So what drove me into the depraved world of card counting?
Counting cards is not something I saw myself doing six months ago. I was vaguely aware of stories of irresponsible parents taking their genius kids into casinos to track cards whilst they gambled and make them money. I also remember hearing stories of people being taken around back and beaten to within an inch of their lives for cheating. What was fact, what was myth? At this point of my life I didn't really care.

As far as I was concerned, casinos were big evil coporations that offered punters pipe dreams in exchange for their hard earned wages. The only way to beat a casino was to cheat or get very, very lucky. Gambling? No thank you, not for me. I don't even buy lottery tickets.
That's not to say I've never gambled. I did in my youth, with no success, but I'll leave that story for another day.

So what changed? What made me turn to counting cards? It will come as little surprise to many of you, but it all happened because of a little movie called '21'. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Please indulge me whilst I backtrack a little.

I started my own retail operation over a year ago. It was during this time that I met ZoLa (not real name). We shared similiar interests and quickly became friends. Our relationship revolved around potential business opportunities and we mainly concentrated on import and distribution. However, with limited resources and high competition, finding the right opportunity was not easy. We wanted low risk opportunities with gauranteed results, and those are things that don't exist in business. Business is all about risk.

The movie '21' came out on the 28 March 2008. It's based on the true story of the MIT blackjack team, but with the usual Hollywood treatment. The film itself wasn't too bad, I'd give it 3.5 out of 5 stars. (I'll do a review of the film later for those interested in learning more about the film). Even after watching the film, my interest in card counting still wasn't peaked. The film revealed very little in terms of how you actually counted cards and made out that you had to be a MIT freak genius to count cards.

It wasn't until a few months later when ZoLa got his hands on a DVD of 21 that he suggested we give it a shot. Hell, why not? Seeing as none of our other side businesses were panning out, it wouldn't hurt to look into it.

Was this going to be the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end? You'll find out soon enough.

Thanks for reading!

Continue on the next post:
http://confessionsofacardcounter.blogspot.com/2008/12/getting-started-with-andy-bloch.html