fundamental principle of Calculus. Doesn’t mean she could solve differential equations. But that’s another story.) Of course, I had practiced dealing cards on a pool table and used flashcards to help test my memory. But this is a very slow method of learning. Moreover, it is simply not possible to master card counting in one week.

Bob Dylan sang, “I’ll know my song well before I start singing.” Buffy Saint-Marie sang, “And he knows what he knows like the trees do.” When a shortstop catches a grounder with a runner at first, he does not stop and think what to do. He reacts instantly. The time for thinking is before the game. You must practice until everything you do during the game is an instant reaction. Okay, enough mixing of metaphors.

In addition to playing correctly, practice can help you avoid barrings. It does not take that much practice to count the cards as quickly as they are dealt. But you need to be faster than the dealer and to count automatically without thinking. This gives your eyes a chance to look elsewhere so you are not staring intently at the cards. It also gives your mind time to engage in conversation with other players, pit personnel, cocktail waitresses, etc. A player who has just learned how to count may as well write “counter” on his forehead.

Today software exists to speed the learning process and test your progress.

Ignoring rules/penetration/decks – There are several aspects to this mistake. Each Blackjack table has its own set of rules: How the dealer plays his hand, what you are allowed to do, how deeply the dealer deals before reshuffling and how many decks are used. The first aspect is game selection. You should not even sit at some tables, because either the rules are poor or the dealer does not use enough cards before shuffling or both. The latter, penetration, is one of the most important characteristics of card counting. This will be discussed in detail in later chapters. Poor rules and/or penetration were less of a problem in the early days.

The second aspect is betting. You bet substantially differently in single-deck, double-deck and shoe games. Most players stick either to pitch games (single- and double-deck) or shoe games (four or more decks.) George C., one of the most experienced of Blackjack players, used to use one strategy for pitch games and another for shoes. He would play pitch games for six months and then shoes

 © 2009 Norman Wattenberger