Blackjack Awakening part Two

mdlbj

Well-Known Member
I think The write up of Chan Li and I was hands down better then bringing down the house. And yeah to all you nay sayers, I will watch the movie when the dvd is on sale next week for 5.99.

Just installed leopard on my MAC and in a sudo computing bliss.
 
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mdlbj

Well-Known Member
zengrifter said:
Share some more writings in this thread. zg
My retirement piece is coming soon. Sucks, I was really enjoying the ride but as it goes or as they say We got to big for out britches.
 

mdlbj

Well-Known Member
Automatic Monkey said:
News flash: we all do. At least, all of the experienced players on this site know advanced techniques and mostly play in a niche which we have modified our play for. An inexperienced player doesn't have $800 from his bankroll to spare for counting lessons, rather he needs to read a couple of $20 books and get out there and earn his stripes. On this site we've watched a young man quickly go from a rookie frustrated because "this counting stuff is hard" to a successful journeyman counter, just with some study, experience, and asking the right questions of the right people.

Furthermore, as far as straight counting goes, being a great one is sort of like being a great cashier or barista. There isn't a whole lot of difference between a great one and an ordinary one, in units of dollars. Sure, I use level 2 and 3 counts but it will be years of play before there is a mathematically significant difference between my play and that of a guy who uses Rookie KO. Therefore for me to represent myself as significantly better at counting than the rookie would demonstrate that either I don't know what I'm talking about, or I'm being dishonest. If I were also attempting to extract $800 from the rookie ostensibly to make him more like me, odds are I'm being dishonest.
A level 2 or 3 count is only a fraction of a percent better than Hi-Lo if.... Applied perfectly.

You can not do it perfectly or, you would have been at the Blackjack Ball.
 
mdlbj said:
A level 2 or 3 count is only a fraction of a percent better than Hi-Lo if.... Applied perfectly.
Do you mean a fraction of a percent of additional advantage? Well of course, we're only playing with a 1-2% advantage to begin with. A fraction of a percent makes the difference between a great game and a barely playable one. Going to a level 2 or 3 count from High-Low increases the SCORE of a shoe game with Wonging from 5-10%. You would have to make many random errors per shoe using RPC to reduce the win rate to that of a High-Low player. But still, 5-10% of SCORE doesn't amount to that much.

My point is that the mechanics of counting, being an approximation, are not significantly improved by any extraordinary degree of precision, and the real skills of a successful counter are at other things.

mdlbj said:
You can not do it perfectly or, you would have been at the Blackjack Ball.
How do you know I wasn't? :cool2:
 

mdlbj

Well-Known Member
My point is that the mechanics of counting, being an approximation, are not significantly improved by any extraordinary degree of precision, and the real skills of a successful counter are at other things.
Than why use a level 2 or 3 count... If the "other things " make the difference, why not keep it simple in a shoe game, take advantage in the single or double deck games with other techniques. Fewer mistakes results in more money in our pockets.

Not to sure what you are trying to say.

How Do I know you were not at the blackjack ball? You tell me.

Automatic Monkey said:
Do you mean a fraction of a percent of additional advantage? Well of course, we're only playing with a 1-2% advantage to begin with. A fraction of a percent makes the difference between a great game and a barely playable one. Going to a level 2 or 3 count from High-Low increases the SCORE of a shoe game with Wonging from 5-10%. You would have to make many random errors per shoe using RPC to reduce the win rate to that of a High-Low player. But still, 5-10% of SCORE doesn't amount to that much.

My point is that the mechanics of counting, being an approximation, are not significantly improved by any extraordinary degree of precision, and the real skills of a successful counter are at other things.



How do you know I wasn't? :cool2:
 
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mdlbj said:
Than why use a level 2 or 3 count... If the "other things " make the difference, why not keep it simple in a shoe game, take advantage in the single or double deck games with other techniques. Fewer mistakes results in more money in our pockets.

Not to sure what you are trying to say.
Everything makes a difference, it's just a matter of degree. An extra 5-10% in SCORE is sufficiently worthwhile, to me, to use a level 2 count. A level 2 count results in more money in my pocket, and I can't imagine making enough additional mistakes due to using a level 2 count to reverse that 5-10%. Do you realize how many random counting errors that corresponds to? I'd never suggest to another that they use a count they don't feel comfortable using.


mdlbj said:
How Do I know you were not at the blackjack ball? You tell me.
When I'm in Las Vegas, you can be very sure I'm working, at the players' side of the tables, and not at a party identifying myself to individuals who work on both sides of the table. That's how you know.
 

Bojack1

Well-Known Member
Automatic Monkey said:
Everything makes a difference, it's just a matter of degree. An extra 5-10% in SCORE is sufficiently worthwhile, to me, to use a level 2 count. A level 2 count results in more money in my pocket, and I can't imagine making enough additional mistakes due to using a level 2 count to reverse that 5-10%. Do you realize how many random counting errors that corresponds to? I'd never suggest to another that they use a count they don't feel comfortable using.




When I'm in Las Vegas, you can be very sure I'm working, at the players' side of the tables, and not at a party identifying myself to individuals who work on both sides of the table. That's how you know.

Well believe it or not I agree with what Monkey says here in his first paragraph. If you can pull off and are comfortable with a more advanced count then by all means use it. For me, and for other teams though, including the successful MIT teams, a strong but simple level 1 count is much easier to get individuals to be able to work as a team. As well as later on in training if some get proficient enough a balanced system like hi-lo with its need for deck estimation would be easier to translate to more advanced techniques. This being the reason that many teams including mine, don't use a similar strength unbalanced count.

As far as the blackjack ball, going there would be beneficial to anyone who gets invited. There are many that attend that are considered the top of the game. Once you have earned the right to be in the inner circle of those that make up the top eschelon of the trade, you have opened up yourself to the rights to privileged info of many great pros. No offense to any on this board, but if you needed some info about hole carding, sequencing, or shuffletracking, would you rather get it from someone here, or give James Grosjean or Johnny Chang a call and get their thoughts. Hey there may be some people here that are up to those type of standards, but its nice to know the people that set those standards. Getting it straight from the horses mouth so to speak. And yes these people all still play. They play often, and play lucratively. So worrying about co mingling with the otherside of the table is not an issue for those that are really attending such events.
 
Bojack1 said:
...
As far as the blackjack ball, going there would be beneficial to anyone who gets invited. There are many that attend that are considered the top of the game. Once you have earned the right to be in the inner circle of those that make up the top eschelon of the trade, you have opened up yourself to the rights to privileged info of many great pros. No offense to any on this board, but if you needed some info about hole carding, sequencing, or shuffletracking, would you rather get it from someone here, or give James Grosjean or Johnny Chang a call and get their thoughts. Hey there may be some people here that are up to those type of standards, but its nice to know the people that set those standards. Getting it straight from the horses mouth so to speak. And yes these people all still play. They play often, and play lucratively. So worrying about co mingling with the otherside of the table is not an issue for those that are really attending such events.
Honestly, I'd rather get that information from no one, opting instead for exploiting vulnerabilities discovered on my own, with techniques developed on my own. Regarding those at the Blackjack Ball. these guys are either active players or non-active players. If they are active, they have no reason to share an opportunity they are exploiting with someone they just met at a party. If they are non-active, they are not going to know the opportunities that currently exist because they change from day to day. Overall I'd rather share information with someone here who plays the same games for the same stakes that I do, because then we are more likely to have an equal exchange of beneficial information.

And besides that, this Blackjack Ball is run by someone who works for my adversaries, and I'd prefer to not go to his party.
 

aslan

Well-Known Member
mdlbj said:
What is everyones thoughts on the article? I'm curious because Im thinking of quiting my day job and writing / playing full time.
Excellent. A little scary. I would never want to be put to the test like that! I'm sure everyone will walk away with some pointers to help there own games with articles like that. I'm looking forward to the next article.
 

mdlbj

Well-Known Member
Everyone does their own thing AM, thats what puts you and the rest apart from the main srteam I guess. If this came out 5 years ago, I would have made much more money.

http://www.blackjackincolor.com/

You kinda remind me of a few players I ran into in LV a few weeks ago. The table was showing a -9 running count, they were both still putting a 25 dollar flat bet out there. As I walked by I said under my breath but loud enough for them to hear " you mine as well walk away while you have a chance".

Automatic Monkey said:
Honestly, I'd rather get that information from no one, opting instead for exploiting vulnerabilities discovered on my own, with techniques developed on my own. Regarding those at the Blackjack Ball. these guys are either active players or non-active players. If they are active, they have no reason to share an opportunity they are exploiting with someone they just met at a party. If they are non-active, they are not going to know the opportunities that currently exist because they change from day to day. Overall I'd rather share information with someone here who plays the same games for the same stakes that I do, because then we are more likely to have an equal exchange of beneficial information.

And besides that, this Blackjack Ball is run by someone who works for my adversaries, and I'd prefer to not go to his party.
 

zengrifter

Banned
mdlbj said:
I think The write up of Chan Li and I was hands down better then bringing down the house.

Just installed leopard on my MAC and in a sudo computing bliss.
Where is the write up you refer to?
What is Leopard?

zg
 
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