I am getting ready to make a trip in a few weeks and want to get as sharp as I can before then. I have been playing the BS trainer here about forty minutes a day and counting down several decks a day. Any tips or tricks to help polish up? Looking for anything to help out, I only get to make a few runs a year and want to make the ones that I can take count.
Training Regiments?
- Thread starter dante62
- Start date
1. CVBJ: If I were in your shoes, I'd practice with CVBJ every day for 6 months before putting real money at risk: CVBJ not only has a game simulator, but invaluable training drills as well.
2. Go through the Blackjack school on the left toolbar (if you already haven't).
3. Nothing beats live play: backcount if possible on your first few trips (go when it's crowded); play the lowest limit table offered: you have to ultimately master acting like you're not interested in the cards in the slightest while carrying out short conversations (and never losing the count).
Regards,
FD
2. Go through the Blackjack school on the left toolbar (if you already haven't).
3. Nothing beats live play: backcount if possible on your first few trips (go when it's crowded); play the lowest limit table offered: you have to ultimately master acting like you're not interested in the cards in the slightest while carrying out short conversations (and never losing the count).
Regards,
FD
I don't know any tricks. But these may be of use to you.
*1.)TC
Complete TC conversion with 0<RC<31 and deck increments of however precise you do your conversions within 60 seconds. In other words, 2 seconds per each conversion.
**2.)RC
Call out your hands totals as you deal to yourself, if you are dealing to yourself that is.
3.)RC
Stack x amounts of cards in some increments, record your perceived RC as you finish each increments so that when you're done with the shoe that you were dealing to yourself, you can check your accuracy.
Purpose is to prepare a defense, so to speak, for retroactive interference caused by dealing with many numbers at a time; breaking down processes so to facilitate identification of weak spots and deal with them separately; finally, measured numbers should tell you more accurately than a ballpark feeling of how good you are.
*Assumes that you use a system that requires TC conversion.
*Assumes that you are using a level one count system.
**Assumes that you are counting cards.
*1.)TC
Complete TC conversion with 0<RC<31 and deck increments of however precise you do your conversions within 60 seconds. In other words, 2 seconds per each conversion.
**2.)RC
Call out your hands totals as you deal to yourself, if you are dealing to yourself that is.
3.)RC
Stack x amounts of cards in some increments, record your perceived RC as you finish each increments so that when you're done with the shoe that you were dealing to yourself, you can check your accuracy.
Purpose is to prepare a defense, so to speak, for retroactive interference caused by dealing with many numbers at a time; breaking down processes so to facilitate identification of weak spots and deal with them separately; finally, measured numbers should tell you more accurately than a ballpark feeling of how good you are.
*Assumes that you use a system that requires TC conversion.
*Assumes that you are using a level one count system.
**Assumes that you are counting cards.
Thanks FD, CV is a pretty nice setup, I had heard of it but never used it. Isn't my first time going, I have been playing for a couple years. I was just looking for some ideas to polish up before a trip. I was getting a little bored just flipping stacks of cards like I normally do to practice counting and dealing hands to myself, was just looking for something a bit different. The way I usually practice a friend of mine is also starting to get into counting, we will sit across from each other and deal hands back and forth with a stereo going as loud as we can and still hear each other talk. We will call out counts and ask each other what the correct play is. I have liked this method, it gives you someone there to check your ability instead of the trap we all fall in of, "yea that is the count" or "yea that has to be the right play". The noise also helps you concentrate when the money is on the felt, casino noise doesn't bother you as much (no casino floor can hold a candle to some Led Zep at full blast).
LIB. I do count, I use HiLo most of the times at the casinos I play at, along with an ace tracking system. And thanks for the TC RC drills, really speeding up conversions for me.
LIB. I do count, I use HiLo most of the times at the casinos I play at, along with an ace tracking system. And thanks for the TC RC drills, really speeding up conversions for me.
Last edited:
Looking back at the OP, you explicitly mentioned that you were "counting down several decks a day." My mistake. Brandy was kicking in about the time I posted the reply. Didn't mean to sound condescending or anything. I just hear that some people are able to play with a hefty advantage without counting. That is all.
I wasn't aware of it at the time I made the post, but I do know some tricks regarding TC conversions that made some of the hair splitting divisions much easier for me, especially the 1/4D bunch. If you're fine without it, good for you. If you want them, let me know the level of precision you want, - e.g. 1/2D resolution or 1/2D resolution up until x decks and 1/4 from y decks - and I'll give it to ya.
I wasn't aware of it at the time I made the post, but I do know some tricks regarding TC conversions that made some of the hair splitting divisions much easier for me, especially the 1/4D bunch. If you're fine without it, good for you. If you want them, let me know the level of precision you want, - e.g. 1/2D resolution or 1/2D resolution up until x decks and 1/4 from y decks - and I'll give it to ya.
All I did was crossing a diamond with a pearl, but I find it fairly easy to do compared to the crude way or any other ways I thought of.
So here they are. x is the RC.
-When you divide by 9, the remainders become the repeating decimal points.
ex.)13/9 = 1.444 and so on.
-When you divide by 11, the remainder times 9 becomes the repeating decimal points.
ex)13/11 = 1.18181818 and so on.
-When you divide by 7, the following six digits repeat: 142857
Memorizing which remainder gives which decimal points helps in getting your TC quick because you won't be dividing; you'll just know which decimal points would fall.
-Keep in mind that when you divide, you can also do it backwards.
I think this is about all the tricks I know about TC conversion. The resulting numbers get along pretty well, and the difference is never more than 0.17 as I recall. 1/2D increments are no big deal, and with the verbal pointers above, they should be a breeze. 1/4D increments will require some practice to get used to. It took me about a week of going over 500 of them everyday to feel comfortable with every one of them as you know and I know that it's all a moot point if I can't pull it off. I still work on it everyday though at the moment I'm working on speed rather than comfort level. At any rate, should you come my way, you can share my poison wine.
Frankly, I'm not really sure why I felt like being Santa Clause typing all this number. Enough with the rambling. I hope you find it useful. May the cards fall in your way.
Don't lose the number, Rikki hehe
So here they are. x is the RC.
- 0.25D 4x
- 0.5D 2x
- 0.75D 4x/3, x+(x/3)
- 1.25D 0.8x
- 1.5D 2x/3, x-(x/3)
- 1.75D 4x/7
- 2D x/2, 0.5x
- 2.25D 4x/9
- 2.5D 0.4x
- 2.75D 4x/11
- 3.25D 0.3x
- 3.5D 2x/7
- 3.75D
01~08 x/4
09~23 (x+1)/4
24~30 (x+2)/4 - 4.25D
01~08 x/4
09~23 (x+1)/4
24~30 (x+2)/4 - 4.5D 2x/9
- 4.75D
1~10 0.2x
11~30 0.2(x+1) - 5D 0.2x
- 5.25D
1~10 0.2x
11~30 0.2(x+1) - 5.5D 2x/11
-When you divide by 9, the remainders become the repeating decimal points.
ex.)13/9 = 1.444 and so on.
-When you divide by 11, the remainder times 9 becomes the repeating decimal points.
ex)13/11 = 1.18181818 and so on.
-When you divide by 7, the following six digits repeat: 142857
Memorizing which remainder gives which decimal points helps in getting your TC quick because you won't be dividing; you'll just know which decimal points would fall.
-Keep in mind that when you divide, you can also do it backwards.
I think this is about all the tricks I know about TC conversion. The resulting numbers get along pretty well, and the difference is never more than 0.17 as I recall. 1/2D increments are no big deal, and with the verbal pointers above, they should be a breeze. 1/4D increments will require some practice to get used to. It took me about a week of going over 500 of them everyday to feel comfortable with every one of them as you know and I know that it's all a moot point if I can't pull it off. I still work on it everyday though at the moment I'm working on speed rather than comfort level. At any rate, should you come my way, you can share my poison wine.
Frankly, I'm not really sure why I felt like being Santa Clause typing all this number. Enough with the rambling. I hope you find it useful. May the cards fall in your way.
Don't lose the number, Rikki hehe
Last edited:
No need to memorize. Simply add a zero and divide by 7.
1/7 -> 10/7 -> 1 -> 0.142857
2/7 -> 20/7 -> 2 -> 0.285714
3/7 -> 30/7 -> 4 -> 0.428571
4/7 -> 40/7 -> 5 -> 0.571428
5/7 -> 50/7 -> 7 -> 0.714285
6/7 -> 60/7 -> 8 -> 0.857142
Of course, if memorizing is easier, they obviously go in order, but this way is easier for me.
1/7 -> 10/7 -> 1 -> 0.142857
2/7 -> 20/7 -> 2 -> 0.285714
3/7 -> 30/7 -> 4 -> 0.428571
4/7 -> 40/7 -> 5 -> 0.571428
5/7 -> 50/7 -> 7 -> 0.714285
6/7 -> 60/7 -> 8 -> 0.857142
Of course, if memorizing is easier, they obviously go in order, but this way is easier for me.
At multiples of tens or single digits from 1 through 6, it may be easier to divide if I didn't know the remainders by heart. But consider this: 3.5 decks remaining and the RC is 24. Multiply both by 2, there I divide 48 by 7 and I get 6.9. The difference is that I'm not dividing twice to get the second digit. 49/7 is 7, 48 is one less than 49 so I skate backwards at the speed of light and the remainder must be 6/7; I just know that the TC rounded to the nearest tenth is 6.9. In this way, I'm not treading on a street that follows like a tedious argument. So why memorize the actual ones? because if needs be and I were to round my 6.9 to the nearest 1/4, it becomes 7 when in fact it should be 6.75. Actually, it's really not that difficult to memorize the numbers. If you're curious give it a try for about 30 minutes, and you'll be surprised. That's how I started doing it this way.
It's really no big deal when you're doing half deck increments, but once you start doing 1/4 decks it really becomes more than just a trivia with bigger numbers to juggle.
It's really no big deal when you're doing half deck increments, but once you start doing 1/4 decks it really becomes more than just a trivia with bigger numbers to juggle.