for six months. Now this is overkill for the average player. You do not need to go this far, unless you want to eke out every cent. However, it illustrates that pitch and shoe games really are different.

The third aspect is playing variations. Different rules call for different playing decisions.

A fourth aspect is speed. The speed of a table depends on the speed of the dealer, the speed of the players, and the number of players. Speed can be an overlooked aspect. However, it is actually very important. First, if you have an advantage, the more hands you play, the more you can win. As importantly, the more hands you play in your lifetime, the more likely it is that your results will match theoretical results. This is the law of large numbers. If you are playing with the edge against you (not counting cards and not using any other advantage technique), you are hoping for good luck to beat the house edge. If you are a card counter, you are hoping you will not have any bad luck. Because with no luck either way, you are a winner. The more hands you play, the less “luck” (known as variance in math) has a part in the results.

My mistake was to spend too little time paying attention to the differences between tables. It was all Blackjack to me.

Playing bad counts – The major function of card counting is identifying opportunities. The count tells you when the odds are in your favor and when they are against you. When the advantage turns substantially against you, you have no business remaining at the table. Back-counting and Wonging refer to the formalized practices of entering or leaving a table depending on the current advantage. Now at the time of my first trip, I don’t believe there was any discussion of Wonging in the available books. And waiting for a high enough advantage before entering a table is not really necessary unless the conditions are poor. However, back-counting is rather obvious. I often would wait for good conditions before sitting. But when the count drops significantly, that is, the remaining cards heavily favor the house, you need to get away from the table. My mistake was to play through the bad times too often.

Playing exhausted – After you have been playing for many months, card counting becomes second nature. In fact, it is hard not to count. You count license plates or any other numbers that you see. It is hard to play Poker without seeing Blackjack hands and counts. However, when you are new to card counting, it can be

 © 2009 Norman Wattenberger