When I first decided to become a card counter, this is where I started:

Learn how the M.I.T. Blackjack Team made millions in Vegas bringing down the house! Basic Strategy Card Counting Optimal Betting Camouflage and Team Play! Also included: Bonus Audio Track, Basic Strategy Chart, and Optimal Betting Guide!

Andy Bloch is one of the original members of the MIT team and is a featured player in Bringing Down the House. He has reportedly earned between $5 - $10 million from his card counting exploits! Of course, these days he is too well known and spends most of hit time applying his analytical mind to his successful poker career.

If you've been following along with my blog, you will note that I point out some of the shortcomings of this instructional DVD as I discover them during my career. It glazes over important subjects such as the spread, penetration, risk of ruin, expected returns, bankroll fluctuations and the long run. Important knowledge for a seasoned card counters. So while this is an excellent place to start, it is by no means the complete education needed to be a successful card counter.

For a beginner though, I highly recommend this!
It reminds you a lot of Hollywood's '21', but with instructions as to how exactly they do it. They say seeing is believing, but seeing is also understanding and learning. You can visually follow along as Andy explains what Basic Strategy is and how to use the chart. He explains how to count cards, calculate the 'True Count' and turn that to your advantage. You watch as he and his team take on a casino and it climaxes in an exciting win for the team as they disperse before the Pit Boss can catch them. Obviously this is a little over the top, but it makes it interesting.

So if you want to know what all this card counting malarky is all about without all the maths to it, then this is a great place to start. Watch with friends! Maybe you'll be able to start your own team.

For my blog readers, you will notice that I don't adopt the Team Strategy used here for various reasons, both personal and logistical. You may have success with other team strategies that I discuss later on in this blog.

Let's get started!
So here we were after a only a week in the world of card counting ready to start our training. We'd watched the movie '21' and even seen 'Beating BlackJack with Andy Bloch' a few times, it was time to start our training.

Step 1 was learning Basic Strategy. Now I've played blackjack before and am well aware of the basic rules of the game and have even come up with a few strategies of my own. Man was I in for a shock about how many basic strategy rules I've been breaking!

Let me just start by saying that I consider myself to be a numbers guy. I've always liked and understood numbers and statistics. This is what has kept me away from casinos in the past. I know that casinos are a business based on percentages and all their games are created to give them the edge. They're always going to win in the long run (unless you count or cheat).

So I was more than ready to accept the fact that card counters relied on proven maths to beat the game. Basic Strategy is a mathematically proven optimal strategy for playing the game. It gives you the highest possible EV (expected value). I wasn't going to sit and waste time proving that basic strategy was right, I just did, after all most of the plays made sense.

So the first thing I did was a quick trip to the local casino (let's call this Casino Big for future reference). They played 6 decks, dealer stands on soft 17, early surrender, double any two and double after split. I went over to http://www.blackjackinfo.com/bjbse.php and got the appropriate basic strategy card.

Now, learning the basic strategy card wasn't difficult. A lot of the plays made a lot of sense such as doubling when you have a 10 against a 9 or less, or splitting twos against 7 or less. It was the optional plays that were a bit more difficult. Plays like 16 against a 10. Surrender if possible, otherwise hit. In my pre card counting blackjack life, when you get a 16 against a 10, you usually stand and hope he busts. Of course, according to basic strategy this is the wrong play. If you're like me, you take the chicken approach to blackjack. Play it safe and hope for the best. However Basic Strategy seemed much more aggressive comparatively. It didn't matter what I thought though. Basic Strategy is right, so I just knuckled down and learnt it. If you can't follow the rules then get out of the game.

I'm happy to say that it took no longer than a couple of hours to master basic strategy. I simply learned each number at a time. (e.g. When you have 7 or 8, you always hit. If you have a 9, you double from 3-6 otherwise hit etc etc).

Step 1 complete already! This is going to be easy!
Next comes Card Counting.

What is Basic Strategy? Please refer to the previous post:
http://confessionsofacardcounter.blogspot.com/2008/12/intoduction-to-basic-strategy.html
Ready for the nexy post?
http://confessionsofacardcounter.blogspot.com/2008/12/hi-lo-system-of-counting-cards.html

Step 1 to becoming a card counter is to learn Basic Strategy. In fact, all blackjack players should learn basic strategy whether you're going to count cards or are just a recreational gambler.

What is Basic Strategy?
It tells you the optimal play to make in every situation whilst playing blackjack. For example, if you have a hard 16 against the dealers 10, basic strategy tells you to hit (or surrender if possible). Every scenario has been mathematically worked out to give YOU the player the best result in the long run. Playing basic strategy doesn't mean that you will win every hand. It just give you the best possible expected value.
Playing basic strategy doesn't mean that you are going to beat the casino, the casino still has the edge, but you will save a hell of a lot of money though!

Why Learn Basic Strategy?
Firstly, it's not that hard to learn and most casinos even let you take a strategy card to the table!
Secondly, by playing basic strategy, you reduce the house edge to approximatly 0.5%. This means that for every $1,000 you bet - you will lose, on average, $5. Compare this to the average gambler, who, with normal play, gives the casino a 5% edge. So for the same $1,000 he plays, he will lose $50. Just by learning basic strategy you can cut your loses by 90%!

I recently came across the following official report showing the earning of AC casinos for Nov '08 across all games:
http://www.njccc.gov/casinos/financia/mthrev/docs/2008/200811revenue.pdf
I was shocked to see that their actual earning from blackjack are between 9 - 17% and that's including the losses they're suffering from card counters. This is way more than the generally accepted figure of 5%. If these bad players just learned basic strategy, just imagine how much money they could save!

Hope this is motivation enough for even you recreational gamblers to pick up a basic strategy chart and learn it. If you play basic strategy at low limit tables, your minial losses should be more than made up for by your comps.

Where can I find a basic strategy chart?
Contrary to what most people think, there is more than one basic strategy chart. This is because every blackjack game not only has different rules, but also differing number of decks played. This all makes a difference. So you need to make sure you pick the write basic strategy chart for the game you are playing.

Early on in my career I found this great site that will generate the correct chart depending on the rules you are playing. Check the generator at the link below:
http://www.blackjackinfo.com/bjbse.php

Now that you all know a little bit about basic strategy, we can continue with my card counting journey!

Continue on to the next post:
http://confessionsofacardcounter.blogspot.com/2008/12/learning-basic-strategy.html

So here I am. It's roughly June 2008 and my friend (ZoLa) and I have watched the movie '21' and decided to give card counting at blackjack a shot. We have some fairly unrealistic expectations and no clue what to do. Counting cards eh?

So where to start? Well, we turned to our good old friend Google and plugged in MIT Blackjack Team and Card Counting, reading dozens of articles about how the MIT Blackjack team had taken Vegas casinos for millions using card counting in teams. Seemed great, but still no clue as to how to count. There were hundreds of sites with tons of information on Basic Strategy and little on how to actually count in teams.

Eventually I got my hands on a copy of "Beating Blackjack with Andy Bloch". Andy Bloch was one of the members of the notorious MIT BlackJack team, and along with Expert Insight had produced an instructional DVD on how to count cards in a team. The DVD had shades of the movie '21', with mock situations of Andy Bloch evading casinos Pit Bosses and rushing loot out of the casino. (Of course, Andy Bloch's DVD was made well before the movie '21' so who copied whom eh?).

ZoLa and I watched the DVD several times. It made the whole thing look exciting and easy. Our favourite bit was where the team wins $80,000 in a single hand right at the end! It was so exciting that we couldn't wait to get started.

The DVD laid out exactly what we needed to do to become card counters.
1. Learn Basic Strategy
2. Learn to Count Cards using the simple Hi-Lo system
3, Assign your team roles and hit the casinos!

We're going to make a lot of money!

Next time: Basic Strategy.
Warning: To anyone reading this blog and thinking about becoming a card counter, please do not follow the instructions laid out in Beating Blackjack with Andy Bloch. It may be entertaining and motivational, but it conveiently glazes over IMPORTANT card counting knowledge such as betting spreads and streaks. If you are interested in becoming a counter there are some much better free resources out there which will give you a more complete picture of counting cards which I will mention in a later blog post.

Continue on to the next post:
http://confessionsofacardcounter.blogspot.com/2008/12/intoduction-to-basic-strategy.html