Hey everyone. I finally played a few more blackjack a few weeks ago and my interest for this game soared once again. I quickly found this site and recognized a few names (I posted somewhat under BJinfo). I'm currently interning (without pay), coaching chess (not enough hours), and playing poker on the side. For me, blackjack is much more fun, which is why I'm thinking of getting back into it.
I had a mildly successful run at blackjack as a recreational player for a few years as a red chipper and eventually decided to grow a bankroll. It was around that time, I discovered pitch games which got me started in taking blackjack more seriously. I remember I was with some poker buddies and I grossly overbet (out of ignorance) in a double deck game, got dealt 2 naturals back to back and I never turned back since. I started my initial bankroll at $10,000. Within a 4 month span I logged close to 300 hours and went from spreading $5-15 to 2x $75 to $25 to $400. All was going well before I hit a $12,000 downswing landing my $40k peak down to where I stopped playing all together at $28,000. The loss was not taken lightly by me as I couldn't handle the short-term variance. All together I received 7 backoffs and 0 barrings within this time frame (the last few of which I overextended my stay chasing a loss and exposed myself).
Although I still believe poker is a much better choice than blackjack, it wouldn't be wise for me to neglect blackjack completely. I still want to learn as much as I can about this subject and potentially make another run for it. I still have a lot of unanswered questions running around my head such as knowing when to ever play rated or how to know whether or not the pit sees you as an AP or a ploppy. I don't live in a casino filled location, so it's impossible for me not to pull a long session at a store. I'm not sure if attempting to card count is possible here without relocating myself.
I also realize I do not fully understand the stats behind this game such as the math behind kelly growth and many of the EV gains as the count increases. This is important for me since I need to intuitively know what my expected result is instead of just blindly following a formula. As for the EV gains, I do believe in using cover, which is why I need to know how exactly how much EV I'm giving up with certain plays. I also want to achieve my N0 a little faster, so I don't mind playing a little risk-averse if it can provide cover.
I also notice my ability to sidecount has increased and become more natural as I pulled in more hours. I use hi-lo for shoe games and hi-opt 1 in pitch games. I started off side counting aces by using letters (eg. A-H) next to the running count. Then I started sidecounting deuces with my toes (left up=1, left down=2, right up=3, right down =4). Then I did my research and realize 7s were better to sidecount, so I started keeping track of that, visualizing a color (white=1, red=2, green=3, black=4). Then I realize the colors don't come naturally so I just keep track of the # of 7s out, which eventually became natural. Now I have the ability to naturally keep track of the number of 8s and 9s as well (somehow a part of my brain just naturally keeps track of 7s 8s and 9s) left in a single deck, although I don't have that ability for a double deck yet. I can do all this while engaged in a conversation and keeping up to pace in a heads up game. I'm not sure how I can use that towards my advantage, although I know I can stay on a lot more 15s, 14s, and maybe even 13s against a dealer's 10 in a single deck. I don't know the exact composite plays corresponding to that, which is also why I'm here.
Anyways enough said, hopefully I gain some more insight the next few months.
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