2014 - Blackjack Apprenticeship

Archive: 2014

  1. Blackjack Hall of Fame

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    By David Drury

    Blackjack_Hall_of_FameThe Blackjack Hall of Fame at Barona Casino in San Diego, California stands as a curious testament to the giants who mastered the game of 21 and/or paved the way for its continued mastery.

    The shrine is more than curious; it is paradoxical. Unlike the “Winners Wall” you can find down one hallway or another in every casino, filled with old bats smiling at having lucked their way into a big slot payout—this is different. Casinos are happy to celebrate luck. They are loathe to celebrate mastery. Luck represents a mere tax on their mathematically guaranteed profits. Mastery represents where profit got away from them. More often than not, Casinos boot people from the premises for mastery at Blackjack. Yes, even Barona Casino where, after being booted for mastery, you can walk a few feet and see them celebrating it with great gusto. It all is very strange if you allow yourself to stop and take it in, which I did one day on the way to the gaming floor at Barona Casino. Or I tried to do. I had no idea it was there to begin with.

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  2. “Mike vs the CSM”

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    The following is a story from running “The Church Team,” the blackjack team I ran that beat casinos for over $3Million. It’s a funny story, but it also teaches a valuable lesson…

    CSM continuous shuffle machine

    Mike was one of the biggest members on our team, both in stature and personality. You always knew when he was in the room.

    Like many other people, he tried to use sheer intimidation to “test out” for our blackjack team. But the cards will not fear you… you must fear the cards.

    Fortunately for Mike (and our team), he put in the time and eventually reached the skill level to pass our test. Eager to start making some money and kicking some casino tail, he planned his first trip. But Mike needed a trip worthy of his personality, so he planned a 4 day assault on the Mecca of card counters: Las Vegas. And he wasn’t going alone, but with one of the most infamous card counters on our team, Ford.

    One of their first stops was the Wynn Casino. Their approach was to play separate tables, spread their bets aggressively (2 spots of $100 to 2 spots of $2,000 in those days), and play until Wynn would no longer let them play.

    Mike found a 6-deck game that was empty, so he sat down and bought in for a couple thousand. After a few minutes, the count started to climb. +5, +9, +17. As the count rose, so did Mike’s bets. And he was killing it. But something seemed odd. He’d been playing for a while, but was still in the first deck of the shoe. Oh well… The count was still high!

    Then Ford gave the team signal to meet in the bathroom.

    Ford: “Mike, what the hell are you doing?!?”

    Mike: “What do you mean? It’s going great!”

    Ford: “That’s a CSM table.”

    Mike: “CSM?”

    Ford: “Continuous Shuffle Machine. The cards are re-shuffled into the shoe every few rounds. You can’t count at that table!”

    Mike: “Uhhhh. Ok. I’m up $20,000. Please don’t tell Colin or Ben.”

    Mike finally fessed up. It was as much our fault for not training him to look out for CSM tables. Other players’ mistakes, like accidentally playing a 6:5 table for several minutes, didn’t work out as fortuitously.

    Here’s the lesson:

    basic strategy, counting, true count conversion, and deviations are the basics. Don’t run out and start risking your money at the casino without taking the time to get fully trained.

    Imagine if you wanted to become a pilot. Would you watch some YouTube videos, read a book, then “try” flying a plane? NO!!! You’d make sure you absolutely know everything you need to know before getting into the cockpit in real life. You’d spend time in flight simulators, get training from experienced pilots.  Then, and only then, would you start flying in real life.

    If you want to beat the casino at blackjack, here are 3 things you can do to make sure your game is well rounded:

    1. Watched our entire video course, that’s a great start. Every bootcamp, people ask us questions that we’ve already answered in the video course. Every card counter should have watched the video course at least once, if not twice.
    2. Keep up to date on our Forum. There is SO MUCH knowledge on our forum, it’s ridiculous. Check the most recent conversations at least once a week, as well as looking at some of the older discussions. I guarantee you’ll learn a ton.
    3. If you REALLY want to know if you have holes in your game, invest in your craft by attending a Bootcamp. You will leave knowing every flaw in your game that YOU DIDN’T EVEN KNOW EXISTED, as well as how to fix it. You’ll learn more about EV and beating casinos than you even knew existed. And you’ll leave with contacts that could serve invaluable for your card counting career.

    And if you’re not ready to invest money into your training, you can still start learning now from our FREE Card Counting Mini-Course…

    Until next time, keep generating EV!

    Related Content

  3. Profile of a Counter: BJA Member “Skywayman”

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    bryan's pic redactedWe recently had the pleasure of interviewing BJA member Skywayman on his blackjack journey. Here are the questions we asked him and his responses.

    1. How did you get into card counting?
    I got into card counting when I first watched Holy Rollers on Netflix. That led me to BJA.

    2. How long have you been counting cards?
    I’ve been counting for a little over a year.

    3. How long did it take you to trust your skills? How do you know you’re any good?
    It took me about a month and half of training for me to trust my skills. I knew I had it down when I could deal multiple hands to myself while carrying a conversation and watching TV. Also, playing CVBJ was a great tool that I used when I was practicing every day. If you can play flawlessly on their live game mode, you aren’t too far away from moving your training into the casino.

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  4. Profile of a Card Counter: BJA Member “HitA7”

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    Profile of a Card Counter HitA7For this edition of “Profile of a Card Counter”, we interviewed our friend, “HitA7” about his training, exploits, successes, and failures. If you’re new to card counting, don’t overlook the value of learning from others. If you’re a seasoned counter, you should be able to relate to the highs and lows of fleecing the casinos! (more…)

  5. How to Lose at Blackjack

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    How to Lose at BlackjackEveryone loses.

    I’m not sure how many sessions of backjack I’ve played in my life.

    My guess is around 1000.

    Far less than many advantage players, even ones that played on our team.

    In fact, if we want to talk about other embarrassing statistics we can talk about how much I’ve won at casinos. Or rather, how much I haven’t won. I was just told by Colin that my lifetime win is actually under $100,000. Good thing there’s multiple ways of calling yourself a “professional” (one is just having a low standard of living).* So, how was I able to start a team and a website that teaches people like you how to extract money from casinos? Well, I was reading a book this last week and I stumbled across a little insight that I think contributed to my success and I would like to share it with you here. It’s how I became good at losing. (more…)

  6. Interview with BJA Member “iambowman”

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    profile image 2 croppedEvery month or so, we like to take the opportunity to profile a different card counter on our Forum.

    It gives us all an opportunity to learn from each others’ experiences, to get inspired by some good stories, and for those who are still training to hear from those who have gone before them.

    We recently had the privilege of interviewing “iambowman”. He shares some of the ups and downs of getting started, the biggest challenges he’s had to overcome  (hint… they had nothing to do with playing blackjack properly), and shares a few of his most impressive non-casino related advantage plays…

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  7. Why You Shouldn’t Trust Your Blackjack Dealer

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    The count rises to a true 4.

    I grab a stack of $100 black chips and place them in the my betting square.

    I get a 9,3 and the dealer has a 7 up. I hit my 12 and get a 2, hit again and get a 4 so I stand. 

    The dealer turns the hole card over and reveals a 4. She hits several more times, standing when she has 4, 7, Ace, 3, 2. She then calls out, “push” and moves on to the next round. 

    What’s wrong with this picture?
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  8. Why Was Ben Affleck Banned from Blackjack at Hard Rock Casino?

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    I’m with the Banned: What it Means that Ben Affleck Got Booted from Blackjack

    why was Ben Affleck Banned from Blackjack at Casinoby David Drury

    Every celebrity plays poker.

    Poker is good for celebrity.

    You get to show your face around town; you have something to keep you busy in Vegas while the wife is keeping up with the Kardashians; you boost public perception for throwing your snazzy fedora in the ring at charity tournaments.

    You restore blood flow to the parts of your body that forgot how piles of money can make you feel something. Just for showing up you get all kinds of comps, cred, and curtain calls. If you study up and play smart you might even fashion yourself into a winning player. The full arsenal of your brainpower and competitive wiles are welcome here—but cross the casino floor to the blackjack tables with that kind of know-how, and all bets are off.

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  9. Interview with BJA Member “Vexbasque”

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    Profile of a Card CounterI met Vex in Vegas at one of our Blackjack Bootcamps a couple years ago, though he’d been training hard and involved in the forum for a while. One of the most exciting things for us is seeing someone make the progression from Newbie to winning Card Counter. (more…)