What are the most blackjack hours someone put in in a calendar year? Most pros state 500-1500 hours. But if one plays just full time (40 hours a week) that's 2080 hours. If someone really is into blackjack i could even see them putting in 4000 or even 5000 hours in. Has anyone done this? If N0 is around 500-1000 hours, wouldn't this imply one could potentially double their bankroll 5-10 times in one calendar year (depending on game conditions of course)?
I don't know how a person could play 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, and still stay focused. I played a lot, maybe 1000-1200 hours a year, afternoons mostly, when I had all my local stores. My gruelling actual work schedule was about 20 hours a week, during the week, and 5-6 hours of paperwork over the weekend.
My gruelling schedule now only averages 6-7 hours a week, and Blackjack ytd is 125 hours, though I do have an upcoming trip.
The other thing that I put into my equation, is mental sharpness. I usually, not always, need that mid day rest. I always take it when I do need it. I would rather play less hours, totally focused, than more hours making mistakes.
Getting beyond 1,000 hrs a year is difficult due to the back offs and travel requirements. I suppose if you play locally and use insanely tight spreads and don’t have anything else going on in your life (i.e. you’re retired), then I’m sure you could get 4,000 hrs a year. But in that case, you would also need to have excellent games in order for those small spreads to beat them. Otherwise, I think 4,000 hours of local exposure, regardless of how polite you play, will inevitably lead to back offs. And once you start getting backed off, you’ll need to travel to play. And once you start traveling, you can’t settle for low EV anymore because now you have travel expenses, so you’ll have to play more aggressively, and that will lead to even more back offs. It’s a vicious cycle.
At my age (70 soon) and because I play recreationally, I mostly make one trip 4 days a week to local casinos, one each day, leave within 20 minutes-2 hours. If I am up by more than $200, I leave.
I have averaged between 25 and 30 hours a month, including 2 weekend trips. After 7 months, I have won about $12k while incurring 3-4k in expenses. Goal is to win $10k after all expenses at the end of the year.
Yes, especially if your play reaches a certain level. I have a few friends who I consider to be serious road warriors and they were only able to play 1,000 to 1,200 hrs in a year. They were betting high stakes, so back offs and traveling to the next city is the biggest issue.Originally Posted by dalmatian
Which brings up another point, probably worth a new thread - that being proportion of EV needed to cover expenses. For myself, last year was probably 15-18% (guesstimate). This year, about 7-8%. The other part of that issue is quality of accommodation, quality of food, I.e., where priorities lie in terms in terms of expense quality.
Not sure why you include N0 when talking about doubling a bankroll. ??? Also, 500-1000 hours to be N0 is a pretty shitty game, is it not? That's what, 50,000 to 100,000 rounds, assuming 100 HPH? Oof!
No way can you get 4,000 hours in in a year. That's 11 hours EVERY single day. Only way to do that (IMO) is if you find a tolerant store that lets you camp out forever, but even then you'd probably only be able to get away with a tight spread....and it'd be absolutely miserable. No way can you play decent stakes, plus the travel required due to backoffs, AND get 4k+ hours in a year. Actually, maybe just mayyyybe it could be possible if you had someone drive you from city to city and you slept while that person was (were? Don!!!!?) driving. But that's just gonna turn into a goat rope.
"Everyone wants to be rich, but nobody wants to work for it." -Ryan Howard [The Office]
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