How do I know if I am a losing counter?

Automatic Monkey

Automatic Monkey

Banned
Very true

Casinos can be miserable places, what with the smoke and degenerate gamblers, and having to get involved with dishonesty in order to be able to continue playing the game. I'd much rather spend a night playing bridge, where honesty (in terms of disclosure) is expected and almost universal. Only problem is nobody will pay me to play bridge.

There is a certain masochistic pleasure to playing. After a long night at the tables I have the same sensation as when returning from an all-night offshore fishing trip. Exhausted, filthy, cuts on my hands and maybe a fishhook stuck in me someplace, but satisfied and laden with something of value. Usually.

The only nice thing about it as a part-time job is you can pick it up and put it down at will, no inventory to maintain or responsibilities to attend to. If I don't feel like playing, I don't, and if I want to play the casinos are there 24 hours a day.

One thing I find helpful is improving the aesthetics of the trip. High quality food & drink when playing and a joint with a good house band can make the inevitable losing sessions almost bearable.
 
A

A Merry Kin

New Member
Casinos are wonderful.

I would not have it any other way.

I love the action,food,music,entertainment,atmosphere,beautiful women,etc. I'm not sure what you're disagreeing about,but by reading CD's opinion on casinos and blackjack, it seems he did not have what it takes to "cut it" and has a far off illusion of the long run.

I have seen these post pop up from time to time and many times the main issue for these so-called advantage players seems to be "too much smoke and noise." That's as funny as a guy who goes to school to become a professional car mechanic and thinks his hands wont get dirty and grimy when he takes on the occupation. I'm sure many newbies have read books and taught themself advantage play before they enter a casino and once they venture out to the real world they crack up or do not find conditions to be as enjoyable as they had preferred them to be(this includes huge losing sessions of smoke and fire,or perhaps they will unwittingly keep forcing themself to play year after year.

My point is anyone who plans on becoming a good card counter and make money at the game, should already know before they even start what it's like to be at casinos all the time and ask themself the question of "Do I really know what I'm getting into? Do I enjoy the casino atmosphere?"

If the answer is no,then they should quit before they even start.

Personally I enjoy what I do and dont have time to be bored. If I want to get bored and be in a smoke free atmosphere,I'll just play internet blackjack at my pad and stare at a monitor for hours chasing bonuses...talk about BORING!)
 
T

The Mayor

Well-Known Member
Spoken like a true AP!!!

Life insurance is your betting you will die, and the insurance company betting you won't. What a brilliant idea! The ultimate AP play!
 
S

stainless steel rat

Well-Known Member
This is way too esoteric for me.

You have a 5 and 6. Dealer has a 6 up. Your true count is +52 and there are no aces left. What is your EV?

It depends. If you drop dead at the table, I would say it is 0.0 as you are not going to see that 21 that is a guaranteed win. :) If you don't drop dead, then your EV is 1.0 as you can't lose.

So the idea of taking out life insurance, stepping in front of a truck, to make a +EV situation leaves me shaking my head. :)

My wife always says "APs are a strange lot." I'm not going to show her this thread. That would confirm it. :)

If one is "at room temperature" I'm not sure he has any EV at all, in fact. :)
 
P

Pet's-Pet

Member
Perfect play

Hi Norm,
I would like to say that I completely agree with AM.
I think your software is great for someone who likes to travel down the beaten paths; if you study one of the good books and want to apply that knowlege to play a winning game.
But on the other hand, if you are trying to discover new approaches that will potentially go beyond what is already known into uncharted territory, then you don't want to compare yourself to a variety of systems of incomplete information that are really designed as compromises between power and ease of use. What you want and need is to compare yourself with what is considered the best, that is computer perfect play.
That is my POV, but I actually think that this feature would be of interest to almost everyone. Suppose I have somekind of semi-voodoo thought in back of my mind, like for example, if I am within 1 or 2 pts away from the index I will use my instincts to make my decision... is my instinct in this case an improvement on the hi-lo in relation to computer perfect play? I am sure this answer varies somewhat from person to person depending on their level of knowledge and memory. And if I do discover a true correlation, how far can I go? Also seeing what the computer perfect play is every time will certainly help sharpen one's instincts (then measure the extent of that sharpening).
I would go as far as saying that for any veteran there really is no point in comparing your play to hi-lo or some such system.

Just my point-of-view,
Thanks, Pet's Pet
 
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