Each video represents step-by-step instructions that we use to personally train any card counter. We recommend you watch the video in order. If you have questions about the videos join the conversation in the comment thread.
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This is no longer a game of luck or hunches. If you are going to take the edge, you need to play by the numbers. Watch video tutorials on these charts in the video course.
Basic Strategy is the first thing you need to know to beat the game of blackjack. Ben will walk you through the Basic Strategy with these videos from our video course.
After you learn Basic Strategy (like the back of your hand) and have learned how to count cards, you are ready to master Deviations. To know when and how to deviate consult these charts.
Deviations for Stand 17 games use this chart. We’ve boiled it down to the top 20 deviations. These are the most important deviations you’ll want to implement to have the highest advantage over the casino.
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Deviations for Hit 17 games use this chart. This chart contains the Top 21 deviations for a H17 game.
OK. So it’s been far too long since my last installment of “How to Practice Blackjack”.
In Part I, I talked about Basic Strategy being the foundation of being a card counter. In Part II, I discussed some tips on keeping the running count accurately and quickly. Today, I’m going to give some practice tips for getting from the running count to the true count.
First off, remember that being a good card counter is just being able to multitask several processes very well. So if the individual processes are poor, then multitasking is going to be a nightmare. Meaning: MAKE SURE YOUR BASIC STRATEGY IS EFFORTLESS AND KEEPING THE RUNNING COUNT IS SECOND NATURE. A lot of people begin having issues when they start dividing by the true count, but if you separate the individual processes and master them, it’s not too complicated to put it all together.
So here’s some tips to practice the individual process of converting from running to true count.
1. Assuming you’re practicing for a 6 deck game, get out your discard tray and 6 decks of cards. Then write the numbers 1 to 30 on scraps of paper and place them in a hat, cup, whatever. Then, starting with less than 1 deck in the discard tray, start pulling numbers out of the hat and practice dividing the number by 6 (the number of decks remaining). Do this 20 or 30 times. Then, put one full deck in the discard tray and start over, dividing by 5. Do this for every deck increment until you’re dividing by 1 deck remaining. Wash, rinse, repeat. Over and over.
2. If you want to practice throughout the day, then while you’re driving, exercising, taking a shower, whatever, just start dividing random numbers by 6, then 5, then 4, 3, 2, and 1.
Before long, with these 2 drills, you should be able to divide any running count by any true count. The goal is to be able to do so in a quick second, without having to take too much energy away from keeping the running count and making your basic strategy (and eventually deviation) decisions. Keep practicing this over and over until there is never a time when you have to spend more than a second or 2 deciding the true count. Then, practice doing so WHILE playing basic strategy and keeping the running count.
If you want to take it to the next level, start the whole process over with 1/2 deck increments. So use a divisor of 6 decks, 5.5 decks, 5, 4.5, etc.
Before long, converting to true count will be just another quick process you’re doing while playing basic strategy and adding and subtracting by one.
Practice makes perfect (blackjack). And perfect blackjack makes money!
This video guides you through all the Hard Totals on the Basic Strategy Chart.
This introductory video explains what to expect out of our online training course. Get ready to never think of blackjack the same way again.
Want to go through the Course with the right training equipment?
Check out our Kits in the store.
A 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.
From the get go, everything was going my way. I only had to buy in for 2 big bets, and before I knew it, I was up 10 units. The cocktail waitress was bringing me free drinks the size of a fishbowl… I wasn’t ordering them, the pit boss was telling her to bring them to me. And by the time I called it a night, I was up over 23 big bets! They say you can shear a sheep many times, and I left that night praying that I hadn’t just skinned that sheep.
Fast-forward to a month later. I get a chance to make it back to this casino, and upon first impression, they’re giving me the same treatment. Then it happens. As soon as I sit down at my reserved table, the pit boss whispers something to the dealer, and the pen instantly goes from less than 1 deck to over 2 decks being cut off! Now I’m out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to do, nowhere else to go, and not even a decent poker game to play. So I do what any decent advantage player would do: go out to my car, pull up CVCX, and figure out if there’s still a way to BEAT THEIR GAME! Normally, I would just have moved on to a different casino, and I NEVER encourage someone to play a game with such horrible pen. But I had nowhere else to go, a reserved table, and now I had personal reasons to take their money!
Like I said, the rules were REALLY good. And since I had a very healthy bankroll to back me up, I figured out that if I bet the table minimum below a true one, then worked my way up to the table maximum after a true one, I was playing a positive EV game with low risk, and even an acceptable N-zero (that’s a mathy way of calculating the long-run). So I sat there all night, trying to coax the dealers into giving me better pen on each shoe, and watching the pit sweat every time I raised my bet.
I eventually found out that the casino manager knew that I was counting, but wasn’t willing to turn down my action. So they let me play, reluctantly. And after 8 hours of some of the most mind-numbing blackjack of my career, I was up a few units, had cleared out the rack, and decided to call it a night. I don’t expect they’ll let me play there again, but if I find myself in the area, I’ll have to find out!
Here’s the point: Card counters have to learn to adapt. It’s what we’ve been doing for nearly 50 years… adapting to the casino’s counter-measures. There’s only so much we can do, but it’s the innovators who will continue to find ways to extract money from casinos. I’m sure there were many a card counter who threw their hands up and quit when casinos went from 1 deck to 2, or 2 decks to 6, etc. But the shrewd advantage player isn’t just looking for a smart way to gamble, but for ways to continue to liberate money from the clutches of casinos. So in your quest as a professional Blackjack player, look for ways to start THINKING like an Advantage player, and I guarantee you, the opportunities are out there!
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.
You do not win all the chips in one hand. There are warning signs. The process of getting more chips usually takes from 5-12 minutes from start to finish. This is usually expedited when one of their customers is sitting there with tons of money on three blackjacks that the casino does not even have enough money to pay out. I know what you are thinking. I was the only person in the casino. What kept the pit boss from attending to his job? Was he dealing with some gaming theory issue? Was he training some confused dealer? No. he was texting on his cell phone. I’m not sure what what he was texting about, but my guess is it was either the latest Twilight movie or the next neck tattoo he was going to be getting. This is was happening in real life. And it wasn’t the first time. So, as I was sitting around waiting watching ev float out the window, I had time to think about why I should in fact not be upset about the situation.
In conclusion, there have been countless stories I can tell of seeing casinos being run poorly. I will post more later but remember to take it in stride and treat them like your customers because sometimes counting the cards is the easiest part. Sometimes the best thing you can do is take your ego out of it and watch your bankroll begin to grow.
Saving the World One Card at a Time,
I received this email last week, and thought I’d use it as an opportunity to break it down for those wondering “why do you keep a count of the cards“:
DUDER, that’s a good question. There are 2 reasons to keep the count.
The first, and by far the most important reason to keep the count is to know when the advantage shifts from the Casino to the player so that you can bet accordingly. It’s that simple. If you don’t know when you have the advantage, you can’t capitalize on it. If you can’t capitalize on your advantage, you can’t win.
The second reason to count cards is to know when to deviate from basic strategy. Deviations aren’t how
you’ll make all your money. But it is sort of like the icing on the cake; Basic Strategy and changing your bets properly will make you money, but implementing Deviations will add more value to what you’re doing. Like my Physics teacher used to say, “You need to learn the rules, so that you can know when to break the rules.” If you know perfect Basic Strategy, then by keeping count, you can know when and how to play differently from Basic Strategy.
So, DUDER, you were right about both things. The only thing you were wrong about, is that you won’t ever know exactly what the next card will be. But you will know what TYPE of cards you have a good chance of being dealt, and with that information, you take the advantage away from the Casino.
Now, I know some of you out there think that you don’t need to count cards to make money at Blackjack. But you’re wrong. Keep playing, and you can kiss your money goodbye. And others are saying, “can you REALLY make a living at blackjack by counting cards?” And the answer is, Yes. Ben and I haven’t had jobs in 7 years, and it’s not because we’re making a killing at this website.
Well 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:
What we hope to have accomplished for 2010:
Allright, enough about us. Do you have any goals for 2010? Here are some ideas (pick, choose, CUSTOMIZE and post as a response in comments):
Well, Looking forward to another awesome year. Thanks for all of your support for the site and we hope you the best of results in accomplishing your goals for 2010!
Saving the World, one card at a time.
This video guides you through the Soft Totals on the Basic Strategy Chart.
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