George Pappadopoulos' strategy is weak
pappadpoulos's stratagy is pathetic. I bought and read his book, it was the weakest dumbest blackjack book I have ever read, and I have read well over 20 of them. I did a 6 deck simulation of his weak progression for several hours using real cards dealt and shuffled in the same method as my favorite local casino, the simulation had 5 spots all playing his strategy and 2 flat bettors as controls, I was actually surprised how consistently the flat bet spots outperformed paddopoulous's ridiculous progression, incidentally every one of these spots was a loser, and so were the two flat betting spots, they just didn't lose as badly; and I would never recomend flat betting, unless the count was almost bad enough to consider leaving the table, or really high. If you really want to understand blackjack, try "the worlds greatest blackjack book" By Humphreys. it has a good easy counting method, and a more updated and accurate basic strategy.
I use a combination of revised martingale betting, when the count is mildly + to neutral. this not only helps me recover losses, and maximize gains, but to the house I appear to be a "negative expectation" gambler, so they love me instead of banning me. Also they tend to remember me for the big loss, and hence don't track the small gains realizing that they far outweigh the big loss, when I occasionally lose that 7th hand in a row. Also it masks when I increase my wagers. This is a good revised martingale betting progression, but make sure the count is at least neutral, or you could be in for a big loss.
1,2,4,4,5,10,20
ie a five dollar table would be $5,$10,$20,$20,$25,$50,$100,
green chip would be $25,$50,$100,$100,$125,$250,$500
of course whenever you win within that progression drop back to the $5 dollar minimum. You only raise your bet when you lose, to cover previous losses, If the count goes high, true count of +2.5 or better, in a 6 deck shoe, start letting your bets ride, to 3 - 5 units and then stay there, as long as the cards break in your favor, flat betting, this is where you will really make your money, the rest is just show.
your chances of losing 7 hands in a row, is approx. 1 in 300 assuming you win 48% of the time, but in my expierience it happens slightly more often, on average more like 1 in 200 hands.
one good book on negative betting progressions are---blackjack4living.com
the $17.95 download is well worth it.
another book that I like is called "betting on Blackjack" by fritz dunki jacobs.
these books offer food for thought but should be taken with a grain of salt.
remember without a combination of good counting techniques and applied basic stratagy, any progression is destined to take money out of your hands and put it into the casinos.
thanks
josh3623
PS- the non counter can use the following negative progression(2,4,7,14,17,20[$10,$20,$35,$70,$85,$100]) successfully utilizing a simple form of table analysis, watch the table and look for two busts in six hands, 3-4 busts in ten hands, also if you don't see a bust in four hands move to the next table; before sitting down make sure the dealer isn't flipping lots of 20s and 21s.
then come onto the table for ten or fifteen minutes and leave once you have earned 5 to 15 units, using this stratagy you can win consistently, applying basic stratagy. on occasion you will have losing streaks, that aren't the big bust, minimize these losses, by getting off the table after you make your recovery. if you are down a little its ok, just recover most of it and get off the table. You will spend more time watching tables using this technique though, (because it is hard to find a table that busts so consistently), then you will actually playing. but thats ok, if you jump in four times, in a 3 or 4 hour night, for 15 or 20 minutes each time, you can pull 20 to 40 units, not bad for a 40 unit buy in. and if you do it right you will win more than you lose. you will bust out one in 5-7 trips on average, that bust will cost you around 20-60 units, depending on how soon in your nightly gambling venture you had the bust. for example if you have been playing and won 20 units and then busted your loss would be around 40 units. I logged my wins and losses using this technique for almost a year, and greatly increased my bank.
*****The key is to stop playing for the day when you do have the big bust, it is not your day. there will always be tomorrow.
So for example, if you play 5 days and average 30 units on days 1,2,and 3 and then you bust out for 47 units on day 4 and make, 40 units on day five your take will be 130 units minus 47 units for a total gain of 83 units, this is consistently about what I won, 83 units at a green chip table would be over $2000.
I won consistently like this for years before I ever learned to count. and this technique worked great in europe where all the casinos use autoshuffle machines. I used this method in casinos from england and brussels to denmark and germany, spain, and many others, the only casino I lost in was amsterdam, that casino sucks. I won many euros pounds and kronins, even was asked to leave napolean's in london(the best casino in europe) and I wasn't even counting, and I had only won around 800 pounds. Also for you europeans since your casinos allow side bets(more than one bet, per betting position) I have perfected a very profitable technique that capitalizes on this aspect of european blackjack, contact me for more info. Thanks,,TTFN(Ta Ta For Now)
