Howdy folks! I've been training for a few weeks at this point, and I think it's time I started trying to connect with other counters and AP's, although I can hardly call myself a card counter yet. I was hoping if people could provide suggestions on things I should be doing before I walk into a casino.

Anyways, here's what I do currently.

1) Write out the basic strategy table (no doubles on splits, hit on soft 17) from memory

2) Answer questions based on the basic strategy errors I made in my previous playing session

3) Play for an hour on an app, doing on basic strategy and not counting. I record all of my basic strategy errors, and why I made them (it's usually because I am going too fast)

4) Go to a physical single deck, count it down until I get 5 runs perfectly through it.

5) Play an hour on a physical double deck, keeping the running count while I play. I try to do this in loud places so that I have more distractions, and I force myself to double-check the math on all of the dealer and my cards while still holding the running count. If I don't remember a basic strategy perfectly, I check it in Professional Blackjack, write it down as an error, and then keep playing.

6) at the end of the session I write down questions based off of all of my basic strategy errors. Usually 5-8 questions

And that's it. I am a little concerned I am doing something wrong, however. I still drop the running count sometimes, so I wonder if I should get training software to quadruple-check that I am right.

A few questions

Should I start modifying my step 1 to include deviations in my rundown? Or am I still not ready for it?

Is there a good list of deviations? The ones listed in Prof BJ I found a bit confusing to grok. The chart labeling in the Hi-Lo chapter is just a bit confusing.

Should I wait to get betting software until I am ready to go into a casino? Is a bankroll of ~5k okay to start out with?

How can I tell what a is a good game, and what isn't? I see a lot of "no bust blackjack" which I imagine heavily favors the dealer, and there's one table in my area that I *think* is PvP blackjack, which sounds like a terrible idea too.

I've been listening to some podcasts, and consistently people have sorta eluded to "other advantaged play opportunities" and then just ignored what those might exactly be. What sort of other AP's should I be looking into, to ensure I attain the highest EV?

Thanks for your time everyone, really excited to meet people and learn more.

PS. I heard tale of blackjack: The Discord. Does that still exist?