What is the etiquette when you suspect a player in the same game is counting? Eye contact-nod-newer player leaves-profit?

Honestly? Successful counters are so rare that most often what you're going to do is laugh to yourself.

If you're playing with someone long enough for them to do a successful skill check on you, you've played long enough for the pit to do a successful skill check on you.

That is certainly untrue

+1

And you're still missing my point. But no big deal.

That makes sense, but 2 strangers raising and lowering bets in similar fashion has got to draw extra attention

Only if they're using the exact same system, both accurate in tracking the count, and have the exact same betting ramp.

Makes sense. Haven't encountered playing with anyone near an AP yet so just trying to prepare for it

The generally accepted ettiquette is for the newcomer to leave the table as soon as he discovers that he has wandered into another counter's game.

Anybody want to pm me any decent blackjack forums?

If u want to learn to play and are new " google backpack apprentice and sign up". U will learn to count 100 percent if u follow there programs..they were the hilly roller team based out of west coast.

Blackjacktheforum.com
Bj21.com

They charge an outrageous fortune for something that can be pretty easily learned from just reading a book or two and exercising common sense.

I honestly cannot imagine paying $1500 for a group class or $4000 for a private lesson on how to count cards. I think it's an excellent idea for someone who likes to play high limit blackjack and would like to reduce the house advantage but doesn't care enough to read a forum or book. I think it's a horrible idea for a starting card counter to take $1500 of his $10k bank and go to this class.

If you can play a breakeven game and bet $1000/hand you will have more comps and casino offers than you know what to do with.

MS was going to be short-lived as the ultimate juicy game it was, and everyone knew it from the start. When heads-up single green chip play can cost the table over $1000/hr they're going to start auditing it heavily sooner rather than later.

And it's still easily beatable at north of 20% edge.

I also strongly disagree that speaking in generalities like this thread contribute that much to the demise of the game. Guys like Grosjean and Jacobsen do more damage than any anonymous 2+2 user ever will. You think no casino staff has ever checked out the UNLV copy of Beyond Counting? I'd agree that naming specific venues and dealers would be injurious, but limiting it to a geographic region of over a dozen casinos with multiple tables and dozens of rotating dealers is general enough to not really crush one opportunity.

Heres a great question.

Is there one person here that utilizes card counting to win money and can you honestly say that lifetime you are ahead when utilizing counting?

I have counted at times and it was just kind of mildly hit and miss. I have played a lot of blackjack but curiously I have yet to actually take it seriously and count for a while and consistently bet accordingly for a substantial period of time.

1. I am ahead.

2. The long run for blackjack is very long. Typically several tens of thousands of hands. That is, you can play a winning game and still lose for a month straight of full time play.

Counting cards is like a 1-2% edge with favorable rules. In general, the lower the edge the more you'll deviate from expectation, and the longer it is for "the long run" to be relevant. Only Hollywood and casino staff believe counting guarantees every session is a winner.

How should one differentiate their units per the decK?

+1 or +2 2 units?
+3 or +4 3 units
+5 or +6 4 units
even. 1 unit
-? minimum bet?

I dont know how to maximize the highest edge.

It doesn't quite work that way. A bet scaling system is tailored to penetration and shoe size, and will have tradeoffs between edge and standard deviation that depend on your bankroll and risk tolerance.

Go buy a book, there are lots of good one to teach yourself how to count and how to bet. And you can find tables online that compare different scaling strategies for particular counting systems. You can find tons of them for Hi-Lo for free by searching. But the answers are not boiled down to your simple question above.

Well mathematically speaking, the highest return would be to bet table maximum at anytime you have an edge and table minimum any other time. That might get you a tiny bit of heat, though. It would also require a pretty substantial bankroll, since your variance would be insane.

Using a 1-4 spread I'd use those TCs, and leave anytime the TC drops below -3. Go pee, get a drink, hit on the hot blonde who walked past, anything.

You don't want to maximize your edge. You want to grow your bankroll the fastest. Google "Kelly betting."

Tell me more about this hot blonde and how I can get in touch with her.