Ch3rryC0ke
New Member
Hey Everyone,
Well this is my first post to the forum. I was introduced to Blackjack, and card counting, just about 2 months ago. Over the long weekend of November, I went to Vegas with some friends and gambled for the first time, playing blackjack. I stuck to single deck, and despite the crappy odds, I came out $700 on top. I was hooked. So I started doing some research about the game. I found this website, read the forum, and then bought a book: "Blackbelt in Blackjack" by Arnold Snyder. Its a great book.
Since reading that book I got even more hooked. I bought many decks of cards, started practicing counting down a deck, and now I can routinely count a deck down in about 25 seconds. I also bought the Casino Verite software and used that extensively to practice my counting skills, and had mixed results. Its hard to keep your count in a 6 deck shoe! Its easy to get distracted and forget what the hand before had. But my simulations in casino verite had turned out very well for me, so I had high hopes.
Well, after getting decent at it, I decided to try my "skills" at Cache Creek in CA. I lost $500. I played terribly. I was up for a while, and I started to loose money, and then I forgot my counting skills and started playing like a traditional gambler -- betting big to try and get back in the game.
I also noticed that in those 6 deck shoes, the count never went up! And if it did, it barely stayed there. I also forgot the count many times and ended up just playing BS through the shoe, only to find myself down $200, and ultimately I went broke and down $500. I felt really crappy. But I knew I had made a lot of mistakes, and had not stuck to my strategy, and not played smart.
Well, the title of this thread was my first positive experience.. so lets get to that. This past weekend I took a trip to Reno with some friends. I stayed at the Grand Sierra.
So the first night, I had $280 and I lost it playing single deck. I'm not sure what happened. I was too sick, I was too tired, and I knew that I shouldn't have gambled. I lost it all, and I Lost it quickly. I can't even remember how it went. I vowed to not gamble anymore.
The next night, my buddy decided to play BJ with me. We found a double deck game that was great. The count went up many times! Even though the hands were being dealt face down, I was able to keep count pretty accurately, and I bet a 1-4 spread of $10 as my minimum. I broke even what I had lost the night before.
Later on in the night, I went and played some single deck shoe, and I lost money. I was now down $400. But to my surprise, the dealers were paying 3:2 on the SD! I went and borrowed some money against my credit card, because the odds were so good. It was probably a bad idea. I was doing well, I recovered all my debts, and I still made some money. But I started playing stupid again, I stopped keeping track of the count properly, and I lost that money.
It was 6am now. All my buddies were upstairs sleeping, and I didn't have a room key. I thought about what had happened, and how when I really paid attention, I was able to make a bunch of money. I just said F*** it, I'm not going to lose this. I went and borrowed another 500 against my CC, but only used 300. I told myself I would not bet stupid, no matter what, and I would stick to my count. When Ilost track of the count, I swore to only bet $10, or perhaps some $15 and $20 camoflauge bets.
I then sat at a SD table, and I was sitting with just one other player. The dealers were being very friendly, the guy next to me was betting WAY more than I was (black chips all the way), so I figured heat would not be directed at me.
I did it. I recovered all my losses. I turned $300 into $1300 and got the hell out of there. I actually made $200 more than what I owed my CC and my friend, but if I include the cash advancing fee, I probably made like $100. I was just happy that I made back my huge debt.
I was betting alot more than $10. My minimum was still $10, but from time to time, when the count was high, I bet as much as $200, $150, and $100. I did get some heat. ONe dealer caught on to me and reshuffled after 2 hands, even with only 2 people sitting at the table! Luckily he didn't last long.
The conditions were just perfect, and I felt great. I had a lot of fun playing. Boy it sure is exciting to hit Blackjack on a $200 bet!
I recognize several factors:
1) I definitely hit some positive variance
2) SD is better for me becuase if you lose track of the count, it resets quickly
3) Good penetration is hard to come by
4) Playing with one other person against the dealer is what I noticed to be the best setup
5) I drank a beer every hour or so, drank tons of hot chocolate, and cracked a lot of jokes and made a lot of conversation.
6) When the pit bosses came by, I talked to them a lot.
7) I got lucky with dealers and pit bosses and heat in general.
I also noticed that the second hand dealt of the deck, I almost always won. I also noticed that if the count was high, and the dealer won the hand, I was much more likely to win the next hand. Ilooked for situations like those and bet really high when that happened.
I'm not sure if I came away from the game up becuase I was lucky. I think it was a bit of both. I think I hit some good luck, but I think I also used the count properly in my favor.
I was using the Red 7's count by Snyder. I used his single deck indices but I didn't even remember all of them. I played mostly BS with a little bit of "the count is really negative so I should hit my 14 vs 12" type of thing. I also used the count for my insurance bets which helped me a lot. Saved a lot of money that way.
God I hate those 2 face cards.
Anyways, it was a really fun experience, and one hell of a roller coaster. It really is hard to bet those $200 chips! BUt when the dealer yelled "2 purple out" (actually I forget what color it is now, but whatever the $500 chip was).. damn that felt good. Even though Ididn't make much money, I am so glad I recovered my debt, and came out with enough to cover my lift ticket.
Future lessons:
1) Six deck shoes in real life don't hit as high counts as they do in the simulators
2) Six deck shoes are worthless with 6 people playing. Infact Iwould say almost any game is worthless with that many people
3) I really do love SD. I just feel like the count is a much stronger indicator of how the cards will turn out than it is in 6D.
4) Don't borrow against your credit card. I got away with it this time, but I vow to not do that again. It can get you in a lot of financial trouble.
I had fun, and I'm not going to play for a while. I'm gonna setup a seperate bank account for gambling so I can have my fun without ever cutting into my financial stability. I need to practice counting more, but I think I'm pretty good at hiding it.
I still need to recover some of that $500 I lost at Cache Creek! Soon enough
Well this is my first post to the forum. I was introduced to Blackjack, and card counting, just about 2 months ago. Over the long weekend of November, I went to Vegas with some friends and gambled for the first time, playing blackjack. I stuck to single deck, and despite the crappy odds, I came out $700 on top. I was hooked. So I started doing some research about the game. I found this website, read the forum, and then bought a book: "Blackbelt in Blackjack" by Arnold Snyder. Its a great book.
Since reading that book I got even more hooked. I bought many decks of cards, started practicing counting down a deck, and now I can routinely count a deck down in about 25 seconds. I also bought the Casino Verite software and used that extensively to practice my counting skills, and had mixed results. Its hard to keep your count in a 6 deck shoe! Its easy to get distracted and forget what the hand before had. But my simulations in casino verite had turned out very well for me, so I had high hopes.
Well, after getting decent at it, I decided to try my "skills" at Cache Creek in CA. I lost $500. I played terribly. I was up for a while, and I started to loose money, and then I forgot my counting skills and started playing like a traditional gambler -- betting big to try and get back in the game.
I also noticed that in those 6 deck shoes, the count never went up! And if it did, it barely stayed there. I also forgot the count many times and ended up just playing BS through the shoe, only to find myself down $200, and ultimately I went broke and down $500. I felt really crappy. But I knew I had made a lot of mistakes, and had not stuck to my strategy, and not played smart.
Well, the title of this thread was my first positive experience.. so lets get to that. This past weekend I took a trip to Reno with some friends. I stayed at the Grand Sierra.
So the first night, I had $280 and I lost it playing single deck. I'm not sure what happened. I was too sick, I was too tired, and I knew that I shouldn't have gambled. I lost it all, and I Lost it quickly. I can't even remember how it went. I vowed to not gamble anymore.
The next night, my buddy decided to play BJ with me. We found a double deck game that was great. The count went up many times! Even though the hands were being dealt face down, I was able to keep count pretty accurately, and I bet a 1-4 spread of $10 as my minimum. I broke even what I had lost the night before.
Later on in the night, I went and played some single deck shoe, and I lost money. I was now down $400. But to my surprise, the dealers were paying 3:2 on the SD! I went and borrowed some money against my credit card, because the odds were so good. It was probably a bad idea. I was doing well, I recovered all my debts, and I still made some money. But I started playing stupid again, I stopped keeping track of the count properly, and I lost that money.
It was 6am now. All my buddies were upstairs sleeping, and I didn't have a room key. I thought about what had happened, and how when I really paid attention, I was able to make a bunch of money. I just said F*** it, I'm not going to lose this. I went and borrowed another 500 against my CC, but only used 300. I told myself I would not bet stupid, no matter what, and I would stick to my count. When Ilost track of the count, I swore to only bet $10, or perhaps some $15 and $20 camoflauge bets.
I then sat at a SD table, and I was sitting with just one other player. The dealers were being very friendly, the guy next to me was betting WAY more than I was (black chips all the way), so I figured heat would not be directed at me.
I did it. I recovered all my losses. I turned $300 into $1300 and got the hell out of there. I actually made $200 more than what I owed my CC and my friend, but if I include the cash advancing fee, I probably made like $100. I was just happy that I made back my huge debt.
I was betting alot more than $10. My minimum was still $10, but from time to time, when the count was high, I bet as much as $200, $150, and $100. I did get some heat. ONe dealer caught on to me and reshuffled after 2 hands, even with only 2 people sitting at the table! Luckily he didn't last long.
The conditions were just perfect, and I felt great. I had a lot of fun playing. Boy it sure is exciting to hit Blackjack on a $200 bet!
I recognize several factors:
1) I definitely hit some positive variance
2) SD is better for me becuase if you lose track of the count, it resets quickly
3) Good penetration is hard to come by
4) Playing with one other person against the dealer is what I noticed to be the best setup
5) I drank a beer every hour or so, drank tons of hot chocolate, and cracked a lot of jokes and made a lot of conversation.
6) When the pit bosses came by, I talked to them a lot.
7) I got lucky with dealers and pit bosses and heat in general.
I also noticed that the second hand dealt of the deck, I almost always won. I also noticed that if the count was high, and the dealer won the hand, I was much more likely to win the next hand. Ilooked for situations like those and bet really high when that happened.
I'm not sure if I came away from the game up becuase I was lucky. I think it was a bit of both. I think I hit some good luck, but I think I also used the count properly in my favor.
I was using the Red 7's count by Snyder. I used his single deck indices but I didn't even remember all of them. I played mostly BS with a little bit of "the count is really negative so I should hit my 14 vs 12" type of thing. I also used the count for my insurance bets which helped me a lot. Saved a lot of money that way.
God I hate those 2 face cards.
Anyways, it was a really fun experience, and one hell of a roller coaster. It really is hard to bet those $200 chips! BUt when the dealer yelled "2 purple out" (actually I forget what color it is now, but whatever the $500 chip was).. damn that felt good. Even though Ididn't make much money, I am so glad I recovered my debt, and came out with enough to cover my lift ticket.
Future lessons:
1) Six deck shoes in real life don't hit as high counts as they do in the simulators
2) Six deck shoes are worthless with 6 people playing. Infact Iwould say almost any game is worthless with that many people
3) I really do love SD. I just feel like the count is a much stronger indicator of how the cards will turn out than it is in 6D.
4) Don't borrow against your credit card. I got away with it this time, but I vow to not do that again. It can get you in a lot of financial trouble.
I had fun, and I'm not going to play for a while. I'm gonna setup a seperate bank account for gambling so I can have my fun without ever cutting into my financial stability. I need to practice counting more, but I think I'm pretty good at hiding it.
I still need to recover some of that $500 I lost at Cache Creek! Soon enough
