team play

[send_it619]

hey all - just wanted to ask if anyone has ever played in a team and had success with it. i am entertaining the idea of putting together a small team of 3-4 ppl but the line of thinking is; hedge the play all the way across. i have played at a table and lost whilest the person next to me, doing nothing outside of the ordinary, just couldn't lose (getting hot cards).

i figure if we put enough people around a table that knew what they were doing, the outcome could be favorable for everyone through counting and hedging (splitting profit across 3-4 people).

what do you think?

aerofan619 -at- yahoo -dot- com :joker:

 

[EasyRhino]

I haven't done any team play, but I'm just going to go on a limb and guess that having multiple people at one table betting big will attract more attention and heat than just one player.

From a strictly hedging perspective, maybe if you had multiple people betting at different tables (or better yet, different casinos), then you could accomplish it that way. However, the overall expected value wouldn't be any more than if each of you were playing individually.

 

[Sonny]

hey all - just wanted to ask if anyone has ever played in a team and had success with it.

Several people here, including myself, have had success using team methods. There are many of benefits to having a group of people sharing results. There are even some advanced methods that require two people to use. Search these forums (especially the Advanced Techniques forum) for more info.

i figure if we put enough people around a table that knew what they were doing, the outcome could be favorable for everyone through counting and hedging (splitting profit across 3-4 people).

You wouldn’t want to have your players at the same table. Even though spreading your bets over several hands will smooth the variance somewhat, there is still a lot of covariance between those hands. For example, if the dealer gets 20 or 21 then you are probably all going to lose that round. It is much better to have each member playing at a different table. See the thread below for more info:

http://www.blackjackinfo.com/bb/showthread.php?t=2708&page=2&highlight=team

-Sonny-

 

[Bojack1]

Hey send_it619
I have been playing on a very successful team for quite a few years now. Actually truth be told I know more successful teams than successful individual players. But not playing the way you're talking about. If you know anything about counting (and if you don't a team will do you no good) than you know you will be playing through quite a bit of negative crap waiting for an advantage to happen. There is no reasonable way to overcome the negative variance of everybody playing the same disadvantaged game. Not to mention how hard it is to get all your buddies at one table at the same time. Your really buckin' the odds with that plan and I'm fairly sure you won't like the results.

A better way would be the call in game. With this, all but one of you sit at different tables and count the shoes while betting the absolute minimum that you can. Hopefully its below your unit amount. When the count goes positive to the point you have an advantage, using a discreet signal call in the guy not sitting at a table to sit down and bet according to what the count calls for. When the count goes bad he gets up and leaves and waits for another call in. With this type of system you're big player only plays at an advantage and odds are he will do well. While the spotters bet relatively insignificant amounts setting up the big money. It takes practice using signals and good counting skills, but once you're proficient at it you'll win more and be hard pressed to have any prolonged losing streaks. And also very imortantly nobody is really spreading bets like a single counter would have to so its great cover.

 

[ihate17]

big team, small team

The big team/ big player methods have been documented and sort of shown all over tv and in books. It is very effective and basically your team gets to the long run quickly. The casinos though are also or at least should be educated in most of the methods by now.

I have found that just a 2 or at most 3 person team to be much more confusing to the casino pit, eye and even computer programs that are supposed to identify advantage play. The methods used to befuddle the casinos are the kind of things that I will not post to a board or I have found in any blackjack book yet.

ihate17