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benefit: $1000’s.
Before we get going, let me just say that I consider Steve a colleague - a true icon in every sense of the word. Sure he’s insanely rich. He’s immensely successful. He is a captain of industry. What makes him an icon, however, is his humility and pragmatism. What makes him an icon is his innovation. What makes him an icon is his worthiness as an adversary. For as much as I respect Steve Wynn, believe that when I step foot off the plane at McCarran Airport, I have one goal: “to make Steve Wynn my bitch tonight”.
The following is a part of the Iconic Skill Set - Income Generation
Iconicvoyage.com concentrates on developing skills needed for ordinary people to achieve the status of “Icon”.
Card Counting – It’s not just for Rainman!
Icons should have a large skill set that can be called upon to generate income in a multitude of situations. One of these crucial income generation skills is that of card-counting while playing blackjack at casinos. There is a lot of myth around card counting. The Las Vegas casinos would like you to believe that it is impossible. It is not. They would like you to believe that it is cheating. It is not. Steve Wynn would like you to believe that it is illegal. He knows better.
ICON SAFETY TIP:
Card counting is NOT illegal. Casinos would like you to believe that it is. Casinos like nothing more than to administer a solid ass-raping when you come to their establishment. Card counting is like a well timed “clinch”. BE DISCREET! They will certainly treat you like a criminal if they catch you. Casinos can force anyone to leave at anytime and can bar you from returning. It is absolutely their right under law. Casinos hate winners, but they especially hate winners who they feel cheated them. Sometimes, they don’t simply ask you to leave. Sometimes they want to invite you to a tour of their back room. Your answer to this invitation is “Fuck no, I was just leaving”. You don’t have to go no matter what they say. You have not committed a crime. Simply get up and leave and do not cause even a hint of a disturbance.
Now that you are hip to the back room scam, let’s begin a lesson in simple card counting. There are several methods out there. Some of them are more complicated than others. Unless, one of the readers of this article is Rainman, the complicated methods are completely useless. Don’t worry - your guy is gonna hook you up, playa!
There are a couple of nonnegotiable truths that need to be communicated and that you must accept. No deviations. This is how it is. If you don’t want to invest the time to become an icon at the blackjack table, please go play craps, roulette, or some type of mind-numbing slot game. Dimwits will probably have more fun with these options. The goals of an icon are to have fun, make some decent coin, possibly bang a hot chick, and show Daddy Wynn how we roll.
ICONIC TRUTH 1: Blackjack is one of three games that are beatable in Las Vegas casinos. The other two are Baccarat and Poker. Any other games (i.e. craps, roulette, slots, Pai Gow Poker, etc) are not winnable consistently. I know you think you have a “system”. It is only good fortune that you haven’t been bankrupted by the Wynn, MGM, Bellagio, a riverboat, etc. You might as well play carnie games.
ICONIC TRUTH 2: This is not a get rich quick method. Your goal is to transform yourself into a player that can consistently play well. This will influence your results on the aggregate (overall). You WILL have short term losses, periodically. I am not hedging, but to think that you will go into the casino and administer a royal beat down on a Las Vegas casino for $80G’s like in the movie “The Hangover” is a pipe dream. You WILL have huge gains SOME nights. You WILL win consistently long term. But, make sure you are playing at a level you can afford to sustain for a lengthy period of time. I like to sit at the table with at least 50 betting units. This means if I am playing a $10 game, I need $500. The “betting unit” in this case is $10. This sounds like an excessive bankroll for such a small game, but when you read this full posting, you will understand that $10 is a minimum. Throughout the game you will be playing for much more. There is no way to ELIMINATE risk, but in Blackjack, you can minimize it. The house’s advantage in Blackjack is much lower than it is in other games. By playing well, you can reduce the odds to almost even. Finally, by card counting, you can actually turn this small house advantage into a small advantage for the icon! Think a small advantage isn’t profitable? Look around the Vegas Strip. See all those mega resorts? They were all built with small, consistent advantages over the average player. Essentially, if you develop these skills, you become the house…try gaining that advantage over a Wheel of Fortune slot machine….yeah, I know: “It’s due, Grandma!” “WHEEL…OF…FORTUNE” – sucker.
ICONIC TRUTH 3: You have to play “Basic Strategy” flawlessly. I am not going to get into why Basic Strategy is important. There are numerous books on the subject, pick one up (I’d suggest “Beat the Dealer” by Edward O. Thorp). The FACT is that in order to have any success long term, you HAVE TO PLAY BASIC STRATEGY FLAWLESSLY. Basic strategy needs to be memorized. It’s second nature.
Splitting aces, doubling eleven except against an ace, hitting 15 against a dealer’s 10. It doesn’t matter what your unscientific experience has been - you have not done enough unbiased study. You hit 15 or 16 against a ten EVERY fucking time!! If you can’t memorize basic strategy, because you are incompetent, drunk, or stupid, you can pick up a card at the casino gift shop that has basic strategy scenarios and proper plays. These cards will tell you when to hit, stand, split, double down, etc. based on the current scenario. One caveat: if you can’t learn basic strategy, you are probably destined to fail at card counting…sorry. There is nothing wrong with holding on to the card (in fact, it may serve as a nice cover up to the fact that you are counting cards), but you should be able to play the vast majority of scenarios without it. Here is a basic strategy table that you should practice memorizing.
BASIC STRATEGY:
Know it. Love it. Live it.
A couple hard and fast rules that you NEVER deviate from:
· Always split aces
· Always stand at 17
· Always stand with A8, A9, A10, and 10-10…please do not split tens…you look like a complete fucking tool and the entire table will hate you.
· Always play 5-5 as ten
· Always split 8-8…why?...because I said so.
· Never sit at a table with an automatic shuffler…you can’t count an automatic shuffler, numbnuts!
· If a game allows dealers to hit a soft 17, it is bad for you
· Bad players at a table can completely fuck your chances…their actions affect the outcome of the game as much as yours do…if you cannot assist and/or shame them into playing better (through a series of suggestions, eye rolls, sighs, snide comments, or blatant “what the fuck are you doing/only assholes play like that” comments), you must leave the table
· Always double on eleven, except against an ace.
THE CHART
I put together a basic blackjack strategy chart for reference. You need to either memorize the entire chart or carry it with you. You will probably look slightly cooler with my chart since it has the official iconicvoyage.com logo on it, but I digress.
WHO’S YOUR DADDY, MR. WYNN?
Now that you are an expert at basic strategy, the casino has a significantly smaller edge over you. However, they still enjoy a slight edge that is powerful enough to enable them to add a new wing to the Mack Daddy Suite portion of Caesars Palace within the next few months, even if everyone played perfectly.
However, you, being an icon, are going to change the game. You are an alpha. You will bend the hotel over. The pit boss will know your name and scream it in agony. You will make them grab their ankles. You will play the position of “pitcher” while the rest of the table (including the dealer) gets in line to play “catcher”. Hope you stretched and make sure you lube up…we’re icons not jerks!
BASIC CARD COUNTING:
Rain Man memorized the cards in a six deck shoe. You are not Rain Man. (Note: If you are Rain Man, why are you reading this? Fucking Wapner is on in like 5 minutes!) Therefore, you need a method that is decidedly simpler than memorizing which cards are left out of the 192 cards in the deck. Note: the fact that you didn’t catch that last sentence is proof that you need to pay more attention. There are actually 312 cards in a six deck shoe.
TRUTH 4: More high cards left in the deck are better for the player than more low cards. More low cards left in the deck are better for Steve Wynn and the House (think about being dealt fifteen or watching the dealer draw out 14 cards to make 21…bastard!). The player will win more consistently (as a matter of statistical fact) when the remaining decks have a greater number of high cards than low cards. (If you would like to know the mathematics behind this, go look it up).
Great! How the fuck do I know how many high cards are left without memorizing what’s been played? Good question! You count them. More accurately, you calculate the ratio of high to low cards based on a running indicator that clues you into how “hot” (more high cards) or “cold” (more low cards) the deck is relative to when the deck was initially dealt. We do this by simply adding +1 when a low card is removed (dealt) from the remaining decks and by subtracting -1 when a good card (high card) comes out. We don’t count the mid level cards because they are statistically neutral. The higher the number (the running count) the better/hotter/more profitable the deck is. Clear? Let’s begin.
Parameters
When the deck is shuffled and placed in the shoe, you begin your count at 0.
Each time the dealer pulls a card from the shoe, you need to inconspicuously assign a “score” to each card dealt and tally up all the cards played (remember if they suspect you of this, they will not be happy).
· In your mind, start adding/subtracting based on the following:
o For every low card that appears on the table (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) = +1
o For every high card that appears on the table (10, J, Q, K, A) = -1
o 7s, 8s, and 9s are neutral…disregard them = 0
o Here’s a sample deal with 3 players and a dealer
Player 1: 5-5
+2
Player 2: 10 – 5
+/- 0
Player 3: 4 -4
+2
Dealer: 10 – 10
+2
Player 2: 10 – 5
+/- 0
Player 3: 4 -4
+2
Dealer: 10 – 10
-2
What is the running count? (2+0+2-2=2)
Now, keep the count throughout the entire shoe.
As hands go by, you will be able to make an assessment of the cards left in the deck. You should be able to label the deck hot, cold, or neutral. For instance, if after a few hands your running count is 12, the deck could be labeled hot. Why? More low cards have come out of the shoe than high cards. This bodes well for you in future hands. You are more likely to win with the “hot” deck with an inordinate amount of 10’s and Aces. If after a few hands the running count is at -8, you know that a significant number of high cards have now been played – relative to low cards. The deck is cold. Future hands are statistically more likely to favor Steve Wynn. If the count after a few hands is 0, the deck is no colder nor hotter than it was when it was first shuffled. The odds of winning are relatively close to losing future hands if you are playing perfect basic strategy.
Now, keep the count throughout the entire shoe.
As hands go by, you will be able to make an assessment of the cards left in the deck. You should be able to label the deck hot, cold, or neutral. For instance, if after a few hands your running count is 12, the deck could be labeled hot. Why? More low cards have come out of the shoe than high cards. This bodes well for you in future hands. You are more likely to win with the “hot” deck with an inordinate amount of 10’s and Aces. If after a few hands the running count is at -8, you know that a significant number of high cards have now been played – relative to low cards. The deck is cold. Future hands are statistically more likely to favor Steve Wynn. If the count after a few hands is 0, the deck is no colder nor hotter than it was when it was first shuffled. The odds of winning are relatively close to losing future hands if you are playing perfect basic strategy.
Great! Now you know how to count cards. Yeah! Oh, that doesn’t help much does it? Simply counting the cards and keeping track of when the deck is hot does nothing for your bankroll!
YOU ARE A GOD…TAKE WHAT’S RIGHTFULLY YOURS!
He who has the knowledge controls the market, right? Imagine if you could determine when the stock market was going to rise. Imagine if you knew when it was going to fall. What would you do? You’d buy more stock before it rose and pull out money before it fell! This is precisely the position you are now in at the blackjack table.
You now need to know how to play God with the blackjack market. Let me help you…because I like you.
Up till now, you have been calculating a running count. +1, -1 and this has led you to a rough estimate of who has the deck’s favor (you or the house). However, it is not a complete number. You have not taken into account how many cards are left in the shoe. This is crucial to know just how hot or cold the deck really is.
Let’s say you are sitting at a table that is being played with a six deck shoe. After three hands you have calculated the running count to be +12. Favorable, right? Now, look at the shoe. Estimate how many of the six decks are remaining. Let’s say you estimate there are 5 decks left in the shoe. This means about one deck has been dealt. Divide the running count (+12) by the number of decks left (5). The result is the true count. In this case, 12/5 = 2.4 or about 2.
We said before that if we knew the market was going to rise, we would get more money in. How much more should we put in? It should be relative to how good the market is, right? What if we took our true count and multiplied by the average bet that we are playing at the table? This average bet is our “betting unit”. For instance, if we calculate our true count is 2 and we have an average starting bet of $10, the next hand, we should bet $20. If we were playing a minimum bet of $25, we would now bet $50, and so on. When the deck is cold, or running at a negative “true count” or even at a neutral count we would drop our next bet to our minimum betting unit. This way we are betting high when the deck is favorable and low when the deck is less favorable. We are engaging in a kind of insider trading scheme. We get more money in the market before the good times hit (a proportionally relative amount) / we pull back our investment just before the Blackjack market sucks. Look at you! You’re like a Wall Street super trader! Now slap a high five to the dweeb from Albuquerque, pass your room key to the Hooters girl next to you, shrug your shoulders and tell them how lucky you are, and walk on, Player…walk on!
TRUTH 5: Practice this method or you will feel like a retard at the table. This is an effective and simple way to card count. It is simple to understand. It is not simple to implement. You need to practice. When you’re at the casino, there will be numerous distractions. You must be able to maintain the count while carrying on a conversation, acting nonchalant, playing with perfect basic strategy, trying to get a peek down the hot chick’s blouse in the seat next to you, tuning out the yelling and buzzing and bells and whistles on the floor, making conversation with the dweeb from Albuquerque, and having a good time. Alcohol will make you slow. Plus one minus one is difficult when the cards are moving fast. This plus one/minus one counting method must be second nature. Bottom line: practice, practice, practice…before you get to Vegas!
By the way, tell my colleague Steve I said “hi”!
Epilogue
Icons also share. They always remember the hookup. If you want to send me 10% of your winnings for sharing this info, hit me up at iconicvoyage.com or daddydrinksbecauseyoucry@gmail.com and I’ll get you an address to send your checks! At the very least send this blog to friends, post on Facebook, or give me a Digg!
1 comments:
I used the free iPhone app Easy Blackjack Cheat Sheet to memorize basic strategy... it's the same result as the strategy card, but easier to remember.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=327023361&mt=8
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