We have no guest this week. Bob and I reach into the mail bag to answer listener questions.
Podcast
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Show Notes
[00:37] A bankroll requirement for a stadium Blackjack game
[02:38] Traffic hazards
[06:11] What do you wish someone has told you at the beginning of your career?
[09:26] What purchase of $100 or less in the last year improved your life the most?
[12:27] What are your favorite gambling books?
[15:33] Did James Grosjean’s book cause many card counters to switch to carnival games?
[17:55] Would the strategy change if you have a use-once-MP coupons
[19:52] Playing slot machines for cover
[22:01] Traveling bankroll: how much should you carry?
[25:13] If you have found AP earlier or if you were younger, would you have left your career immediately for it?
[28:09] Richard and Bob’s previous lives
[29:38] Supplementing income with Blackjack card counting with $3,000 BR
[32:07] Book recommendations for Blackjack
[34:12] Dealing with big losses
[35:54] Which game should I play for point challenge with a $10,000 BR?
[38:26] Similarities between AP and crimes
[40:14] Would you quit depending on the amount of win or loss?
[46:33] If the casino has a low game protection procedures in general, is it safe to count cards?
[49:08] EZ Baccarat
[50:37] A new casino in Las Vegas
[53:35] Recommendations to a middle-aged man starting out as an AP
[58:18] Multi-Line VP v.s. Single-line VP
[1:00:52] Bonus multi-lines game
[1:01:26] Why average BR is 3x-4x jackpot?
[1:02:51] Tutorials for Dream Card
“Gambling Wizards” by Richard W. Munchkin: http://amzn.to/2E7C9L3
“The Man with the $100,000 Breasts” by Michael Konik: http://amzn.to/2FD6FcQ
“Fast Company” by John Bradshaw: http://amzn.to/2DY3P5H
Daymon Runyon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damon_Runyon Amazon author page
“The Moon and Sixpence” by W. Somerset Maugham : http://amzn.to/2E8paZA
“Knockout Blackjack” by Olaf Vankura and Ken Fuchs: http://amzn.to/2DWl8UG
“Blackjack Blueprint” by Rick Blaine: http://amzn.to/2Ezaqk7
“Professional Blackjack” by Stanford Wong: http://amzn.to/2GIMOKk
Ken Uston: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Uston
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A couple of things:
1) Thanks for the comment about 6/5 BlackJack. I’ve been beating one and thought there was a problem because I wasn’t *supposed* to be beating it. One reason I played it was because in my endeavours I have had had many sessions where I got 0 BlackJacks. So my thinking was that if I’m making money without getting one, then I shouldn’t worry about whether it pays 3:2. However, I have and will always wince whenever I do get one and see how much I was underpaid.
2) The fellow with the hard time dealing with a string of losses. Great advice you gave. I’ll add that sometimes it’s a sign that you are over betting your bank (session or lifetime).
3) I have the BlackJack Apprentice software as well as mobilityware Blackjack both on IOS. Good for learning to count, however, the RNG on the iPhones (at least in the 5s) is streaky. I’ve had repeated and predictable extreme negative variance as well as predictable extreme positive variance. That is, I know within half a “shoe” whether I’m going to lose everything and then some or whether i’ll be way up. This doesn’t happen in “real” play, so if you expect to use the game as a basis to judge what will happen at the tables, it’s probably not a good tool.
I also have BlackJack Verite for Android. Absolutely none of the streakiness observed on the IOS games are observed in that application.
4) For that middle aged man: Consider this. $80/day is a $10/hour job. It is not difficult or time consuming to make $80/day at Blackjack. That’s $20k/year before taxes. As extra disposable income, that’s not bad and as Mr. Munchkin said: you get to stay in some really nice rooms for “free”.
On the show someone asked why the bankroll numbers are usually much more than what a royal pays. If you have an infinite bankroll and play FPDW correctly with min-cost-royal strategy, “on average” it will cost you 451 bets to hit a royal for 800 bets, meaning you clear 349 bets per average royal. However, “average” is just a mathematical concept. About half the time it will cost you more than 451 and about half the time it will cost you less. Sometimes you will be down more than 451 even though you average out at 451, of course if you have an infinite bankroll that doesn’t stop you from playing. Sometimes, about 2/3rd % of the time, you will go 5 cycles (232,075 hands) without a single royal. These and more are the reasons you generally need multiple royals in reserve bankroll to get a royal. Video poker is generally very high variance, if you can’t stomach the swings, try something with less swing, like table games, sports bets, or the better penny slots. For more info check out “books on beatable slot machines” on the wizard of vegas.
To Richard: I have to admit that your comments on 6/5 Blackjack almost floored me as I swear I remember you advising in the past (and possibly on more than one occasion) that 6/5 Blackjack should never, ever be played. Have you had a change of heart? Or, is my memory incorrect? Also, you say that 6/5 at one time was very lucrative, can you elaborate on that, if not here than on a future show? Thank you.
6/5 blackjack is a waste of time for counting cards, but just crouch down in your seat and you might strike gold once in a while. 😉
How and why?
As been said before, card counters have tunnel vision when entering a casino.
There is no point hiding it because it doesn’t apply now anyway. When 6:5 came out a lot of dealers dealt it by hand from a single deck. It was advertised as single deck and since players knew single deck was better it was great advertising.
Fortunately for APs by the time this was introduced hand-dealt games had been gone for a long time due to counting and most dealers had only ever dealt shoe games up to that point. The same could be said for the floors. So protecting the down card and watching for hole card play was not a priority. There were other errors made as well outside of hole card exposure. It wasn’t even necessary to have a spotter in a lot of cases. It was a gold mine, if one stuck to good games only.