One longevity story..

[Midwest Player]

I prefer to go by percent of winning days. Last year I had 95 winning days and 32 losing days for just under 75% winning days 25% losing days. My definition of a session is a casino day.

Boy, 127 working days a year doesn't seem like much for a full time pro. Do you have any idea how many hours of active play that is?

Back in 2008 and 2009 when I was most active in playing blackjack I played 123 and 129 times and I never considered it full time. I too consider a day as a session, but in those years I broke out each casino played in Vegas and Wendover. If I exclude those extra sessions I still played 111 days in 2008 and 118 days in 2009. In 2008 782 hours played, and in 2009 882 hours played all at blackjack.

[Three]

Almost 700 hours but I took a 3 month break because I was worried I had won too much for longevity concerns. Full time means you make all the money you need to pay your bills. It isn't about how much you make or how much you work. I don't have any other job. I work at least as much as I need to pay the bills but not so much I hurt my longevity. I made a lot more money than I ever made in one year working full time and I only played 9 months of the year. I spend a ton of time doing research that you could add to the hours spent actually playing. Prior to quitting my job I played over 1000 hours/year. Since then I learned to play smarter not longer.

[Midwest Player]

Can we let KJ back to our forum? Recently he wrote a story about how he struggled in the beginning. He could be an inspiration for all new AP. Basically he started with a bankroll of $4300. At that time Pennsylvania casinos still have no table games. His only option is Borgata's $5 table in Atlantic City. To keep the rent down, he shared an apartment in Philadelphia and took the bus to AC. Because the first bus arrived around 11 AM but the only $5 table opened at 6 AM and doesn't last long, KJ had to take the last bus 11 PM every night instead. After arrived in AC late, he had to sleep in the bus stop then went to Borgata at 6 AM. Playing this way for 3 years, KJ finally grew the bankroll to $10K and can play $10 table so he has more option on his schedule. It is a great story. We missed it because KJ took T3's bait, lost the cool and got banned eventually.

I have to admit KJ is a very enjoyable poster. He now posts at https://www.blackjackinfo.com/community/ The above story can be found at blackjackinfo.com under this thread https://www.blackjackinfo.com/commun...-afraid.55708/

I too think it is a shame KJ is banned from this site. I do believe he faked his death once when that site was run by Ken Smith, but no question about it, he is an interesting poster.

[RCJH]

I think I ran into zmf the other day. Up quite a bit, he wonged out of our deep dealt SD game. Standing up he made this really lame excuse that his win didn't compare to his prior losses, I looked that aging man dead in the eyes and told him how scripted he sounded. The surprise on his face as he shifted his portly white pasty face away from the table and into obscurity made me laugh.

Bwa hahaha.

Seriously, NEVER out another counter. Even though I know this wasn't ZMF, you may have outed they guy you made the comment to.

I lost a juicy game due to an idiotic comment from someone at my table once. An amateur with a big mouth and no common sense is a dangerous thing.

[Three]

No way. 100k (1000 hours) hands while working a full time job? When you do all this "travel" do you lug around a laptop?

What do you think? I played more per day back then. I probably didn't get many more rounds per day though, maybe less rounds per day. Back then my lower limit play had me playing to an 8 hour a day playing requirement to get my RFB. Since then I have upped my min bet once and max bet twice. Now they don't say anything about length of play. I was my own boss. I tended to give myself the time off whenever I wanted it. It just required planning as I worked. Plus some weeks had a ridiculous number of hours and some had very few. I just had to make sure everything got done on schedule. I could contract some of the work but I found only a couple contractors I could count on so I didn't do a lot. I could work any time of day and break it up any way I like as long as the work got done in time. Plus the main person hiring me was a high roller and liked taking me on trips to casino destinations as a job perk. If that person wanted to go on a week long trip we went. That would happen at least a couple times a year. And the guy contracting me would pick up everything for both my wife and I, including airfare. The casinos had him at full RFB. He was a $1000 to $2000 per shooter craps player. He was in Griffin from way back so he didn't play much BJ. They wanted his craps action so badly they would let him play some AP BJ without saying anything. I played 12 to 14 hours a day on many trips back then. I didn't understand more hours doesn't mean more rounds.

I guess some people have more drive than others. I guess that is why I do what I do concerning gaming. Perfection and the strongest system I can come up with. My brother and sister work around 80 hours a week as top executives. They still play like crazy when they have time off. Not AP play though. I guess when you have make money than you can possibly spend and little time to spend it you can do whatever you want. Not that they did, but they could take 52 weekends a year. That's 104 days of play even what you might call two full time jobs, 10 hours a day would get them over 1000 hours (1040 hours/year).

I would take 3 and 4 night trips but not every week. Add that to at least two week long trips, around 200 to 300 hours of play there, and playing 1000 hours wasn't that hard. My actual hours/year were closer to 1100 than 1000. I guess the sweaty game you play you couldn't even come close to that. No wonder normal stats and results for shoe game players make you scratch your head. Your opportunity is quite limited on both the amount you can win and how much you can play. I didn't really have that problem. I would just switch local regions if I was winning too much and each city in my region had quite a few casinos to spread things around. I could hit the spread out ones on consecutive days on a trip. Never drove more than 4 hours. Flew to anything further than that with my "boss". That's 28 casino's within an easy drive. Most within 2 hours drive. Many within a half hour or hours drive.

[Three]

Gets backed off 15 to 20 times a year as does the many guys in his network

I think Ryemo will correct you on this about him but for his buddies you may have an accurate statement.

[Ryemo]

I think Ryemo will correct you on this about him but for his buddies you may have an accurate statement.

I'm not sure how many BOs I get within a year, but it's been a lot more lately. I keep a copy of CBJN and highlight the properties where I've been told "no more blackjack." Last time I looked, that number was 60+. That's not including multiple BOs at one property, so I'm sure that number is closer to 100 different incidents (especially if you count the amount of times I've been counter measured in MO alone).

When I'm far from home though, I really don't care. As long as that casino doesn't have my name, I can go back and recycle it a year later. I'm not going to drive 9 hrs just so I can play 30 min sessions and use a 12:1 spread on a 6D game. In my opinion, that would be ridiculous. My plan would be to maximize EV as much as I can, without getting flyered on the first couple days of the trip. On the other hand, there's been a couple other properties closer to home that I approached with extreme caution and I got A LOT of mileage out of them.

I also know how to pick my battles too. There was one casino far from home that had a very lucrative machine play. One of my very good friends lives in that area, so he was able to help me pull it off. I was able to make a small 5 figure win there with very little play. I DID NOT go anywhere near the blackjack tables there though. How stupid would I be to try to play blackjack at that property, and risk losing a machine play that was worth roughly $1,000/hr?

[Freightman]

What do you think? I played more per day back then. I probably didn't get many more rounds per day though, maybe less rounds per day. Back then my lower limit play had me playing to an 8 hour a day playing requirement to get my RFB. Since then I have upped my min bet once and max bet twice. Now they don't say anything about length of play. I was my own boss. I tended to give myself the time off whenever I wanted it. It just required planning as I worked. Plus some weeks had a ridiculous number of hours and some had very few. I just had to make sure everything got done on schedule. I could contract some of the work but I found only a couple contractors I could count on so I didn't do a lot. I could work any time of day and break it up any way I like as long as the work got done in time. Plus the main person hiring me was a high roller and liked taking me on trips to casino destinations as a job perk. If that person wanted to go on a week long trip we went. That would happen at least a couple times a year. And the guy contracting me would pick up everything for both my wife and I, including airfare. The casinos had him at full RFB. He was a $1000 to $2000 per shooter craps player. He was in Griffin from way back so he didn't play much BJ. They wanted his craps action so badly they would let him play some AP BJ without saying anything. I played 12 to 14 hours a day on many trips back then. I didn't understand more hours doesn't mean more rounds.

I guess some people have more drive than others. I guess that is why I do what I do concerning gaming. Perfection and the strongest system I can come up with. My brother and sister work around 80 hours a week as top executives. They still play like crazy when they have time off. Not AP play though. I guess when you have make money than you can possibly spend and little time to spend it you can do whatever you want. Not that they did, but they could take 52 weekends a year. That's 104 days of play even what you might call two full time jobs 10 hours a day would get them over 1000 hours.

I would take 3 and 4 night trips but not every week. Add that to at least two week long trips, around 200 to 300 hours of play there, and playing 1000 hours wasn't that hard. My actual hours/year were closer to 1100 than 1000. I guess the sweaty game you play you couldn't even come close to that. No wonder normal stats and results for shoe game players make you scratch your head. Your opportunity is quite limited on both the amount you can win and how much you can play. I didn't really have that problem. I would just switch local regions if I was winning too much and each city in my region had quite a few casinos to spread things around. I could hit the spread out ones on consecutive days on a trip. Never drove more than 4 hours. Flew to anything further than that with my "boss". That's 28 casino's within an easy drive. Most within 2 hours drive. Many within a half hour or hours drive.

3
Your numbers don't make sense. You might want to review.

[ZenMaster_Flash]

"I think I ran into zmf the other day. Up quite a bit, he wonged out of our deep dealt SD game."

Not me.

I have not played ANY SD this year.

Note that I make no lame excuses,

and no other excuses either.

[NB10]

I'm not sure how many BOs I get within a year, but it's been a lot more lately. I keep a copy of CBJN and highlight the properties where I've been told "no more blackjack." Last time I looked, that number was 60+. That's not including multiple BOs at one property, so I'm sure that number is closer to 100 different incidents (especially if you count the amount of times I've been counter measured in MO alone).

When I'm far from home though, I really don't care. As long as that casino doesn't have my name, I can go back and recycle it a year later. I'm not going to drive 9 hrs just so I can play 30 min sessions and use a 12:1 spread on a 6D game. In my opinion, that would be ridiculous. My plan would be to maximize EV as much as I can, without getting flyered on the first couple days of the trip. On the other hand, there's been a couple other properties closer to home that I approached with extreme caution and I got A LOT of mileage out of them.

I also know how to pick my battles too. There was one casino far from home that had a very lucrative machine play. One of my very good friends lives in that area, so he was able to help me pull it off. I was able to make a small 5 figure win there with very little play. I DID NOT go anywhere near the blackjack tables there though. How stupid would I be to try to play blackjack at that property, and risk losing a machine play that was worth roughly $1,000/hr?

What kind of machine/game was it? I thought all machine games had a built-in house advantage?

[Three]

3
Your numbers don't make sense. You might want to review.

They are what they are but if I need to add to an already long post I will. I assume you are talking about the last paragraph.

3 or 4, week long trips (not local so I can play more) per year @ an average of 11+ hours a day give or take: 231 to 308+ hours on these trips. I said 200 to 300 hours so with that accuracy the statement is correct but another trip or partial week trips would increase that.

If we conservatively call that 250+ hours, that leaves around 750- hours.

A couple or so three or four night trips a month @ 12 months per year and 9 hours/day: That's 84 more days @ 9 hours a day or another 756+ hours of play.

That has already passed 1000 hours of play @ 1006 hours.

Add lots of day trips with whatever hours I could squeeze around my fluctuating daily work schedule (anywhere from 2 hours work to 15+ hours work) and you are getting closer to 1100 hours than 1000 hours. Remember I was anticipating going pro and trying to get to $100K BR. My research later showed for me a $70K BR was a 0.1% RoR so I went pro cautiously and earlier than anticipated. I very quickly had over $100K BR after that because I started very strong despite having to support myself off my winnings.

Did I miss the numbers you thought didn't add up? Was it in a prior paragraph?

[Ryemo]

What kind of machine/game was it? I thought all machine games had a built-in house advantage?

I can't disclose that information for obvious reasons. Although, I'm positive that particular opportunity has been killed. The casino lost a low 6 figure amount because of my friend. Needless to say, the casino has patched up their vulnerabilities ever since (in this department anyway).

[pilotzone]

This is a loser system. If true, then the guy obviously hasn't experienced a bad run yet. Talk to him next year and he'll tell you about his new and improved system...

Bigdaddy is 100% right, and anyone who believes the stories of someone who always makes 100/200/500/1000$ per day knows little about blackjack. Sometimes a blackjack table in a casino will be in the red for a whole month, with regular players playing on it. Maybe you haven't noticed, but according to most casino players, they (player)win most of the time !!