Zen and the Art of Card Counting

[Coyote]

Well, I guess this will serve as my Chautauqua!

I am learning the Zen count with full deck resolution. For the moment it is not too little of a challenge! I am using CV Blackjack; the drills. It is tough going! I find the full table drills to be the hardest at the moment! The one to three card flashcard drills are a little easier and I am really trying to build my speed on those drills.

It is difficult to devote the time needed to learn this count at the moment as many are demanding my time. I am however trying to set aside 45 minutes to an hour per day to train.

I am quite humbled at the moment. Hats off to those of you using this count or any level 2 effectively! I can see it is going to take me some time to get there.

Till next time,
Best of flux to you all!

Coyote

[shark]

Good luck Coyote, you'll notice a worthwhile boost upgrading your count (I believe in the range of 10-15% depending on game type). Just make sure you get good enough with it so its second nature, and you can expend a lot of focus on heat awareness/management during your play.

[AR Nick]

But a worthy sacrifice it is. For what it's worth, the migration between level 1 and level 2 is the only difficult part. Once you get the hang of it, it'll feel no different to what you were used to. These days, I have a harder time counting with Hilo than I do with Zen.

[NAP]

Level 1 counts are boring.

[Friendo]

The hard part is not the counting, but counting, TC conversion, & index plays while adding up hands and making conversation.

If you have counted before, you already know how to run all these processes at once. Changing the count is a matter of swapping out one of these things for a different set of weights for the card values.

I doubt it will take long. I practiced with Mentor until it was automatic before I ever hit the tables, and I had a rough first few hours, and then a semi-rough next couple dozen hours, and finally a slightly rough few dozen hours after that.

Now it's easy. The hard part was not learning the count.

[zengrifter]

Originally Posted by Coyote

I am learning the Zen count with full deck resolution. For the moment it is not too little of a challenge! I am using CV Blackjack; the drills.

I think you mean to say that you are learniong ZEN '83 count-per-deck? Your resolution, though would be a function of deck pene location, yes? I use 1DTC but I resolve as low as 1/2D or even lower depending on where I am at in the pack.

If you are not fully committed to your TC modifier and new indices yet, I strongly recommend that you customize your new ZEN to a 2DTC... or go with Renzey's Mentor. Anternately, if you have any doubt about your TC ability and/or pretty much play the same #decks, I recommend you strongly consider UBZ. zg

[Coyote]

Originally Posted by zengrifter

I think you mean to say that you are learniong ZEN '83 count-per-deck? Your resolution, though would be a function of deck pene location, yes? I use 1DTC but I resolve as low as 1/2D or even lower depending on where I am at in the pack.

If you are not fully committed to your TC modifier and new indices yet, I strongly recommend that you customize your new ZEN to a 2DTC... or go with Renzey's Mentor. Anternately, if you have any doubt about your TC ability and/or pretty much play the same #decks, I recommend you strongly consider UBZ. zg

Yep ZG you're right. Zen count-per-deck. I am making the time to practice so I do not want to go from on qusi-unbalanced system to another unbalanced system. I want to be able to walk up to any table and use a great method and not have to adjust my runing count and indices.

[zengrifter]

Originally Posted by Coyote

Yep ZG you're right. Zen count-per-deck. I am making the time to practice so I do not want to go from on qusi-unbalanced system to another unbalanced system. I want to be able to walk up to any table and use a great method and not have to adjust my runing count and indices.

Renzey's 2DTC (ala Mentor) applied to ZEN is ideal for you.
-- Or Open Source UBZ w/ composite indices, only requires adjustment of IRC and KC (or mentally doubling indices)

[NAP]

Originally Posted by zengrifter

If you are not fully committed to your TC modifier and new indices yet, I strongly recommend that you customize your new ZEN to a 2DTC.

zg, is the point of this to help reduce errors when calculating the TC?

[zengrifter]

Originally Posted by NAP

zg, is the point of this to help reduce errors when calculating the TC?

No. The error rate would be no different, but the 2DTC is more accurate for betting than the more common 1/2DTC and 1DTC.