A little background, I visited Vegas last year and played BJ for the first time, typical sucker player I lost all my money. So when I returned home I decided to educate myself. I bought 4 good books on BJ, a shoe, multiple decks, and taught myself basic strategy and counting.
Five months later I booked my next vacation at Lake Tahoe, found a good SD BJ game (thx Warlord!!!). Mind that this was my first time counting so I played the table minimum most of the time, nickel, when the count was favorable I increased to 2-3 units. These are my thoughts/observations:
1) My first 3-4 decks were a mess, I couldn't keep an accurate count, dealer distracted me, I guess I was nervous or lacked confidence. However after a few decks I was okay and counting with ease.
2) Most of the time I played basic strategy.
3) Graveyard shift was the best time to play. I liked playing heads up vs. the dealer, got to play more hands, and got more blackjacks. Downsize was that I had to play when the count was bad as well.
4) Counting helped me refined basic strategy, I don't see how I can play BJ again without counting. It saved my ass a lot of times, eg, taking insurance, not hitting that 15 when BS tells you to hit it, etc..
5) Swing losses are inevitable even if you are counting and playing BS. One time I played by the book, kept an accurate count but I still lost.
6) Bad players can hurt your chances of winning, I was able to handle one bad player at the table, sometimes her bad decision went either way but everytime there were 2-3 bad players I felt they really burned me more often than not. So I just left the table and came back later, it didn't take them long to loose all their money.
7) It doesn't take long to figure out who is also counting at the table. One night it was just me and this old timer and it was so obvious that he was also counting that I just looked at him and he gave me that same look, yeah I know you are counting too...we double our money and left the table.
8) I can see how making a living as a professional BJ player is hard. I guess if you don't play high limit you can fly under the radar...I played nickels and dimes and increased my betting unit by 2 or 3 according to the TC, at times I was the only one who told the dealer that I was not going to play until the next deck and watched most people loose, or refined BS, and I didn't draw any heat. If you are not greedy you will be okay...
In conclusion, I didn't find counting that difficult. If you have a good memory and decent arithmetic skills you should be okay. Counting made the game more fun and engaging. However, all the money I made went back to the house where I played BJ. Lost some of it playing craps, dined at their restaurant, and the wife lost most of it playing slot machines. I believe that if more casinos offer good BJ games more couples will go there, the husband will play the good BJ game while the wife throws the money away. Also, most of the people that I saw playing BJ were terrible players, others were playing BS but they still lost. I saw it as cheap entertainment, counting allowed me to play for longer sessions. I don't expect to make a living or too much money off BJ, but it's a game that I can casually play at a casino (that has good rules) and have a positive expectation. Maybe I feel this way because I don't live near a casino so this is something I would do maybe once year for a couple of days. When you take into account the cost of the plane tickets, meals, hotel, this is not something I would do for the money but to have fun...
P.S. I was shocked to see so many people playing 6:5 BJ at Harrah's and what is the deal with Digital BJ?? I don't know but it sounds like another scam to me.
Five months later I booked my next vacation at Lake Tahoe, found a good SD BJ game (thx Warlord!!!). Mind that this was my first time counting so I played the table minimum most of the time, nickel, when the count was favorable I increased to 2-3 units. These are my thoughts/observations:
1) My first 3-4 decks were a mess, I couldn't keep an accurate count, dealer distracted me, I guess I was nervous or lacked confidence. However after a few decks I was okay and counting with ease.
2) Most of the time I played basic strategy.
3) Graveyard shift was the best time to play. I liked playing heads up vs. the dealer, got to play more hands, and got more blackjacks. Downsize was that I had to play when the count was bad as well.
4) Counting helped me refined basic strategy, I don't see how I can play BJ again without counting. It saved my ass a lot of times, eg, taking insurance, not hitting that 15 when BS tells you to hit it, etc..
5) Swing losses are inevitable even if you are counting and playing BS. One time I played by the book, kept an accurate count but I still lost.
6) Bad players can hurt your chances of winning, I was able to handle one bad player at the table, sometimes her bad decision went either way but everytime there were 2-3 bad players I felt they really burned me more often than not. So I just left the table and came back later, it didn't take them long to loose all their money.
7) It doesn't take long to figure out who is also counting at the table. One night it was just me and this old timer and it was so obvious that he was also counting that I just looked at him and he gave me that same look, yeah I know you are counting too...we double our money and left the table.
8) I can see how making a living as a professional BJ player is hard. I guess if you don't play high limit you can fly under the radar...I played nickels and dimes and increased my betting unit by 2 or 3 according to the TC, at times I was the only one who told the dealer that I was not going to play until the next deck and watched most people loose, or refined BS, and I didn't draw any heat. If you are not greedy you will be okay...
In conclusion, I didn't find counting that difficult. If you have a good memory and decent arithmetic skills you should be okay. Counting made the game more fun and engaging. However, all the money I made went back to the house where I played BJ. Lost some of it playing craps, dined at their restaurant, and the wife lost most of it playing slot machines. I believe that if more casinos offer good BJ games more couples will go there, the husband will play the good BJ game while the wife throws the money away. Also, most of the people that I saw playing BJ were terrible players, others were playing BS but they still lost. I saw it as cheap entertainment, counting allowed me to play for longer sessions. I don't expect to make a living or too much money off BJ, but it's a game that I can casually play at a casino (that has good rules) and have a positive expectation. Maybe I feel this way because I don't live near a casino so this is something I would do maybe once year for a couple of days. When you take into account the cost of the plane tickets, meals, hotel, this is not something I would do for the money but to have fun...
P.S. I was shocked to see so many people playing 6:5 BJ at Harrah's and what is the deal with Digital BJ?? I don't know but it sounds like another scam to me.
