Split Double Destroy! [real-time dispatches from behind enemy lines]

If there ever is an appropriate time to throw a tantrum—it is now.

When the new dealer stepped up I was betting two hands of $500 each at an advantaged count. She burned a card, waited for a player to finish fumbling with his bet, burned a card, and dealt out the round.

Catch that? Two burn cards.

I got a hard 13 and a hard 14. Dealer got an ace.  Cue tantrum. Read the rest of this entry »

Introducing…

I’m super excited about this opportunity to introduce you to one of the most feared and underground names in card counting. This man has been under the radar for years and I assure you, there have been no movies made about him and he has not been out there flaunting his accomplishments…until now.

He goes by, Loudon Ofton.

This man has been responsible for taking millions from casinos and he has agreed to write anonymous posts on blackjackapprenticeship.com about his experiences from the front lines of playing blackjack. Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t Sell Yourself Short! (in Card Counting or in Life)

Recently, I got the opportunity to talk to several of the most successful Blackjack card counters and blackjack team managers of all time. We spent several hours swapping stories and talking shop. And one of the most valuable things I took away from the discussion is that we’ve all had times when we weren’t winning like we should, and it came down to one simple problem: we lowered our standards.

Read the rest of this entry »

Happy New Years!

darwini bell party favorWell 09 was a crazy year over here at Blackjackapprenticeship.com. We don’t like to brag nor am I a huge fan of new year’s resolutions but this can be a great time of year to pause and reflect on the previous year and set our sights on the next year. So here is what went down in ‘09 at BJA:

  • We completely re-designed our site so it doesn’t look like a piece of crap
  • Lead a series of bootcamps in Vegas that we received massive amounts of positive feedback on.
  • I don’t want to be too exact with the number but let’s just say we profited from clearing out more than 6 figures worth of $chips$ from casino racks. Read the rest of this entry »

Card Counting Darwinism- Learn to Adapt!

0020A while back, I came across a casino with a great game. Good rules and INSANE pen. After walking around the casino floor to figure out my best option, I ordered a beer, sat down at a table, and started firing away. OK. Let me clarify. I ordered the beer for the “image” it would give, I actually stood at the table, and by “firing away”, I mean I was betting the table limit within the first 2 decks of the 6 deck shoe. I was high fiving players, asking the pit crew to comp me energy drinks, and doing whatever else I could to generate as much EV as I could before they caught on.

Read the rest of this entry »

Why I like Terrible Customer Service (in casinos)

The other day I went out to play a little blackjack. This isn’t a super common event for me since I spend most of my time training blackjack players and working on other businesses but the experience was memorable and has some lessons for all of us. This particular casino I played at was a small one. By small I mean, 4 table games open (only one of which is blackjack) and only one pit boss. This particular night the cards were landing for me. I couldn’t lose. No less than 3 times I emptied all the chips in the rack above $5. This means that I had stacks and stacks of chips in front of me and the casino had no chips in front of them.

This:

a) is really hard to do

b) feels really good

c) shows how completely incompetent the pit boss is. Read the rest of this entry »

Ben

Ben

Card Counting has all of the benefits and thrill of getting in trouble with none of the legal (or moral) consequences. I'm one of those people that like to take things to the edge...and then going one more step. READ MORE

Colin

Colin

After finishing college, I thought I’d end up teaching Math classes or going on to get a Masters Degree. After reading some books and networking with a couple other card counters, I began playing blackjack to supplement my income. READ MORE