Blackjack league. They really WIN in online casinos

So I got me a little snifter here. Jack’s been working his way through some freebies - a new supplier’s trying to break into supplying the casino. Reckons he needs to make sure all the right people get their taste of the good stuff and we’re both of us out to oblige him. Damn, but some of this stuff is good! Makes me wanna give up the poker and the slot machines, and settle down with a bottle or two to enjoy my retirement. Anyways, the young fellah just called. Caught me in a mellow mood for once. He thinks - well, we can suspend judgement on that for so long as he keeps paying me - he thinks I should explain myself. In one piece I’m saying there’s, “a proper mathematical playing strategy for video poker.” In the next, I’m saying there’s a gambler’s fallacy and you can’t predict the cards. He thinks they doesn’t fit right together. So here’s a few words to make it all crystal. Did you ever see Ocean’s 11 - don’t matter whether it was the original Rat Pack version or the new ones with George Clooney and his pals? Did you notice how they always robbed the casinos. There was never a hint of walking through the door with a system for winning at the tables or on the slot machines. Hollywood got it right for once. The only way you guarantee a big score at a casino is as a thief - and you’ve to be lucky to enjoy your “takings” and avoid the hail of bullets if you get caught by wrong people. Look around online. You’ll see a small army of people touting their systems for beating all casino games with a house advantage. Play slot machines, win big. Win at blackjack without counting. When I was growing up, my mother used to play 78s all the time. She loved the musicals of the 1920s. She’d never been on the chorus line, but she’d a hankering for it. Her parents disapproved of theatrical folk and that was an end of that. Anyways, one of my favorites was Banana Oil - kinda like snake oil but always applied to lounge-lizard lines. “When he tells you, ‘I adore you,’ that’s banana oil.” In other words, everything he said to get his mark into bed was bullshit. Well, the same goes for all these salesmen pushing betting systems for slot machines. They’re trying to scam you outa your money. Take it from me. There ain’t no system around that even dents the House edge on games where the probabilities are set in the House’s favor. Math is math. Mind you. It’s not my money - you wanna fool yourself you can shade the odds in your favor on video poker, then feel free. So, how do these systems work? You’re supposed to base your bets on the most recent outcomes. Take roulette as an example. Wait for a run of blacks, then bet on red - the longer the run, the bigger the bets on red. If you see a pattern emerging, you’re supposed to think that the probabilities of the game itself have changed. When I worked for casinos, we always nodded wisely when someone cautiously asked if they could play a system. Another little chicken ripe for the plucking. My father was counting deaths by the million over decades for the life companies. Probabilities and statistics only make sense in the long view. Short-term, you’ll find anomalies in all slot machines but, over time, the basic patterns are set in stone and in the House’s favor. You’ll see lucky streaks that look like they’re never going to end. But, so long as the House keeps its nerve, the winner will lose it all back again. It’s the same with the so-called systems. They aim to build up the small wins to offset the big losses. If you’ve the bankroll, you can often win over a session. But you’re obsessional kind, ain’t ya? You’ve invested that money in a system. You’re not going to quit while you’re ahead, are you? Which means that any small winnings you picked up on the good days will all get given back to the casinos on the bad days. It’s just the way the House edge works. Like I say, you can’t beat the math. Which leaves me with my strategy, which I’ll get back to when I’m good and ready.

Some years back people started peddling bogus blackjack systems based on the “non-random” shuffles used in casinos. They claimed that these poor shuffles tended to “clump” the high cards with high cards, and low cards with low cards, and that this effect was very detrimental to the players- unless they used a special “trend” system that took this clumping effect into account.
To evaluate these claims, in 198]1 ran computer simulations of blackjack games with non-random casino-style shuffles. The poor shuffles had no effect on the players’ results. So, I tested worse shuffles. Finally, I tested a shoe game in which the dealer did not shuffle the cards at all! He just took the cards from the discard tray and started dealing. This produced some very strange results!

This chapter outlines the High-Low system, undoubtedly the most popular professional-level point count in the world today. Harvey Dubner first introduced it in the early 1960s, and over the years, blackjack luminaries like Edward Thorp, Lawrence Revere, Julian Braun, and Stanford Wong have refined it into a powerful method that combines a high playing and betting efficiency with a good deal of user friendliness. It’s a level one that isn’t too difficult to master, yet brings to the table an edge that meets or exceeds many other card-counting methods. But as with any point count system, the foundation for successful use of the High-Low comes only after the student has mastered Basic Strategy.

The beginning sections of this chapter delve into the basics, including card values, combinations, and how to keep a running count as the care are being dealt. The latter sections focus on speed, and then the all-important process of converting the running count to a true count for both playing and betting purposes, which is covered in subsequent chapters.

As far as an approach to learning the material goes, you may find it most beneficial to first read through the entire chapter—to gain perspective—then return to each section individually to master the соn cepts presented therein. Covering the material in this way might better illustrate how each part contributes to form a comprehensive overall strategy.

In the casino world, more hands dealt means more money for the house, For that reason most dealers, especially those working from a shoe, tend to deal at a fairly rapid pace, requiring a counter to keep up with the cards or risk losing the count and thus losing any chance of knowing when an advantage over the house exists.

As far as speed is concerned, the benchmark we’ll shoot for is to be able to count down a standard fifty-two-card deck in about twenty-frve seconds. This is the time most proficient counters aim to either meet or exceed in order to simulate real-world conditions. By the way, counting down a deck in twenty-five seconds or less should be achieved not once or twice every so many tries, but consistently and with relative ease.

To further work on speed and accuracy, I would suggest securing as many decks of cards as possible. Make sure all are complete, and then just as you did with a single deck, begin counting down four, six, and even eight decks at a time. The reason for this is that you should become familiar with counts characteristic of multiple-deck games. You should start to see much higher positive and negative cumulative totals, along with a running count that often rises and falls with surprising volatility This takes a little more getting used to than the relatively smaller hills and valleys characteristic of the single-deck game. You’ll see what I mean as soon as you begin practicing.

Keep in mind, though, that accuracy is still more important than speed, and that the latter will come with enough repetition.

The next step is to begin keeping a cumulative total. This means that blackjack trainer instead of reciting the actual point count value of each card as shown above, you’ll add or subtract as necessary to keep an overall total. In other words, if a 2, 5, king, 8, and 3 are dealt in succession, instead of reciting “+1, +1, -1,0, and +1,” you’ll now recite “+1, +2, +1, +1, +2.” Keep in mind that you’re always adding with each new card that is dealt, so that, for instance, -1 added to a -3 equals -4, and a -1 added to a +7 equals a +6. Right from the start you should notice how your count will rise and fall depending on what cards are dealt—sometimes going positive, sometimes remaining negative, and often fluctuating between.

As you did when committing Basic Strategy to memory, spend as much time as you need practicing the running count. Repetition is key. As with so many other endeavors, the more you practice the better you’ll become Blackjack tournaments. Adding or subtracting only 1 (or zero) from the previous total based on the last card dealt should become almost natural after only a few hours of practice. At this stage of the game, accuracy is much more important than speed, which will develop in time.

Take a deck of cards with you wherever you go, in your shirt pocket or purse. Whenever a spare moment allows, count down a deck. Make it a game by stopping just prior to the last card and then guessing its value. If you’re accurate, ending with a +1 will mean the last card is a 10 or ace. If your running count is o, you know you’re holding a 7,8, or 9. If your count is negative, then it’s definitely a low card. If you’re wrong, recount the same deck without shuffling so you can isolate and correct any kind of unusual sequence that may present a particular stumbling block.

Any shortcut that increases speed or cuts down on the amount of processing necessary is a benefit casinos for blackjack. For that reason, grouping combinations of cards can be beneficial, even when using a method in which card values can only increase or decrease the running count by one.

Learn those combinations that sum to zero and can thus be blackjack odds table ignored—like any high card or low card followed by the opposite. In effect, you can just skip a queen followed by a 2, or a 6 followed by an ace, or a king followed by a 5, because a +1 and a -1 cancel each other out.

As you continue to practice counting down decks, try to spot these two-card combinations when they arise—by simply gliding over them as they occur in blackjack game. In other words, see and recognize them for what they are, but don’t waste time or energy by actually adding them together. After a few times through, you should notice an increase in speed, simply because you’re no longer reciting to yourself a cumulative total after every single card.

Spend some time counting down decks in this fashion, getting more and more used to keeping a running count total by combining cards whenever practical.

What city is home to more casinos per square mile than anywhere in the world, and also happens to be mecca for the modern-day card counter? If your answer was “Las Vegas,” you’re right. Sin City has turned up the volume yet again dealt a blackjack. And that was a good business decision, because with the popularity of casino gambling exploding across the United States, some place had to emerge as the creme de la creme of gambling towns. And that somewhere remains, indisputably, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Okay, enough about Vegas. Where else can I find casinos to throw my 1V2 percent at?

In the United States, try Atlantic City, Northern Connecticut, Gulfport/Biloxi, Reno/Lake Tahoe, Chicagoland, Minnesota, Michigan, St. Louis, New Orleans, Niagara Falls—the list goes on and on, and includes hundreds of casinos for blackjack riverboats and Indian casinos all over the United States. By the way, unless you’re from the Upper Midwest, I’ll bet you didn’t know that the state of Minnesota alone has about nineteen operating casinos.

On the international front, casinos can be found in many countries all over the world. They’re just a little more low-key than those in America. Don’t expect mega-structures with 6,000-room hotels over-looking a volcano. In fact, in some European countries it’s very possible to pass a casino on the street and not even know of its existence behind the glass doors of what could easily be mistaken as a private club or office. Serious players find out where the games are and what rules apply—without the aid of blinking lights or garish advertisement. It’s a whole different kind of interface—you’ll know what I mean if you ever play in other countries.

Some better-known international destinations offering casino gambling include the Caribbean, Canada, London, Amsterdam, Monte Carlo, and all over the Pacific Rim, including the major cities in Australia.