Online Blackjack

I often use the analogy of a prize fighter when I discuss practicing your counting; a fighter trains for both speed and endurance. They use a “speed bag” for the short, fast jab and a big, heavy bag for the hard punches. A single-deck countdown is your “speed bag”; try to get through it as quickly as possible while maintaining your accuracy. To build your endurance, begin by counting down two decks shuffled together (don’t forget to remove 3 cards to check your accuracy). Once you’re doing two decks under 40 seconds, go to 6 decks. Shuffle all six together, then break them down to 5 or 6 separate piles on a table top and count them all down as quickly as possible. Your goal here is to do it under 2 minutes; under 1:30 is ideal. The reason why we do so many decks, whether we’re training for a single-deck or multi-deck game, is to not only get used to retaining the count for a long period of time, but also to get used to wide swings in the count. The running count for a single deck will seldom go above or below 10, but you’ll often get such counts in a six-deck countdown and you need to get used to that. Practicing like this with a lot of distractions around is good. Do it with the kids bugging you, with the TV on, or with Fido barking and you’ll develop your ability to keep track while you’re in a casino.

A Few More Tricks

Learn to count backward from an odd number by 2′s. We can all count “2, 4, 6,” etc., but few of us can count “11, 9, 7, 5, 3″ very quickly. This is a good exercise to do while you’re driving. Start at 25 and take it to M5, over and over again; it will “imprint” in your mind and serve you well at a full table when the count is high and all those 20′s and Blackjacks come out. When you get bored, do it backward from an even number just to keep yourself in shape.

When your counting is interrupted for any reason, recite the count to yourself over and over again. Let’s say you’re practicing at home and little Margaux or your son, Corky (isn’t every card counter also a wine fanatic?), has a “life or death” question. If the count at that point is M6, just keep repeating “M6, M6, M6″ in your mind as you listen to them. You’ll know you’re making real progress when you can then TALK to them and remember the count! Practice is what allows that to happen.

(Source: GameMaster)