Glitzensplizzle on my glockenspiel

[SiMi]

Hey ZKG!

Off topic...

You mentioned that you've played in the PA area. I am curious about that because I've been reading that AC is losing ground to PA and PA is the new East Coast mecca for gambling. But, PA is an ENTIRE STATE. Are the BJ Casinos there spread out all over the place or are they concentrated in a couple areas like NV?
Also, if you know, are the shoe games mostly 8 deck with crappy pen. a la AC or are they 6 deck with decent pen and rules, if you can generalize like that? Do they have weird max bets as in Colorado?
Are there Indian Casinos or just State-controlled places. I looked at a map and it looked as if there are a lot of horse tracks. Do those generally have BJ tables?
I am on the West Coast and I haven't heard any reports on PA conditions. If a guy came out there for a week, could he stay in one area and play a ton of different places as in NV?
You said you got a BO somewhere. How was it? Courteous and cool or uptight and pissy trying to get your ID and photograph, etc.
I know that's a lot of questions. I'm just curious to hear whatever you can share about the new #2 gambling location in the USA!

Thanks in advance for any info!
SiMi

[ZenKinG]

Hey ZKG!

Off topic...

You mentioned that you've played in the PA area. I am curious about that because I've been reading that AC is losing ground to PA and PA is the new East Coast mecca for gambling. But, PA is an ENTIRE STATE. Are the BJ Casinos there spread out all over the place or are they concentrated in a couple areas like NV?
Also, if you know, are the shoe games mostly 8 deck with crappy pen. a la AC or are they 6 deck with decent pen and rules, if you can generalize like that? Do they have weird max bets as in Colorado?
Are there Indian Casinos or just State-controlled places. I looked at a map and it looked as if there are a lot of horse tracks. Do those generally have BJ tables?
I am on the West Coast and I haven't heard any reports on PA conditions. If a guy came out there for a week, could he stay in one area and play a ton of different places as in NV?
You said you got a BO somewhere. How was it? Courteous and cool or uptight and pissy trying to get your ID and photograph, etc.
I know that's a lot of questions. I'm just curious to hear whatever you can share about the new #2 gambling location in the USA!

Thanks in advance for any info!
SiMi

Im not sure I would say it's the mecca of gambling on the east coast, but it is definitly worth a visit. PA casinos all have the same rules. It's statewide rules for every casino no matter what. The PA rules are very favorable there, LS, DAS, S17. The place I got backed off had really great pen as well around 90% so you can already imagine with that rule set and pen I had a crazy high SCORE.

I have only played at 4 casinos in PA and they were all mostly 8 decks on the main floor with rare times having 6 deckers. Only one casino had a double deck game but the pen on the double deck game was horrible around 50%. High limit room im not too sure because i never played in them. The pen on average on 8 deckers that I have played has been average around 6 to 6.5 cutoff from an 8 deck around 75% sometimes 80% pen. But there are definitly opportuinties to find casinos that deal deep including the one I was backed off at and another one near it around 30 minutes or so from what i hear is also dealing deep. I havent returned to the backed off casino and have rarely played at all in general since then, maybe two to three visits to other casinos so I cant give you a recent update to the pen or anything in all 4 that I have played. I can imagine the one who threw me out, it's still very good there and the one nearby is currently dealing deep from what i heard recently.

Casinos in PA are spreadout, but in Philadelphia there are 3 not too far from each other, about 30-45 minutes driving, but it's not like Reno and Vegas with so many casinos within walking distance. Definitly worth a trip to check out the games, if I were you and had a big bankroll I would just come here to visit and hit it hard for a week straight nonstop and dont come back for a while. There are definitly opportunities hear to take advantage of.

[SiMi]

ZKG

Thanks! Excellent report and very helpful!!! The conditions sound very good, as you said, and worth a look-see, as they say!

As a visitor from West Coast, would you go to Philadelphia and concentrate there?

Again, thanks !
SiMi

[ZenKinG]

ZKG

Thanks! Excellent report and very helpful!!! The conditions sound very good, as you said, and worth a look-see, as they say!

As a visitor from West Coast, would you go to Philadelphia and concentrate there?

Again, thanks !
SiMi

Well the rules apply to the whole state. Just a pick a casino anywhere in PA and you will have the same rules. Your biggest question should be now trying to find great pen because the rules will always be the same. Philly has 4 casinos not too far from each other but still would need a vehicle. Other places are more spread out from each other about an hour or so at the least.

[Nikky_Flash]

Yup I have never helped anyone on this forum. I guess all these new people joining the forum these days just assume I have never helped anyone without doing any research on my prior posts. Anyone that has been here longer than 2 years knows that I have helped people, but at time I do add a little humor in some of my posts to keep it entertaining here. So funny what this forum has become with all these new guys coming in here and think they know what I have done in the past and that I should be banned LOL. Ever hear of a vetting process? How about you hang around for more than 2 months before accusing someone of who they are and what they are and telling them they should be permanently banned.

the year on my signup is 2013 , not 2014...making it over a year and "two months" ... anyways , I dont care... keep doing whatever , i could care less ...

[muffdiver]

Just a suggestion---------why not stop the ZK "slam" posts for a while and see what happens.
I, along with SiMI (and probably others) found his PA report as very helpful and useful so it's not like he doesn't contribute anything here.

[Nikky_Flash]

Just a suggestion---------why not stop the ZK "slam" posts for a while and see what happens.
I, along with SiMI (and probably others) found his PA report as very helpful and useful so it's not like he doesn't contribute anything here.

ok

[OGBasher]

Count me in as excited to read this when it comes out.

[Blitzkrieg]

I was able to finally count down several single decks successfully with your approach and knew the groupings of the remaining 5 cards. It seems easier for me to keep the 6-9 groupings tag value in my head as the primary count where I cancel the 2-5 grouping with the tens groupings as a type of secondary count, while noting the aces as seen. Overall I only keep two counts upstairs, I could work on speed and possibly an easier way of maintaining the count in my head but feel like I move pretty good through a SD considering how long I've been messing around with the count. With cancelling I do not have to view the 4 values as 0-0-0-0 in my head which makes it easier for me.

Instead of going through the deck one card at a time as you performed in your video demonstration I dealt out 3 player hands and 1 dealer hand, all face up with no playing decisions and counted that way. Technically, after seeing one card a player could give a breakdown of the entire deck composition, I can do it and demonstrate or I can tell you the groupings of the last 5 cards. A player may also give an entire breakdown of the deck composition after seeing 1/4 of the deck, it wouldn't matter how many cards get played or seen or if 1,2,3,4,5,6, 8, or 20 decks are in use, by knowing the difference of the 10's grouping and 2-5 grouping and by knowing the value of the 6-9 grouping with aces at all times composition breakdown could be given at any moment during play or a practice session at home, I can demonstrate to prove my point. In a SD of cards if I miscounted the aces, but as long as I count the 3 other groups correctly I could make an educated guess on how many aces remain, I see that as a bit of leverage that will not be awarded during live play.

Does this seem about right for counting purposes? By cancelling the 2-5 grouping with the 10's grouping and knowing the difference of the two groups whether positive or negative... seems to be a simplified way of computing TC with this counting approach, where the 6-9 grouping and Aces can be factored in rather quickly. Do you concur Tarzan?

[Blitzkrieg]

With 8 cards left to be played in a single deck, totals are: 16-5.3-12-4r @0 which is the same as (+4, 5.3, with 4 aces remaining). The only thing left in the deck would be faces and aces in either case. The 5.3 represents all of the 6-9 grouping being seen and played. TZB2.

[Three]

You can gather a 3 or 4 column count but whether it is linear or multidimensional depends on how you use the information. Tarzan's betting application is almost linear although he has some specific deviations from a 4 column linear application. His playing application is definitely not linear.

[Blitzkrieg]

A player could know the deck composition but that doesn't guarantee anything on the ordering in which those cards are getting dealt, we all know that. In the last example I gave it seems like both counting techniques have similarities if the deck only had 8 cards left to go, both totals are basically the same regardless of how it's counted and kept. Tarzan showed the video of his ability to keep track of all the cards in a deck. I just wanted to be able to do the same and now that I can, I know that I can give a 100% breakdown of the deck at any moment, and I can account for every cards grouping in the deck. Even though I can do Tarzan counting albeit my way, it doesn't mean that I'll be taking it into casino anytime soon. Balancing out Tarzans count was the key and is a MUCH easier way for me to work with his counting approach.

[Three]

I hope I was clear that your count with the pen included is as accurate as Tarzan's count. Every card counted plus the pen has the same specific deck composition defined as Tarzans count with the pen info. The difference is how the info would be used. To get the most out of each count reams of info would need to be committed to memory and it probably comes to personal preference as to which is easier to use. For me Tarzan's count gives a much better mental picture of the current situation. Interpolation between known situations would be quite intuitive. I think you method would interpolate as easily. What you lose is the ratio of middles to lows or middles to highs easily at hand. The info is still there but it is buried in the linear count and all cards counted and the pen. If all your play was just based on the memorized info that is probably a moot point but if some plays are based specifically on this info it is no longer easily available. So basically from an application standpoint the counts are probably the same but it would probably be harder to get a feel for using the info without relying on your memory.

Basically in short both ways are the same except for visualization which is a personal preference. I think Tarzans approach is better for visualization. The other practical issue is is in shoe games without the normalization of the three columns the middle card group number would get awfully big. 4 decks into a 6 deck shoe it is expected to be 64 and could be as high as 96. The linear count would tend to stay around 0. 0, 64, 16 would be 2 complete decks left compared to Tarzans 0, 0, 0, 16. You would no doubt get used to your counts neutral situations but visualizes it from the count would take a lot more experience. Since you weren't interested in actually using the count in a casino it is a moot point.

I am impressed with your advanced counting skillz. They can be worth a lot in the right situations. You ma want to look at other games than blackjack in your area. You may find a much bigger edge with far less heat putting the abilities to their best use with some advanced counting techniques. Unfortunately BJ advanced counting techniques are not worth as much and the heat is high.