Hi,

Thanks for your time, I've bolded the parts I've found meaningful and of value. Unfortunately I may have to grow up at this point and accept that I'm going to be poor all my life, and that gambling isn't the way to get the big bucks. Sucks.

I guess I'm starting to understand why people might become criminals. I'm not saying I'll be one, I've been a law abiding citizen my whole life, but I can see how a life of misery just to make the bill and not be homeless can drive people to robbing or kidnapping etc.

So it sounds like you don't know enough about Blackjack to know what questions to ask, much less bet money on the game.

I'll give you a couple of points and then you need to educate yourself.

The house edge is the expected percentage of every dollar wagered that the house will win on average over the long term, due to the rules of the game. No betting strategy affects that edge. In blackjack, the dealer gets to go last, and so wins automatically when you bust. The house edge comes from this rule. The advantage of this alone is actually much higher than the house edge, but you get part of it back by the 3:2 payout on blackjack, and by the choice to double the bet after seeing cards, neither of which the dealer can do. But put those together and we'll say the house on average has about a 2% advantage if you play perfectly, which varies with specific rules. That means of every $100 wagered, you expect to lose $2. If you bet $100 100 times, you expect to lose $200. On average. Sometimes you will win. Sometimes you will lose more than the house edge, but eventually it averages out to that loss.

So to maximize your chance of coming out a winner, you bet fewer times and hope for variance in your favor.

The only non-cheating way to change the house edge is counting cards, and that allows you to bet minimum when you know the deck stub is not in your favor, and bet higher when the deck stub is in your favor.

Hi, thanks for this information. That makes complete sense and didn't think of it, probably because I'm dumb.Is it a coincidence that being last in poker also gives you the most favorable edge against your opponents?

Haha, deck stub, like ticket stub.

Is it normal for the count to remain negative for almost half a shoe, and/or to stagnate between -3 and +3? Neither of which is really that favorable right? What +running count is considered time to bet higher?

Is op confirmed baller millionaire yet? Or still living dat troll life under the bridge?

If you bust the dealer takes your money. If the dealer then busts does he give it back?

No. This is the reason why I seriously consider standing on hard crappy hands like 15 and 16 especially against a ten.

Still trolling. Plz pass by and give me a dollar for a bagel tomorrow, im over by Manchester street.

Good evening,

Unfortunately I did not meet my goal of 1k last night. However, I did cash out $735 having initially lost $200 at the end game.

I have a lot of questions about random things, and I do plan to continue to practice.

Thanks again for your continued assistance in this matter have a fantastic evening.

You cannot make your betting decisions on the running count alone, as this will be wildly inaccurate depending on how many decks have still to be dealt out. However if you do wish to use only a running count there are counting systems such as I believe KO that enable you to do this.

At what true count (the running count divided by the decks remaining) you should begin raising your bet depends on the precise rule set. Most likely you will have a small edge at TC 2 (maybe .5%) so you should be something like .1% of your bankroll at this point. You bet based on the Kelly Criterion. Basically you bet your advantage. But first you must account for the variance of the game, by multiplying by .7 and then since full kelly is quite the wild roller coaster and not recommend you bet 1/3rd kelly. So with a .5% advantage u bet .35% / 3 = roughly .1 of your bankroll.

But actually what you want to do is get a simulator like CVCX ($70 or so @qfit.com), punch in the conditions and then design an optimal betting ramp based upon a nice balance of your own personal risk tolerance and avarice.

What you really need, O.P., is a skills check. Probably you are making some fundamental errors which mean you are playing at best a break even game. I could do this for you over skype, Just get a six deck shoe (which you should have anyway so you can practice at home, practicing at home is CRITICAL until you are absolutely perfect) and play it out via webcam and I will tell you precisely what errors you are making.

If you play perfectly you have an edge over the casino. With exact basic strategy the typical house edge of a North American blackjack game is .5% although your typical ploppy probably does play with a 2% disadvantage. There are other means of beating blackjack aside form card counting. Dealer errors alone would probably turn a basic strategist profitable. Dealer errors are huge; I have had some doozies. But you can also hole card, shuffle track, ace sequence, have next card knowledge or simply observe a mark on the cards (that's not cheating, although actually marking them is and of course you should not do that). In one locale I was very frequently able to see the bottom card when they handed me the two decks to cut. So I practiced until I could cut 10 cards roughly (with more practice I could probably be exact) and now if I cut right and then count how many cards are dealt I can have a good shot at knowing what my first card will be. I didn't perfect the technique but it's powerful, especially if you see like the Qh and you have a lucky ladies side bet. Now you're looking at like a 200% ev wager (I did the calc at the time forget exactly what it is but it's very nice).

Plus when you are whaling massive bets on the side bet they think you are such a fish. Lucky ladies, as well as a lot of other side bets, is also beatable (goes positive at TC + 7 or so depending on paytable).