Another great happening - this is @ the same casino as the first story, Casino Montreal. Anyway it's late in the morning and I've been grinding blackjack all night. Montreal is a SERIOUS grind. 8 decks and they cut 2.5 off if you're lucky. 4 after I've been there for a while. But they've got a million tables and they can't ban you. Anyway I'm playing a hand, I'm 2nd last to act (aside from dealer, so 3rd last to act technically). I have 16 vs T. The count is positive so i intend to stand. This random retard who's not even playing @ the table signals for a hit on my hand! The dealer gives me an ace.

I don't want it. I refuse the ace and stay on 16. Dealer has 20 and stands. The ace is the next card to be played. So I stroll over to the 1 seat, by passing the fool in seat two who would noramlly get the ace and plunk down a random assortment of chips, all I could muster, on seat 1. Knowing you have an ace coming as your first card gives u an advantage of 47%. I got the blackjack and made north of 1400, but in retrospect it was really stupid to bet 950 or w/e I bet instead of 1000. Contrast the edge from that ace with your typical blackjack bet with an edge of 1% and extreme variance.


Another time @ the same casino a dealer dealt another card early. I didn't see it, but I asked him what it was and he told me it was a 10. I bet table max and got my T but it was coupled with a 3 and the dealer showed a face. What can I do? I hit. Pulled an 8. Beauty. Then the dealer says 'u know u have to give me something for that right' so i tipped him a blackbird. Felt guilty I guess for turning him!

To be honest, professional blackjack isn't something anyone should consider. It, like poker, makes an excellent part time job and a crappy career! I gave it a shot a couple of years ago and before long was backed off everywhere within a 6 hour radius. Which isn't a lot of places. And I don't have a car, so! Anyway I decided to high tail it out of province where I wouldn't be recognized, which brings us back again to Casino Lac Lamay (classy joint). I had just arrived and before long found myself @ the high limit game. 6 decks (don't laugh, thats a big deal where I'm from), BEAUTY of a cut (1-1.5 cut off). Nice count right away and I'm rolling. So there I was, spreading 20-1+ @ a high limit game, and then I feel a presence like someone is behind me, and I get a tap on the shoulder. FML I think! Another backoff. I'm pissed off already, practically gathering my chips when he says to me "exuse me sir, could you please pull up your pants". While crushing their casino @ blackjack I had also inadvertently been exposing my plumbers crack to the elite of Quebecois society.

If one really intends to be a professional blackjack player (and I am not suggesting anyone should), you either have to relocate to a location that has a reasonable number of games in close proximity or be willing to travel a great deal or both.

For myself, I support myself from my blackjack play. (starting 9th year now) I think of it less as a 'career' and more of a 'lifestyle'. I relocated away from my friends, family and life that I knew to Vegas. At the mid-level I play, green to mid/upper black, I am what is known as a grinder and blackjack consumes and is my life. I don't keep track of my results in time played opting for hands or rounds played instead, but I can tell you that playing traveling, scouting, record-keeping, I put in far more hours than a 40 hour work week. And those hours have to be spread around some. Day shift, swing shift, grave shift. Kind of makes having any kind of home life extremely difficult, especially one involving family and kids. I am single and can't imagine that will change any time soon.

I do know a couple professional players that play at higher stakes than me that do play less and have some reasonable sense of a personal life. Both married. One travels a great deal. Almost every week on the road for a 3 or 4 days, like a traveling salesman. The other travels a lot, but less, but in fairness, his career is winding down. he played professionally many years, but at this point I would describe him as semi-retired professional.

Well, it's exact as long as you only play the first hand after a shuffle.

If you don't count, then it actually doesn't make any difference. That is because the probability of any card dealt next is always the same, excepting the cards in your hand and the dealer's face card.

What I don't like about composition-dependent BS chart built by recursion is that it requires the player to make perfect hit/stand decisions after hitting, which with 3 or more cards becomes far from basic. Simple total-dependent BS charts fail in a similar way as well.

Sorry, but this is a misconception. If you start dealing at any card in a randomly shuffled deck, this is true. But, if you have already played a hand, the composition is not what you would expect in a random shoe due to the tendency of the round to stop with a big card. This sounds like a violation of the True Count Theorem, but isn’t as it has no effect on the TC – It only affects the RC. You will note the TC Theorem mentions this. Also, Blackjack Attack, which has the most accurate set of CA-generated tables, makes a point of saying it is top-of-the-deck only.

See http://blackjackincolor.com/truecount8.htm for some info.

In a strict sense, you are correct, as any cards dealt out will never be truly random. Blackjack rules dictate non-random quantity of cards will be dealt out.

You're never supposed to do it until an ideal count is in play, I never recommend splitting 10s against anything out of superstition because it is actually -ev. I have done it once when the running count was +35 (true count of ~8) which is pretty damn high, and of course I hit 10s both times. This is the only time you're supposed to do it, read basic strategy charts and it'll tell you to stick.

same goes for splitting 8's against T or A, you don't do it when the counts high, it's just setting yourself up for financial suicide

The index for NOT splitting 88 vs T is quite high. Pair indexs are notoriously worthless because they occur so infrequently in play. Even the professional gambler can content himself with a memorization of the illustrious eighteen and the hi-lo count but it is possible to go much further down the rabbit hole if that is your want. Still one is well advised to take note of all index plays occuring during a high count. Since this is when your wager is raised it is more important to be accurate! Indexs in general do not have a hair trigger, as that line denotes where EV's collide.

simones
can i grind blackjack indefinitely in canada,
is it true they dont ban anyone.
i think i could make a living being patient and playing 4-5 hours a day.
2.5/8 decks is excellent.
where i play it is generally 2-2.5/6 decks cut but they make it 3/6 o worse for me in the long run.