blackjack guy at work
Today at work there was a nice old man wheeling around in a wheelchair. His name is Kenny. He was talking to the sales managers right behind me. When they got busy he turned his attention to me. I was friendly to him and explained what my job was and how I go about doing it. He seemed interested as most old people are. I noticed he had a Mohegan Sun sweatshirt on and I asked if he goes to casinos often. This seemed to spike his interest. "Yes I go quite often" he replied. He explained to me that he goes about every ten days. I of course followed up with the obvious response. "What games do you focus on and do you do well?" He of course said he mostly plays blackjack. He also seemed to do very well for himself at the blackjack table. I told him what I thought about blackjack (it seems like an easy game to win $ at) He told me that it is an easy game if you know what you are doing. He decided that he would give me a blackjack lesson right there and then. There was not much going on in the internet-work-world so I was happy to sit through his lecture. I quickly discovered that this guy knows his stuff and he knows how to make money at the casinos. Lots of what he said was not news to me but other stuff seemed very useful. He told me he used to count cards when playing blackjack for an additional edge but he often left casinos with headaches. Well I also count cards while playing...not that I have used it too often but I do know how nonetheless. So when he told me he has a bet pattern method that makes it so he does not have to count cards but has the same effect I was very interested. Here is what he does. Clearly he knows how to play every hand in every situation...so assuming you know that you use the following bet pattern. 1-1-2-2-3-5. Now let me explain a bit. The #s represent units. For example if the minimum bet at your table is 25$ the 1 represents 25$ 2 represents 50$ and so on. You use this betting schedule as a straight-line method. If at any point you lose a hand you start back at the beginning. Here is a quick example. I pay 25$ for my first hand (the table minimum) and win. My next hand I will pay 25$ again. If I win that hand the following bet will be 50$. Now lets say I lose that bet, I would start back at one unit or 25$. So how does this substitute card counting you ask? Lets see if I can explain that one well.
When you count cards playing blackjack the goal is to determine how "rich" the deck is with 10 point value cards (10, jacks, queens, and kings) A good deck for the player is a deck rich with these high cards. This means that the dealer will be more likely to bust and you will be able to play around busting seeing that you know there are more high value cards then smalls. Of course the opposite is not a table you want to play. When there are many small cards left in the deck. That means the dealer will be able to take hits without busting. The goal is to increase your betting when the deck has a lopsided amount of face cards and of course you will decrease your bets r leave the table when the deck has more low value cards. This is essentially what you want to get at when you are counting cards.
Now the bet schedule...the 1-1-2-2-3-5 schedule allows you to take advantage of a deck rich with high cards because you will be winning and increasing your bets. When the deck is not rich (poor perhaps) you will only be losing the minimum amount. So in essence following this betting schedule will be give you the same effect as counting cards does with much less work.
Kenny told me another tidbit that was clear to me already but he just re-iterated it. He says you play until you run out of $ or you double your bank roll. So if I start with 300$ and I get to 600$ I leave. You have to be disciplined with this because many people will just play "one more game" ect. He made it quite clear to me that it took him 40 years to figure that out and had he followed it the whole time he played he would be a much wealthier man today. I think that is a good rule of thumb for when to stop. Of course if I start with $300 and i get to $650 I will play around with the 50$ until I lose it or get high enough that its time to stop. I just felt the need to share with anyone that reads my LJ...all 2 of you ;)
~dyke
When you count cards playing blackjack the goal is to determine how "rich" the deck is with 10 point value cards (10, jacks, queens, and kings) A good deck for the player is a deck rich with these high cards. This means that the dealer will be more likely to bust and you will be able to play around busting seeing that you know there are more high value cards then smalls. Of course the opposite is not a table you want to play. When there are many small cards left in the deck. That means the dealer will be able to take hits without busting. The goal is to increase your betting when the deck has a lopsided amount of face cards and of course you will decrease your bets r leave the table when the deck has more low value cards. This is essentially what you want to get at when you are counting cards.
Now the bet schedule...the 1-1-2-2-3-5 schedule allows you to take advantage of a deck rich with high cards because you will be winning and increasing your bets. When the deck is not rich (poor perhaps) you will only be losing the minimum amount. So in essence following this betting schedule will be give you the same effect as counting cards does with much less work.
Kenny told me another tidbit that was clear to me already but he just re-iterated it. He says you play until you run out of $ or you double your bank roll. So if I start with 300$ and I get to 600$ I leave. You have to be disciplined with this because many people will just play "one more game" ect. He made it quite clear to me that it took him 40 years to figure that out and had he followed it the whole time he played he would be a much wealthier man today. I think that is a good rule of thumb for when to stop. Of course if I start with $300 and i get to $650 I will play around with the 50$ until I lose it or get high enough that its time to stop. I just felt the need to share with anyone that reads my LJ...all 2 of you ;)
~dyke