card counting

[pangga]

hi guys, new member, first post!
I'm fairly new to card counting I just started after I've seen the movie 21.
After that I went to buy blackjack books, The World's Greatest Blackjack Book and Wong's Professional blackjack.
I'm using the Hi Lo system and memorized indexes from +10 to -10.
I tried it in three casinos around my area.
My first and last bankroll is 60 dollars (I'm just a student with no regular income), and after 11 hours I find my money to be 500 dollars.
I actually have a mindset that i can only leave the casino if I made a net profit of 100 dollars per session. (average time is about 2.5 hours). I'm betting from 5-40 dollars, and sometimes when I'm down I push it to 50 dollars when the count is high.
I do not know precisely how am I going to adjust my bet according to the count, especially now that I have a 500 bankroll. Is it safe to have a minimum bet of 10 dollars? When can I safely increase my bet?
Also, when I need to go in an hour, and I'm only up by 30 dollars, I resort to betting progression, which I think makes me NOT a counter. The betting progression I use is doubling what my last bet is. Example, I bet 5, i lose, I bet 10, I lose, I bet 20, I lose, I bet 40, i win, and I start again to 5. I think this is very dangerous for my bankroll especially if I encounter a losing streak. Would you recommend me to NOT use this betting progression? THANKS!

 

[SleightOfHand]

hi guys, new member, first post!
I'm fairly new to card counting I just started after I've seen the movie 21.
After that I went to buy blackjack books, The World's Greatest Blackjack Book and Wong's Professional blackjack.
I'm using the Hi Lo system and memorized indexes from +10 to -10.
I tried it in three casinos around my area.
My first and last bankroll is 60 dollars (I'm just a student with no regular income), and after 11 hours I find my money to be 500 dollars.
I actually have a mindset that i can only leave the casino if I made a net profit of 100 dollars per session. (average time is about 2.5 hours). I'm betting from 5-40 dollars, and sometimes when I'm down I push it to 50 dollars when the count is high.
I do not know precisely how am I going to adjust my bet according to the count, especially now that I have a 500 bankroll. Is it safe to have a minimum bet of 10 dollars? When can I safely increase my bet?
Also, when I need to go in an hour, and I'm only up by 30 dollars, I resort to betting progression, which I think makes me NOT a counter. The betting progression I use is doubling what my last bet is. Example, I bet 5, i lose, I bet 10, I lose, I bet 20, I lose, I bet 40, i win, and I start again to 5. I think this is very dangerous for my bankroll especially if I encounter a losing streak. Would you recommend me to NOT use this betting progression? THANKS!

Aparrently you didn't read the books thoroughly. I'm not familiar with California casinos, but from what I read, you have to pay for every round you play. Thats already plenty of -EV to not play. Even in a 6D S17 DAS LS RSA, backcounting, playing full indeces, and betting optimally, you are most likely to lose all your money. Read the books again.

Another reason why I doubt you read the books: PROGRESSION BETTING?!?! That is one of the worst things you can do. Bet to the count, and pray for some positive variance.

PS: I take back what I said its one of the worst things you can do. Martingale progression (what you are describing) is one of the worst things you can do. Oscar's Grind is not as bad. However, any progression bet is still a losing game, and must be avoided if +EV is your only goal.

 

[FLASH1296]

I am sorry to say that you are about to become yet another Hollywood "victim in the making".
The movie "21" is so full of crap that I won't go into it.

ALL progressions are fatally flawed. Betting to win a certain amount of money per session or per hour will serve to empty your pockets eventually.

Understand the following:

You have been EXTREMELY lucky so far. That is all.

With a Bankroll of $500 you should be betting from $1 to $5 -
but that is impossible and you would not do it under any circumstances.

You are seriously undercapitalized to play a $10 game.
That is a serious understatement of course.

If you want to spread from $10 to $50 in a double deck game you'd do well to have your jeans stuffed with $1,000 at the very least.
$10,000 is actually a proper conservative bankroll.

With the way your bets are scaled your Risk of Ruin is probably about 45% -
meaning that you are about a 6 to 5 favorite to turn that $500 into $1,000 before going broke.
Obviously the converse is true as well. You are a 5 to 6 underdog to walk out of the casino tapped out.

I suggest that you spend several day trying to absorb some BJ wisdom from these forums. Take notes.

 

[Guynoire]

You are making the most common mistake that beginning card counters make that ultimately lead most to failure, you are overbetting your bankroll. This is not just me being risk averse and fearful, there is a mathematical principle called the Kelly Criterion that shows you are mathematically guaranteed to lose money in the long run if you keep betting such a large percentage of your bankroll.

Just think about it, your entire bankroll is only about 10 max bets, it's not that hard to lose ten bets in a high count. If you play long enough eventually you'll hit a losing streak and wipe out your entire bankroll. Before you continue playing you should research optimal betting and the Kelly criterion until you realize why you will lose money in a positive game if you overbet, which you are. Just as on off hand estimate to continue to play that game you'll need a bankroll of at least 3-5 thousand minimum.

 

[Kasi]

I actually have a mindset that i can only leave the casino if I made a net profit of 100 dollars per session. (average time is about 2.5 hours). THANKS!

Is that all - only $40/hr with 500 bucks lol.

I'd just leave the casino every 2.5 hours and turn around and come back in for another session. Repeat 2 more times. $400 a day ain't bad.

Seriously, like everyone says, card-counting will not yield $40/hr with $500.

If that's your goal you may as well voodoo it with something that at least has a high probability of achieving that goal. A lot less risk of losing it all than card counting with $500 and betting it in such a way as to yield $40/hr.

 

[rollem411]

You are either waaaay to greedy or highly misinformed. If you only have $500, and are overbetting like that..you will lose everything. You are better off getting a job and building a BR or at least get a pt job so you can replenish it if you do happen to go broke...make the $500 your session BR.

If one big round of max bets that include a split and doubles can wipe you out entirely, it's a good time to start thinking of another way to make money.

I also forgot...drop the progresssion bets as has been suggested.

 

[ihate17]

Aparrently you didn't read the books thoroughly. I'm not familiar with California casinos, but from what I read, you have to pay for every round you play.

The only places that charge an ante for each round of blackjack in California are the poker clubs and they are not allowed to deal real blackjack. I believe every Indian casino deals real blackjack and none charge an ante. What you read is something like 7 years old or older.

ihate17

 

[SleightOfHand]

Aparrently you didn't read the books thoroughly. I'm not familiar with California casinos, but from what I read, you have to pay for every round you play.


The only places that charge an ante for each round of blackjack in California are the poker clubs and they are not allowed to deal real blackjack. I believe every Indian casino deals real blackjack and none charge an ante. What you read is something like 7 years old or older.

ihate17

Really? I remember someone posting somethign about some kind of cost for playing. I don't remmeber what the context was though..

 

[ihate17]

Probably a card club

Really? I remember someone posting somethign about some kind of cost for playing. I don't remmeber what the context was though..

The card clubs have something called no bust blackjack which I have never played. Their games are not house banked and they charge an anti. The Indian casinos have regular blackjack, bank the games and do not charge an ante.

ihate17