Tracking results with Excel

[21forme]

To date, I've been tracking my play in CVJournal. I'm thinking about switching to Excel, so I have more flexibility in tracking other info as well, such as game, shift, ID used, etc.

Wonder if anyone currently using Excel can tell me exactly what they track, so I don't forget anything that may be useful.

Also, being relatively illiterate in Excel, if anyone wants to share their (blank) Excel spreadsheet with me, I'd be most appreciative.

 

[SleightOfHand]

Ooh that would be nice if someone posted their spreadsheet. I made one of my own, but its very basic compared to what I know is possible.

 

[callipygian]

Things that go into my spreadsheet:
Casino
Date
Table Minimum
Unit Bet (which isn't always the table minimum for me)
Bet Ramp (the entire ramp - I went through multiple iterations of "1-4" and "1-8" spreads)
Wong in point
Wong out point (in/out isn't always the same for me)
Decks
Penetration
Buy in
Cash out
Shuffle used (very recent addition)

Things that I don't track but other people do:
Time of day
Shift
Pit Boss
Card used
Comps received
Count used (if it varies)
Side bets

 

[SleightOfHand]

Things that go into my spreadsheet:
Casino
Date
Table Minimum
Unit Bet (which isn't always the table minimum for me)
Bet Ramp (the entire ramp - I went through multiple iterations of "1-4" and "1-8" spreads)
Wong in point
Wong out point (in/out isn't always the same for me)
Decks
Penetration
Buy in
Cash out
Shuffle used (very recent addition)

Things that I don't track but other people do:
Time of day
Shift
Pit Boss
Card used
Comps received
Count used (if it varies)
Side bets

I also like to keep track of how much I ratholed so I can graph observed win rate for casinos I use a card in. And hours played of course. And tokes.

 

[sagefr0g]

stuff to track

track your number of hands played your results for a given game of your trip.
against
EV for that many hands
1,2 & 3 standard deviations for that many hands
your ROR for that many hands
maybe in retrospect, say you assumed your results was a goal for the number of hands played, record the probability of achieving that goal.

edit: it would be nice to know your avg bet made as well, but not so easy to know what that might have been, i guess.

 

[21forme]

Callipygian, that's quite a list!

My BJ forays usually are about 12 hours long, involving anywhere from 4-6 casinos. I would never remember all those details, so that would be a lot of note-taking. Do you write all this stuff down as you're playing?

 

[moo321]

My BJ forays usually are about 12 hours long, involving anywhere from 4-6 casinos. I would never remember all those details, so that would be a lot of note-taking. Do you write all this stuff down as you're playing?

You can get a little notepad to put in your pocket. Once you color up, go to the bathroom and fill it out (NOT on the floor of the casino, surveillance has caught counters this way.)

At the end of the day, you put it into your laptop, or go home and put it on your computer at the end of the trip.

 

[callipygian]

My BJ forays usually are about 12 hours long, involving anywhere from 4-6 casinos. I would never remember all those details, so that would be a lot of note-taking. Do you write all this stuff down as you're playing?

Well, to start off, my forays are 1-3 hours, but they do involve 4-6 casinos. I actually do remember what I need to remember without notes, but usually the only variables I need to remember between note-taking is table minimum and penetration, as I tend to hit casinos with very similar games in all other respects (Las Vegas Strip shoe games). Although my game has changed over the years, within each foray (I like that word!) my play is pretty constant (i.e. I don't Wong out at -1 in one casino and then Wong out at -2 in another casino 15 minutes later).

On top of that, I'm kind of a math geek (if you haven't noticed from my math-heavy posts), and remembering numbers comes very easy to me. I'll confess that I'm a stereotypical nerd in that I'm more likely to remember how much my wife spent on a pair of shoes than what color the shoes are.

 

[Automatic Monkey]

Penetration
Crowding
Speed of game
Heat-related

There are no other empirical observations that make a difference. I suppose accounting has a place but you cannot make any adjustments to your game based on it. If we allowed wins and losses to affect how we play we'd all end up playing progressions, because progression methods are the only betting methods that can show consistent patterns of winning over long periods of time. *

Much more important observations for your EV are how easy it is to get into a game at different stores, days, and times of day, how many hands per hour you think you can get, and how deep the dealers are cutting. That's extremely valuable information and you're not going to find it printed anywhere. Anything else about the game you can find in CBJN.

* (Eeeek! Did he just say that? Yes. A good counter will only win around 60% of his sessions and will have extended losing streaks that can last a year or more for a weekend player. It would be hard for anyone to look at such a balance sheet and not question what he's doing. But a negative progressionist is going to have a long and happy balance sheet, and might not even live long enough to have what will inevitably happen to him, happen. Just like the weekend counter might not ever get enough hands in to get to "the long run.")

 

[Ferretnparrot]

Well, im not an excell person, i got this little black book that was very convient they way the preprinted lines were on it, anywho one thing i try to keep track of is money spent on parking fees and hotel, as there certainly is no playing blackjack without some kind of parking fee.

I have noticed that several casinos offer free parking for motorcycles and a lot of the parking attendants let you by for free if your on a motorcycle

ALSO last time i parked at ceasars on a sat night the fee was 20 dollars, dont park there on saturday night

 

[peaegg]

Does anyone use pocket pc applications to track BJ records? I have been searching for a PDA solution for a while. Some of the software could be useful, such as listpro. But I can't find an good template to use within listpro. I wish cvjournal has a pda version. BTW, cvjournal saves file that could be read by access. I don' t know if there is any PDA software could use database file such as access.

 

[Kasi]

To date, I've been tracking my play in CVJournal. .

What kind of stuff does CV Journal ask for and/or what do you put in it?
No big deal. Just curious. No reply necessary.

 

[21forme]

CVJ has the following columns:
date, casino, decks, rules, minutes, total bet, won, cum. win, notes.

 

[Brock Windsor]

track your number of hands played your results for a given game of your trip.
against
EV for that many hands
1,2 & 3 standard deviations for that many hands
your ROR for that many hands
maybe in retrospect, say you assumed your results was a goal for the number of hands played, record the probability of achieving that goal.

edit: it would be nice to know your avg bet made as well, but not so easy to know what that might have been, i guess.

I find tracking dealer name and number very important. If the dealer is particularly helpful with pen, errors, shuffle, or flashing you want to be able to find her again when you return.
BW

 

[celadore]

I use me mobi

I use my mobile phone to keep track of a few stats on the calendar option. Have my own code in case anyone is watching me type by mistake (am careful to make sure no one can see the screen but you never know).

Not sure if they let you guys use phones in casinos in your part of the world.

 

[moo321]

I use my mobile phone to keep track of a few stats on the calendar option. Have my own code in case anyone is watching me type by mistake (am careful to make sure no one can see the screen but you never know).

Not sure if they let you guys use phones in casinos in your part of the world.

Be careful with that. Surveillance can probably see your phone. I've heard of people getting busted as counters because they had other known counters' numbers in their cell phones.