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Well...gambling paid off....

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Brian2by2

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Joined
15 February 2003
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Went down to Grand Bahama Island this weekend with the family. I went down wtih $130 cash for the casino and my ATM just in case (big mistake).

Anyways, sat down on the ship's casino (blackjack), pulled out $30, walked off the ship with $330. Thinkin "Not too bad"

I put $200 in my safe at hte hotel and walked into the hotel's casino with $130. The first ngiht, I walked out with over $800.

Not bad. Stuck $600 in the safe ($800 in the safe now).

Went back the next day/night with $200. Walked out with $1300 :eek:

$1900 now...

Then we left. On the ship back home, I decided to play a little more (just $200). Walked off the ship with $800 more. $2700 for a 3 day 2 night stay in the bahama's with just $130 to start.

Not too bad. Got invited back on the Casino too.

By the way, i'm a smart gambler...i walk away when i start losing and I will only play games I know (Black jack and some craps).

Had a blast too! Great vacation.
 
Congradulations.

My dad is a card counter. He goes to Las Vegas once each year and always comes back with a few thousand, although some of the casinos have learned his tricks and he has been banned from them. However, a few of the casinos such as the Hilton and MGM Grand do not seem to care. The Hilton keeps inviting him back and comps him on the room every time.
 
I lost $7,000 all together gambling in a 48 hours frame. I called it quit after that. It is really addictive!
 
It is really addictive, but a smart man knows how to walk away.

A few things that you always must remember:

A) Casino's don't stay open for giving away money so winning's like I had are rare.
B) They use chips for a reason...throwing a $100 chip is nothing at all like throwing down a $100 bill...remember: chips=$$ :)
C) Don't drink and gamble. It loosens you up and dulls your sense.
D) Never gamble more than you can afford or want to lose (hence me only gambling $130)
E) Know when to walk away!! If yo lose more than 3 hands in a row, LEAVE!

Now, as far as counting cards: damn. He must be DAMN good. Most places in Vegas use at least a 7 deck shoot!! I know Frontier only uses a 2 deck shoot, which makes counting easy but it's also a different style of blackjack (players hole card is dealt down)

If you don't mind, ask him to PM with methods for counting a 5-7 deck shoot because I will be back in Vegas in early september and would love to know how he does it. I can count point cards vs. face cards vs. Aces that have come up, but thats just a rough guess.

Oh and counting cards is impossible at hte casino i was at...they never stop play. Every 10 hands or so goes back into an automatic shuffler/dispenser and the cycle is never interrupted to shuffle, therefore, making it impossible to count cards.
 
Card counting for multiple decks would be the same as one deck but would take into consideration the "true"count as it is recalculated to reflect the number of decks remaining.

Aces/Tens/Face cards are assigned a value of -1. Cards 7, 8 and 9 are assigned a value of 0. Cards 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are assigned a value of +1.

Statistically, the player has an advantage when there are more aces/tens in the remaining deck. The house has an advantage when there are more low cards in the deck.

Keep a running tally and the higher the plus count means the greater statistical probability that there are 10's left to be dealt which favors the player. In a single deck, a count of +2 or higher generally would favor larger bets by the player. A count of zero would be statistically neutral and a negative count would favor the house.

Multiple deck shoes require a further calculation to arrive at the "true" count. This would involve your initial count divided by the number of decks remaining to be played, whether they will be played or not.

For example, if your "count" is +4 in a single deck hand, the odds favor a 10 coming up. However, if there are 4 decks left to be played, that count then gets reduced to +1 which is statistically neutral. Look at the number of cards in the discard tray to estimate the number of decks left to be played.

Bob
 
Brian2by2 said:
I can count point cards vs. face cards vs. Aces that have come up, but thats just a rough guess.
Click to expand...

He likes to play at the Las Vegas Hilton. I think he said they use 6 decks there. I've gone a few times with him and I've watched him.

He counts the ratio of "10" cards (10, Jack, Queen, King), versus the other 9 cards. I think he uses a "plus 2", "minus 1" system, so a perfect deck works out to a "plus 4". If you know they are using 6 decks, and you are half-way through the entire deck, then things should be around a "plus 12". So if the count is way above that, like around "plus 30", then the deck is rich with "10" cards.

He usually bets the table minimum until the count gets high, and then he bets the table maximum or close to it depending upon how high the count goes. He usually loses most of the hands when he's betting the table minimum, but he wins most of the hands when he's betting high.

Then he also has a whole set of rules of how to adjust his play when the count is high. For example, he always doubles down when the dealer has a 4, 5, or 6 showing and he has 11 or less or one of his cards is an ace. he will also split his hand any time he can in the same circumstances.

It's funny watching him play because he doesn't get happy when he wins a lot......he looks too serious because he's too busy adding up the cards to pay attention to whether he won or lost.
 
Ya, i've got that strategy: I double down on 8, 9, 10, 11 whenever teh dealer shows 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and I also stay on 12+ whenever the dealer shows those cards.

I hate it when people don't know how to play, sit down at a table where people are betting a hundred $ or so and hit 14 when the dealer shows 6, despite the help from fellow table mates!!

The methods mentioned above for counting cards is better than the one I used, so I'm going to try it next time i'm gambling.

Seems like a smart way to bet more $$ and what not! Thanks.
 
lucky bastard... may be i should try and play...
 
Keep comin to Vegas, all the money you guys blow here buys the owners 50 million dollar Gulfstreams to fly around in, and my company cleans em.:D
 
I've been practicing my counting at work. Watch out Mandolay bay!! you guys should check out this book its about MIT students that took Vegas for millions
 
I went to Vegas on my honeymoon a couple of years ago. All we did was play the slots. Nickel ones at that. I think we left up a few $$$.
I'm to afraid of getting addicted to it so I had to limit myself.
 
For fun, years go, I tried some tactics described on another book with a couple fellow student (we were still engineeringh stuidents) And of course no tactics works... it is always a matter of probability and the casino has more than you.

On teh long term there is no way you can get even or win something (long term is the key term here).

ps: of course, in one, 5, 20 visits you can still make some money. With more than 100 visits the possibility you are in the "plus $" are less than 0,3% if I remember it correctely (using the Roulette, 36 squares, in this example).
 
gheba_nsx said:
On teh long term there is no way you can get even or win something (long term is the key term here).
Click to expand...

My dad has been going to Las Vegas every year since I was very young. He has never come back from a trip with less than about $5k, and sometimes as much as $20k. If you were to watch him play, you would realize very quickly that the odds are in his favor. The casinos realize too and he has been asked to leave many times. Card counting is considered "cheating" even though you are doing nothing other than thinking and adjusting your bet accordingly.

However, your statement holds true for all other games besides blackjack. The odds are in the casinos favor.
 
I think Gambling is only fun when you can get a table where people are talking rather than just sitting there concentrating on winning. When the table's fun, I win more for some reason.

That's why its craps for me. If you got a hot roller, the whole table goes nuts. You got young and old, black and white, whatever and whatever giving each other fives and dancing around.

Brian2by2, congrats on all your winnings. Now you can take it to the stock market. (or the calculated gambling casino ;)

***btw, I know how you feel when people don't "play" right. What they don't know is that they are actually lowering their effective odds against the house. When that happens, run away, as these people will stay on 15s and 16s.
 
kld12 said:
***btw, I know how you feel when people don't "play" right. What they don't know is that they are actually lowering their effective odds against the house. When that happens, run away, as these people will stay on 15s and 16s.
Click to expand...

Yep......those are some of the most common mistakes. The most common mistake I have seen is someone staying on a "soft" 17 (Ace & 6). With a soft 17, you cannot beat any hand the dealer has. The best you can do is tie. The only way you can win is if the dealer busts, and then it wouldn't matter what hand you have. Always hit on a soft 17.
 
I always stay on 16 :) just my 'way' of playing. And I make sure people that sit down at my table know it because I don't want them to be pissed...but most of hte time, I'm the one winning and therefore i'm more of the "respected" authority, even though i'm only 19!

Blackjack does not have the best odds in the casino...Craps does.

Roulette has the WORST odds and I've lost $$ almost everytime i've played it (actually, i broke even).

I've been to vegas, bahamas, cruises a total of 3 or 4 times and I'm up a couple thousand. Can't wait to try the "card counting" method.

Oh and this hot girl that i've been talkin wants to goto the bahamas with me next time :-D
 
Actually, they know this all too well. My dad has been kicked out of many casinos. When they ask him to leave, he always asks them why and they say "you know" without actually telling him. If he protests, they point to the sign on the wall that says "we reserve the right.....". He's never actually been accused of card counting because technically its not against the rules.
 
A friend of mine was in the MIT club profiled in that book. They were involved in some serious stuff! To this day, there is a long list of casinos that my friend can not enter.

7 deck shoes coupled with automatic shufflers take out much of the volatility that can make blackjack play profitable on a consistant basis.

In life, it is often better to be lucky than good.
 

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