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Thread: Battery: Losing the count

  1. #1
    Battery
    Guest

    Battery: Losing the count

    I am satisfied with my counting skill level (Hi-Lo) and other parts of my game but still have one hurdle to overcome. I've never seen it mentioned here.

    When the dealer plays out his hand, I do the addition to verify that no mistakes are being made. Especially when the dealer has a five or six card hand (7, 9, 12, 13, 15, bust) I sometimes forget what the count is.

    Has anyone else run into this and could offer a solution?

  2. #2
    Parker
    Guest

    Parker: The secret

    > I am satisfied with my counting skill level
    > (Hi-Lo) and other parts of my game but still
    > have one hurdle to overcome. I've never seen
    > it mentioned here.

    > When the dealer plays out his hand, I do the
    > addition to verify that no mistakes are
    > being made. Especially when the dealer has a
    > five or six card hand (7, 9, 12, 13, 15,
    > bust) I sometimes forget what the count is.

    > Has anyone else run into this and could
    > offer a solution?

    1. Practice
    2. Practice
    3. Practice

    It's just that simple. There are no trick methods, and There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.

  3. #3
    Norm Wattenberger
    Guest

    Norm Wattenberger: Re: Losing the count


    Two additions to CVBJ in the last release are aimed at this problem. The first is an option that forces lots of many-card hands to be dealt. This forces you to practice counting cards and adding hands at the same time. Many people - even some long time players - have told me they have difficulty in this area. The second is the addition of three additional types of dealer error. Many people don't bother adding up the dealer hand, particularly if there are several cards. They trust the dealer. This can be costly considering the enormous expansion in casinos. The dealer error feature forces you to count the dealer cards since you will receive warnings if you fail to catch them.



  4. #4
    Mr. Ed
    Guest

    Mr. Ed: Re: Losing the count

    Use your fingers on your leg under the table. Use your thumb for 5. Use your right hand for positive numbers and left hand for negative numbers. If the count is more than 9, keep track of tens on the other hand.

    I had exactly the same problem - I could never add and keep the count at the same time. Sometimes I just ask the dealer, "how much is that?"

    > I am satisfied with my counting skill level
    > (Hi-Lo) and other parts of my game but still
    > have one hurdle to overcome. I've never seen
    > it mentioned here.

    > When the dealer plays out his hand, I do the
    > addition to verify that no mistakes are
    > being made. Especially when the dealer has a
    > five or six card hand (7, 9, 12, 13, 15,
    > bust) I sometimes forget what the count is.

    > Has anyone else run into this and could
    > offer a solution?

  5. #5
    Franz Joseph
    Guest

    Franz Joseph: Re: Losing the count

    I have had this problem.

  6. #6
    PunkEye
    Guest

    PunkEye: Re: Losing the count

    > I am satisfied with my counting skill level
    > (Hi-Lo) and other parts of my game but still
    > have one hurdle to overcome. I've never seen
    > it mentioned here.

    > When the dealer plays out his hand, I do the
    > addition to verify that no mistakes are
    > being made. Especially when the dealer has a
    > five or six card hand (7, 9, 12, 13, 15,
    > bust) I sometimes forget what the count is.

    > Has anyone else run into this and could
    > offer a solution?

    I had to come up with my own personal remedy to address this problem. It works for me but it may not work for you. When counting the dealer's hand, look for cards that add up to ten; let's say 8&3=T+1=11 or 8&5=T+3=13, followed by the stray cards. It will be slow going at first but when your brain becomes conditioned through the process of repititon, it is a no-brainer. For tracking positive and negative counts, that's easy. Positive counts are counted in English whereas negative counts are counted in German. And I never engage a recount at the table just to check if I made a mistake.

  7. #7
    quark
    Guest

    quark: Re: Losing the count

    > The dealer error feature forces you
    > to count the dealer cards since you will
    > receive warnings if you fail to catch them.

    What do you mean by "You will receive warnings"? You mean warnings when you don't catch them "right away"... or what? I don't get it.

  8. #8
    Norm Wattenberger
    Guest

    Norm Wattenberger: Dealer errors


    > What do you mean by "You will receive
    > warnings"? You mean warnings when you
    > don't catch them "right away"...
    > or what? I don't get it.

    CVBJ optionally generates four types of dealer errors at random. If you see the dealer make an error, you click on an error button. If you do not click on the button before the next hand begins, the error is displayed and counted. The errors are close calls and easy to miss if you're not paying close attention. These are, of course, in addition to playing, betting and cover errors. So you are tested on all at once. You can also set CV to automatically deal the next hand after a short period if you are not fiddling with your chips to increase the pressure. If you are fiddling with your chips, the dealer will pause as would most normal dealers.



  9. #9
    Magician
    Guest

    Magician: The idea

    ...is to be able to recognise the value of the hand without adding it up, so that you're only performing arithmetic on the count. It takes practice.

    Beginners often post along the lines of "I've just started counting and I can count a single deck in x seconds - am I ready for the casinos yet?" There's more to counting cards than just counting cards. You also need to practice basic strategy, indices, deck estimation, true count conversion, back counting, adding up hands, betting according to the count, and more. Norm's CVBJ can help with all of these.

  10. #10
    quark
    Guest

    quark: Re: Dealer errors

    Oh... I get it now. I have to admit that I have NOT purchased any software from you... but everytime I ask a question about your products... it never ceases to amaze me how "neat" they really are. You are (along with Schlesinger) one of THE most HONORABLE people in the Blackjack biz. Thanks for all your insights.

    > CVBJ optionally generates four types of
    > dealer errors at random. If you see the
    > dealer make an error, you click on an error
    > button. If you do not click on the button
    > before the next hand begins, the error is
    > displayed and counted. The errors are close
    > calls and easy to miss if you're not paying
    > close attention. These are, of course, in
    > addition to playing, betting and cover
    > errors. So you are tested on all at once.
    > You can also set CV to automatically deal
    > the next hand after a short period if you
    > are not fiddling with your chips to increase
    > the pressure. If you are fiddling with your
    > chips, the dealer will pause as would most
    > normal dealers.

  11. #11
    pat
    Guest

    pat: my tricks for doing both

    > I am satisfied with my counting skill level
    > (Hi-Lo) and other parts of my game but still
    > have one hurdle to overcome. I've never seen
    > it mentioned here.

    > When the dealer plays out his hand, I do the
    > addition to verify that no mistakes are
    > being made. Especially when the dealer has a
    > five or six card hand (7, 9, 12, 13, 15,
    > bust) I sometimes forget what the count is.

    > Has anyone else run into this and could
    > offer a solution?
    whenever you have a bunch of dealer cards,you count the cards with your system and you associate something(a physical thing) with that count.you then add up the cards to see what the total is.you dont have to do it often because most of the time you wont have a bunch of cards to add up.Bringing Down the House has some good association with the count.for example,+9 is a cat.some examples i use are +2 are breasts,+3 is a threesome,+4 are tires,...whatever works

  12. #12
    Norm Wattenberger
    Guest

    Norm Wattenberger: The importance of humility


    Thanks for the plug. I?d like to expound on this a bit. After a great deal of practice, two processes become automatic. Automatic to the point you couldn?t avoid them if you tried. One is counting. In particular, counting pairs of cards. Counting becomes so natural it?s annoying. You can?t look at a license plate without counting the ?cards.? Counting in pairs of cards is important not just because it?s faster, but because it?s easier than counting single cards. So many pairs cancel out to zero (one high card one low card.) Once you count in pairs, a level two count is nearly as easy as a level one count. The other process is seeing two card and three card hands as a sum instead of as cards to be added. Most two card hands come quickly. If you get the dreaded ten and six, clearly you don?t have to add them to know you?re screwed. When you get to more cards ? particularly when there?s an Ace involved, it takes a great deal of practice to deal with the count and the sum at the same time while keeping up whatever act you have chosen. I would bet that this messes up more people than would care to admit. Or even know that they?ve skipped a beat and counted an Ace as a low card. At least this guy knows he has a problem and is looking for a solution. How many people actually know if they are playing correctly in a casino? The friendly pit boss is not likely to walk over and say ?the count?s +2 you idiot ? what?d you do that for??

    norm





  13. #13
    Norm Wattenberger
    Guest

    Norm Wattenberger: What!!!

    > Positive counts are counted in English
    > whereas negative counts are counted in
    > German.

    Positive counts are counted in German and negative in English

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