Count down a deck... How fast

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MagikMark0

New Member
#61
#61
So, back to the main topic...How fast on counting down a deck? Overall, I've been practicing counting for about 2 months now. For me when I first started hi-lo, my best was 23 seconds, flipping over the cards.

In the last week and a half Ive been practicing Omega II, and so far my best is 27 seconds with 30 seconds on average. Im having a difficult time lately breaking a 28-29 second average barrier, but my counts are even more accurate, and are done with more ease than ever before.

I never tried counting a deck with all the cards face up, or with a spread before. I may try that within a few days and see if it makes me much faster. I look forward to my results after a week's worth of practice!
 
StandardDeviant

StandardDeviant

Well-Known Member
#62
#62
psyduck said:
I have been wonging out at TC = -1 and table hopping like crazy. Yet, I lost at most of the tables this weekend. I have no one to blame but the damn variance.
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Same happened to me last weekend! I had one shoe with the RC at 20 with only 2-3 decks left in the shoe. The count stayed that high for 2 or 3 hands. Everyone at the table but me drew 20s and BJs, while I was served up 2s and 3s.

Ya gotta love the goddess of fate!
 
StandardDeviant

StandardDeviant

Well-Known Member
#64
#64
Harry1941 said:
I count down a deck in 20 seconds

Harry
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I am working on counting down a deck in under 1 second.

I shuffle the deck and then remove one card, face down. Then I turn the rest of the deck over and toss it on a table. Then I guess at the value of the face down card. So far, I am right just a bit over 30% of the time, but I hope to improve on that. ;)
 
M

matt21

Well-Known Member
#65
#65
StandardDeviant said:
I am working on counting down a deck in under 1 second.

I shuffle the deck and then remove one card, face down. Then I turn the rest of the deck over and toss it on a table. Then I guess at the value of the face down card. So far, I am right just a bit over 30% of the time, but I hope to improve on that. ;)
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:grin: :grin: man that's a good one!
 
HarryKuntz

HarryKuntz

Well-Known Member
#66
#66
I'm far too lazy to count a deck down quickly, i don't see the point. Infact, i'm that lazy that i've become extremely good at grouping together cards that cancel each other out, I only count what's left over which is as few cards as possible. It much better to concentrate on this skill rather than worrying about how quickly a deck can be counted down one card at a time.
 
K

Kasi

Well-Known Member
#69
#69
MagikMark0 said:
So, back to the main topic...How fast on counting down a deck?
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It's irrelevant - the player controls the pace of play since the dealer cannot do sh*t until the player gives a hand-signal. The player has all the time remaining to infinity to make a play or get the count.

I guess I just feel, in general, speed of counting pales to knowing indexes and when, how to play them and how much/when to bet.

More or less. Just a reference point for pros and cons on the idea lol.
 
StandardDeviant

StandardDeviant

Well-Known Member
#70
#70
Kasi said:
It's irrelevant - the player controls the pace of play since the dealer cannot do sh*t until the player gives a hand-signal.
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Yeah, the only time I think it really matters is heads up play, where one has the chance to really increase the hands per hour. But in heads up play it's relatively easy to go fast because there are so few cards to look at.
 
S

shiznites

Well-Known Member
#72
#72
Recently, instead of simply counting down a deck I'd play out two rounds with a deck playing three seperate hands per round. I practice keeping the count and BS/indices. After the rounds are up I quickly count down the rest of the deck to make sure I kept up an accurate count.

I find this more effective then simply counting down.
 
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rukus

Well-Known Member
#74
#74
prankster said:
If you can count down a deck in 30 seconds or less you're doing just fine.:joker:
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no offense to you or anyone else, but if youre playing at a slow table which you should not be then maybe 30 seconds is ok! i am personally against (the small parts of) every BJ book ever written that states people should practice until they get below 30 seconds. maybe that was ok in the old old days. not these days. such complacency with mediocrity is why so many fail or get caught easily moving their eyes side to side. keep practicing until you are COMFORTABLY below 20 seconds (if you want to set some type of threshold at all, i recommend below 15) to stand a good chance at comfortably plaing semi-empty tables. and forget 95% accuracy or 98% or 99%. keep practicing until you are 99.9999999999999% accurate. it just takes a few weeks of daily work.

it is not a competition between counters to see who can count faster. its a matter of being successful at the tables.

just my 2 cents.
 
StandardDeviant

StandardDeviant

Well-Known Member
#75
#75
rukus said:
... mediocrity is why so many fail or get caught easily moving their eyes side to side. keep practicing until you are COMFORTABLY below 20 seconds...just my 2 cents.
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I have been wondering about the eye movement issue. If there are levels of proficiency:
  1. staring at the cards, lips moving
  2. obviously scanning every card
  3. scanning the full table
  4. hardly glancing at the table
then I think ~30 seconds is needed for #2, and ~20 seconds is needed for #3. #2 is probably OK for red chip play, but will it suffice at higher levels of betting?
 
R

rrwoods

Well-Known Member
#76
#76
StandardDeviant said:
I have been wondering about the eye movement issue. If there are levels of proficiency:
  1. staring at the cards, lips moving
  2. obviously scanning every card
  3. scanning the full table
  4. hardly glancing at the table
then I think ~30 seconds is needed for #2, and ~20 seconds is needed for #3. #2 is probably OK for red chip play, but will it suffice at higher levels of betting?
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Eh, I don't know. Even at red-chip play I'm uncomfortable obviously looking at every card, I want to be having conversations with the dealer and players while counting.
 
StandardDeviant

StandardDeviant

Well-Known Member
#77
#77
rrwoods said:
Eh, I don't know. Even at red-chip play I'm uncomfortable obviously looking at every card, I want to be having conversations with the dealer and players while counting.
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I feel this way too.

Learning to count is easy. Learning to count without looking like you are doing it is a bit more challenging!
 
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M

monte_vv

Active Member
#78
#78
psyduck said:
How fast can you flip the cards?
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The limiting factor to me is how fast I can flip the cards, not count them. I prefer to practice counting group of cards, 2-4 at a time, by quickly glancing at them, which is how I count in actual play.
 
blackjack avenger

blackjack avenger

Well-Known Member
#79
#79
Practice and Reality

If you practice a lot you will get faster, also with frequent play speed will improve. If you are facing a dealer that is to fast you can always leave, though some of us like fast dealers.:joker::whip:
 
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