New Card Counter here!!

[KoKo21]

Ok, I figured it was time to post since I have taken the last week to read almost every single thread on this site.

I have taken alot of notes and made alot of decisions based on what has been posted, I believe I am a good judge of character even based on what some of you have posted. So putting a weight on each poster after reading X amount of threads is what I have been doing, that being said on a 1-10 scale, 10 being Sonny and 1 being Cyphere(haha) I believe this site has gave me ALOT of insight on whats to come.

My Original insperation came about a month ago with the Bryant Gumbel interview with a couple of the MIT guys.

I went out and got the book "Bringing Down The House", thats what has gotten me this far.

Base on things posted here I have decided to go with the hi-lo 19 lessons on gamemaster.com

I am only on lesson 1, and taking baby steps, I want to be able to take my time now and master what I have set out to do, rather then rush into things. I put a goal of 6 months on actually going to the casino to count, though I plan on going to next week to play some BS and check out the environment, distractions, atmosphere ect..

So now for the Questions

1. I live in the Peoria Illinois area, the only cassino really close to me is the Paradice, I would like to know if anyone has played there, i'm not sure of the rules on bj( 6 deck shoes will be my focus) and want to know if they have decent rules or not, would like to know before I go next week.

2. Was the Hi-lo lessons on gamemaster.com the right choise?

3. There is 3 other people involved with the lessons with me (for team play) Is there a good book on team play? I have a list of 5 current books I wrote down off another thread that sonny put in order to read, but I havnt heard anyone say much about team play.

In closing please dont take me wrong, just because MIT group was my insperation to look into this further, I am not in anyway in the belief I will become anything close to that caliper. I clearly understand the 1% overall in the long run, and am happy about that.

Thank you much for input you have, I am sure there will be more questions as the lessons go on.

 

[Knox]

I recommend the KO system. It is very easy and I think most would agree powerful enough.

Also, go to bj21.com and order the CBJN report. For $12 you can download a pdf file that will give you pretty accurate listings of playing conditions at every casino in the US. It is well worth the investment, especially if you go to a place where they have a number of places to play.

While CBJN is good, I don't think it is always 100% accurate. It is a good idea to scout the location you are going to by doing a search on here. For example, "Tunica". You will normally find the most up-to-date report of playing conditions that way. Finding the best game in town is critical. Avoid hit 17 games if you can, that costs you 0.20% (a lot).

I also recommend that you choose 2-deck games over 6-deck games when you can. Even if the 6-deck game has a slightly better house advantage, you can usually overcome that, and then some, through counting. You will usually have to make larger bets and deal with less favorable playing conditions in the 6-deck game. It took me a while to figure that out, but I firmly believe it now. In the 6-deck game you will have periods of several hours without a favorable count. That can be very boring and discouraging when it happens.

 

[supercoolmancool]

What rating did you give me?

 

[sagefr0g]

.......

Base on things posted here I have decided to go with the hi-lo 19 lessons on gamemaster.com

I am only on lesson 1, and taking baby steps, I want to be able to take my time now and master what I have set out to do, rather then rush into things. I put a goal of 6 months on actually going to the casino to count, though I plan on going to next week to play some BS and check out the environment, distractions, atmosphere ect..

...............

2. Was the Hi-lo lessons on gamemaster.com the right choise?

............

good idea not to rush things.
yes gamemaster lessons are IMHO to be highly recommended.

 

[Knox]

good idea not to rush things.
yes gamemaster lessons are IMHO to be highly recommended.

Any value if you can play 100% accurate KO?

 

[KoKo21]

What rating did you give me?

You got a very good rating, but I had to knock off 1 point for the long name..haha

Thank you much for the info. I did look hard into the KO, it was rather easy, but the real only difference I seen was not having to convert to a true count, is there more that makes KO much easyer, and is there any info on the % of each system? I think I seen the hi-lo % sitting at 97% where I see the advance systems at 99%, KO = %?

 

[sagefr0g]

Quote:
Originally Posted by sagefr0g View Post
good idea not to rush things.
yes gamemaster lessons are IMHO to be highly recommended.

Any value if you can play 100% accurate KO?

i believe so. that is in the sense that the lessons can help round out your understanding card counting even further (albeit from another perspective)

 

[Sonny]

Was the Hi-lo lessons on gamemaster.com the right choise?

The Gamemaster classes will give you a very good start. There are also lots of articles on his website as well. After you finish the classes, check out his “Blackjack” and “Secrets” articles:

http://www.gamemasteronline.com/indexa.shtml (Archive copy)

Is there a good book on team play?

Kenny Uston’s “Million Dollar Blackjack” is one of the classic books on team play. You can usually find cheap copies on eBay or Half.com. Also, Rick Blaine’s “Blackjack Blueprint” is excellent.

I did look hard into the KO, it was rather easy, but the real only difference I seen was not having to convert to a true count

Lack of TC conversion is the main benefit of KO. The problem is that you might have to learn different indices (BS deviations) for different games. Also, KO has a bit of a “grey area” about when to Wong out.

Both systems are very powerful. You could get your feet wet with KO, or if your deck estimation and division skills a strong then you could jump right into HiLo. It is a very personal decision, but you can’t go wrong with either one.

I think I seen the hi-lo % sitting at 97% where I see the advance systems at 99%, KO = %?

The KO system is about 98%. You can see a comparison of many popular systems here:

http://www.qfit.com/card-counting.htm

Welcome aboard!

-Sonny-

 

[rounder13]

best site i've found for help...tell's you pretty much anything you need to know.

(Dead link: http://www.averagejoeblackjack.com/cardcounting.html)