Pretty Ironic

[Bojack1]

Alright I had a funny experience with another AP last night, or at least that what he claimed to be. The backround of the story goes like this. My girlfriends best friend is dating this new guy and they all planned to go out last night to a casino so we could meet this guy and have a nice night out. Although my girlfriends friend knows what I do, it was supposed to be kept quiet that I am a professional player at least for the evening. No problem, most people don't understand right off the bat anyway.

The ironic thing is the reason this guy wants to go to the casino is because it turns out he fancies himself a card counter and I guess he thought it would be fun to bring everyone along too observe. I didn't realize all of this until the car ride to the casino. On the way there (just about a 2 hour drive) he started talking about how he plays BJ with an advantage and was explaining how it works. I think my ribs were just about broken from the elbows in my side from my girl to keep my mouth shut, but he did really have a good grasp of the game and it seemed he at least knew what he was talking about.

We get up there and have a great dinner, and as I was already resigned to the fact that I couldn't really play at this place under the current conditions I was looking to enjoy myself with some drinks and listen to the band playing. This guy would not have any of it, he wanted us to all to go in the casino and benefit from his knowledge. Well the powers that be got me into the casino to watch the guy play. I had to convince him that I don't play and that I would just watch a little bit. Well the the first shoe he flat bets through the whole thing. I counted that shoe and the count was 6 when the cut card came out at 1 1/2 decks. A pretty damn good bet should've been out there. He gets up and walks over to us to tell us that the count never was any good and that it ended at -2. Really. I watch another shoe and and he screws it up again so I just walk away and head to the bar. Before I get 10 steps I'm getting dragged back to watch him as he switches tables. The next shoe really shows no advantage but he raises his bets and gets lucky and wins nicely on the shoe. I think, man you should leave now. The next shoe divebombs to the point he should just leave but he starts raising his bets in almost a positive progression type way, and he wins again. Lucky boy. I had to ask him what he thought the count was at the end of the shoe and he told me 8. Holy crap it was -10! Not only did he reverse the count he was off on it too. I had seen enough. My girl and I went and had a few drinks and waited for rainman to finish his onslaught of the casino.

He finished up about an hour later with a small win and the bragging rights on how he can beat the casino. The whole point of this story is, how many counters out there are really as good as they think. This guy thinks he's got it down. To talk to him you'd think so too, but to watch him play, its awful. I hope that this story doesn't describe too many here, it seems to me it happens more than one would suspect though. On the ride home as he was explaining his win to us I asked him how much he has won in total from playing blackjack. He said he doesn't really keep track that closely, he just knows he wins more than loses. No kidding, I've never heard that one before.

[shadroch]

That was you? Damn,four hours in a car together and I learn this on the internet.

[jack,jackson]

Was he using the same count as yours?

[Bojack1]

Originally Posted by jack,jackson

Was he using the same count as yours?

Allegedly.

[godeem23]

Originally Posted by Bojack1

Allegedly.

Which count?

[MartyAce]

I bet you enjoyed having to sit there and watch this guy... lol. Too funny, but also the moral behind the story is probably true for many and unfortunately these people may educate others and as the story goes.. lose more then they should have in the first place...

[mdlbj]

Sounds typical. I guess there is book smart and street smart. But I am a firm believer in tough love, maybe a quick bitch slap type of lesson was in order for him to show him, he really needs to focus more.

[blackchipjim]

Your story was a good lesson in accuracy and practical use of systems. Systems are useless and may do a counter harm if accuracy is not accurate. The great debate of unbalanced vs balanced with tc conversion comes to mind. Even though off hand I don't remeber which system you use your accuracy is obviouslly much better than the so called expert you were forced to endure. blackchipjim

[shadroch]

You guyz are missing the real lesson of the story.
The guy won. Even though his count was off and he was betting all wrong,just the confidence he gained by thinking he was an advantage player was enough to cause The Sacred Flow to flow in his favor.
Being an advantage player is 90% mental toughness. The other half is luck.
Remember this- God loves and watchs over fools. Why else would he make so many of them?

[vonQuux]

I have to wonder if the guy actually did have his count reversed. I mean, if he's confusing a -10 count for 8, maybe the poor lad thinks you're supposed to add X-A and subtract on 2-6?

I can think of only one other possibility; the guy was utterly full of sh*t and just made up a number when asked.

Quick, someone calculate the RoR on this style of play!

vQ