Dont Waste Your Time On Card Thickness

[SilentBob420BMFJ]

i went to my casino and got 9 packs of their cards so i can practice the true count (i decided not to switch to ko).. they are paulson cards, which are 14.25 mm per deck, and your standard bicycle 808 are 15.15 mm per deck, thats 85.5 vs 90.9 for 6 decks, which is a difference of 5.4 mm, or 1/5 of an inch.. thats .9 mm per deck difference compared to 808s, which is 3-4 cards per deck.. so if i used 808s to practice my true count instead of paulson cards, and then went to the casino and saw there were exactly 2 decks in the discard, i would be off by 6-8 cards..

with some things, i want to be compulsively perfect, but all of this seems to not matter, not just due to the small technical difference, but because of real world differences, such as how 6 decks of paulson cards should be 3.35 inches, yet i measured them at over 3.5 inches, probably due to the fact that each deck is bent a little differently, and the fact that they have a hole thru the center of all the cards, making them not lay/slide perfect.. so you see, all this is kinda pointless.. so is it important to get cards from your casino to estimate true count? no, not unless your casino uses aviator cards..

a better thing to do is to figure out what cards your casino uses, and check the thickness on this list http://www.homepokertourney.com/cards_review.htm, and unless the difference in thickness is 2 mm or more per deck compared to the ones you currently have (my comparison above was a .9 mm difference), i dont think it makes much of a difference, and if you dont estimate half decks or less, then it really doesnt matter at all..

EDIT: i just shuffled all the decks together, and they are insanely bouncy, and you cant stack more than 3 decks without them falling over.. so much for millimeters and perfection, i have to worry about the cards lying flat and not falling over.. has anybody else gotten cards from their casino? with the hole in the center? these cards cant be used for deck estimation, theres no way..

 

[Split10]

I bought 8 decks of my local casino's cards. At 25 cents a deck, these canceled (hole in center) decks are great -they almost feel like new. I dont know how often they replace their cards but I tell ya, theyre not swollen and bent out of shape at all. Good enough to practice deck estimation with no problems. They are the USPCC Aristocrat, and I did notice they felt a little thin compared to my other decks around the house.

 

[Sonny]

I dont know how often they replace their cards but I tell ya, theyre not swollen and bent out of shape at all.

Sometimes the decks in the casino gift shop are brand new. Despite the cute little sticker that says “These cards were actually used in this wonderful casino” they are sometimes completely unused. If they find any defects in the cards (usually standard printing errors) they will cancel them and send them right to the gift shop without ever playing them. If you can find a casino that cancels the corners instead of the center you can often get cheap cards in like-new condition.

-Sonny-

 

[jetace]

I hate those dang holes punched right through the middle. So annoying, if you ever mix up the cards, it is very difficult to get them back in order so that you can use them for sizing.

 

[Split10]

Sometimes the decks in the casino gift shop are brand new. Despite the cute little sticker that says “These cards were actually used in this wonderful casino” they are sometimes completely unused. If they find any defects in the cards (usually standard printing errors) they will cancel them and send them right to the gift shop without ever playing them. If you can find a casino that cancels the corners instead of the center you can often get cheap cards in like-new condition.

-Sonny-

wow, didnt even know that! the cards I got have the seal broken and the date removed from the table written on the box along with game/table number etc...

 

[SilentBob420BMFJ]

I bought 8 decks of my local casino's cards. At 25 cents a deck, these canceled (hole in center) decks are great -they almost feel like new. I dont know how often they replace their cards but I tell ya, theyre not swollen and bent out of shape at all. Good enough to practice deck estimation with no problems. They are the USPCC Aristocrat, and I did notice they felt a little thin compared to my other decks around the house.

but you know what happens when you punch a hole thru something right? it kind of sticks out on the other side.. with 6 decks, not only were they not even close to standing on their own after i shuffled them, but if i braced them up myself, they measured over a half inch more than when i compact them down

wow, didnt even know that! the cards I got have the seal broken and the date removed from the table written on the box along with game/table number etc...

the seals on mine were also broken, and no dates were written, but im sure this was just the regular seal from the company



i thot of something, and we are all idiots for not realizing this.. instead of getting crappy casino cards, why not calculate exactly how many bicycle cards = our casinos cards using the link i posted above? mine was 93 bicycles = 100 paulson cards, thus you can play with regular bicycle cards, but pretend a deck is 48 or 49 cards, thus 6 decks would = 288-294 cards (technically about 290).. thats what i plan to do, as new rider backs are better than used casino cards for sure..

i had a question for everybody tho.. when you are practicing, how do you practice w/ out cheating? think about it, when you have a stack of 6 decks, whatever you take from those decks is comparable to the other stack, so its easier to tell.. the only thing i can think of is have somebody stack up a random amount of cards for you, but im not gonna be doing that, so what should i do? just for fun, ill explain it mathimatically.. 6 decks = Y; the amount of decks you take away = X; the stack you are analyzing = Z.. thus Y-X=Z.. how do i do it so i have no idea what X is?

 

[jimmtech]

Practice cards

2 things I have done:

I know its not perfectly accurate, but it works for me:

3/8" = 1/2 deck
3/4" = 1 deck
1" = 1-1/2 decks
1-1/4" = 2 decks
1-1/2" = 2-1/2 decks
2" = 3 decks
2-1/4" = 3-1/2 decks
2-1/2" = 4 decks
2-3/4" = 4-1/2 decks
3-1/4" = 5 decks
3-1/2" = 5-1/2 decks
3-3/4" = 6 decks
4-1/4" = 6-1/2 decks
4-1/2" = 7 decks
4-3/4" = 7-1/2 decks
5" = 8 decks

Its not perfect and some are +/- 1/8", but its how I started - I cut pieces of paper in these lengths and carried them around in my pocket all day and whenever I have a spare minute I pull out a piece of paper and try to guess the # decks.

Also its a good idea to buy 6 or 8 decks and number each card, then practice cutting off say 52 cards and see how far off you are, then try other decks, then half decks, etc.

For counting practice I buy cheap cards at Wal Mart - 2 for a dollar.

I have bought actual casino cards with rounded edges (not holes) from Big Lots and also from Walgreens for 80 cents or a dollar, but its a rare find. The last time I found then in a Big Lots - they were from the Peppermill Casino in Reno - I bought the whole box of 20 decks!