Techniques for Mastering True Count Conversion

To beat the casino you must have a perfect game, and part of that perfect game is mastering the true count conversion. What is the true count and how do you find it? Here are some tips so you can start training at home.

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[johnathangrey]

You off by 3 cards. How dare you? Just kidding I'd say that's closer then most magic people try. Lol.

[chriscarlone]

I like to wait for the table to go through a few hands before I start glancing over at the discard tray.

I also don't use the discard tray alone to gauge the decks remaining. I also estimate how many decks are left to be dealt in the shoe by glancing at the shoe itself, then compare my estimations between the discard tray and the shoe to see if I'm right. That has helped me estimate decks remaining by half decks in many instances.

[SuperEuclidean]

I find that multiplication is easier to do in my head, so, i just memorize the fractions 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/7, and 1/8 as a percent and multiply the running count by that percent. Also has the added benefit of a little more precision in the true count.

[MondoLeStraka]

One thing I do is, say it's hard to divide by a fractional amount of decks. What you can do is divide by what the TC might be then, divide that into the RC. Does it appear that the number of decks left is that number? If not then adjust the TC to get the number of decks left.

[dannythemedic]

OMG you gotta really love blackjack to go through all this effort and training to play it!

[debsisaacs]

Don't forget to point out it matters which type of cards you have at home - there are cheaper thinner cards and there are professional.. doesn't help to try with the thin ones. Also changes if you're using an online casino - to gauge their specific decks.

[williamgonzalez]

Your book is amazing! I never really read books but I'm on the last few chapters of yours!

[eyalkogman]

hey what abut machine that shafel the cards? today all casino use machine the deales just pot the card in the machine. so i can i know want the true count? i mean the deller dont witing until he finish all 6 dek, he just the take one deck or some cards he have and pot it in the machine.

[benjaminstottlemyre]

Colin Jones, in a 6 deck game and tou know they cut off a deck before play do you take that into consideration or always go by the discard tray?

[JC-nysu]

Paid for the Blackjack Apprenticeship Course, & Its already paid for itself plus I've made $2300 on top of that, in 4 weeks lol. And Im still in "practice Mode"

[bobsmith-mvkl]

Hey colin, I was wondering if you just use whole numbers when counting decks or do you divide it further. Lets say its a 6 deck game, running count is +9, and you estimate that there is 2 1/2 decks in discard. Would you divide 9 by 4 or 3.5. If you just use whole numbers are you concerned about the decimal point? So in my example if you divided by 4, would you just say the true count is 2 or 2.25.

[neatstuff]

Would it make sense to bet instead of one unit for each true count 2 units. So for a true count of 3 you would bet instead of 3 bet 6.

[CBRRR]

Do they need to make the discard tray visible to the player ?

[nikolange]

In the casino I go to, a maximum of one deck is used and then added back to the other decks. Does that mean in the end that card counting doesn't work there?

[cameronlynch]

What do you do when you have 2.7 decks left or something?

[jacoblarsen]

How do you feel about unbalanced counts Arnold Snyder's red seven with Tru edge conversion? Starting at -12 for 6 deck or 0 counting to 12 and when you hit 12 it would be 0 with a .5% advantage. When the running count goes above zero divide by 2x the number of decks to get the Tru edge + the .5% at the pivot point and making bets off your advantage 1%2%3% and Max bet at 4% with the deviations he recommends similar to the illustrious 18. This is what I'm comfortable and fast with is there any reason to switch? Also great videos your doing a service to us all

[andrebeetge]

what about the cards in the shoe behind the dis card, some cut shoe deep ?

[NesteaGOk]

Hey Colin! Thank for the tips. Just had one question. Well a couple. How does deck penetration affect the deck remaining? So if penetration is 70% would you start dividing by 1.4 decks? Or at 2? Since you're not gonna see 30% of those cards I thought you would start at 1.4. You're the expert though and I love to hear your input.

[jacobkasim]

Are these prices for the apprentice program in US dollars

[allieboy]

But when do you do the true count conversion. After how many decks?