Card Counting Techniques - Mental Gymnastics

[Claza]

I am looking for advice about efficient ways to count while drowning out the many distractions coming your way.

How do you guys maintain an occasional conversation, if one of players ask you something?

How do you maintain focus when you have to switch gears between counting the cards that are dealt to you while keeping up with the running count?

How do you deal with brain farts?

Do you count the cards in the order that they were dealt? How do you find time to figure out the best playing decision if a situation arises that may require you to deviate from basic strategy?

What kind of step by step routines do you use to help you maintain such a mentally exhausting task for an extended period of time?

 

[Ch3rryC0ke]

Hey Claza,

This is my first post to the forum! So I'm probably not the best guy to ask. I've just been introduced to card counting in the past 2 months or so. I have been practicing a lot on my own, I've used the software from QFIT, and I also practice counting down decks. Here are strategies I've used:

1) Practice counting down a deck with music playing in the background. Choose songs that you know, with lyrics, and songs that you can't help singing.

2) Practice singing the song while counting down the deck.

3) Practice talking to your roommate/friend while counting down the deck.

 

[EasyRhino]

safefr0g had posted his fairly extensive mental calisthenic regime somewhere.

Here's a few things that I find myself doing at the tables.

- count by pairs as the hands are initially dealt, then count singletons as cards are drawn.

- I try to visualize an image of the number of the count, especially if I need to say something, as merely saying it in my head makes it hard to talk at the same time.

- With a minor brain fart, it's possible sometimes to "reconstruct" what the count should be based on the last point you remember, and what the cards are on the table. If I can't reconstruct it, but I'm not off by more than one or so, I'll take a guess (sometimes assuming the count to get worse) and keep on going. And if there's a catastrophic counting failure I'll drop to min bet (maybe just gradually if the count was super high) or leave the table.

- Use wonging as an opportunity to also take breaks to clear your head a little.

Also, in practice, once I get used to canceling pairs of cards, I find my self canceling ALL KINDS of cards, like 6 different cards at different spots on the table at once. This is sometimes a welcome speed up, and other times it makes me get out of order on the table.

 

[halcyon1234]

Things that have been working for me so far:

1) Counting with the TV on. It's like the music example above, but also has a visual distraction.

2) I tend to do one of the following: count as cards come out with "cancelling" (ie: I see a 2 come out. I know I need to add +1, but I focus on the actual count. If a 10 comes out, I completely ignore the 2, and forget about adding the +1. If another low comes out, I'll either add +2, or wait to see if 2 highs come out. Hrm, this sounds a lot better in my head than on paper ). Or I'll let the cards fall, then do cancelling pairs while I "think about what my action is".

3) If you completely blow the count, it's a sign that you need a break. If it's near the end of the shoe, and the count was positive, play it out, either flat bet or maybe 2 units. If the count was negative, go check out some waitresses.

4) Make conversation part of your cover, and make it automatic. Think about all the automatic things you do anyways. When you get a blackjack, you give a little "yay" or something. You don't have to think about it. Work a bunch of default options into your play. Stuff like "Dealer's got a six. You are so going to bust!" Or when they get a lucky 21, go "Man, you're killing me. Why do you hate me so much?". Banter, stuff like that. But be sure it's all tailored to sound like ploppy-talk. "I knew I shouldn't have hit that 12 [vs. dealer's 2], look what it did to the flow!". Practice this stuff out loud when you're counting so that it's all loaded in your brain and ready to go.

 

[sagefr0g]

Things that have been working for me so far:

...............

4) Make conversation part of your cover, and make it automatic. Think about all the automatic things you do anyways. When you get a blackjack, you give a little "yay" or something. You don't have to think about it. Work a bunch of default options into your play. Stuff like "Dealer's got a six. You are so going to bust!" Or when they get a lucky 21, go "Man, you're killing me. Why do you hate me so much?". Banter, stuff like that. But be sure it's all tailored to sound like ploppy-talk. "I knew I shouldn't have hit that 12 [vs. dealer's 2], look what it did to the flow!". Practice this stuff out loud when you're counting so that it's all loaded in your brain and ready to go.

heh heh your making me wonder if a lot of these ploppy wisdom sayings (the things that ploppies say) didn't originate with some counter plying his cover lines way back in the day..... :laugh:

 

[Bojack1]

All very good advice on practicing counting. It is key to practice with distractions as that is how you will have to do it in a casino. The best way for actually counting I've found is to count pairs and cancel. To count each card 1 at a time can cause mental fatigue after a while and and leads to counting and recounting of the same hands, a practice you should steer clear of. Once you have counted the round leave it alone, there is no need to keep doing the same thing over and over again. If you count in pairs you will not have to keep scanning the table as the cards come out. Get the count and than put your mind to other tasks such as playing your hand, possible indice plays, and if you are using hi lo, approximate deck estimation for the next round factoring in the cards on the table. As far as not forgetting the count a real good way of remembering is giving numbers a word association. What we do is give each number up to 30 a word equivelant. Say you have a running count of 14. A word for that could be gold, as in 14ct gold. Its much easier for the mind to remember gold, as its an actual physical object, than it is to remember the number 14. So once you have established your count is gold you can free yourself up to do other things, like counting hit cards, carry on conversations, or just relaxing. When all the hands are done hitting and the dealer is paying out, adjust your count, give it a new word, and figure your next bet. The key thing here is being able to approximate what you will do on the next hand while the current one is still in progress. By taking the running count out of your mind in numeral form you'll be surprised how easy everything else is to figure. Although you may have to change things slightly on your configurations for the upcoming hand if you have figured them on the previous one, you'll have approximated enough that it should be just about done already. After doing this method for a while you'll find that most times you will be able to recall what the running count was for each round of the shoe after you've finished it.

 

[halcyon1234]

heh heh your making me wonder if a lot of these ploppy wisdom sayings (the things that ploppies say) didn't originate with some counter plying his cover lines way back in the day..... :laugh:

LOL! Which came first, the ploppy or the play? =)

 

[adt_33]

.... I'll let the cards fall, then do cancelling pairs while I "think about what my action is".

- count by pairs as the hands are initially dealt, then count singletons as cards are drawn.

Let's say the players' second cards are being dealt. When you watch the table for pairs, do you map out the most logical pairs all across the table, then quickly combine the leftovers? Or do you strictly keep each player's two cards as a pair and add/subtract right then as you scan?

 

[halcyon1234]

Let's say the players' second cards are being dealt. When you watch the table for pairs, do you map out the most logical pairs all across the table, then quickly combine the leftovers? Or do you strictly keep each player's two cards as a pair and add/subtract right then as you scan?

I see the table holistically. Obviously a single hand that is 2/K is easier to cancel. But if a player gets dealt TT and another gets dealt 56, that's a cancel right there. Same with the dealer card. If you get dealt 67, and the dealer shows a 10, that's a cancel.

As soon as you see a cancelling pair anywhere on the board, and there's no other cards left in that hand that are of signifiance (ie: the 7 in the above example), then you can safely ignore all those hands, and focus only on the remaining ones.

One thing I'm still working on is counting the dealer's cards. Some dealers hit, bust and muck so fast that you don't have time to really pair-cancel. I find that I have to do a RC on the dealer's hand sometimes. IE: If the RC is +7, the dealer flips T hits gets 2 hits gets 3 hits gets T busts mucks. I can't wait to see the whole hand and do two pair cancels. Instead I have to run it as the cards fall. +6 hit +7 hit +8 hit +7 BUST. At least intensly staring at the dealer's cards doesn't draw heat.

 

[mdlbj]

I do not have issues with this any more yet, I can relate. During my sessions I would just start a conversation with the dealer or people at the table, that helped me most. Kept them to simple small talk at first. An now I can have a where you from what you doing have any plans cause your hot type of conversions.. Good luck.

A few nights ago I was a my favorite place to eat and there was a famous comedian there. He started busting on me for thumbing through a deck of cards over and over. I said its not as easy as it looks. He and several people there were curious why I was not playing solitaire or what ever. I explained to them I am practicing card counting. They asked if it really worked etc.. I gave the comedian the values for hi-lo and a few others that were listening. I pitched a single deck game to them. They were all talking BSing and every hand I would ask them what the count was. None of them got it right. And were up in arms about how its voodoo.. After the last hand I gave them the Running count. They said ok so if you finish counting the rest of the cards the last one should put you back at zero. It did. They were amazed. This may be a way for you to practice counting. Being a teacher is also a great way to learn and focus.

 

[EasyRhino]

One thing I'm still working on is counting the dealer's cards. Some dealers hit, bust and muck so fast that you don't have time to really pair-cancel.

I find it's useful to learn with that dealer the "pattern" that the cards will fall in as he/she uncovers the hole card then draws additional. Then, even if there's 4 or 5 dealer cards on the table, you can still tell, at a glance, which was up card, which was the card, and which were drawn additionally, so you don't over or undercount.