"You can't count cards in 2021 TMLPCE" The practical viability of modern day card counting

[Runit]

Greetings,
I was wondering about the practicality of counting cards in 2021 considering the rapid deterioration of conditions over the years.
In my personal experience it keeps getting harder and harder. Casinos are quick to back off at more places than not and often times shamelessly backing someone off with a very small top bet. When a casino does tolerate action their game is typically objectively very poor. The games with good penetration that are tolerant end up getting burnt. The people that do make money as full time BJ players tend to travel a lot. Traveling is a big burden because the cost of food, hotel, gas, etc. can damage a bankroll severely. Personally, I find it difficult to justify card counting at this time because I have greater sources of income than what I stand to generate from counting cards.

 

[johndoe]

I think most people would agree that it's best left as a mildly profitable hobby, rather than as a way to make a living. The balance of the reduced game quality is the much larger selection of games, so that's something.

 

[turbomonkey]

I think you've hit the nail on the head in terms of travel being essential to maximise profits. I'm a full time AP and card counting only accounts for less than 1% of my income, however the benefits of traveling apply to different areas of AP too. I live on the move constantly between different towns and cities (and countries, pre-Covid) in order to spread my action thinly. If I bet at the levels I bet at on the things I bet on, across just a few venues, I would soon be banned. I hit a place for a short enough time that the heat has disappeared by the time I hit the same place again months later.

I think if you're in the US (I'm not) and you're considering getting serious about card counting you would need to be prepared to live like this, moving between friends places, hotels and airbnbs. Or possibly the van life, though I have no experience of that. It's no good having a main residence where you are paying rent or a mortgage and hardly ever being there (even if you own the place it would make more sense to rent it out long term) - you need to commit to being on the road. I enjoy living like this, but I don't think I will be able to handle it 15 years from now, and I know it would not be a suitable life for many people.