Designated Driver: Basic winning requirements...

[Designated Driver]

I was about to embark on one of my long posts but being frustrated and burned out I am going to keep it short and sweet, to the point. :-)

What is it that they say about brevity...that it is the key to good communication?

Anyway, here goes.

With my impending visit to Vegas(along with all of the time I spend on this site) I have become somewhat(greatly) stressed and frustrated with what is needed to win at blackjack, making me wonder...

What are the basic essentials needed to be successful at the game of blackjack?

For me, I have condensed this into three essentials:

1. Personal management-managing your emotions, psychology and physical self(fatigue, mental lucidity), etc.

2. Money management-having an adequate bankroll, using proper betting techniques, managing swings and variance, tipping, knowing when to quit, etc.

3. Game management-playing decisions/strategy, camoflauge

This means that if you can handle yourself emotionally and psychologically, bet and play the right way...within your financial means, manage your losses and play long enough, then you should be a long-term winner, right?

Put simply(and bluntly), if you bet the proper amount and play your hands correctly then you should/will win.

That's all there is to it, right? Everything else is academic!

Do you agree with this assessment, or is there anything more to add?

Remember, I am condensing things down to the "bare necessities" that are indespensible and absolutely essential.

The unending details(and my obsessive nature) are giving me terrible migraines, hypertension, elevated BP, overwhelming stress, insomnia, ulcers and a whole host of other maladies. =-(

Ailingly,
Desi. D.

[Titan5]

[Sonny]

> This means that if you can handle yourself emotionally
> and psychologically, bet and play the right
> way...within your financial means, manage your losses
> and play long enough, then you should be a long-term
> winner, right?

Absolutely.

> Put simply(and bluntly), if you bet the proper amount
> and play your hands correctly then you should/will
> win.

Yes.

> That's all there is to it, right? Everything else is
> academic!

Well, yes and no. Many of the academic aspects of the game involve calculating optimal bet spreads, minimizing variance, increasing EV, and getting to the long run quicker. In short, they give you a better chance of winning as well as a greater return for your time. If your style of play has a large degree of variance associated with it then you may never win during your lifetime. Then again, you may win much more than you expect. That is why it is called gambling.

The academic side of the game involves removing as much of the ?gambling? aspect as possible. Although it is completely possible to win just by following a basic bare-bones strategy, you are more likely to win if you play with a more advanced strategy. I don?t mean to insinuate that an advanced strategy will be any more difficult than a simple strategy. Often times you can get much better results just by making small changes to your betting strategy. Both strategies are winning ones, but a more ?academic? strategy will increase the odds in your favor.

> The unending details(and my obsessive nature) are
> giving me terrible migraines, hypertension, elevated
> BP, overwhelming stress, insomnia, ulcers and a whole
> host of other maladies. =-(

Yes, but trust me, it is worth it. The reason that we obsess over this game and analyze it to such a ridiculous degree is so that we can avoid all the migraines and ulcers that come from losing money at the tables. Given the choice, I?d rather have the obsessive behavior at home and have chips in my pocket at the casino than have a peaceful evening of watching TV and losing money my money at the tables.

Also, the more you learn about the math the less stressful it will become. Before long you will know what the most important elements are and have made spreadsheets that tell you everything you need to know about them. Your stressful nights of insomnia will turn into relaxing afternoons in the sun with your laptop.

-Sonny-

[Brick]

Probably the most important rule of all.

[Magician]

> What are the basic essentials needed to be successful
> at the game of blackjack?

> For me, I have condensed this into three essentials:

> 1. Personal management-managing your emotions,
> psychology and physical self(fatigue, mental
> lucidity), etc.

> 2. Money management-having an adequate bankroll, using
> proper betting techniques, managing swings and
> variance, tipping, knowing when to quit, etc.

> 3. Game management-playing decisions/strategy,
> camoflauge

I believe you've managed to distill card-counting into it's basic essences correctly. However, I would group these slightly differently:

1. Discipline
2. Strategy (includes: betting, playing, camoflauge, tipping)
3. Bankroll

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "managing swings" but I think this would come under betting strategy. "Knowing when to quit" has very little to do with money management; I would lump it in with discipline. (Parker has a very good post on reasons to stop playing floating around.) "Betting techniques" and "tipping" are just other components of your overall strategy.

Given the discipline (#1) to apply a winning strategy (#2), your bankroll (#3) will tend to infinity over time. As you said, that's all there is to it.

If you don't already have plenty of #1, #2 and #3 then what you need is:

4. Experience

There's no substitute for real casino experience but even before that you should have logged plenty of hours of practice on training software.

Good luck.

[Darryl]

> There's no substitute for real casino experience but
> even before that you should have logged plenty of
> hours of practice on training software.

I would say that is probably THE BIGGEST MISTAKE new card counters make is to not practice enough before their first time in a casino with real money.

I think many newbies read a chart, practice for a few hours with a deck of cards, get the hang of it at their own house (very different than casino environment), then go straight into casino eager to show off their new skills. They don't practice enough and they lose count, can't remember when to raise bets and by how much, forget parts of basic strategy, forget about penetration, etc..

This is very very hard for a new counter to NOT do. Most everyone has probably done it, even those few who reached expert level. Everyone wants to go show off and feels confident they can pull off counting deck, raise bets at proper time. They don't know how much the casino environment is different from home when you are tying to count.

A new counter should practice alot, go to a casino, count a shoe or two while NOT betting, go home practice a lot more, then go back and maybe do some actual betting, win or lose a little, go home and practice some more, go to casino.................etc.,etc..

But no one does it like this, including me. A new counter wants to read a few pages and then go for it. They can't wait to go try it out.

A new counter wants to practice a little then go win a lot. When winning big right away doesn't happen they get frustrated. If they win big right away they will have used improper techniques but they think they did things correctly and they will keep doing the same things which causes them to lose back their winnings plus more.

No one does it 100% correct their first time out and I would guess that is what scares a lot of people away from counting.