My name is Bill, I was a school teacher and was once like you. I bought into the theory that the game could be beaten by counting cards. And believe me, I ate, drank and slept blackjack for over five years. You name it, I mastered it: Hi-Lo, Hi-Opt I & II, K-O, Zen Count, Canfield Expert, and others. I spent hours on card counting forums and online discussion groups, and I found that people only bragged about winnings, but never mentioned their losses.
I was so frustrated as I couldn’t understand how all of the popular literature and so many websites were dedicated to the subject of card counting, but no one I knew could win consistently using these strategies.
Sure, I had some big winning days when I celebrated and took all of my friends out for a night on the town, but my losers always ate away at my profits and eventually put me back under water. I was even banned from more than one casino after being simply told that they didn’t like my “style of play” and was no longer welcome. The pain was so deep inside that often times I felt like I was the unluckiest guy in the whole wide world.
What the industry won’t tell you is Vegas’s dirty little secret that casino operators love and even propagate the myth that the average Joe can win consistently by counting cards.
Hollywood movies like “21” and “The Hangover” and novels like Bringing Down the House serve to revitalize interest in blackjack and card counting. The media entice the masses to flock to the casinos, seeking to emulate their silver screen heroes. Most of us experience some early success (usually pure luck), but later give it all back… Read more…