Going to casino, how do I count cards?

[Marshstyles]

The dealer will tell you how much you have...

Always thought blackjack was the fairest game in the casino?

You are just against the dealer.

The only disadvantage I see is that you get to bust first.

 

[rubberduck]

, I wrote a blackjack program in excel VBA which doesn't show the totals. I'm pretty efficient at blackjack now

You had to write an excel program to teach you how to add a few numbers of 11 or less when you have a degree in maths?

I have been been reading these forums for many, many years now and this is certainly the most ridiculous thing I have ever read on here by quite some distance.

 

[bledd]

I counted them once, there were 52; no joke.

No nibbles

 

[pitchfork]

Screw blackjack, play roulette, it's way easier to game roulette.

Once you've a decent roulette pot, move on to blackjack so you can play the big hands, then lose it all on poker.

Always my gambling strategy.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

You had to write an excel program to teach you how to add a few numbers of 11 or less when you have a degree in maths?

I have been been reading these forums for many, many years now and this is certainly the most ridiculous thing I have ever read on here by quite some distance.

It sounds stupid but there are many people with English degrees who can't read & write properly.
It doesn't surprise me at all that somebody can do advanced calculus for breakfast but can't add 2+2 together.

 

[estebanrey]

The only disadvantage I see is that you get to bust first.

That's quite a big disadvantage when you think about it. Also you only ever see one of their two cards which is another disadvantage.

If you play 'perfect strategy' you can indeed get the Casino's edge right down to 1-2% (even less depending on the rules) but if you don;t, get drunk and/or make silly bets the edge can be a lot higher than roulette which is fixed however mullered you are.

You had to write an excel program to teach you how to add a few numbers of 11 or less when you have a degree in maths?

Firstly having a degree in maths doesn't mean you are good at arithmetic, it's a different skill entirely. Conversely just because Rachel Riley is good at adding up quickly doesn't mean she knows **** about Pythagoras.

Furthermore, his Excel sheet maybe be used to work out probabilities based on played hands rather than just adding up his card value at that point in time. Not even rain man can calculate the infinite amount of probabilities involved in an ongoing game accurately.

 

[Catanonia]

Bowing out of this thread due to the normal pendant holes who know better and well it is just not worth the effort anymore on my part as I have more important things to do then pick holes in geniune posts.

I worked out last night how much I have won / lost on BJ over the last 2 years, yes I keep records.

+ £30,000

So i was obviously doing it wrong. Either way I have quit casino's as it was becoming an unhealthy addiction walking in each week whilst away from home with a few grand in my pocket. The joys of having a casino next to my hotel whilst contracting.

Good luck OP, just take what you can afford to loss.

 

[Davey_Pitch]

The dealer will tell you how much you have...

Always thought blackjack was the fairest game in the casino?

You are just against the dealer.

The only disadvantage I see is that you get to bust first.

It probably is one of the fairest games, but the odds are still in the favour of the house. By exactly how much depends on how many decks are in play. For example, in a 6 deck game, the odds are 0.64% in favour of the house. Doesn't seem like much but over time, those odds will always cause you to lose.

Bowing out of this thread due to the normal pendant holes who know better and well it is just not worth the effort anymore on my part as I have more important things to do then pick holes in geniune posts.

I worked out last night how much I have won / lost on BJ over the last 2 years, yes I keep records.

+ £30,000

So i was obviously doing it wrong. Either way I have quit casino's as it was becoming an unhealthy addiction walking in each week whilst away from home with a few grand in my pocket. The joys of having a casino next to my hotel whilst contracting.

Good luck OP, just take what you can afford to loss.

If you've genuinely won £30k on blackjack you are the luckiest gambler I know, as your ascertation that you can swing the odds in your favour without card counting is simply wrong. You are deluding yourself if you think otherwise.

 

[MooMoo444]

+ £30,000

So i was obviously doing it wrong. Either way I have quit casino's as it was becoming an unhealthy addiction walking in each week whilst away from home with a few grand in my pocket.

Sorry but your story doesn't add up. Someone who is so confident in their winning ability that they come out 30k up, wouldn't just quit. They'd keep playing, as 'easy income'.

I reckon you didn't make anywhere near that 30k.

 

[Davey_Pitch]

Sorry but your story doesn't add up. Someone who is so confident in their winning ability that they come out 30k up, wouldn't just quit. They'd keep playing, as 'easy income'.

I reckon you didn't make anywhere near that 30k.

I think he may well have won £30k, but he's not counting/forgotten/ignoring all the times he's lost.

If playing basic strategy meant that you could swing the odds in your favour at Blackjack, everyone would learn it and everyone would do it. The simple fact is, all basic strategy does is minimise the amount you lose over a long period of time. Over a short period, it can help you come out ahead, but that's luck dependant. Over time, luck will even itself out and you'll find you eventually lose. It's the same for every casino game, and it's why the casinos make so much money.

 

[dowie]

Bowing out of this thread due to the normal pendant holes who know better and well it is just not worth the effort anymore on my part as I have more important things to do then pick holes in geniune posts.

Its not about picking holes its about correcting something blatantly wrong and irresponsible - despite it being fairly simple to understand why its wrong you still don't understand, left unchecked someone else who doesn't understand could read your post and might be encouraged to believe it gives an edge.

I worked out last night how much I have won / lost on BJ over the last 2 years, yes I keep records.

+ £30,000

So i was obviously doing it wrong.

You've either got lucky over a (relatively) small sample or you're just BSing.

Either way I have quit casino's as it was becoming an unhealthy addiction walking in each week whilst away from home with a few grand in my pocket.

This makes no sense - if you were actually making money and genuinely had an edge from what you were doing then its hardly unhealthy... if anything you should have been doing it on a regular basis at casinos up and down the country... you've supposedly got 30k from a few hours every couple of weeks... you ought to have a large six figure or seven figure amount if you had a genuine edge you could exploit without even having to draw attention to yourself by counting etc... I'd be flying out to Macau and Vegas and going for eight figures if I thought I could beat a casino table game by simply following some basic rules regarding how to bet. In fact you should probably do that... why waste time contracting when you've got an +EV strategy for a table game... you'd never have to work a day in your life again....

 

[McGray]

It sounds stupid but there are many people with English degrees who can't read & write properly.

There really isn't.

 

[Davey_Pitch]

In fact you should probably do that... why waste time contracting when you've got an +EV strategy for a table game... you'd never have to work a day in your life again....

Urgh, I don't know about that. I used to grind blackjack tables and abuse the free bonuses at online casinos, and playing basic strategy with zero margin for deviation felt very much like work! Give me a good game of poker any day.

 

[dowie]

Urgh, I don't know about that. I used to grind blackjack tables and abuse the free bonuses at online casinos, and playing basic strategy with zero margin for deviation felt very much like work! Give me a good game of poker any day.

But you don't have a +EV for the game itself in that situation... you've got the expectation of a small loss which should be less than the bonus amount... its rather limited by the amount of bonuses you can abuse.

Making the game itself +EV tends to give very large rewards... i.e. the first bunch of MIT card counters... these days the edge is tiny, can apparently only be exploited for a small amount without attracting attention and they have to keep switching casinos

edge sorting in baccarat:

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/c...nings-with-top-gambler-phil-ivey-8626545.html

he's relied on flaws in the design of the backs of the cards and convinced the casino/dealer to turn certain cards which meant he was able to identify them when they came up again.... he's got to go to court now as they're claiming it was cheating... but point is getting an edge in a table game is something that can be exploited for large sums

if you could gain an edge from an established game without counting or doing anything that could fall into a grey area as the other poster was claiming then you ought to be able to win millions from it...

 

[zenf]

There really isn't.

Aren't.*

(Hoping you weren't being ironic..)

 

[MooMoo444]

Aren't.*

(Hoping you weren't being ironic..)

He didn't claim to have an English degree

 

[div0]

But you don't have a +EV for the game itself in that situation...

I'm pretty sure Davey understands this

He was just joking that he doesn't find blackjack that much fun to play and so even winning would seem like hard work.

 

[jasonmorris]

Played in Vegas before 5pm where they basically run card schools and the friendly lady dealer just told me to presume the next card is always a 10. As the house cannot stick below 16/17 you should generally win. Gets easier when you play the machines with 10 hands at a time as its a lot quicker and less 'human' pressure. Managed to win about $200 per day without much effort.

 

[div0]

Played in Vegas before 5pm where they basically run card schools and the friendly lady dealer

....was friendly because that's her job, to get you to stay in the casino and play games.

just told me to presume the next card is always a 10.

That's pretty much the most basic 'rule' of blackjack, that a 10 is the most likely card to be drawn next.

As the house cannot stick below 16/17 you should generally win.

Not quite sure what you're getting at here.

A 'simple' but more accurate 'rule' is that the casino always wins and you will lose - unless you get lucky.

You can do things on various games to improve your chance of winning, compared to other punters, but unless you're taking money off other players (poker), then in all other games (vs the casino), there is no skill/tactic/rule which means you can win more than you lose (without luck).

Gets easier when you play the machines with 10 hands at a time as its a lot quicker and less 'human' pressure. Managed to win about $200 per day without much effort.

Wish I had your luck

 

[estebanrey]

That's pretty much the most basic 'rule' of blackjack, that a 10 is the most likely card to be drawn next.

Well that's not true (depending how how you read the wording). A card worth 10 is more likely when compared one-to-one with any other value but it is more likely a card worth less than 10 will be drawn at random.

In a deck of cards there are 16 cards worth 10, but there are 36 worth less (well you can use the jacks as 11 of course but still not 10).