OK serious advice here:

since black friday (over 4 years now) I am closing in on 8k hours of live poker

since black friday I have placed exactly zero craps/roulette/paigao/ baccarat/ etc bets

I will play video bj for free drinks at a casino placing minimum bets playing as few hands as possible in order to get free drinks from the casino (comp wizardry) read + ev betting as I know perfect basic and know exactly what my neg ev is v value of drinks

My point is there is ZERO room for what I call silly betting in the life of a pro gambooler (ie gambling without an edge).

Casinos are designed to separate people from their hard earned $. I have seen very skilled pros torque off untold sums with negative ev bets causing more than a handful to go busto

So in a long winded fashion what I am saying is cut that shyt out pronto - if you want to have any chance whatsoever

You also need an outlet: physical, artistic, whatever. One that is positive

I personally enjoy getting my fitness on, skiing, and pottery

This is the first step

Tons of good advice in this thread. Let's see if any of it sticks.

This is fascinating...can you please derail with a couple of blackjack team stories?
Where's the back-off point, typically? Most ever won in a session as a team? Why did you stop?

Hahaha yes, please derail. I'm interested myself about this one

OK varies house to house - heat levels will very depending on how good you can sell it. Normally a joint like the red rock is not gunna be tolerant of purple action and getting banged for 30k but they were dealing with a crew that could sell the shyt out of an act and we got well into their heads before they were able to get into ours.

We have had several major major scores but the one that is prolly the best (not even close to biggest) I was not involved with. The woman I started the team with (who happens to be smartest well rounded person I have ever had the pleasure of knowing) and another top notch player were playing the stratosphere. Their game was shuffle trackable. This is around 2001 or 2002.

This was during the peak of our infamy. We were constantly flyered by The Griffin Detective Agency and our photos were heavily circulated throughout the world - especially in Vegas (our home base)

The strat was a major sweat shop. They had a very low action tolerance and we had all been bounced out of there multiple times. So these two both of whom were insane trackers plunk down and start firing. Management knows exactly who they are but for some reason allows them to play. They continue to allow them to play until they NUKE the strat for just under 200k. At which point they were told no more bj

No one could believe that management allowed them to play for multiple days

Biggest loss that I was part of - me and one other play a shoe at ceasars las vegas and dump 80k before winning a single hand

Damn, thanks for sharing. Since we're poker players and dwell on the losses, was the (80k) Caesar's shoe where you were called in or you two just sat and got really unlucky vs the count?

I back counted then signaled the big player in and controlled the big players bet sizes and play deviations. So literally 80k was dumped before he won a single hand

Thats a funny line!

Y'all stopped because of too much heat and not enough pits? What if you were to play big bet blackjack now?

Squid, I would real all of your blackjack stories if you were to start a separate thread. Read a book about a team/counter once (not the ones made into movies) I think his name was like Axelman or something but I can't find it for anything right now...still looking...

Edit - Josh Axelrad, Repeat Until Rich

Gonna play some video games and possibly grind some online tonight. Real low key like

I'll post HH if I do play online

What Video Game(s)?

N. Tilton's "The Blackjack Life" is another good one. An MIT spin-off.

Thanks! Just bought it on Kindle.

I personally taught the Axe how to play blackjack

Damn Squid, if true, that's a helluva story. Still like to go try and see the random "alien light" thing he came across someday. But gotta say, I don't think I'd have the blls to head out down to that place alone.

Been supplementing the roll for the last two years with BJ. I've got 245 recorded sessions on my excel spreadsheet with about 1.55 units a session average. Backed off twice in Seattle, but no where else. Either I'm not doing it right or they're not concerned with my action. Not a livable wage, but flying solo, I'll take it as a supplement.

BTW, as a further thread derail (for those interested), the best game I've found still exists. Route 66 casino just outside of Albuquerque spreads multiple tables of 3-300, 3:2, 3 deck, surrender, S17, Double Any, Double after split, Re-split As, split to 4. That's right--it's a less than .20% house edge game. Wouldn't mind seeing/hearing of some people doing some damage.


Final thread derail (and this is probably been talked about before). A great trainer for BJ (for those interested) is "hit or split" online. You can select "difficult" under "settings" and hone your BJ game. You should be able to hit 1000 right and 0 wrong while keeping track of the count and you're on your way.

Most solid, general poker advice I've seen. Dead on. Even down to the strat thread serving mainly to provoke thought, much of it not really being good. Just add a grain (or 2) of salt

Yo trooper. 100% true. I've known josh for 15 years

Sportsfanx,

Where were you backed off in Seattle? I worked at several casinos in the area, and I never had a boss that cared about counting.

Goldies of all places (and I hear no one ever gets backed off there). About a year ago I was into my fourth shoe on my second straight day of playing. The count went super high (like 20 running or something) with about half the shoe left. 40 year old black guy taps me on the shoulder and tells me I have to step back from the table with him. Yada yada yada, wants to see ID, won't give it to him, yada yada yada, they'd like me to not play anymore. So I had to leave in the middle of a 20 running count. Still pissed about it.

Also at Quil Ceda (but not at Tulalip for whatever reason and I'm sure they share info). But I've played at SilverDollar (all three); Great American; Red Dragaon, etc. with no problems. I felt a little heat at Muckleshoot (and so I stopped playing there, because the poker is too good to risk pissing off the casino. I was probably just paranoid, but again, I'd rather have no issues with the poker room than risk a couple more sessions at BJ).

But that's it. No where in Abq or Vegas (I've mainly played in Seattle, Abq and Vegas because I travel to those places a lot for work).


So I can know for future reference, what casinos were you at where the pit could care less about counters?

I worked at Great American in Tukwila. This was in 2011, don't know if it has changed. But we had a guy who would regularly come in, spread 5-300, sometimes on consecutive hands, and he would frequently do well. I talked about it with my shift manager. They just didn't care. There was another guy who would count the 5 deck Spanish game, though in the many times I dealt to him I never saw him do well. He was very secretive about the whole thing, and when I started asking him about it he would play dumb, until I finally accused him. Playing perfect Spanish is a dead giveaway.

Also in La Center, WA. Small town with a few cardrooms north of Portland.

The thread finally got interesting...let's turn this into blackjack/card counting/teams stories and experiences.

Sure beats video games and low stakes online poker

Can we turn it into a thread about how pigs really do fly when the cow doesn't come home after it jumps over the moon? Or nah?

Not many substantial "day to day"updates...am I misunderstanding your "day to day" discription of these updates? Forgive my ignorance

Also, I saw you had activity on the forums @ 11:15 last night, then again @ 4:15 this morning...youre quite the night owl !! Any updates on poker?

This must have been hard..did your dad live close around Baltimore so at least you could see your moms now and then?

Do you have family in another state maybe you could have went to stay with that might have been better?..you know like change of scenery type thing?

Also, how long did it take you to become manager of the auto parts place?

Was that a random job you applied for?

What interested you in auto parts? Odd questions I know but just wonder what would interest a lady to get into the auto parts business :P

I hadn't known my father for 7 years, we still have a rough relationship but we work on that. Before I went with him my mom gave me 3 choices, 1.Foster Care 2. Group home 3. Dad. A few weeks after being at his house we got into an argument that resulted in me telling him he wasn't my father, he was just a sperm doner, and that put into perspective how hard it was going to be for both of us to bond. He is much more supportive than when I was 14, and I'm always happy he came back into my life.

Please read pg 21. I've been updating regularly..

As for updates on my evening, I went to Stations Casino with my roommate for dinner after my friend had something come up and those plans were postponed til later today.

I watched my roommate burn through $2200 on blackjack in about an hour, then he taught me how to play Pai Gow (I didn't play). I came home around 3am and took the trash out, then checked out a site called RealGaming.com that was suggested to me, so I'll probably play on there later.

I got the job at the car parts warehouse because I love cars, love working on cars, love car meets, just not the grease lol. I was manager a year after I started, but before I was manager I had left Baltimore for a few months to live with my dad in Delaware. I was supposed to be going to school, but instead wound up working 3 jobs out there for like 3 months until I got pink eye from water splashing my face while cleaning cages at the pet shop job, couldn't see and wound up going back to stay at my moms til I got better, I called my boss and asked for my job back and he gave me a promotion too