Most people that play Blackjack dream of playing every day and making millions, so you buy books, go online for information and with your newfound knowledge practice for months until you think you have it down cold.
You can count a deck of cards down in 15 seconds. You know basic strategy inside and out. Money management, well, that was the easy part.
A friend has dealt thousands of hands to you. You hold conversations while counting, play loud music, everything the book tells you to do.
The whole process has taken you 7 long months, but it has been worth it because the time has come to take it to the casino. Nothing can stop you from realizing your dream of becoming a professional card counter and making millions of dollars. You'll never have to work again. So you pack your bags and jump on a plane to Las Vegas or Atlantic City or any of the 29 states where casinos are now legal. You check into your room and sit there for an hour psyching yourself up for the coming 5 days.
You have a nice sized bankroll, basic strategy is automatic, card counting, you could almost do in your sleep.
It's time to go to the casino. You walk around for about an hour and get the feel of the room. Stand behind a couple of tables and count the deck down. You are not procrastinating, you're doing exactly what you should be doing. You find a table that looks good and you sit down.
You know what your bankroll should be and that's what you put in your pocket. No way you're going to lose more than the system allows.
It's time to rock and roll.
You play about 6 hours, make few mistakes that you know about, and don't get any heat from the pit. All in all it's been a good session, except for one thing. You lost. Not much, but you lost. Did you make any mistakes?
You bet you did.
You broke the first two rules of card counting.
You committed your whole bankroll on your first session.
What you should have done was play two or three sessions for minimum bets until you were comfortable with playing in a casino.
The second rule you broke was playing for 6 hours.
Even seasoned pros play no more than 4 hour sessions. Two hours is even better.
The reason for these two rules is, #1 you should be totally comfortablewith the betting and casino atmosphere before committing your entire bankroll and #2, the longer you play the more tired you will get and the more mistakes you will make. So keep your sessions short.
The next day you go back and lose again. A little more this time. This goes on for the entire time you're there. Five days of Hell. By the time you leave and get on the plane you have lost 3/4 of your bankroll. You're thinking bad thoughts all the way home.
You get home and announce to your friends that card counting doesn't work and you are quitting. It happens every day. You lost confidence in the system. Even though you know it works you can't believe that you could have lost, therefore it doesn't work. All because you broke the first two rules of card counting.
The fact is that had you played with less money for a couple of sessions you wouldn't have lost so much. But, the biggest problem was that you played too long. Had you played 2 hours instead of 6 hours you would have won 4 out of 5 sessions(a guess). You got tired and made mistakes in the second half of the sessions which turned you into a loser.
Had you followed the rules, your bankroll and your ego would still be intact and you would be ready to continue your counting career knowing that counting works and that you are playing correctly.
A final word. Expect to lose some sessions. Play by ALL the rules, not just the ones you like. Smarter people than you or I made the rules and they work!
If you're interested in learning basic strategy and card counting, http://www.learn-winning-blackjack.com is a great place to learn. The lessons are free and they're easy to learn. There are basic strategy charts and links to other sites with great information.
Ed Irion has been a professional Blackjack player for 31 years. He has made millions of dollars playing Blackjack in casinos all over the world. He still plies his trade in the casinos today using many aliases.
