Anyone as addicted to gambling as I am? I gamble a lot. With my friends I play craps, blackjack, poker games, darts, sports, video games, pool. Actually we bet on just about anything, we've even made bets on 'heads or tails' we bet on stupid shit too, we're all so compulsive. Its fun though.

As far as casino gambling, I only play blackjack. and I will admit I pretty good a counting cards (its just a myth that counting cards is impossible). I feel that blackjack + counting cards is the ONLY way to lose all your money at casinos, and even have a pretty good edge if your good enough. I can go into this alot deeper if you want, card counting is a pretty big hobbie of mine, I practice all the time, perfecting it. I'm no where NEAR a pro, but I aint bad at all. Of couse, once I prefect my card counting skills, I still need to perfect hiding it from the pit-boses! I know a lot of tricks for that too.
I'm only 20 years old, and I can't legally gamble where I live until I'm 21. BUT, my friends and I have taken numerous roadtrips to minniapolis (you can gamble at 18 there), and play there.

damn, those where some crazy road trips too. The first time I went up there, we all brought a bunch of pot, and when we got to the hotel we were blazed, and the clerk also so we all had A LOT of money. Well, she ended up calling the cops, and some feds busted in. because we were out-of-towners with a lot of money and smelt like pot. He only found a small sack of weed my friend had and just wrote him up a ticket (he relized we were just there to gamble), THEN, on the way home we got pulled over, and we ALL threw out everything we had out the window, EXECPT for another one of my friends and fucking up his shit in the trunk! what a dumbass, and this was in iowa (a no-tolorance state) he basically got fucked up the ass.

Now, the second time I went I had a fucking blast. I walkin the the casino the first night with only $30 bucks, and walked with $435! But, other than that we had REALLY BAD luck, first off we went in the DEAD of winter. when we first got there, the next morning the car wouldn't start (its still up there, btw), and we had to use taxis the whole weekend. So we had to call some friends up from missouri to come pick us up, on the way back we got into an accident because we were driving on pure ice. also, (this is BAD luck), my friend lost ALL his money, lost his CAR, lost his coat, gloves, and hat. THEN, when we dropped him off at home... two hours later he was arrested for selling drugs to an undercover cop 2 YEARS AGO!, shit that was a shitty weekend for him.

anyways.. those are my gambling stories.. (sorry for the rambling)

Leo

a typo I missed:

counting cards is the ONLY way (NOT) to lose all your money

Explain card counting for the benefit of the ignorant, eh? :P

Ok, there are dozens of techniques. Some more complicated than others, but its best to learn an easy technique PERFECTLY than attempting to learn a hard one. a few errors, even with multiple decks, will screw up the whole count.

((card-counting logic: A gumball machine with an equal # of blue gumballs as red gumballs. If you take out a red one, your chances are greater to get a blue one next))

Now, BEFORE you even ATTEMPT to learn how to count cards you must learn the basic stategy to blackjack, Which you must memorize perfectly.

The "HighLow" counting system is the easiest of most popular....

2,3,4,5,6 are counted as "+1"
7,8,9 are counted as "0"
10, A are counted as "-1"

when the dealer is dealing out the cards, you must count every card that is delt. Including the burn card, the dealer's cards, other player's cards, and every card drawn. You count the cards based on the above values.

((example: if a "3, 10, 5, A, 7, 2, 10, A" is delt, then your running count is (-1)))

Now, to get the TRUE count, you must DIVIDE the running count by the amount of decks left.

((example: if your running count is (+6) and there is 3 decks left, then your TRUE COUNT is (+2).

You can use the true count for placing your bets and/or changing your strategy.

Here is the stategy I use to placing my bets (based on the count):
I use a 6-unit spread (meaning my largest bet is 6 times my lowest)
When the truecount is negitive at all I bet 1 unit
When the truecount is at 0 I bet 2 units
When the truecount is at 1 I bet 4 units
when the truecount is at 3 I bet 6 units

note: There are countless other betting strategies out there. As far as playing stategies based on the count, I havn't mastered that yet.. but from what I've heard that it doesn't make a big impact on your winning to even do this... you make your money with betting spreads.

although I do follow a few guidelines:
I take insurance only if the count is more than +1
I wont doubledown on an 11 -> 7,8,9,10,A when there is a real low count
I'll DD with an 8 -> dealers 4,5,6 if there is a high count.

Now, once you learn that.. the best way to REALLY learn is to take a deck (or two), and deal out the cards and count them as fast as you can. at the end of the deck you count should be "0". Once you've mastered that, deal out two cards at a time and keep a running count, then do 3 cards at a time, and finally 4 cards at a time. You should be able to go through a whole deck, counting 4 cards at a time in under 3 secs.

Now, once you've mastered that.. THEN its time to start practicing with a computer blackjack simulater - sage blackjack is a good freeware game, and with the reg. ver. it'll actually keep the count for you to practice with.

Now, once your able to make "virtual money" consistantly on the computer. THEN you can attempt to play at a real casino.

---------------------

I hope this was informative for you all, and good luck beating the casinos!!!!!!! There is plently of websites and books you can buy if your REALLY interested. I can probibly ask any other questions you all have.

Remember, the only reason cardcounting still works, is because of ALL THE STUPID people who throw away there money in the blackjack tables. If everyone counted cards, casinos wouldn't offer blackjack

so, I have to say thankyou to all the morons :)

Leo

Lotteries are a tax on people who can't do simple arithmatic like calculating odds.

I classify most other forms of organized gambling in the same heap 8)

uh leo, are you a mathmetician? cause i have no idea what you're talking about. :) anyways, i reallyed like that movie rounders. :)

sigh. i ment to say "i really liked that movie rounders." heh.

No, I'm not a mathmetician at all. You just need to have a basic understanding of the game to understand what I'm talking about.

what were you confused about?

Leo

Yea.. I heard a brief description of that basic card counting technique somewhere else before, and was surprised at how simple it was. Still, I don't feel like spending that much time learning and practicing.

I'd much rather invest money in the stock market than waste it on gambling. There's more reality to it, more opportunities to actually make money, and it can be just about as exciting.

yeah, its really just a hobbie for me -- a hobbie I can make a little money with. I just want to be able to go to the casinos, get drunk, have a good time, and walk away with more money than i came in with.

Leo