I want you to count how many face cards you see.
Jacks queens or kings.
So, how many were there?
There were five face cards.
Six, if you count the Ace and seven,
if you count the 10.
You actually just started counting cards.
But, now you have to consider the low cards and
the note cards and even if you get really good at keeping count,
you still won't make millions counting cards.
So, I was a blackjack dealer in Philadelphia for a few years,
and the question I got the most was,
"So, do you ever catch anybody counting cards? "
For those of you who don't know what counting cards is,
it's a strategy that helps you keep count of the cards that were already played,
and what types of cards are left in the deck.
Based on that, you figure out how much you want to bet.
There's this fascination with counting cards.
Everybody wants to learn how to do it,
how to cheat the system and how to go home rich.
But, the truth is,
it's nearly impossible to do so.
Movies like Rain Man ,The Hangover and
21 romanticize the notion and make it seem like you'll be rolling in dough by morning,
especially when the latter is based on a true story.
But, the casinos have seen all the same movies we have,
read all the same books and know all the same tricks.
There are always one step ahead of you and you will get caught,
especially if you're working in teams.
But let's say you're headed to the casino by yourself.
All the cameras are off.
Everyone took the day off but the dealer it's just you and you won't get caught.
You're playing perfect basic strategy.
You're keeping perfect count.
You're still not going to make a ton of money.
Here are the three reasons why you won't make millions counting cards.
Reason number one, you need the time.
It's a marathon not a sprint and due to
numerous circumstances how many decks are in the shoe,
how the cards are shuffled and varying house rules across the country,
you likely won't make it to the end to make a ton of money.
Not to mention, it gets awfully boring.
Imagine sitting there playing blackjack for 20 hours.
It all starts to blend together.
It needs to be your full time job.
Aside from the 100 to 200 hours,
it actually takes at home to learn how to count cards.
You could still easily be in the negative after
500 hours of game play and most people give
up due to not having the amount of time it takes to
gain a profit or they lose all their money,
which leads me to reason number two.
You need a bankroll.
You need to have enough money to let yourself dip
extraordinarily low before you can swing back up and even make a profit.
It's up for debate how much money you should bring,
especially since it determines your risk of ruin
aka the likelihood of you losing all your money.
According to most blackjack experts,
if you bring 200 times the betting unit,
your risk of ruin is around 40%.
So, if you're playing twenty $25 hands,
you need to have at least $5000.
I say at least because you're likely going to press your bets to be pretty high.
But, if you bring 500 times the betting unit,
your risk of ruin is only 10%,
which means that at the same $25 table,
you would need at least $12500,
1,000 times the betting unit will give you a 1% risk of ruin.
That's your best bet,
which means you guessed it.
You'll only need $25000 to play with and be okay with losing.
But, even if you're playing at a comfortable $25000,
you could maybe end up making $50 to $75 an hour and that's on your best day ever.
That means in order to make one million dollars,
you need to put in just over 13,000 hours of game play.
That's at least 1,000 of your best days ever if you're
playing for 12 hours a day and if you don't live near a casino,
you can take out food,
travel and lodge from those winnings too.
Reason number three, you need to be undetectable.
This hypothetical is just that. A hypothetical.
At the end of the day,
it takes about 10 to 15 minutes for a card counter to be detected.
Because of what card counting used to be,
the casinos now know exactly what changes need
to be made so that they can keep the advantage.
When I first started dealing cards,
I had the same exact question that everybody else has.
What do I do if I catch somebody counting cards?
My pit boss said to enjoy the show
because they're going to walk away empty handed anyways.
Here's a friendly reminder,
the house always wins.
My suggestion, take out
a couple hundred dollars that you'd be happy to see go down the shredder,
go with your friends to Vegas and just have a good time.
Always tip the dealer.
Fourteen. Oh, 21. You win.
Wait, what? But, how did I win?
I Broke.
How do I win? But, that person won.
The person also won, you both win.
They get 21 but I got 19.
Yeah. But, its just you against me.
Oh yeah.
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