hi guys
still relatively new to BJ and learning a great deal. curious to know thoughts from the gurus on what are the best methods to practice. at the moment i have CV on computer i play, apps on my phone to practice counting and also 6 decks & felt etc to practice with real cards.
what are your recommended ways for a noob to accelerate the learning process?
cheers
I would suggest creating and carrying around a set of flash cards if you are working on indices for your counting method. I have also found simulating real casino conditions at home very helpful, such as having a lot of noise in the background and talking to someone while keeping count. But really, the best thing you can do is just keep practicing!!! I usually practice 1-2 hours a day and do a quick run through for 30mins if I am going to a casino that day. This consist of counting down 2, than 4, then 6 decks of cards until i get the count correctly for each.
Dealing to yourself is helpful. For each hand played, state the hand totals out loud, just as the dealer would. Meanwhile, keep track of the count, and make the correct BS play. By stating the hand total, but keeping the RC, you get better at compartmentalizing different sets of numbers. Go as slowly as you need to. You'll get better.
Then work in deck estimation, TC conversions, and betting. Again, go as slowly as you need to, to get it right. As your speed picks up and you feel comfortable with that, you could start to introduce index plays. I'd first study those separately. Then, for each hand you deal, indicate to yourself each time there is a hand that does, in fact, have an index number... regardless of whether the TC warrants playing it. For instance, you might have 9 vs. 7, with a TC of +1. Acknowledge that there IS a number for it (+4), even though it doesn't apply at this time.
I would deal myself a couple of shoes per day, at least. Then, I'd have index numbers hanging in my shower, and I'd go through them daily. When driving in my car, I would announce a random RC and a random "decks remaining" number, then do the calculation. There are so many ways to fine-tune your game. It's like getting good at basketball. You don't just work on one thing... you might take jump shots, work on dribbling, and then take free throws. There are so many ways to tighten up your blackjack game - there's not just one method. Do everything you can think of.
Practice, practice, repetition, repetition and more practice and repetition. I recorded audio of all the index numbers and burned to a cd, downloaded to ipod and a smart phone flash cards android app. Learn your system inside and out! I obtained boxes of cards, CBJX, every book written, blackjack table, shoes, discard trays etc...practices and simulate real play. Whatever it takes!
I got this from http://www.blackjackapprenticeship.c...ead.php?t=1837
Things I did to improve my game
Some of these things you may have already heard but there are other things that can benefit you. If they work for someone with ADHD and Dyslexia then they can work for anyone. Some of this information I got through reading and some I developed on my own.
Accuracy first. As usual B.S. first. The speed will come fairly fast afterward. Getting speed is a rather easier part of this. You do not know B.S. until a bomb goes off next to you and you can still play it. I had also found that memorizing the deviations much easier after mastering basic strategy.
GET CVBJ! Indispensable! You will not realize how inaccurate you might be until you use it! When I first started out I thought there was something wrong with the software. But through focusing and concentration I got it down. That meant stopping, pausing and checking the count. If the count was off then click on “Show Last Hand” and see were you went off. After going through sometimes one shoe my head would hurt. LOL. Also, using CVBJ will help greatly when doing some of the excercises mentioned later. Remember to focus! Focus! Focus! BTW, counting down a deck of cards and naming the last card is not the same thing.
To speed up/get better, use CVBJ at short high intensity bursts. This is your speed workout! First use the DD shoe face up. Also, using the 2D shoe the errors won't get carried on throughout a longer 6/8D shoe. Then boredom after checking the count with using the wrong count setting in. Using the 2D shoe enables you to go faster for that shorter period of time. (However, if you do see that the count is off then go back and see where you were off. You won't believe how consistently you might make a mistake in one area.) This is very good for speed work; take a short interval of intensity, take a short break, then repeat. Yes this does work in BJ as well as running track. Remember to focus! Focus! Focus! It might seem that you are focusing too much but the level of focus will come in handily later when distractions are put into the mix.
When playing on CVBJ turn up the speed until you have to focus fairly intensely – not extremely intensely - to keep the count. Then play at that level until you are very comfortable. Then repeat. You will be going faster than 90% of the dealers in a fairly short time; 2 – 3 weeks most likely.
Play with fairly loud music on in the background. Make it louder than what's in the casino. After you master counting putting some music on serves as a distraction. In the beginning this was one of the harder things for me. However I could, in a short period of time, keep the count accurately. Remember to focus! Focus! Focus!
Have someone distract you while practicing. You might have them ask you a question. While you have music on in the background, see if you remember the count, then answer the question that was put forth to you. Try to talk to them while maintaining the count. Have then start off with a “So where are you from?” LOL. Then later extend the conversation to other things. Try “ordering a drink”. After you have gotten down the conversation some other questions to ask you are “What time is it”? Later, use more questions with numbers in it e.g. “how do you play a particular hand in B.S.? “ This of course is to confuse you with the count. Then check the count to see if you can still keep it. But remember to build up the length of the conversation and do not immerse yourself into it all at once. Just add one question at a time until you are still accurate with the count then add in another question. Remember to focus! Focus! Focus! Later someone can talk to you like a chatty dealer who won't shut the ^(*) up.
To stop getting confused when remembering if the count was a plus or minus keep the negative count in a foreign language. Yes that does seem to work. I have found that you will rarely be off.
Fatigue. After practicing for a while if your count gets off then stop and take a break - figure around 15 minutes. Also take note of how long it took you to get tired! Before that point is when you should stop during real play; figure around a shoe or two before. Don't worry about the length of play time for now. You will extend it at a steady pace. At one time I could only count maybe two or three shoes and now I am up to at least ten!
If you noticed that your game might have gone wrong in real play figure out what it was then practice at home. I have a lot of experience with this. In the beginning if the count was say +7 and the dealer announced a card total of 16 then I would sometimes start the count at 16! Or if anyone tried to talk to me I would most like lose the count. Sometimes I would just forget the count for no apparent reason. So at home I would just keep repeating the count to myself even more so. Or get up and do something for a very short time then try to remember the count. In play you will find yourself automatically correcting errors. Whenever a possible situation appears, in practice always try to remember the count first then check it. You want to work your brain.
In general what ever environment you experience in a casino practice it at home and make it much worse! So, if there are ploppies galore at the casino, when practicing at home setup the players in CVBJ to be bad players. The same goes for everything previously mentioned.
After getting speed down you might want to learn to play slower. What?!?! You said slower?!?!?! Yes I did. One of my favorite casinos has dealers that seem very slow. Though I love the rules there, my God, the dealers can be what seems like a slow motion death deal. Believe it or not, one can actually lose the count if the game is toooooo slooooow. So every so often practice going slow – then simulate with a friend by putting in the chatter mouth dealer and see how the counting goes. Myself with ADHD will almost die with a slow dealer. So it actually took some training for me to slow down to the speed of the dealer. But as usual, try to find a fast dealer: As it means more EV too. Semyon Dukach has this problem with slow dealers also. Mentioning that with a slow dealer he is more likely to lose the count.
When practicing suddenly stop the game and check your concentration/focus. If you are not as sharp as could be then get focused. When restarting the game bear down and focus.
Note: A main purpose of these exercises is to take away the countenance of concentration. Aside from bet spreading I think that the look of concentration is a tell tale signal to the PC on catching a counter.
Remember that it's all about focus! Remember to focus! Focus! Focus! I understand that many things I said here seem like it's all a focusing issue due to my ADHD. However, I watched this one documentary on the MIT BJ Team and one person said that the focusing he had to do was almost as hard as working on his PhD. And you could teach a piece of firewood to count cards if the firewood could focus. This gives you the kind of idea of the different levels of intensity that's needed to count cards talked about here.
And if I – an ADHD/Dyslexic - can do it, anyone can do it!
ETA:
Deviations. Memorize only 2 - 3 a day. It makes them stick a lot easier. Don't try to memorize them all at once since you will get most of them confused. Also start with the "easy ones to memorize." For example, 16 vs 10; stand on RC>0. Another easy one is splitting 10 against 4,5,6 against D 6,5,4. That's it for one day! In the next day or two learn a couple more.
Eating. Get a snack every three hours or so along with plenty of water. It helps the brain stay sharp.
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Originally Posted by yesiamred
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