effortless after you get used to it.

-Sonny-

 

[golfnut101]

good point

Being in the graphic design field, it is proven that the eye will 'fill in' when dealing with very low resolution copy used on say, large billbaords and such from a distance. If you we're to get too close to these large messages, they are too 'rough' or pixelated to read, but from a distance, they can become legible. So yes, Bojacks point is a very good example of why 'effortless' counting is important, and that it is achievable.