first play in actual casino...

[cpage727]

so 3 weeks of practicing on blackjack 678 software and reading books and reading on these forums and i decided it was time to see how different it is in real life....

tuesday night i drove down to AC. go into the tropicana and wander around looking at the blackjack tables. at this point i realize that i haven't yet even thought that i have to figure out for myself how many decks there are in a game. the CBJN said they were all 8 deck games but i had read on here that if you look around you could find a 6 deck game but to tell you the truth everything looked the same to me.....they coulda been 10 deck games and i had no clue. then i overheard at one table the dealer telling a player that they were all 8 deck games there.....time to move on.....

i get on the jitney and head over to borgata. at the stop an old drunk guy strikes up a conversation with me so i was nice and talked to him. well we get on the bus and he's a few rows ahead of me and talking to a bunch of people being loud and annoying so i just tune him out. he gets off at a stop and some of the people ask why i didn't get off with him and i'm like huh? well he told them all that i was his son. i'm like i've never seen that dude in my life and they all laugh....ok onto the blackjack portion of my story....

i look around borgata and i guess i can tell that there are slightly less cards in each shoe here so i figure it's time to start playing. nows when the fun begins.....at home on the computer i can count perfect through a full 6 deck shoe pretty easily and i'll keep the tv on to help distract me and inbetween hands i'd make phone calls and do stuff around the house and could keep the count perfect so i thought i was ready to try in real life. first shoe....yeah pretty much lost the count on the first round so just played basic strategy. people talking to me.....pretty girls playing next to me, people asking me questions on what they should do, pretty much everything was causing me to loose the count. i could get through a few rounds but would always loose track at some point.

i'd say i was mostly playing basic strategy cause i couldn't keep the count long enough to get to raise bets. only once did i keep the count long enough to get to require a max bet of $100. i'm using TKO by the way. so i get out my $100 bet and i get an 11 versus the dealers 10.....great, now with my first max bet i have to double it against a 10. i draw a 2 for a total of 13....dealer wins there goes 200 and to tell you the truth i lost the count after he threw me that big 2 so now i'm not sure what my bet should be. so i go back down to min bet cause there were a whle bunch of 10's on the table after my 2.

long story short.....i play for maybe 5 hours.....was able to keep the count long enough to get out a max bet once and i loose $230 total for the night.

wednesday it's out to cincinnati for the mets reds game. and no, i am not a mets fan, my buddy is one that's why we went.....i'm a big yankees fan(just making sure that is known) after the game me and a buddy head over to argosy. wander around there and saw some of those csm's and after a while figure out they are 6 decks games. they have a 21+3 game with the side bet of poker. i watched that and decided that was a good game to start on cause i have extra time after everyone is dealt while they settle up all the poker bets.

day two i can keep up with the count most of the way thru each shoe thanks to the poker side bets i think. played here for about 3 hours. was able to keep the count much better than the day before but only 2 or 3 shoes did the count get up to require a $60 bet....never high enough for a max bet. left after 3 hours up $70 and feeling a little better about myself.

i think this weekend i'll practice a little bit with my deck estimations and play some at home then head back down to AC one day. in 2 weeks i'll fly back out to the midwest and i think try another casino out in southern indiana. anyone know if there are any 6 deck games at belterra?

[EasyRhino]

You experience is pretty common. In general, if you sit down and realize you just can't keep a count and play at the same time, I recommend leaving your seat and just trying to backcount while others play. For practice.

Also, if you're max bet is $100, I hope your bankroll is in the $10k range, or you're VERY willing to lose whatever money you've got committed to this project.

[Lonesome Gambler]

Another bit of advice: don't look at the shoe to see how many decks are in play, look at the cards right before a shuffle when the dealer cuts the deck. That way you know the amount of cards in play and the penetration. Obviously, deck estimation is the key factor here, and you need this skill before you even play the game; TKO requires a TC calculation, which will require deck estimation. Good luck!

[Xur]

Don't play CSM machine games.

[Katweezel]

For newbies to card counting, it's really tough going trying to learn how to play the piano, golf or tennis from out of a book. Similarly, it's a tough gig trying to learn the skills of card counting from the reading of books; even the best ones... But here is what I think may help speed up the process. Study the posts here for maybe the most recent six months. Make notes. Soon it will become apparent that there are many very good, and several exceptional mentors here. After a while, you can refine your search to that exceptional group you have identified. Hope this helps. Good luck to all.