Blackjack Schools

hi Michael, what are your views on blackjack training schools such as the blackjack apprenticeship boot camp? Is it worth paying 500 bucks (+ expenses) for this type of tuition or would I become just as good a player after a period of disciplined home study and practice?

There is nothing they can teach you that you can't learn online or via books. Remember... Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach. :)


ZCore13

I know you asked Michael but my two cents is it depends on you unless you’re asking if they are legitimate experts. You can definitely learn card counting on your own but are you the type to learn things well on your own? Either way they will give you real world tips, tricks and hardcore practice that will increase your EV so the short answer is it will pay for itself if you absorb what they teach you and increase your EV over what you would have made on your own. They will likely teach you things you can’t learn on the internet and point out any costly mistakes you’re making and don’t realize. I personally learned on my own but I was also the type to not pay attention in school and learn things on my own (still got good grades). CC is not easy, it requires extreme discipline (especially emotional), and it takes many many hours of play to see results. I’ll say this...if you don’t have at least a few hundred hours (at the tables) a year to play and a decent sized bankroll I wouldn’t do the boot camp right now but it all depends on your situation.

Quote: 10splitter

... would I become just as good a player after a period of disciplined home study and practice?

Yes.

Do you split 10's at the $250 table max? If so, you can buy the training materials.

If you are willing to commit a couple hundred hours you can learn on your own at home.

If you don't have the ability and self-discipline needed to teach yourself, using the resources available via amazon and on the internet for free, the chances of you learning in a weeklong school are not very high.

Quote: 10splitter

hi Michael, what are your views on blackjack training schools such as the blackjack apprenticeship boot camp? Is it worth paying 500 bucks (+ expenses) for this type of tuition or would I become just as good a player after a period of disciplined home study and practice?

I think that is probably a good program, but I don't recommend card counting in general. Even if you do want to learn it, you can easily teach yourself out of a book. I recommend you learn the basics, in particular the plus-minus count, and see how it works for you. If you want to go beyond that, then I would consider BA.

Michael, I’m curious...why don’t you recommend card counting in general? Back offs and variance?

Quote: camz1969

Michael, I’m curious...why don’t you recommend card counting in general? Back offs and variance?

That's certainly a big part of it. Also, the advantage is too small. I think there are stronger and easier forms of advantage play out there.

Quote: Wizard

I think there are stronger and easier forms of advantage play out there.

Please elaborate

Quote: 10splitter

hi Michael, what are your views on blackjack training schools such as the blackjack apprenticeship boot camp? Is it worth paying 500 bucks (+ expenses) for this type of tuition or would I become just as good a player after a period of disciplined home study and practice?

We would need more information to be able to give you a good answer.

Do you plan on counting cards 'for a living'?
Is $500 a lot of money for you, or is it just an expensive dinner for two?
How many hours a year will you be playing BJ after learning/perfecting your skills?
What opportunities exist where you will be able to play?
If you learned the techniques but never actually used them would that be a success or failure?
What bankroll would you be willing to lose once you start playing?
Etc?

Having looked into the situation a little more I have discovered that the $500 is an annual membership fee. It looks like the cost of the training starts at $3000 and goes to $5000. For those reasons alone I will not be taking part. Gee $8500 could be a bankroll. No, I will be following the home study route; if I decide to go ahead with it at all, that is. Thanks for your interest soopoo.

I haven't taken any formal training, but with everything else I have tried, there's no substitute for putting your own equity - financial or otherwise - into the mix.

I tried playing the market "on paper", tracking hypothetical trades and charting profit and loss with a phantom bankroll. I did pretty well. Then I went at it for real, with real money, courtesy of a discount broker, on the real exchanges. Knowing that it was actual cash effected my decision-making - too timid sometimes, going full tilt other times. I lost a lot when it really mattered.

Same way with blackjack. I spent countless hours drilling, practicing, studying. Flash cards. Simulators. Church-run casino nights playing for nickel and dimes - REAL nickles and REAL dimes. Again, a good experience. I came out ahead, making as much as $10 or $20 a night.

My first trip to Atlantic City in 1978 cost me well over $1000 dollars in one weekend.

There is no better training than real-time, front-line experience. Sooner or later, you will acquire that experience. There is no way to avoid it.

You can learn the rules on your own, spend as much time as you need getting competent, and be as ready as you can be to walk into a casino.

But no classroom, no instructor, no video, no coach, will provide you with what you will need more than anything else. At any price.