hi and welcome to our instructional video that is designed to make
you a smarter gambler my name is Steve Bourie
and on the author of the American casino guide number one bestselling book in the
US on the subject of casino gambling and travel
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in this video American casino guide associate editor Matt Bourie
learns how to count cards at the blackjack apprenticeship training course
in Las Vegas
matt is a novice player who attended the course to learn about card counting
from former professional blackjack players and to see if they wanted to
pursue it further
Matt explains what the course was like and his thoughts on what he learnt
following that there is an interview with American casino guide author
Steve Bourie
and Colin Jones who is a cofounder at the blackjack apprenticeship training
course
hi I'm Matt Bourie associate editor of the American casino guide
and in January 2015 I had the chance to attend the Blackjack apprenticeship
training course in Las Vegas
this is a course designed by Ben Crawford and Colin Jones to former
professional blackjack players
from 2006 to 2009 ran a card counting team that won millions of dollars
the team was very unique because it consisted primarily of members at their
church in a documentary was made about their exploits
the movie was called holy rollers the true story of card counting christians
and it's currently available on Netflix as well as DVD after several years the
success they decided to disband the team
but they're both still active in the training of new players and teaching
them how to become better at the game of blackjack
with their website blackjack apprenticeship dot com several times a
year they all sold the workshop for players to help them hone their card
counting skills to gain an advantage over the casino
I was invited to take the beginner's course and I was eager to attend because
I was familiar with the concept of counting cards
but I don't really know the details of how you put in the use in a casino
plus I know several professional card counters and I always wondered what
their jobs and tailed
so what follows is a video showing a bit of what I learned at the blackjack
apprenticeship training program and my thoughts about the course
following that is an interview that my dad Steve maury
did with Colin Jones about the course and his goals for the students
to start off
they handed out booklets that included notes of what would be discussed during
the class
as well as basic strategy charts and also index numbers
occasionally when account gets very high or very low
you need to deviate from basic strategy and the index numbers tell you when and
if you need to do this
after that we had to introduce ourselves we had to say our name
where we're from and why we are taking the course a lot of the people taking a
course
said that they didn't like their current jobs and wanted to quit then
and count cards for a living I've always heard that this is a very unrealistic
goal
and that thought was more or less echoed by Ben in college after we introduced
ourselves
Ben and Colin told us their story they told us how they started with just the
two of them in a few thousand dollars
and ended up with a team of over 20 people winning millions of dollars in
the casinos
the next thing we did was go over the agenda for the day which was very full
the course lasted a full eight hours they then went on to explain
EV which is also known as expected value
and that is how card counters determine how much money they should be making
throughout the day
another thing they discussed was that there's two types
blackjack players those that play for fun and those that play to make money
and we have to decide which of those we are gonna be they said
that professional players got their fun out of making money
whereas most people in a casino just play for fun another thing we went over
was they gave us are a few tips on how to practice at home before we went into
the casino to bed any real money
then they went over what I thought was the most important thing every day
that you should never gamble with money that you cannot afford to lose
financially
or mentally the next part of the course was the first dealing session
is when we all sat down on an actual blackjack table
and they dealt out cards gave us chips and we tested out what we knew
the first then call went over this dealing session was how to calculate the
running count in the true count and this is a process that
that
we will do it every single hand and we want you guys to leave knowing this
process which is running
divisor true after everything ok and I'm gonna say
running and you'll say what the running count is
I selected a running count as sex and divisor
that means having Dexter left of 85 so what future count if you're a music
supervisors 5%
want next he explained I we should change our bets
based on the true count so if you have a true one
he should bat two chips get richer to
shabad what three tips
truth read that poor chips 34
so true for you that a I've chips
and then sure if I've been above in bed 6 chips so this would be your
the highest you need about you need to keep going up forget about the trip 5 K
so whatever that you can issue get out one more unit
than the trick out this isn't really what you might use while playing in a
casino
this will be a good way to find out how your trigger you know
what you think the true counties before I took this course
one thing I didn't know is when you should actually start counting cards
I always thought that you should start as soon as the dealer deals the first
card
but what they explain to me was it's much easier said
wait until the dealer has given everyone their first card and once he deals the
first person their second card
that is when you should start counting after that was explained to me
it made it so much easier to be able to keep track of what the running count was
and the divisor and getting the true can't
the part that I found the most difficult actually was estimating
how many decks were in the discard ray I think I was wrong pretty much
every time they told us to guess all day after the first dealing session
calling went over a few ways to maximize your EV are expected value when playing
blackjack
summer those things included the bedspread meaning how loader
make your bed when the count is low or how high you should make your bed when
the Count II
nothing he went over was the initial house edge of the game
what are some things that affect the casinos edge penetration good
what else
the rules he asked the Standard Heating saw seventeen
yet if you can tell us where we split all those things
number DAX the most important thing they went over to maximize your EV
is penetration or how far back to dealer puts the cut card
it's better to go further back because the further back to cut card is the more
you know about the remaining cards in the deck
most interesting part of the day was only got a visit from tommy hyland
one of the most successful blackjack players of all time tommy's been running
card counting team since the early eighties and they've won millions of
dollars
unfortunately he did not want is videotaping him so we don't have any
footage is that
but he did answer any questions that anyone had
and I told us some very interesting stories for instance
he had been kicked out of the casinos in atlantic city so many times that he went
during Christmas dressed as Santa Claus to try and count cards
to disguise himself but he ended up getting kicked out anyways
after that they went over a few more things such as how to build a blackjack
team and how to camouflage yourself while you're in a casino
but we had to leave a little early so again we didn't get to see that
a lot of people
first with me said that they wanted to become professional card counters and
play blackjack for a living
I honestly think that they could do that with all the information that we learned
in this course
me on the other hand I just thought that I could play blackjack
on the side and count cards and make a little bit extra money but after
realizing how much time and effort I would have to put into it to do it
correctly
I'm just not sure it was worth it for me for those who are interested
make sure you stay tuned for an interview between my dad Steve maury
and Colin Jones about some goals colin has for his students in the course
at more information for anyone interested in taking it
Colin you and Ben have been involved in blackjack
for a while now can you explain that how this all started yeah
on we I think I was right at a college twenty years old in bed and read
some book about how to make a hundred thousand dollars a year
gambling at a three-page section on card counting and I
thats and doable he told me about it we started
we buy stanford won works arrest we start small
a couple thousand back to grit into at one point where
tea with million are bankrolling and played every
every level between and how many people were on your team
you obviously you what you were successful did you have a lot of people
under Kim
yeah I would say probably forty or fifty people cycle through but it was really
kind of work or about
I five to 10 people that their kinda
make much money and we're on you know for
most the time I'm well today we're here in Las Vegas wanna hear black jacket
blue captives
and my son matt is taking your
your boot camp to learn to be a better blackjack player
yeah can can explain what's involved in and absolutely
so we do this about three times a year and we take about 10 people
a and you know we want people that have already been through our training online
got as far as they can on their own but we want to help people get
you know as to to the next level whatever that means
and what things we learned we were training is
you don't know you don't so we thought we were good at blackjack
anyway we actually were that was involved with another marketing team
on and they Kenneth knows the back is you know today this kid's
pretty good by that they you know said he would you be able to do XOM
some trips with us and so he had to go through triggers chain process
he failed their initial test outs in he thought he was good
but it wasn't as good as it could be that's the same experience I had
and so years of people that it's hard to train yourself to something
you know it may be hard to be come out grated instrument without some
instruction urs
someone say you do these things wrong here so up to camp
is our opportunity to do that and you know we've had it
quite a number people come through that are now playing professionally or
or as a hobby or just for fun now is the boot camp director that the novice
player or sit directly to a more advanced by
we're much more excited about someone once said do this
to make money it'll there's always a big scare people
that show up I and that the information is valuable
whether or not this or professional by that you know
we're most excited I'll pick people actually P
and what what would you say is the the biggest problem
up this students that you have to to come to your your classes there's
one thing that you find you you focus on the most that they're lacking in
yeah I'm there's a couple things one is how to think about
card counting up in a lot of people there there's a very different way that
we think that a gambler
thinks and helping people think differently about the game
think differently about how they approach the game that's the first
hurdle
as advanced play it he is all you know
and it's not a you know if
of so
it it differently any you gotta get out
see that seeing United life
fires he all
are K it's more like a and Jeff
so for most people yes here
usually whole your head out holiday
and Jesse fired the second is just that
the actual skills and it takes people a lot more time in Pakistan they expect
and people think they're pretty good at that you know they're
really not all that good and that you know it's not as hard as becoming at
doctor or a lawyer computer programmer
but it's not something that you can just practice for a couple hours they are at
the ready to go pee the casino are you actually
really up to have to masters skills so
I think the boot camp really help people realize okay I put some work in
but I still have this you know this far to go
with you would you say that all of the students second day
take your class are going to go on to be successful card counter that I
by then I could maybe you can explain yeah problems are involved that they
don't do that
yeah well a one thing to talk about is why people are getting into it and a lot
of people
I'm they like playing blackjack and they wanna
you know play it better I would say that person will
you know maybe the loose last money at the casino that make
they make it with a break even but actually being without a successful at
it
a you know yet takes takes a unique person that's really what you put in
the amount of time training it takes provoke people wanna learn more about
your
your blackjack boot camp as well as your other programs are you have
for people to become better blackjack players
where would they do that you could put all that stuff on our website blackjack
ship dot com and you really have a growing community
car carriers every every step we have Unohana
for me plenty of professionals as well as people they're learning
that's that's free find out everything we have that weekly newsletter for free
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recent back hurt and development all that stuff alright
column Colin Jones thanks very much for spending time with us yet thank you
don't forget that you can see more of our educational gaming videos on our
YouTube channel
just go to YouTube dot com slash American casino guide