Zee, I thought you made a good point but you didn’t need to call people names.
As with others, I thought this was a great post, and brought up some questions I’ve had with these internet sites that mentor others for a lot of money. I would be interested to hear what experts like Flash, Three, Frieghtman, Reymo, Bosox, Midwest Player, Stealth and others think. I really liked houyi’s bonus question. I’ve wondered the same thing. What is their real motive?
And Zee, I do believe you are qualified to answer this question. This is a hypothetical question so there is no right answer. Being an expert or novice doesn’t make anybody more or less qualified to answer it.
As for me, my biggest issue with these sites is they over stress how important having a perfect game is, and understress how important it is to be able to handle variance and to have a big bankroll. They usually say it’s good to have a big bankroll but then downplay it by giving their own personal experience where they started with $500 or one to two thousand and grew it into a couple hundred thousand. They almost do the same thing casinos do....they use a person’s basic greed instincts to take advantage of people.
With this said, I do NOT think this is the case with this site, The blackjack forum. It can’t be since it costs next to nothing to be on it. Also, I feel Norm’s products are almost a steal for what I’ve got out of them. I’ve found I get as much out of the free and low cost sites, as the higher cost ones. But I’m still on higher cost bj sites, since I enjoy this stuff...and I learn from all of them. With all this said, I would never spend my money a high cost mentoring class or a personal mentoring session. It’s more based on principal than because of the money. The fees are outrageous and I don’t want someone to get wealth at my expense.
First, I do not believe anyone is going to get rich selling their services. I believe BJ Apprenticeship may be the one example business model that can and does support their owner and employees. This has been done by an excellent marketing model coupled with some credible people.
Do I think what they are doing is unethical in that they create more card counters then would otherwise be created and thereby thin the herd of viable targets for the rest of us? Not really. What would make you think that because you got the fishing hole first no one else was allowed to fish there. It is public water. You get my point.
As for offering certain services for free, I must again point out that we all pay for books, videos, and a variety of other services that were instrumental in our development. Are payments for these any less than paying for mentoring your refer to?
I do offer mentoring to select people "that I want to help" and depending on the circumstances it may be free or may have some fee attached. How and why these decisions are made are not topics I am willing to discuss here but will discuss with any qualified interested party in a confidential environment.
I offer no apology for what I do nor do I criticize those who provide the same of better services for free. It s their choice.
Lastly, the post asked if it was unethical to teach others because of the impact to the existing players and the marketplace. My answer is no.
While it is none of anyone's concern, I will tell you that I do neither AP play or mentoring work to make a living, I was retired and over that hurdle before I ever started in the AP world. I do it because I enjoy it, it keeps my mind young and challenged, it keeps me associated with bright, like minded people and I love beating casinos both personally and with groups. When it fails to do this, I will quit.
I will end by saying that if you are going to undertake teaching someone then be certain you have a curriculum that is suited for their needs. Often the prospect has no idea what this means. If you are serious at producing an advantage player then you must first start with the technical basics and skills required. That is about 25% of the training needed. The other 75% are a myriad of other topics that are much more important to their success.
The value of my assistance is something you will have to ask of those that I have helped.
This is a response to a thoughtful post that deserved an answer. It is not a yes or no question and has to be considered in many contexts.
Mine is one more.
Luck is nothing more than probability taken personally!
I apologize for calling early posters "idiots". I am sorry. I should not have hit the "submit reply" button and re-read my rude post.
I have been called all sorts of names and jumped on for "repeating" a question I asked a long time ago and forgot the answer. I have been accused of trolling despite the fact that my threads are among the longest ones. I have an ardent obsessed fan who has pursued me on other forums, tried and successfully got me banned on several BJ forums for something I posted on a car forum.
I apologize and especially to Freightman whom I admire.
... can anyone say "moo321"? ;-)
For those who don't recall:
https://www.blackjacktheforum.com/sh...27-My-new-blog!
https://cashcowconsultingblog.wordpr...lass-schedule/
Did anyone take the $20K class?
Dog Hand
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