Hello all, I am DoctorBlackjack, new to the forum and the game. I didn't see a thread for introductions, so I decided to put this in the social forum. I live on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Despite my username, I do not hold a doctoral degree of any kind. It's simply the best username I could come up with that expresses my personality. I went to college at Florida State University and the University of Florida for graduate school-- all for science. I served in the US Navy for nearly 10 years doing air traffic control and paperwork before being given a permanent medical retirement. The stress of the job had ultimately taken it's toll of my health, both physically and mentally. Today, I hold a real estate broker's license and help my wife with her successful real estate business.

I joined the forum because my wife doesn't want to hear me talk about blackjack, and playing with my 4- and 8-year old daughters has its limitations. I discovered the game while reading books about the stock market and quantitative finance. I kept reading about this guy named Thorp and the game of blackjack. I asked myself, "what does a card game have to do with investing?" I found out there was a correct way to play every hand of blackjack, mathematical fact. I was under the impression that blackjack is unique among gambling games and had the smallest edge over the player. I looked into it more.

When my wife and I went to Las Vegas for a business convention last summer, I couldn't pay attention and started wandering around the Strip. I played my very first hand of blackjack at MGM Grand, stadium-style, $5 bet. The result was a push. I didn't like pressing buttons on the machine, so I read about playing a traditional table game. The second time I visited Las Vegas, I played one hand of blackjack at the Palazzo and won $25. My wife then called me and I had to step away from the table. The dealer didn't seem too friendly, but it may have been my social anxiety or excitement at winning a hand. I wanted to play a few more hands so I went to Park MGM and played on a 6:5 table (I didn't know what that meant at the time) and won about $200. When I heard Colin Jones mention that 3:2 games are superior and to stay away from 6:5 games, I went around the strip looking for a good 3:2 game. I found one at Mandalay Bay in the late morning. There was no one else at the table and the casino looked empty. When I hit my 14 against the dealer's 4, the dealer said "you like to hit a lot, don't you" in a friendly way and tried to help me understand the game better. I lost $75 at the table and realized that I needed to learn basic strategy. Before leaving Las Vegas, I played a busy 3:2 table at Treasure Island. The variance was horrible, and I ended up walking away with $50 from my initial $200. That's when I committed to getting better. I plan to return to Las Vegas regularly. I think blackjack can help me to walk away from a casino with a net $0 or better. I don't want to burn the tables, yet. I also think it can help me overcome a lot of personal issues, such as difficulty concentrating, social anxiety, etc. It will force me.

I just finished reading Wong's Professional Blackjack. I learned basic strategy, and I am working on the running count now. To help me with keeping the count over longer periods of time, I spent a whole day counting a deck one card at a time. Now I need to work on speed. I can count one deck in 1 minute 9 seconds (a 7-second improvement since 10 days ago). My doctor prescribed me some ADHD medication yesterday, and it's helped quite a bit. Today I noticed a change. I turned the deck around and started thumbing through the cards. I was able to completely ignore 7s, 8s, and 9s in my own mind, and I am cancelling out meaningful pairs. I look forward to sharing with you my journey from novice to AP. Did any of you ever have a eureka moment when learning to count that showed you that you were making progress?