Worth it for a new player?

[blueberry jones]

So after having just graduating college I am left with a year off before law school. Although my law clerking job takes up some time, I am left with quite a lot of free time. Long story short, I picked up playing blackjack. I live in Colorado and the Central City/Black Hawk casinos are only 30 minutes away (for those of you who don't know they recently raised the max bet to $100 from $5 and the casinos are now open 24hrs a day)

My question for you guys is it even worth learning how to count cards given my limited bankroll and experience?

Currently I am practicing Arnold Snyder's Red 7 count and to be honest, I am a good couple of months out before being able to hold accurate counts in multiple deck games in a casino setting. However, I have practiced and used very solid basic strategy, but it seems pointless because without counting, I never truly know when to raise my bets. Yet, it seems that I read quite a few comments on various forums explaining the advantage of card counting is getting smaller and smaller as card counting becomes more popular.

I am not looking to live solely off winnings. Rather, I would hope that I could have a net gain of around $200-$400 a month off of blackjack. I try to practice counting a good hour a day. And when I wake up in the morning I count a deck before I do anything. Right now I can count a deck in approx 50 seconds which I know is slow, but I am working on getting below 40 seconds.

So if it is indeed worth it to count cards, what tips do you have?

My playing conditions are as follows. Blackhawk has 6 deck games with approx. 80 percent penetration which I have been playing to some success (not counting cards though.) They also have 2 deck games, but I do not know the penetration on those tables. My min. bet is $5 while my maximum in $40.

I know I am really new at this and on this forum, but I am hoping your advice and expertise will be able to guide me in the right direction.

Thanks,

Jones

 

[kewljason]

Welcome to the board, Jones. As a somewhat regular contributor to this board, I can tell you that we see many post similar to yours. Unlike many others, who think they are going to take a few hundred dollars and make enough to live off of, you seem to have a somewhat reasonable expectation.

Spreading $5-$40 in a multi deck game with decent penetration that you described you should have an expectation of somewhere between 1-2 units per hour depending on actual number of hands played per hour. With a similar spread ratio (1 to 8), I average about 1.6 units per hour playing similar games. So for you, that would be about $8 per hour. To realistically acheive this goal you will need a bankroll in the neighborhood of $3000 to $4000. So that leads to two questions that you must answer. Are you comfortable with this return for your effort? Are you comfortable with the possibility that you could lose this bankroll?

If you answered "yes" to both of these questions, then your goal of $200 to $400 per month is definately within reach if you can devote 25-50 per month to actual play.

The only thing that concerns me about your post, is the phrase "that you are not looking to live solely off your winnings". If you are counting on this as part-time income, in which you do need, to live, this could be a problem as you will not earn this money each and every month. A more realistic approach would be, that if you were going to play 25-50 hours per month for the next 10 month, your expected earning would be $2000-$4000. Of course, this is just the expected earnings. Your actual earning could be more or less or you could even show a loss over that period of time.

 

[moo321]

So after having just graduating college I am left with a year off before law school. Although my law clerking job takes up some time, I am left with quite a lot of free time. Long story short, I picked up playing blackjack. I live in Colorado and the Central City/Black Hawk casinos are only 30 minutes away (for those of you who don't know they recently raised the max bet to $100 from $5 and the casinos are now open 24hrs a day)

My question for you guys is it even worth learning how to count cards given my limited bankroll and experience?

Currently I am practicing Arnold Snyder's Red 7 count and to be honest, I am a good couple of months out before being able to hold accurate counts in multiple deck games in a casino setting. However, I have practiced and used very solid basic strategy, but it seems pointless because without counting, I never truly know when to raise my bets. Yet, it seems that I read quite a few comments on various forums explaining the advantage of card counting is getting smaller and smaller as card counting becomes more popular.

I am not looking to live solely off winnings. Rather, I would hope that I could have a net gain of around $200-$400 a month off of blackjack. I try to practice counting a good hour a day. And when I wake up in the morning I count a deck before I do anything. Right now I can count a deck in approx 50 seconds which I know is slow, but I am working on getting below 40 seconds.

So if it is indeed worth it to count cards, what tips do you have?

My playing conditions are as follows. Blackhawk has 6 deck games with approx. 80 percent penetration which I have been playing to some success (not counting cards though.) They also have 2 deck games, but I do not know the penetration on those tables. My min. bet is $5 while my maximum in $40.

I know I am really new at this and on this forum, but I am hoping your advice and expertise will be able to guide me in the right direction.

Thanks,

Jones

Go to the library, read more books, practice more, and think about it.

 

[imp]

A few "losing sessions" (that is, stopping play for that day with a net loss) will help you make up your mind regarding a long-term commitment to playing.

 

[Thunder]

You're going to have to be able to count a deck down a lot faster than that if you hope to be able to count in the casinos. Try counting 2 cards at a time, then 3. Ideally, you need to get under 30 seconds and if playing multiple decks, you'll have to be able to sustain that pace.