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Thread: Training my wife for cover.

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    Training my wife for cover.

    Hey guys!

    It has been 5 weeks of training and I am getting more and more interested in the subject. You all are one of the main reasons for that, there is an enormous amount of knowledge in this forum. Thank you! It is really impressive how deep you can get in card couting!

    Now, to the topic.... my wife wants to play!
    Actually, she has always supported me in my stock market adventures, sports betting and now blackjack.
    She likes gambling... the idea of it at least!
    But like me, she has never been to a casino. She is looking forward to our trip to Vegas in the middle of this year (not 100% confirmed yet, but...).

    Besides trying to teach (somehow) BS and card counting to my wife, how could I plan to "use" her in Vegas? Is there a way for her to help me with cover even if she only gets to know BS?

    Best!!

  2. #2
    Senior Member happyjack21's Avatar
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    Use your wife in an "over-controlling" type way. If the counts good give her a sign to add more chips to your hand. If it sucks have a sign to lower your bet or exit for a bit.

    Generallythe less of an impression you make the better.

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    Play DD games and teach your spouse to side-count Aces and Sevens, and potentially 8's and 9's.

    Create a non-verbal signaling method of informing you of the Surplus/ Deficit Aces, etc. per deck.

    You can use her as your card eater, having her bet the minimum on several spots, when the count

    is poor, exiting when it is just moderately high, leaving you to "spread vertically" on a single spot.

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    adding to zen's advice, also play shoe games, try to find the best shoe games and do as follows.

    Start off playing by yourself with her by your side or behind you encouraging you as the game goes on. When count goes really bad, say you are going to bathroom and that your wife will continue to play and to go easy on her. Make sure she plays minimum. Go to the bathroom and wait for her to call you in when count is great. Rinse and repeat every session and every casino, and you'll never get caught. This way you can spread huge and get in those max bet opportunities.

    This idea of attack works best if you got a nice bankroll. As a side note, try to leave when pit boss is looking and paying attention and make sure he hears you say "be easy on the wife", "going to the bathroom" , and make sure you both are smiling and looking like degenerates with a lot of money. Lastly go to the casinos looking rich with a suit and have a rich type of personality.

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    ^ A la Semyon Dukach. I like it.

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    Quote Originally Posted by happyjack21 View Post
    Use your wife in an "over-controlling" type way. If the counts good give her a sign to add more chips to your hand. If it sucks have a sign to lower your bet or exit for a bit.

    Generallythe less of an impression you make the better.

    You mean like she would not be playing, but just sitting there with me or watching the game behind me and then whenever I give a positive signal she would say something like "Come on honey, you are winning, bet more!!" or after a negative signal "Stop honey, you will loose my make up money" ??

    What exactly do you mean by "Generallythe less of an impression you make the better"? Like our act should be as low profile as possible?

    Thanks for the help!

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    Thanks bjarg!! I just read to her the "Two person Blackjack team" part and she loved it!! I will keep reading the rest now....

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    Quote Originally Posted by ZenMaster_Flash View Post

    Play DD games and teach your spouse to side-count Aces and Sevens, and potentially 8's and 9's.

    Create a non-verbal signaling method of informing you of the Surplus/ Deficit Aces, etc. per deck.

    You can use her as your card eater, having her bet the minimum on several spots, when the count

    is poor, exiting when it is just moderately high, leaving you to "spread vertically" on a single spot.

    Hi ZenMaster!

    I got the idea of the side-count, but unless she really surprises me, I don't think she will be able to keep numerous side-counts. Maybe just Ace or Seven I believe it's possible. I just haven't studied yet what to do with that information, but eventually I will read about or even test it with CV.

    Now the "card eater" idea I didn't get, forgive my ignorance please. By playing many hands using BS and minimum bets, wouldn't she be playing multiple negative EV games at once, thus increasing our long term loss? Does the card eating effect counter balance this and actually makes it a positive EV game eventually? Why is this card eating good anyway?

    When she leaves, by "spreading vertically", you mean I would be doing what counters normally do, right? Increasing my bets on positive counts, right? I really don't get. Sorry ZenMaster, I think your posts are still a little too advanced for me

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    Quote Originally Posted by Skull21 View Post
    By playing many hands using BS and minimum bets, wouldn't she be playing multiple negative EV games at once, thus increasing our long term loss? Does the card eating effect counter balance this and actually makes it a positive EV game eventually? Why is this card eating good anyway?
    You will be playing heads up max bet at juicy counts and playing all spots or many spots at min bet to eat cards in negative counts. You will lose more per round but play less negative rounds and a whole lot more positive rounds. With the count bouncing around in pitch games due to the low denominator when calculating TC and the short wait for a shuffle things work out pretty well if you do it right. You get away with a huge effective spread and few negative rounds.

  11. #11


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    Quote Originally Posted by ZenKinG View Post
    adding to zen's advice, also play shoe games, try to find the best shoe games and do as follows.

    Start off playing by yourself with her by your side or behind you encouraging you as the game goes on. When count goes really bad, say you are going to bathroom and that your wife will continue to play and to go easy on her. Make sure she plays minimum. Go to the bathroom and wait for her to call you in when count is great. Rinse and repeat every session and every casino, and you'll never get caught. This way you can spread huge and get in those max bet opportunities.

    This idea of attack works best if you got a nice bankroll. As a side note, try to leave when pit boss is looking and paying attention and make sure he hears you say "be easy on the wife", "going to the bathroom" , and make sure you both are smiling and looking like degenerates with a lot of money. Lastly go to the casinos looking rich with a suit and have a rich type of personality.
    Nice idea ZenKinG, thanks for the advice! "You'll never get caught" got us excited, I hope I will learn the right way to do it...
    The problem I see is for her to call me when the count is good. At least, for now I still can't imagine my wife learning how to count. She likes gambling, but she is not mathematical at all and I don't think she will put the necessary time into it. Let's see though, I might be surprised....

    Ahh... she loved the "have a rich type of personality" advice, she is actually asking me to buy her jewelry right now... thank you ZenKinG

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    Quote Originally Posted by hitthat16 View Post
    ^ A la Semyon Dukach. I like it.
    Just googled him.... he was one of the MIT guys, right? Do you mean "acting rich" like him or something else?
    Do you recommend the book "Bringing down the house" ?

  13. #13


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    Quote Originally Posted by Tthree View Post
    You will be playing heads up max bet at juicy counts and playing all spots or many spots at min bet to eat cards in negative counts. You will lose more per round but play less negative rounds and a whole lot more positive rounds. With the count bouncing around in pitch games due to the low denominator when calculating TC and the short wait for a shuffle things work out pretty well if you do it right. You get away with a huge effective spread and few negative rounds.
    Thanks Tthree! I really want to understand that, but it's hard...
    While she is playing, am I playing as well? Or I only get in when she signals to me?
    Or am I playing with her and she is always in many spots playing minimum? Then when the count is good I go max bets and she leaves?

    Nah, I don't think that's what you mean..... sorry guys, I guess I have to study more to understand this tactic, but I am enjoying very much to see that there are many ways of improving the game with my wife. Thanks for the insights!

    Just one more question please, I am dedicating myself to REKO since true counting seems like a daunting task for me right now. You mentioned the "the count bouncing around"... I know that, when true counting, it goes around zero most of the time whereas in REKO (6-decks) it has to go a long way from -20. Does this affect the tactic you propose?

    Best!

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