newbie's first counting experience

[euphdude]

Dear All,

I must say I'm quite impressed with my first experience. I had several sessions where I won some decent cash using a 1-5 spread (I just don't have the guts to go any higher than that right now). I also encountered several shoes with a negative running count after two decks and I took a very long well timed bathroom break. When I came back, wouldn't you know it, the people who stayed said their luck headed south when I was gone. I am also impressed with the correlation of the count with the number of good hands I see coming out afterwards. Unfortunately a couple of nights the count soared and the entire table either got 20's or blackjacks except me (who got a 16 and lost). I guess this is just part of the game although it doesn't make losing a large wager any less painful.

As I'm learning more, I have a couple of additional questions I'd like to ask you:

1. What is the best way to memorize full indices? I've never tried to learn indices before, so this will be a first. Are flashcards the right way to go?

2. Do you have any suggestions on improving my focus so I don't lose the count in the middle of the shoe? Although I was very impressed with my results when I could keep the count (and I was fast enough to keep up with all but one dealer), I frequently would lose the number as I was adding up the total of my hand when I had four or five cards (and trying to keep up the running count with each additional card while tallying my hand). I only reliably kept the count throughout the shoe about 50% of the time.

Thanks very much.

 

[Automatic Monkey]

Congratulations!

Congratulations on your first counting experience.

Unfortunately if you are playing a 6 deck or 8 deck shoe a 1:5 spread is not going to reliably get you into positive territory. Remember all the times when the count is low you are losing money. Your wins have to be big enough to compensate for that plus leave profit left over for you to enjoy. Probably 1:10 is the minimum spread you should consider and most shoe players use from 1:12 to 1:20. Spreading your bet across 2 or 3 hands will help reduce your swings very significantly. Also if you are playing shoe you should master the art of Wonging: this is simply leaving the table when the count is bad and/or sitting down and playing only when the count becomes good. Wonging is important.

Indexes: playing shoe there is no need to learn full indexes. There aren't many that are useful and some of them increase your standard deviation more than they increase your win rate so you are better off not playing them. If you are using a level 1 count like High-Low or KO probably no more than 20 to 25 have any real value, and if you are using level 2 like Hi-Opt II or Zen it will be more like 30 to 45. I play Hi-Opt II and use 35 indexes and if I were to use them all it would give me only a couple of percent improvement over what I have. The way I study them is to break them into groups, and practice using them one group at a time. First group: Hard hit/stand. Second group: surrender. Third group: Hard double down. Fourth group: Soft double down. Fifth group: split.

Oh and your accuracy and speed you will get the same way you get to Carnegie Hall... practice, practice, practice! My first time out I went looking for the slowest dealer I could find, and after a few sessions I was looking for the fastest one.

 

[KennilworthKid]

a couple of things I did/do

Congradulations! Sounds like you had a good outing.

As far as learning indexes, Flash cards are a very good idea. I made them up (even taking experience of doing that helps) and gave myself quizzes. Also, I sometimes test myself by making up a table, dealer's up cards across the top with your totals down the side, and see how close I can come to the book.

You may wish to concentrate on learning the Catch 22, or Illustrious 18 with Fab 4 at first (those indices that have the most gain for strategy variation). I think on this site, or advantageplayer.com you can get a list of those variations.

I also practice counting down a deck or two, after removing two or four cards, and seeing if I have the right count for the cards left out. I time myself and try to get it done faster each time. Some folks may laugh, but I figure if I can count down a single deck i less that 30 secs, I am okay. I am amazed that some folks can do it, flipping one card at a time, in less time. Flip the deck with the television or radio on, or best of all, with my wife talking to me.

As far as getting a hand of a lot of small cards and having trouble updating you count, my suggestion is to act dumb and take your time before you announce or indicate you are standing. Usually I know right away if I am standing to taking another card, but I appear to be confused so I can update the count or just look like a ploppie. You can appear to ponder over that as if you were going to hit another card, or ask the dealer what the total is, as if you did not know if you should hit, all the while you are stalling to get the count fixed. I often use my fingers in my left hand, while held below the table to help keep the count while I talk to other players or appear to think about what to do.

A final choice my be to buy some practice software. I use Casino Verite, and I enjoy it quite a bit.

Best of luck.