Who counts the quickest?!

R

Rspeirsmlb

Well-Known Member
What is the quickest you guys can count down a deck of cards?! They say 25-30 seconds is a good rule of thumb...but I was just curious how quick some of you can count down 1 deck? Any records out there? My quickest is 24 seconds, which I know isn't all that great, but I find it kinda fun to see how quick I can do it whenever I have downtime in my day.....
 
My fastest was about 2 years ago when i practiced this regularly and i could manage 12s but my average these days is about 14s.

RJT.
 
My best was 19s...I can't flip the cards quick enough to get a faster time. Plus my arm starts to tire after a few rounds
 
Anywhere from 15-20 seconds but im going for accuracy not speed.

As cheesy as this site looks, it is great for practicing HI-LO.

(Dead link: http://home.san.rr.com/bjstuff/) _See how fast you are_
 
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I don't usually count down decks because it's not a realistic simulation of how you see the cards at the table. The times I've tried it, it usually takes me 35-45 seconds.

But the way my hands are, it takes me almost that long to flip the cards without counting!
 
My best while being accurate with Hi-Opt II without Ace was 9 seconds, but I averaged around 12-14. I hold the deck in my hand with cards face up and push them off with my left thumb. Although, I do agree with others that this isn't a good way to practice. You need to practice making all the plays/bets which includes TC adjustments and Ace adjustments for ace neutral counts. Oh, and also talking at the same time:). It took me a year or so before I could talk and play accurately:).

Best,

Beast
 
I'd say around 15-20 seconds is average for me. 9 seconds :eek: I cant even flip over 52 cards that fast...
 
We all can rip through a deck in under 30 but when the pressure is on it makes it a bit more difficult.

Here is a example..

(Dead link: http://www.blackjackinstitute.com/store/article1.php)
 
Truthfully this isn't a useful exercise for anyone who's been playing for any length of time. It's simply useful for learning to recognise the card count values in your counting system rather than the values of the cards. Once you've got that down quickly, you move on to doing other things.

RJT.
 
Any of you up for the challenge of letting MIT_Mike watch your game? I would do it in a nano second now.
 
Rspeirsmlb said:
What is the quickest you guys can count down a deck of cards?! They say 25-30 seconds is a good rule of thumb.
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As a new counter don't worry about speed, shoot for accuracy. You want to achieve perfection counting down the deck all the time. Then once you do that work on your speed. Knock off a second or two at a time. While the faster you are with perfect accuracy is always better, in a casino environment if you can consistently count down a deck accurately in 25 seconds you will be fine. As for the fastest counter apparently there was this guy named Daryl Purpose who played on Al Francesco's team who could count down a deck accurately in 8 seconds.
 
I've never held a stopwatch to my counting. Once my skill kept pace with the dealers I lost interest in increasing speed and spent more attention on multi tasking like figuring bet spread and TC.

That and rehearsing some pre hashed remarks designed to look like I was listening and talking when really my mind was on the cards.

Plus, if you're playing hand held games you should be one on one with no other players. Or maybe two players if double deck. That doesn't involve really long streaks of fast counting skills.

Then in shoe games all the cards are shown face up. So after six months of counting anyone with a half decent mind should be able to cut it.

The real skill (after the fundamentals of B/S, bet spread and count deviations from B/S) seems to be self restraint and showing some BALLS. I'm about equal in those two.

Quite a few times I've dropped some fairly big numbers but revived myself to win all or more back. Not by over betting but by sticking to my plan.

And other times I left the casino because either I was winning too much and didn't want to get bounced at a favorable location. Or the decks were running so low I was wonging out too much. A waste of time at that point.
 
mdlbj said:
Any of you up for the challenge of letting MIT_Mike watch your game? I would do it in a nano second now.
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Sure! He can stake me $20K for a 4 hour session on the Strip, I'll spread $200-$2K and take 25% of the win vs. 0% of the loss, and he can watch my game. :laugh:
 
Automatic Monkey said:
Sure! He can stake me $20K for a 4 hour session on the Strip, I'll spread $200-$2K and take 25% of the win vs. 0% of the loss, and he can watch my game. :laugh:
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As funny as you think that is, that is precisely how many of the famed and not so famed pros play it. There are many professionals who don't risk a dime of their own money but yet still get large shares of profits. Its a great system to get into, the only problem being, somewhere down the line you would have had to show some real skills to someone to earn the right to play this way. At that point a good skills checkout can be more valuable than anything else in your game. When you can prove to the right people that you are an expert in your system you can lower your variance to zero, and play a much higher stakes game with no monetary consequence. Its not for everybody this is true, but if it is, fuzzy counting and sloppy play won't get you there.
 
Bojack1 said:
As funny as you think that is, that is precisely how many of the famed and not so famed pros play it.
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Gee, and how would I have known that precisely? Lucky guess, of course.

Bojack1 said:
There are many professionals who don't risk a dime of their own money but yet still get large shares of profits. Its a great system to get into, the only problem being, somewhere down the line you would have had to show some real skills to someone to earn the right to play this way. At that point a good skills checkout can be more valuable than anything else in your game. When you can prove to the right people that you are an expert in your system you can lower your variance to zero, and play a much higher stakes game with no monetary consequence.
Click to expand...

Play with zero variance, and no monetary consequences??? Why would anyone want to do that in a casino? I can do that at home on my simulator, with no smoke and better drinks. My time is valuable to me and I would never play blackjack with no monetary consequences. Variance is an unavoidable part of any game with a random element and accepting it is part of being an AP.

Bojack1 said:
Its not for everybody this is true, but if it is, fuzzy counting and sloppy play won't get you there.
Click to expand...

It's not for me. I'll happily take 100% of my profits and absorb 100% of my losses, and that leaves 0% for the hucksters of the gaming world.
 
Automatic Monkey said:
Gee, and how would I have known that precisely? Lucky guess, of course.



Play with zero variance, and no monetary consequences??? Why would anyone want to do that in a casino? I can do that at home on my simulator, with no smoke and better drinks. My time is valuable to me and I would never play blackjack with no monetary consequences. Variance is an unavoidable part of any game with a random element and accepting it is part of being an AP.



It's not for me. I'll happily take 100% of my profits and absorb 100% of my losses, and that leaves 0% for the hucksters of the gaming world.
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Okay you don't quite get it, so your guess is not quite as lucky as you think. What I mean by 0 variance and no monetary consequence is that as a player in this situation you cannot lose any money. In any other situation a losing session means a loss of funds. In this one you will still lose sessions but not any money of your own. Its more like 0% risk, 100% reward. So you can only win and never lose. If playing at home is a more valuable use of your time than those conditions so be it, you must have a way to make money while tapping away at your computer.

Oh and by the way, playing in these type scenarios its usually the players that are the hucksters not the investors. Many would be surprised at how many supposed respected pros, authors and experts can play losing games and still make money. Again, its up to the individual how they want to play their game. Of course its not for you, for reasons that are more obvious to me than even yourself.
 
Automatic Monkey said:
Gee, and how would I have known that precisely? Lucky guess, of course.
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You didn't, you were just trying to take what you felt was a ridiculous idea and pitch it because you don't like BJI. I do find it very ammusing how you've materialized your dislike of certain posters into an entire distrust of a whole group of people. Especially since those posters have done nothing other than tell you you are wrong.

Automatic Monkey said:
Play with zero variance, and no monetary consequences??? Why would anyone want to do that in a casino? I can do that at home on my simulator, with no smoke and better drinks. My time is valuable to me and I would never play blackjack with no monetary consequences. Variance is an unavoidable part of any game with a random element and accepting it is part of being an AP.
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Now you are being very narrow minded. You've completely limited your thoughts about the game to what you know. There are ways to play the game with zero variance and a very high payday at the end - not that i would discuss them with you or any other person.
By the way, deliberately taking someone else's post out of context doesn't make you look smart. Get back to me whenever you're ready with the standard "that's what he said" bit :yawn:

Automatic Monkey said:
It's not for me. I'll happily take 100% of my profits and absorb 100% of my losses, and that leaves 0% for the hucksters of the gaming world.
Click to expand...

Many of the people out there who are held in high regard by many here would fall into that catagory. You'd be surprised who's used this and truthfully if done right, no-one gets scammed.

RJT.
 
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