New to the game (as such): give it to me straight, please.

Hi all, I am a student from the deep south, almost legal to gamble if I so choose. I have long been interested in the little stack of 52 cards, whether it be for magic tricks or playing made up card games like "bigger is best" and "nuke war" with my grade-school pals.

I'm not going to lie to you, so here's the first straight fact: I'm no math genius, far from it. I ran as fast and as far from math in school as I could, and my major and study is the opposite of an applied science in mathematics. That said, I do still enjoy pushing myself in the area of what I like to call "IQ test" math, such as Mensa and the like, and that's why learning actual card games has recently piqued my interest.

I promised not to lie, so here's the second part of me telling it to you straight: I was really sucked in to learning about Blackjack and card/casino strategies in general after first reading about Dan Provost and the MIT team years ago in a tech magazine, and then I, like most everyone, came out of the movie 21 with stars in my eyes. Thankfully I was not yet legally able to gamble, which probably saved me some embarrassment straight away.



The main point of this topic is this: I wanted to ask a community of players who have been there and done that whether or not I should just forget about this, do my best to lead a normal life, and never think about trying to set foot in a Casino ever again.... err... ever, or if there is enough of a bright spot in this field where some success can be had without ruination.


As for my "training" so far, the first book I picked up was one that taught a simple count, the "speed count." I actually learned Hi-Lo first, and it was not terribly difficult to me, but the ease of Speed Count seemed to good to be true, so I tried it with my iPhone card app I use for practice, and I have lost over $1000 of fake currency in $5 bets. This might just be a true streak of bad luck, but either way, I think I should look into some of the more reliable counts.

So I guess what I'm asking for are some general words of advice, both for the real-life questions portion of my post, as well as my strategy question.

This game of "beating the numbers" as it applies to Blackjack fascinates me, perhaps dangerously so. I want to practice and be good at it even to play only with fake money for fun though, and to keep my brain sharp. But then there's always that fantasy of playing to win big...
 

MeWin$

Well-Known Member
Ok

Ok, you have to play well enough to beat the game, have an adequate bankroll, and play enough.

#1: Maybe post some ill 18 numbers, your proposed bet spread and what you think good pen is. This will help establishing you have a base to start from and will help with the skeptics ( and these guys are skeptical for a good reason, a lot of BS gets thrown around here.)

#2 What's ur bank? this will also show your level of expertise and seriousness.

#3 Without getting too specific about your home state, where can u play? R u just going to Vegas to play? Does Alabama have playable games? Or u r going to Tunica to play?
Finally, what do you consider a playable game? Eg, pen, rules etc.

This forum has much good info, try the sticky pages for links and valuable posts, you'll find everything you need to get started.

Good luck.
 

Sonny

Well-Known Member
AlabamaIceman said:
The main point of this topic is this: I wanted to ask a community of players who have been there and done that whether or not I should just forget about this, do my best to lead a normal life, and never think about trying to set foot in a Casino ever again.... err... ever, or if there is enough of a bright spot in this field where some success can be had without ruination.
Sticky threads to the rescue!

My final conclusion on card-counting

-Sonny-
 
Sonny said:
Sticky threads to the rescue!

My final conclusion on card-counting

-Sonny-
Excellent, thanks. Time to go explore the forum some more.


My main concerns are twofold: while I can make peace with the idea that I won't be striking it rich or anything, I also don't want to accept the fact that I'm going to go broke. So minimum table bets vs. my bankroll vs. profitability are all a concern.

furthermore, part of me can't help but wonder if I have/will have missed the "glory days" of counting and advantage play. Casinos may not have had markedly more trouble now than they did say... twenty years ago, but they are able to get away with more restrictions due to the public eye being more on the practice.

Will I be without even as much of an edge as I might get now in twenty years, when I might actually have worked in the real world (or maybe even played) my way to a better-sized bankroll?
 

moo321

Well-Known Member
AlabamaIceman said:
Excellent, thanks. Time to go explore the forum some more.


My main concerns are twofold: while I can make peace with the idea that I won't be striking it rich or anything, I also don't want to accept the fact that I'm going to go broke. So minimum table bets vs. my bankroll vs. profitability are all a concern.

furthermore, part of me can't help but wonder if I have/will have missed the "glory days" of counting and advantage play. Casinos may not have had markedly more trouble now than they did say... twenty years ago, but they are able to get away with more restrictions due to the public eye being more on the practice.

Will I be without even as much of an edge as I might get now in twenty years, when I might actually have worked in the real world (or maybe even played) my way to a better-sized bankroll?
No, you haven't missed the "glory days". There's more opportunities today than ever. More casinos, more stuff to exploit...
 
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