itakeyourmoney
Well-Known Member
I posted on here last year about this time when I was beginning to count, but I had to stop due to not having the necessary free time or bankroll. I'm now out of school and can meet both the time and financial requirements for card counting, and I want to make sure that I start out the right way.
My local casino offers the current game:
$10 min-$199 max
late surrender
70-80% pen
6 deck
dealer hits soft 17
das and double any two
split aces three times
$5 tables are also available but without surrender.
My current spread is (with $10 units):
+0: 1 unit
+1: 1 unit
+2: 2 units
+3: 4 units
+4: 8 units
+5 or more: 16 units
[When going with friends my plan is to simply piggyback their bets. That is, say the count is +2 and they plan to bet $10, I'll have them throw an extra $20 on for me: if they win, I make $20; if they lose, I pay them back $20 later. Basically it allows me to wong-in/out at any time. (Likely this "piggybacking" will be done on $5 tables.)]
I'm using the standard Hi-Lo count with the I-18 index (wonging out at TC= -2), and am currently practicing on Casino Verite with the above setup.
I was hoping someone would be able to tell me what kind of total bankroll I'm looking at to avoid going broke, and is it possible to start playing without the full bankroll. That is, say I need a total BR of $20,000 but currently only have $2,000 -- could I start playing now while I save up the rest?
To simplify, I'll list my main questions:
1. Is the $10 game substantially better than the $5 game (same rules but without surrender) -- I'd like to play the $5 table as it would allow my bankroll to be smaller, which would be nice in the beginning, but I don't want to sacrifice a large relative advantage.
2. Is there a more preferable spread?
3. Should I log a certain number of hours on CV before heading to the casino, or a certain number of hours backcounting (either alone or while my friends play) at casinos before sitting down to play? (I plan on having my deck counting down to under 25 seconds before playing.)
4. Is the "piggybacking" (if there is a more technical term please let me know) mentioned above, which will likely be on the $5 tables, better than playing by myself at a $10 table?
5. I have Professional Blackjack by Stanford Wong. Are there any other books you guys would recommend?
Thanks in advance (and let me know if there is any needed information that I forgot to provide).
My local casino offers the current game:
$10 min-$199 max
late surrender
70-80% pen
6 deck
dealer hits soft 17
das and double any two
split aces three times
$5 tables are also available but without surrender.
My current spread is (with $10 units):
+0: 1 unit
+1: 1 unit
+2: 2 units
+3: 4 units
+4: 8 units
+5 or more: 16 units
[When going with friends my plan is to simply piggyback their bets. That is, say the count is +2 and they plan to bet $10, I'll have them throw an extra $20 on for me: if they win, I make $20; if they lose, I pay them back $20 later. Basically it allows me to wong-in/out at any time. (Likely this "piggybacking" will be done on $5 tables.)]
I'm using the standard Hi-Lo count with the I-18 index (wonging out at TC= -2), and am currently practicing on Casino Verite with the above setup.
I was hoping someone would be able to tell me what kind of total bankroll I'm looking at to avoid going broke, and is it possible to start playing without the full bankroll. That is, say I need a total BR of $20,000 but currently only have $2,000 -- could I start playing now while I save up the rest?
To simplify, I'll list my main questions:
1. Is the $10 game substantially better than the $5 game (same rules but without surrender) -- I'd like to play the $5 table as it would allow my bankroll to be smaller, which would be nice in the beginning, but I don't want to sacrifice a large relative advantage.
2. Is there a more preferable spread?
3. Should I log a certain number of hours on CV before heading to the casino, or a certain number of hours backcounting (either alone or while my friends play) at casinos before sitting down to play? (I plan on having my deck counting down to under 25 seconds before playing.)
4. Is the "piggybacking" (if there is a more technical term please let me know) mentioned above, which will likely be on the $5 tables, better than playing by myself at a $10 table?
5. I have Professional Blackjack by Stanford Wong. Are there any other books you guys would recommend?
Thanks in advance (and let me know if there is any needed information that I forgot to provide).
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