any skill for front loading ?

Some years ago, somewhere on these very forums, someone described a way to train yourself to recognize a card from seeing just a quick glimpse of a small portion of it. :)

I have no idea where that post is now. :(
 
Get a deck of cards and white out the index. Practice counting cards based just on the "pips". You'll get better in no time.
 
moo321 said:
Get a deck of cards and white out the index. Practice counting cards based just on the "pips". You'll get better in no time.
Click to expand...

what means pips ?

and how can i see the card from the dealer ?

only if they are careless and easily been seen?
 
beyondbj said:
what means pips ?

and how can i see the card from the dealer ?

only if they are careless and easily been seen?
Click to expand...

Pips are the little spades, clubs, diamonds, and hearts on the cards -- so a NINE OF CLUBS has 9 little clubs on it, the training there is so that you can tell that it's a NINE from far away just based on the number of clubs (or hearts, spades or diamonds) instead of relying on seeing the number in the corners. (Caps are to differentiate between the card and simply the number 9, if that makes sense.)

To train for seeing a glimpse of the end cards when the dealer is cutting the deck, I read in Blackjack Secrets by Stanford Wong that it can be helpful to use a tachistoscope to allow you to "see" things more quickly. If you train with one for awhile you'll be able to recognize a card even when it's flashed for only a split second. (According to the part about this in Wong's book -- which I believe was a letter written by someone else -- about half of all dealers make a slip that allows you to see the card if you're well trained and are paying attention.)

If you didn't want to buy a tachistoscope you can also use computer programs to flash images and words -- just google "tachistoscope program" or something like that and you should be able to find something helpful for free.

I've been thinking about doing this myself, but I'm not sure how long it would take to become well trained enough to be able to see the cards, and I don't want to waste a large amount of time for something that will be unfruitful in the end. If you try using either a real tachistoscope or a computer program let me know how it goes. :)

ITYM
 
Just do it.

The best way to practice is to go to a casino and try to spot holecards. There’s no substitute for actual casino experience. You might be 100% accurate on your tachistoscope but you won’t be able to catch a single card in a casino. You need to learn to spot the cards at different angles and different orientations. You need to learn where to look and when to look. Some dealers may require a certain amount of encouragement or “training” from you. Other dealers are only vulnerable under certain circumstances. These are all things that you can’t really learn from a book or from practice at home. The only way to do it is to do it.

-Sonny-
 
Knowing how to play with what you have seen is key as well.

If you are front loading and you know the dealer doesn't have a X under you still have an advantage but the play is different if you know for sure what the dealer's card is. You have an idea of what it is ie I know it is an 8,9,10 or I know it is a 2 or 3. You need to know how to play all of this. This is akin to memorizing several different BS charts.

This is the easy part, seeing the card is 99.99% of the challenge.
 
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