I have just recently returned from my first blackjack trip. It was a company function so I was obligated to attended a few select daily meetings but for the most part I had plenty of time to cut my teeth at the tables. I went into this trip with about 6 months of at home practice and it would be my first time ever playing blackjack at a casino for real money.
The first and most time consuming part was finding a playable game. Every time I turned my head it was a 6to5 table or CSMs or 10 billion minimum bet... My intentions were to only play BS and not worry about tracking the cards but I found it quite easy to keep count and very difficult to abstain from counting itself. First playable game was a 6 decker, I stood back and watched estimated a TC of 2 and sat down and bought in for $100 and flat bet $10. The first thing I learned was sitting at first base you are the first to have to make a decision, so keep your focus. It was tricky but very doable for a greenhorn like myself. I really didn't pay attention to my chips, I just flat bet and waited for the count to drop so I could leave. It did not however and I finished the shoe got up left and cashed out. Then I found a double deck game with about 1/2-3/4 deck pen. They used a mark in the discard tray to cut the deck so it was consistent. Big difference in count range for the DD. I never saw a running count above 5 the whole trip. From everything I read BS is the same for 6 deck as it is 2 deck. The shoes are faster and I enjoyed a couple then left. I was very nervous playing so my first couple sessions were short. My last session was about 3 hours of DD with an insane bet spread of $5 - $25!!! The count would swing wildly and I asked the dealer several times if I could just sit out and wait and to my surprise he didn't mind at all. I don't think I played even 5 hands at a negative count the entire trip.
Mistakes I am aware I made;
sitting at first base
almost hitting a soft 17v3
I felt I was obviously counting but not sure
being told I couldn't surrender (early) and not knowing before hand the real rules
I didn't even keep logs as I considered this trip part of my training but I would say 5-6 hours of table time and I came home +100 units. I must say the fear is out of the way, the practice I had suffered through really seemed to have paid off. I think I'm in it for the long run!
The first and most time consuming part was finding a playable game. Every time I turned my head it was a 6to5 table or CSMs or 10 billion minimum bet... My intentions were to only play BS and not worry about tracking the cards but I found it quite easy to keep count and very difficult to abstain from counting itself. First playable game was a 6 decker, I stood back and watched estimated a TC of 2 and sat down and bought in for $100 and flat bet $10. The first thing I learned was sitting at first base you are the first to have to make a decision, so keep your focus. It was tricky but very doable for a greenhorn like myself. I really didn't pay attention to my chips, I just flat bet and waited for the count to drop so I could leave. It did not however and I finished the shoe got up left and cashed out. Then I found a double deck game with about 1/2-3/4 deck pen. They used a mark in the discard tray to cut the deck so it was consistent. Big difference in count range for the DD. I never saw a running count above 5 the whole trip. From everything I read BS is the same for 6 deck as it is 2 deck. The shoes are faster and I enjoyed a couple then left. I was very nervous playing so my first couple sessions were short. My last session was about 3 hours of DD with an insane bet spread of $5 - $25!!! The count would swing wildly and I asked the dealer several times if I could just sit out and wait and to my surprise he didn't mind at all. I don't think I played even 5 hands at a negative count the entire trip.
Mistakes I am aware I made;
sitting at first base
almost hitting a soft 17v3
I felt I was obviously counting but not sure
being told I couldn't surrender (early) and not knowing before hand the real rules
I didn't even keep logs as I considered this trip part of my training but I would say 5-6 hours of table time and I came home +100 units. I must say the fear is out of the way, the practice I had suffered through really seemed to have paid off. I think I'm in it for the long run!