Playing Free BJ online with 75% pen, 6-deck simulation

Hi

I'm a recent student of Blackjack and Card Counting. I've memorized basic-strategy, and I've practised card-counting on the "BLACKJACK GURU" website, however after losing 125$ at the local casino recently, I realized I'm not comfortable betting real money just to further develop my skills and I don't have a big bankroll for this either.

Are there any free sites that'll let you play a blackjack game where there isn't any reshuffling after each hand? Preferrably, I'd love to have it be just like an optimal land-based game where the penetration is 75% of the shoe and 6-decks (not less than six, because I know most casino's don't have that where I am). If I played a realistice online game like this with a fake bankroll of (lets say) 20,000$ and I could turn it into 25,000$ in a couple months, then I'd be much more comfortable gambling with REAL money in an actual land-based game with identical rules :)

edit: Actually I think this site has a link to one with 6 decks as an option. I'm not sure what the penetration is though.

I'll tell you straight up right now. If you aren't comfortable losing $125, then don't bother with counting. This isn't 1980. You aren't going to build a roll spreading $3-$15 at a single deck game. Move on to other pursuits.

Quote: sabre

I'll tell you straight up right now. If you aren't comfortable losing $125, then don't bother with counting. This isn't 1980. You aren't going to build a roll spreading $3-$15 at a single deck game. Move on to other pursuits.

this might sound a bit harsh, but I'll totally agree with sabre. the swings in this game can be absolutely brutal. When I started out playing I started out losing 3300 after about the first 100 hours or so (betting $10 to 100). If you aren't comfortable losing 125, my guess would be that you will never be prepared for 1,000 dollar losing streaks that are guaranteed to happen (even when betting as little as humanly possible, unless you live somewhere where you can find open $5 shoe games).

With that said I do believe casino verite lets you practice for free and I have heard good things about it. Never used it myself cause there are so many casinos around me and I'm bankrolled to just practice the real thing.

Jamix: Go to www.qfit.com I believe its from to download the Casino Verite game online. Also, it gives you a variety of counting strategies that work best for your situation and style of game. The game allows you to play as though you were in a casino and you can view your results. I suggest practicing at least 10,000 hands before you plunk down another chip in a casino. After practicing about 100K hands you will begin to determine if this game is meant for your personality or not.

Regrettably, too many people believe blackjack is an easy way to make money. It is not. Patience, skill, and a healthy bankroll are vital attributes.

Careful, I believe the free demo version of CV has the deck stacked!!

If memory serves, it's missing some 5's (but I have not used it in a long time so maybe it's changed)

Playing with a stacked deck (either in your favor, OR stacked against you!) will certainly give a false sense of what real play results are like.

The full version of CV with accurate cards is, of course, well worth purchasing for anyone even half-serious about learning this game.

-DBJT

Thanks for this. I'm tempted to purchase the 90$ option. Thus far, I've justed purchased a bunch of decks and poker chips so I play at home.

100k hand = 1000 hours of play (probably 1500 hours cause I'm slow); If its that much to be profitable, I'm sure I'll move onto other pursuits :(

If the casino I go to has no "heat", I'm sure I'll try some physical strategy that helps me keep track of the count, such as "stacking chips on the table" in correspondence with the overall "count", as appose to just holding the number in my head each time. Surely this has been done successfully??

The $90 was the best blackjack investment I've made. I only play single deck. If you play multiple deck, there are some pro's out there that offer excellent advice. Kenji - a member of this forum - is very intelligent and a sound player.

The only thing I do with my chips is key track of decks played. I know the law of averages and thus have a good idea of when a strong positive deck is coming.

Quote: Jamix

If the casino I go to has no "heat", I'm sure I'll try some physical strategy that helps me keep track of the count, such as "stacking chips on the table" in correspondence with the overall "count", as appose to just holding the number in my head each time. Surely this has been done successfully??

Only do this occasionally, if there is a distraction like a cocktail waitress or a chip fill. You should, after some live experience, be able to count quickly, store the count, and carry on a casual conversation. If this seems far off, you're not ready for live play. Spend more time at home, with distractions

I have heard of people being arrested in other states doing this...under some using a device (the chips) law to count card's

If you're not totally obvious about it, I really can't see how fiddling with your chips to temporarily hold the count could actually be detected... and even IF if was "suspected" how it could be proven to the point of an arrest actually STICKING, and leading to any actual conviction for "cheating".

I think the "Plausible Deniability" barrier would just be too high to "prove" what you were doing "beyond a reasonable doubt".

If you kept all your chips kind of messy... a few different piles here and there, and only used ONE of the piles for the count-holder, and if you changed around WHICH pile that was once in a while too, maybe keeping the count only in number of RED chips but putting a few GREEN or WHITE into that pile too... keeping it non-obvious and messy but still clear to you... I think it'd be impossible for someone else to prove what you were doing, what you were thinking inside your head.

But, that said, yeah there really shouldn't be any need to do this... i.e. holding onto the count during a "down time" (or - especially - just ongoing) shouldn't be that hard, and if it IS still that hard for someone to do, they probably are really not ready for live casino play yet.

-DBJT