where is everyone?

Counting cards is tricky. Not because actually counting the cards is all that difficult. If you are playing a green chip ($25) game they won't really care that much but they will still fuck with you if they think you are counting cards. It's just the visibility isn't there of a higher game meaning the floor person won't be watching too often or caring all that much but they still will if they think you are counting cards. Meaning the dealer will start talking to you and the floor person will stay and watch. This was a while ago but I think you can do like $15-25 / hr at a green chip game. It's hard to sustain for hours and hours over days and days. I figured I was just better off getting a regular job. Black chip game ($100) they are watching for it more. You can probably make $100 / hr at a black chip game but they likely will eventually 86 you (throw you out of the casino). I think it's really hard for counting cards to be sustainable unless you had multiple casinos to choose from and even then in Vegas for example they are probably great at finding the card counters. I could count cards well but I couldn't mask it that well. I remember I was playing a green chip game and the count got really good. I bet $200 when all my other bets were $25 and the count stayed good and I was betting these randomly large amounts (% of my edge). The dealer started chatting with me and the floor person stood over me with his arms crossed. Situations like that are where you make your profit but they also signal that I was counting cards. It was a new casino and most of the dealers were inexperienced. They didn't kick me out but if I was playing a black chip game or higher full time 40 hours a week there is no doubt they would punt me.

It takes some practice learning optimal strategy and how to count but it isn't rocket science. How to mask your winnings is the tough part. Also, I played a lot of hours over a few days to practice live because it was kind of fun and stimulating but to do it full time as a job would be fucking brutal.

I just landed in Taiwan. I'll be here for another two hours until my flight to Cebu takes off.

Hope y'all are doing good

One thing about blackjack is that it scales well but I think that scale is deceiving. If you are playing a flag chip ($5,000) you don't really need any skills that you wouldn't have from a red chip ($5) game but you would have to figure out how to mask winnings. Best bet might be to play short sessions or mix up the casinos a lot or even learn how to drink and bullshit while counting cards. Or, punt elsewhere in the casino. That's why people started making teams because it is much easier that way. You signal someone to sit in when the count is good and leave when the count is bad. Or, literally wear different masks while playing.

Peace is my way, paradise is my destination

On February 20 2024 11:00 lostaccount wrote: Peace is my way, paradise is my destination

This is the way.

How do you find peace?

I find paradise through painting and perhaps meditation and also by traveling to paradise. Peace and paradise are maybe slightly related but I find I have to do something to get paradise. Peace I can get through meditation too but tends to be more ephemeral and difficult to pin down.

Pray for peace, pray for paradise

no thank you

that's too bad cuz it helps mr rikd.

rikd what's ur real name? what is loco real name? what is hems real name? do u know my English or Chinese name name?

rikd you probably read hamlet, I need to read it

I haven't read any Shakespeare besides Romeo and Juliet in high school. Hamlet should be the next thing I read.

I travelled to different casinos around the country and card counted 3 years ago for about 6 months. Started by stumbling on a craigslist ad looking for a new player. Interviewed for the position just like a real job lol. Ended up being trained vigorously for about a month by the leader before I was able to finally test out. Even today, counting is burned in my head to the point of muscle memory. I can still hold a conversation easily while counting down a 6 deck shoe while changing my bets and accounting for deviations.

In the little time I played, I was very successful running above EV and only got backed off a few times toward the end of my spell. At my peak my top bet was 2 x $400 @ TC (true count) 7. However, I mostly played around 2 x $200 @ TC 5. My hourly was somewhere between 80-120 depending on my spread. Our team also utilized a rare progressive system which provided us with excellent cover as it was very difficult to decipher, especially for the average pit boss or even surveillance. It really set us apart imo.

Ironically, the team ended up moving from Blackjack and started transitioning to poker lol. The common belief among APs (advantage players) is that it's becoming more difficult to get hours. For example, lots of casinos are starting to employ ACMs (automatic card shufflers) and some are even using scanners which count the cards and make it easy for surveillance to spot you as your bets fluctuate. Not to mention, facial recognition technology which means if you've ever been backed off or flyered (when casinos share an image of your face with other connected casinos) good luck even making it to a table. They'll catch you as soon as you walk in.

IMO, I do not recommend card counting because first, it's really fucking hard to master. It's easy to learn but difficult to perfect. It will take hundreds of hours of repetitive action to get to the level that you should be. Lots of people try card counting but fail and it's because they are not as good as they think. The actual counting is only one part of the equation. Being able to consistently split your mind and divide what's left in the deck ACCURATELY, and change your bets constantly while not looking like you're absolutely focused in like Rain Man is what's difficult, lol.

Second, it really sucks but the dealers, the pit bosses, the other players, literally EVERYONE hates you for various reasons. The casino and pit bosses because you're winning. The dealers because you aren't tipping. And the players because you're making weird plays at seemingly random moments and because they're superstitious and don't understand math they believe you're affecting their results. It's just not pleasant to go somewhere where no one likes you. It sort of wears on you.

And probably the worst part about it; there's a shit ton of travel involved. Presumably, you can only hit a table for maybe 45-60 minutes tops before having to move on. Sometimes shorter depending on how quickly you hit your top bet and if you're winning/losing. This means, that if a casino only has a few tables, you can be in and out of there within an hour which means hopefully another casino is close by because you'll have to get back into your car and drive again. Sometimes the next closest casino is an hour away. It's alot of this. Walking around, bouncing from table to table, from casino to casino. Unlike poker where you can just plop yourself and play for 16 hours straight, it is significantly more difficult to get hours. An hour 8 hour "shift" can more realistically take you 12 hours or more. Sometimes far more. It's tiring.

If you have a family, it's absolutely terrible because you're never home and if you're not a fan of variance it's also terrible because it's swingy as shit. I'm not sure the actual numbers but your edge is still pretty fucking small, maybe something like 5% give or take. And that's with absolutely impeccable play. Any mistakes you make, especially at top bets, are magnified and can ruin an entire session or even trip so you have to be extremely accurate with your count and subsequent arithmetic as you have to do alot of accurate estimations and dividing.

If you're serious about learning though, I recommend Blackjack Apprenticeship by Colin Jones who's one of the GOATs. To learn his story which is actually pretty interesting, there's a documentary called "Holy Rollers". It's about his religious Blackjack team from Washington state and how they won millions back in like the early 2010s. Anyway, BJA is an excellent tool for learning counting the right way. Like poker, there's a lot of bullshit being peddled so it's important that you find what's actually good. He's got some free stuff on Youtube, mostly short videos, but if you really want to learn you'll have to pay for the course which is pretty expensive. Not sure how much it is nowadays. There's also a blackjack simulator called CVCX that allows you to import table conditions like rules, penetration, etc and it will spit out a theoretical winrate/hourly. It's super cool. Also pretty expensive. And lastly, a good Blackjack podcast would be "Gambling with an Edge" with Richard Munchkin. My old team leader was actually interviewed on there. You can find the video here:

Anyway, good luck and If you have any questions feel free to ask.

TL;DR - Card counting sucks and is soul sucking once the novelty of "beating the casino" wears off. Stay away imo.

On February 24 2024 02:55 Syntax wrote: I travelled to different casinos around the country and card counted 3 years ago for about 6 months. Started by stumbling on a craigslist ad looking for a new player. Interviewed for the position just like a real job lol. Ended up being trained vigorously for about a month by the leader before I was able to finally test out. Even today, counting is burned in my head to the point of muscle memory. I can still hold a conversation easily while counting down a 6 deck shoe while changing my bets and accounting for deviations. In the little time I played, I was very successful running above EV and only got backed off a few times toward the end of my spell. At my peak my top bet was 2 x $400 @ TC (true count) 7. However, I mostly played around 2 x $200 @ TC 5. My hourly was somewhere between 80-120 depending on my spread. Our team also utilized a rare progressive system which provided us with excellent cover as it was very difficult to decipher, especially for the average pit boss or even surveillance. It really set us apart imo. Ironically, the team ended up moving from Blackjack and started transitioning to poker lol. The common belief among APs (advantage players) is that it's becoming more difficult to get hours. For example, lots of casinos are starting to employ ACMs (automatic card shufflers) and some are even using scanners which count the cards and make it easy for surveillance to spot you as your bets fluctuate. Not to mention, facial recognition technology which means if you've ever been backed off or flyered (when casinos share an image of your face with other connected casinos) good luck even making it to a table. They'll catch you as soon as you walk in. IMO, I do not recommend card counting because first, it's really fucking hard to master. It's easy to learn but difficult to perfect. It will take hundreds of hours of repetitive action to get to the level that you should be. Lots of people try card counting but fail and it's because they are not as good as they think. The actual counting is only one part of the equation. Being able to consistently split your mind and divide what's left in the deck ACCURATELY, and change your bets constantly while not looking like you're absolutely focused in like Rain Man is what's difficult, lol. Second, it really sucks but the dealers, the pit bosses, the other players, literally EVERYONE hates you for various reasons. The casino and pit bosses because you're winning. The dealers because you aren't tipping. And the players because you're making weird plays at seemingly random moments and because they're superstitious and don't understand math they believe you're affecting their results. It's just not pleasant to go somewhere where no one likes you. It sort of wears on you. And probably the worst part about it; there's a shit ton of travel involved. Presumably, you can only hit a table for maybe 45-60 minutes tops before having to move on. Sometimes shorter depending on how quickly you hit your top bet and if you're winning/losing. This means, that if a casino only has a few tables, you can be in and out of there within an hour which means hopefully another casino is close by because you'll have to get back into your car and drive again. Sometimes the next closest casino is an hour away. It's alot of this. Walking around, bouncing from table to table, from casino to casino. Unlike poker where you can just plop yourself and play for 16 hours straight, it is significantly more difficult to get hours. An hour 8 hour "shift" can more realistically take you 12 hours or more. Sometimes far more. It's tiring. If you have a family, it's absolutely terrible because you're never home and if you're not a fan of variance it's also terrible because it's swingy as shit. I'm not sure the actual numbers but your edge is still pretty fucking small, maybe something like 5% give or take. And that's with absolutely impeccable play. Any mistakes you make, especially at top bets, are magnified and can ruin an entire session or even trip so you have to be extremely accurate with your count and subsequent arithmetic as you have to do alot of accurate estimations and dividing. If you're serious about learning though, I recommend Blackjack Apprenticeship by Colin Jones who's one of the GOATs. To learn his story which is actually pretty interesting, there's a documentary called "Holy Rollers". It's about his religious Blackjack team from Washington state and how they won millions back in like the early 2010s. Anyway, BJA is an excellent tool for learning counting the right way. Like poker, there's a lot of bullshit being peddled so it's important that you find what's actually good. He's got some free stuff on Youtube, mostly short videos, but if you really want to learn you'll have to pay for the course which is pretty expensive. Not sure how much it is nowadays. There's also a blackjack simulator called CVCX that allows you to import table conditions like rules, penetration, etc and it will spit out a theoretical winrate/hourly. It's super cool. Also pretty expensive. And lastly, a good Blackjack podcast would be "Gambling with an Edge" with Richard Munchkin. My old team leader was actually interviewed on there. You can find the video here: Anyway, good luck and If you have any questions feel free to ask. TL;DR - Card counting sucks and is soul sucking once the novelty of "beating the casino" wears off. Stay away imo.

This deserves its own blog.

I'd enjoy reading more about your card counting stories sometime.