BETTING

Determine what your base unit is going to be today. Is it $15,or $25, or $100, or $1000? It doesn’t matter what your base unit is. Keep in mind that in order to be allowed to play in a Casino, you cannot appear to be a threat to their day-to-day existence. If you bet like an imbecile, you won’t be welcome. We do not like to be treated like we are stupid.

Counters come in every day, and some of them are great at it. What usually gets them walked out is their betting pattern, better known as greed. Never go more than from 1 to 8 units, or 1 to 6 on two hands. As you see the deck change in value every hand, vary your bet with it, but don’t make ridiculous swings. 1 to 3 units is playable, and up to eight units when the deck is running for you, If you must go higher than that, change your base unit from your original to the next color up. Never skip a color. Irregular betting, or count based betting, will get you lots of grief, and eventually refused at the tables. The MIT Teams got caught because they kept getting sloppy and greedy. They brought suspicion on themselves, and Las Vegas Casinos are not known for being stupid. If you want to draw attention to yourself as a counter, go from $5 to $100 on the next hand. Nice move! You have just made the dealer feel like you think he is an idiot, and the pitboss is on the phone to surveillance.

Now they are going to shuffle up on you or give you half a shoe until either they get tired of you or you give up. Surveillance has your photo and it will be on the pit stand for a month. Every pitboss will know what you look like and most of us have really good memories for faces. We will not give you a good game from now on. Do you like that scenario? I have seen it happen hundreds of times. We are still running a business and will spot them. We are as competitive as you, and we do this every day. This is how we make a living. It may not be the elegant lifestyle you expect us to provide for you, but it is how we pay our mortgages, car payments, and light bills. We will protect our business and our livelihood and our families. You will be walked off and we will go on to the next hotshot.

Betting is the way most amateurs give themselves away. You see a deck go plus ten on the first hand and can’t contain your greed. Yes, it is an outrageous chance, but if you go to the trouble to learn how to count and what to do with it, don’t get yourself excluded over one rich deck! Use common sense.

If you make this great score on one hand but get kicked out of the Casino, why did you bother? Think about you time invested and the skill you have. Put it to use and win slowly, but often. Play more next trip, or tomorrow, or next week.

There can easily be times that, although you play your money and cards well, you will lose. You might lose this session, and you might even lose your whole bankroll once in a while. The more you practice, the better you will get, and eventually you will win on a regular basis.

If you have the courage to play in bigger and bigger games, you will risk more and when you win, you will win more.

Last thought: Time is still always on our side.