Ben and Colin discuss the dangers of Gambling. If you want to win money at a casino you have to learn how to beat the casino, otherwise you are just gambling. What is the difference between an investing mindset and a gambling mindset? Check out this episode.
P.S. There are more free videos in our course. Such as Tips on Practicing Card Counting and Tips on the Deviation Chart.
Extra Premium Content Related to this Podcast: Signs You Are A Gambler Video.
Ed, Alan, Phil and Doug are driving towards Vegas in a classic Mercedes with the top down. Alan is reading a book on card counting.
Ed - “Isn’t card counting illegal?”
Alan - “No. Its just frowned upon, like masturbating in an airplane.”
Phil - “I’m pretty sure that is illegal too.”
The Hangover is in the theaters. It is a movie from the director of Old School about four friends who go to Vegas for a bachelor party weekend. Alan, the brother of the groom, and a bit of an oddball, unwittingly spikes everyone’s drink with Ruphies (the date rape drug) thinking he was giving everyone ecstasy. The next day they wake up and can’t remember a single thing that happened.
Well, a lot happened it turns out. One such happening was losing 80K of an Asian Gangster’s money. The gang takes Doug hostage and they have to come up with the 80K by sunup or they will never see Doug again.
Alan, the oddball, has read a book on counting cards so they head off to a blackjack table. Complicated equations appear on the screan as Alan (played brilliantly by Zach Galifiankis) watches the cards intently. Finnally, he sits down, calls his friends in, and starts betting big.
There is a 3 minute montage of everyone winning, pressing their bets and winning more. Finally the pit boss begins to get suspicious and is making calls. They notice the heat and take off before anything can happen. They have won 80K - exactly what they need to rescue their friend.
The Hangover is a geeky guy bonding movie and not meant at all to be taken seriously. But if someone asks you if that card counting thing you are into is like the scene in this movie they just saw, then you can politely educate them:
1. Is Counting Cards illegal or just “frowned upon”? Alan is right on this one. It is just “frowned upon”. If a casino thinks you are counting cards they will typically watch you for a while to decide whether you are a real threat to them or not. If they decide you are a threat then they will simply ask you to stop playing. You are not going to get in trouble and you certainly are not going to get arrested or beat up.
2. Can you make 80K in one hour like those guys seemed to do? Yes. You can make that kind of KaChing. But here is the thing: if you are betting with enough money to win that much that fast, you are also betting with enough money to lose that much that fast. To win that much you need to be betting 1000 dollars a hand when the count is in your favor (and likely be playing three hands at once).
3. While Alan is watching the cards, calculus and algebra are floating around his head. Do you have to know really complicated math to count cards? Nope. You don’t have to know high level math. In fact, you really just need to know how to add, subtract, and divide. I always tell people you don’t have to be incredibly smart to count cards. You just have to be averagely smart and incredibly self-disciplined.
4. Can you count cards after reading one book? Well, not really. Counting cards takes a special learned set of skills that takes weeks to get used to. You will have to practice, practice, practice. It only takes one book, or an hour or so in our video course to learn how to count cards, it take weeks and sometimes months to actually be able to do it for real.
In this episode of our Blackjack Apprenticeship Podcast, Ben and Colin discuss what they are doing to get ready for this weekend’s (June 6th) bootcamp in vegas. There are still one or two seats available. If you are interested sign up here, or email benblackjack@gmail.com and talk to Ben directly about going.
Many people have been asking…as promised here is the condensed lectures that I gave to a group of 5th graders about how gambling/casinos work. There’s not much, if anything, about card counting but understanding the big picture is always helpful for advantage players.
A few quick facts before we get on with it:
I just made this video last week. It was created for a “lecture” that I have to a class of 5th graders about how casinos work. It’s funny how simple things get when you think about how to communicate it to 5th graders. Here’s the video. enjoy.
I’m going to post the longer version of the lecture next week because it has some interesting concepts that would be valuable for discussion here.
Mr. Ben
Someone on the BJA forum posted this last week, and I thought it was such an awesome testimonial, I asked if I could post it here on the blog. To protect his anonymity, I’ve removed any of the parts that talked about where exactly he plays. But the rest is completely unedited.This is a fantastic site for the serious blackjack player.
At the moment, I’m up about 7K this year, card counting, using deviations and mainly playing positive decks. These are all strategies that I have learned from this site. In addition, I try to use a stop loss when I play, per table.I consider myself risk adverse (at least at this point), which means I’m trying to limit my down shoes and ride my profits. I believe that Colin said somewhere on the site that his best advice was not to play a negative shoe. In my opinion, that is why I’m up this year. I have no problem moving from table to table to find a positive shoe or to just stop playing and watch the dealer wipe out the table.
Needless to say, after playing every weekend this year, I’m noticed by a lot of the pit bosses and dealers. But I receive no heat. In fact, many go out of their way to say hi. I’m guessing it’s because I’m not making huge up bets. I also receive comped rooms (on weekends) and a lot of comped food, which isn’t calculated in my profits.
I attribute all my success to this site and am looking forward to eventually mastering the betting strategy, which will take my game to the next level.
Good luck to everyone!
XXXXX
We get a lot of emails from kids ages 12+ that want to know if they should learn to count cards. That way, when they’re 21, they can get right to work at taking money from the casinos. Here’s my opinion on this:
DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME OR YOUTH
There are a thousand hobbies that an underage person can get into, that they can actually use NOW, not having to wait several years until they can do anything about it. So wait until you’re 21, then if you’re still interested, learn how to count cards at that point. It shouldn’t take several years to learn, so you’re just wasting time anyway.
Also, people are much more likely to become addicted to gambling if they start when they are teenagers. Granted I think counting cards is very different from gambling, but it still exposes you to that world. And I would never recommend someone to start drinking when they’re underage. But when they’re 21, hopefully you’ll be a LITTLE wiser about what you’re getting yourself into.
So if you’re a teenager and you’re wanting to learn how to master Card Counting, just drop it for now. You can have it mastered in a few months, so wait until you’d be able to put it into practice. If you want a way to make money, start a business. Find a market that you can capture on E-bay or something. Then, you might be ready with a $20K bankroll when you turn 21!
In Part I, I talked about Basic Strategy being the foundation of being a card counter. I want to emphasize that you should continue to keep going through all the basic strategy decisions regularly. Just recite the entire chart from memory in the car once a day, and you won’t find yourself at the casino in the middle of a big hand wondering, “does A,7 hit or stand against 9?”.
Ben gives a thorough explanation in one of our videos. But I’m going to give a few tips.
1. The obvious first step is to take a deck of cards and count through it, one at a time. If you don’t end up at zero, then you did something wrong. This will help you in creating new associations with cards. When you’re playing at a table, you want to see a 4 of clubs primarily as “+1″, not as a 4 of clubs. After time, you’ll start to see cards simply as +1, 0, or -1.
2. Have an approach to cancel that is foolproof. I see lots of rookie card counters trying to get too fancy with cancellations at the table. They wait until all the cards are out on the table, and are cancelling a 10 on one side of the table with a 2 on the other side. This is going to result in problems sooner or later. So have a method that you do the same every time, and that leaves no room for error.
3. Practice by going into a casino and standing behind the table, and just watching. If you can get thru an entire shoe without dropping the count, missing a card, or getting mentally fatigued, then you’ll have a better time when you’re actually trying to play while counting.
4. Buy CVBJ. This software will tell you when you’re off on the count, and so much more.
Remember that being a 99% accurate card counter won’t cut it. But a 100% accurate card counter can turn the tables on the casino!
In part III, I’ll talk about practicing true count conversions.
Hey guys. I wanted to take a minute and tell you guys how excited I am about our upcoming blackjack bootcamp. I was thinking about it, and I’ve probably trained close to 100 people by now, but it’s been several months since I’ve gotten a chance to do any serious training. So not only will this give me an excuse to get to Vegas (and try to put even more hurt on their economy!), but this will give me a chance to impart to a handful of people the skills they’ll need to start taking money from the casinos.
So I thought I’d tell you guys the top 3 things I’m looking forward to at the bootcamp:
1. Watching trainees play, and helping them improve their game. The best thing to help solidify my game was having someone else watch me, and point out if and where I would make a mistake. If you don’t have someone point it out, you could go on indefinitely making the same stupid counting or strategy misake.
2. Teaching people the ins and outs of how to generate the most EV out of blackjack. It is very common to have 2 card counters, both who play perfectly, generate vastly different amounts of EV. Knowing the secrets of how to get the most out of card counting will make all the difference in the world.
3. Helping people create custom bet spreads and strategies, based on their individual bankrolls and goals. The most common question I hear is, “How large of a bankroll do I need to…?” or “what should my bet spread be with X bankroll?” The problem is, it’s a complicated answer, based on how much risk you’re willing to take, the size of your bankroll, the games you’re going to be playing, etc. So this gives me a chance to help people construct their optimal personalized bet spreads.
That’s all for now. If you’re able to make it, then I’ll see you there. If not, we’ll let you know how it went!
So a lot of people have been asking for tips on how to practice blackjack, so I’m going to start a blog series about what I’ve learned about training:
PART I:
Basic Strategy is the Foundation
A lot of people say, “I know about 95% of basic strategy. Show me the deviations, get me to a table, show me how to bet! I’m ready to have at it!” But if you are still either making Basic Strategy mistakes, or having to use large amounts of mental energy to make BS decisions, then you’re in trouble! I don’t care how well you can count and how many deviations you memorize… if you make Basic Strategy mistakes, you’ve just killed any potential advantage you could have over the casino.
And even if you don’t make mistakes, if there are situations that arise where you have to put mental energy into remembering the correct decision, you will have a really hard time adding the other elements: counting, deviations, betting decisions, etc. If, however, for every playing decision, the correct Basic Strategy answer comes instantly, and without energy, then keeping a running count, converting it to true count, and referencing deviations and bet decisions will be MUCH easier.
Ok. So how do I get better at Basic Strategy quickly?
1. I recommend talking through the entire chart every day, a few times a day. Start with Splits, and say “Aces always split. 10’s never split. 9’s split up thru 9, except against a 7.” etc. You should be able to effortlessly run thru the chart.
2. Make flash cards. Put every situation on a card, like “A,7 v. 2″ on one side, then the correct decision on the other side. There will be lots of decisions that are so easy, you can start removing them from the stack of cards, and before long, there will only be the 10-20 toughest decisions in the stack. Keep reviewing them until you don’t have to think thru the whole chart to access individual decisions.
3. Play Basic Strategy. Buy CVBJ or use an iPhone App (we have one we’re finishing up). Drill yourself on basic strategy decisions. Until you can play Basic Strategy perfectly, you shouldn’t get obsessed with counting or deviations.
4. Keep reviewing. Basic Strategy is sort of an abstract thing. So you won’t retain it if you don’t keep practicing and reviewing it. You might go 10 hours of playing blackjack without seeing some decisions. But when you DO see it, you want to know what to do instantly.
Bringing down the house since 2003,
Colin
