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Here's where I differ from the main stream of people who teach card counting.
What they are preaching, is that when the deck becomes rich in tens, the imbalance is in favor of the player and they should now start increasing the amounts of their wagers.
As the count goes higher, the deck or shoe is now becoming richer. The bets become bigger and bigger, based on this climbing count '
That is their 'Theory' on how to play and since 'Theory' is opinion, who am I to argue with their Knowledge? After all, they are card counters, have perfected the game and believe this is the way to use that Knowledge.
They feel you should bet $5 hand after hand and then when the deck reaches the count that indicates the deck is rich in picture cards, they suggest increasing your bet to $25, or $50, or $75.
1 doesn't buy that. It's just that I feel that minimizing losses, having a proper Bankroll and managing your money on a stricter scale is a better approach. Suppose you’re sitting at a table and the count has not as yet reached the 'rich’ point.' You are told to bet $5 a hand – the minimum.
Then the count indicates a rich situation has taken hold and the shoe has a strong compliment of tens, as opposed to smaller cards.
Unfortunately, you've lost 7 of the past 10 hands and are in a kind of bad trend. How can you tell somebody who has just lost that many hands, to up his next bet to $50? 1 doesn’t buy it.
I use card counting to improve my Basic Strategy, both from knowing when the deck is rich in tens and poor in tens. I'll get into variations of the betting patterns in the, Money Management section. But I want you to know where I'm coming from, as to the use of card counting.

FIRST BASE

I'd like to put to bed a myth about card counting in general and Blackjack in particular. The player at 3rd base does not determine the outcome of the game. An upcoming chapter goes into that.
My intention is to make you aware of the right place to sit at a table if you are a counter. That spot is first base and again it comes down to a logical reason.
Let's say there are seven players at the table and the count has reached 54. Now we've got a rich count and the counter wants to take advantage of it.
If he is sitting at first base, he'll get the first card and the ninth card out of the shoe.
The player at third base gets the seventh and the 15th. By the time his hand is completed, there is the chance that the deck might turn back to neutral.
If I'm gonna go to all the trouble of becoming a card counter, I want everything working for me.
One of those things is sitting at first base and taking advantage of the richness of that deck or shoe. This is especially true in a one or two deck game, where the count can fluxuate so quickly.
Even in a six or eight deck game sit at first base. I'm not giving you options on this advice. Strictly first base!!!
Wait a minute - I'll relent and give you the option where to sit:
1)    On your dumper,
2)    On your left ear.

.. As long as it is first base ( the first SEAT at the table).
So if first base ain’t open at the table you’re charting and back counting at, don’t waste your time. Find a table where first base is open and start your charting, only where you have the chance to enter the game at that seat.
Man, I hope none of you cats look the option of sitting on your left ear. Now you can’t hear what I’m saying…

THIRD BASE

I've already touched on this. It's unbelievable the number of people who honestly think that the person siting at third base actually determines whether the whole table wins or loses.
That's a lot of hogwash. It just happens that the last move you remember is the person at third base.
There are decisions made all around the table that afect the card the dealer will eventually pull and none are less or more important than the other.
Even if there was a rotten player at third base who continually made stupid moves, in the long run his moves would have a way of evening out.
You just tend to remember the ones that cost you a hand.
I love to watch Iff Heeda at a table. After a hand is over wherein some guy makes a move that hurts the whole table, this mathematical defunct goes into his act. He starts going over each hand, one by one, and yelling "if he had stayed, she gets that card and if she had hit, you'd get that card and then you would have hit and caught that card, if only he had hit when I wanted him to...
On and on he goes, reliving each move that would have happened, if only he or she had done such and such a thing.
Of all the gobbley garbage, the lff Heeda's at a Black-jack table rank right up there with the dopiest.
Three hands later, Iff Heeda is still dying about a past hand. It never ends until he wins a hand when somebody else shoulda, or coulda or woulda done something other that he dida.
If the other players at a table bother you, do the following:

a)    Don’t pay attention to them
b)    Leave the table

Do you think you’re gonna find perfect players at another table??
Dream on!! And who the deuce are these characters who usually cry the loudest? Usually a guy who makes a bushel of mistakes himself, but doesn’t even realice it.
Stop your belly-aching or play a game where the other players don’t make decisions, like Baccarat or Roulette.


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