Am I Ready?

[Freightman]

O.K. O.K. I apologize to everybody I may have insulted, thin-skinned or otherwise.

I have been a full-time pro since early 1992 and I get a little temperamental at times.

I am an altruist, but at my advanced age, cut me a little slack for being cranky dude.

I mean no harm, but I am a clumsy wordsmith at times. Actually I always have at least

two serious students, (or as I like to call them, acolytes), who I am (real world) mentoring.

Some may think of you as a crusty old fart - I for one enjoy your understanding of the game as well as your creative linguistic commentary. In fact, your mastery of same elevates you to the lofty title of cunning linguist. Here here!

[Avincow]

O.K. O.K. I apologize to everybody I may have insulted, thin-skinned or otherwise.

I have been a full-time pro since early 1992 and I get a little temperamental at times.

I am an altruist, but at my advanced age, cut me a little slack for being cranky dude.

I mean no harm, but I am a clumsy wordsmith at times. Actually I always have at least

two serious students, (or as I like to call them, acolytes), who I am (real world) mentoring.

I like your posts. I learn a lot of new and interesting vocabulary.

[ZenMaster_Flash]

Freightman,

" … lofty title of cunning linguist."

My loft is untitled, but when I was a youthful racetrack habitué,

I wished that the track announcer in the fevered rush of words, that

makes for an exciting "stretch call", would be obliged to reference a

horse named of "Cunning Stunt" BUT reversed the C and the S !

[Freightman]

Freightman,

" … lofty title of cunning linguist."

My loft is untitled, but when I was a youthful racetrack habitué,

I wished that the track announcer in the fevered rush of words, that

makes for an exciting "stretch call", would be obliged to reference a

horse named of "Cunning Stunt" BUT reversed the C and the S !

I wondered why it took so long for someone to catch that one - knew you would

[ZenMaster_Flash]

I am a chronic sesquipedalian.

I believe that it is incurable.

I than my peers for tolerating me.

[ArpTheFuture]

I thought it was one of his tamer posts, for me the knowledge is all that matters however it is conveyed

[mushin]

You know you are ready when you can come home from a $2000 loss and the wife simply says "Maybe tomorrow... now come to bed it's late."

[Masterhoudini]

LOL, most average spouses and individuals for that matter have no concept of AP- any loss to them especially in the 4 figure range is devastating.

In terms of when you're ready- you're ready when you can play at a full table with a reasonably fast dealer and not drop the count. You should also have a proper betting strategy and spread simmed out and at least some bankroll to start with- ROR is relative to what you're confortable with l. I think many beginners overestimate the time necessary to be proficient in a real casino. If you can do a whole 6d shoe in 3 minutes, you're gonna be ok live. I stress doing a full shoe, not one deck.

[Three]

If you can do a whole 6d shoe in 3 minutes, you're gonna be ok live. I stress doing a full shoe, not one deck.

I assume you mean counting down 6 decks. I never really time things but playing 6 decks that fast seems impossible due to the dealer needing to move cards and deal with the bets. Perhaps you mean a computer app that does these things instantaneously.

[Oneoffthecount]

I have fiddled with my game for years. I bought CVBJ from Norm at least 5 years ago. I went through a progressoin of bad logic, finally figuring out that the only way to play is to adopt an acceptable playing strategy and stick with it. Recently, Stealth helped me tune my ramp and strategy to go to two hands.

I've played about 50k hands after that, then with a bankroll that would approximate my available bankroll. I have a 2.24% win rate or $76000 over the 50k hands. I know that kind of win rate can't be all me its about twice what CVCX would expect, but I couldn't believe that I was not sustaining some edge.

I'm just starting out and being very careful, but the answer for me was when I knew that I did have the advantage. Playing that many hands got me used to the potenital swings of bad variance. I don't even blink at a 6 or 7 k down over a few sessions and I've seen as much as a 17k down before recovering. I always reminded myself that I was still ahead for the year even if I went down 17k, If I had still had winnings of $45k, after 5 months of simulated play.

For my money, you are ready when you are fully confident that you have the advantage and if you play enough hands you KNOW the advantage will eventually prevail. So I know I can beat the game of BlackJack. I don't know if I can beat the casinos, but I'm learning every day.