Nightshifter

I'm a dynamic player, i just go with the flow unless i absolutely cannot beat the cards, (the fate element i call it)... If the cards are behaving, the game has integrity and performs well using the High Opt II, then that's what i use. I'm careful of clumping or betting into false counts (high card runs that never seem to end). Sometimes I play opposite the count because the game is so clumped, and sometimes i play the count going to the pivot point.. if it's +8 and heading towards zero, i'll bet large in anticipation of a High Cards Clump coming out. Also i use card sequencing... certain cards when near each other form biases in the game. You want your aces to be mixed in with high cards, not low .. 2's away from 10's .. 2's go better with 9's, 8's and 7's. 4's away from 8's . these make those 14 hit with 8 hands... Core Card Clumps are bad for the player but good for the dealer, well unless you hit your core card stiffs... 5,6,7,8 clumps that is. combinations of those cards form strong hands, esp. for the dealer because he'll hit until 17... most players will stay on those stiffs... I have 7 different strategies i employ, and one of them is get the hell outta of the casino, you won't beat them today It's just a bad day, cards are horrifying all over! That usually happens when the DOW is in the red I have the Blackjack Manuals from a few years ago... they did help me a lot in games that are clumped, that's for sure!

Yep, you lose that 10's advantage. Problem with 3rd on a crowded table, the clump can change by the time you sniff it out. I do better at 1st, and i always noticed that 1st base always received the better cards in a clumped game, moreso than any other position. Maybe it's just me, but i see more people winning at first these days. 3rd is good to alter the dealers hands... If you burn a card (take one for the hell of it) you shift the dealers hand to your hand.. try it .. deal yourself hands.. then burn a card, redeal the same cards and you'll see the hands shift to the right... shunn a card, you give the dealer your hand. Or what would of been your hand. This is good if you hands are very cold, so why not give the dealer your seat

First of all, i wouldn't be sitting @ 3rd base if you're clump tracking. 1st base or the one right after 1st if your best bet. 3rd base is more if you're playing a random deck game and or counting using a negative betting progression. You gotta be careful with HTR rounds. Usually the shoe repeats itself for while because of the non-random shuffle. I usually wouldn't hit on a 10,2 in an HTR round because the 2's usually flow with tens and the dealer most likely has a 2 or 3 under. But for the most part, in HTR rounds, the dealer most likely has a good hand 2 out of 3 times, so you're more opt to hit and try to catch a stray. Again it's the way the deck is going. If everyone has a stiff, especially third base and 1st, usually the dealer has a similar hand just because of the way the cards are flowing. Ellis is right about targeting your tables, don't try to win at bad tables... part of winning is developing a sense for sitting in at winning tables were the dealer is weak, getting poor hands.. can't even make a pair of Aces. There are tables in no matter what you do, you'll lose. It's almost like fate has turned against you and you're making every wrong move, or, no matter if you hit or stand, you would lose anyway. It's meant for the house to win, not you during that time, that's the spooky part of blackjack; it's almost as if the cards know what you're going to do. But in my mind, the cards don't know, but the dealer does, and who says cheating doesn't go on.. i know it does because i've seen it, and was involved in it with dealers who wanted to make tokes.

Why not ? It's gambling ! I just tell I'm trying to guess what's coming out next! That's gambling! I'm a feel player! Basic Strategy .. bahhhhh ..i lost so much money with that.. that's BS.. i'm a feel player mr. pitboss! I listen to my gutt feeling...

Because the BOX-unit "riffles" the cards only 5 or 6 times, ShuffleMaster's claim of card randomness can be easily questioned; especially when you consider (from the above-mentioned shuffle-randomness figures) that in order to be considered a "random shuffle", the machine should riffle the cards at least 7 times. Unlike ShuffleMaster I & II which use mechanical "fingers" to reasonably simulate a riffle, the Shuffle Master Box uses a series of "elevators" instead. When it comes time to shuffle, the dealer loads the stack of cards into the center elevator and pushes the red button atop the box. This closes the glass window and the shuffle procedure begins. To begin the shuffle procedure, the BOX randomly determines whether this shuffle will utilize a "tighter" intertwine (1 to 5 cards per "drop") or a "looser" intertwine (5 to 10 cards per "drop"). There is no way to externally know which kind of intertwine was selected, unless possibly, you are capable of [clump] "reading" the cards; and even then possibly not. ShuffleMaster corp. claims that the intertwine selection is COMPLETELY random and is NOT selectable by casino personnel. (As an aside: a drop of 1 to 5 cards is roughly equivalent to the dealer taking 3/4 deck picks during the shuffle process, while a drop of 5 to 10 cards is roughly equivalent to taking 1-deck picks.) Once the intertwine is selected, the SM Box lifts the center elevator as it "fires" the first half the cards down the right hand elevator shaft, followed by the other half of the cards down the left elevator shaft; effectively splitting the cards into two stacks. Next, a random number (from 5 to 60) is generated and this number of cards is fired from the right elevator into the center [stack]. This is the equivalent of the un-riffled 25% of the right-hand pick produced by ShuffleMaster I & II. Remember that ShuffleMaster corp. claims that these un-riffled clumps of cards (their term, not mine) are necessary in order to insure that the cards are random. Amazing! Non-random cards are necessary to insure that the cards are random. Huh? (As a side note, even the patent disclosure use the word "Clump" to label this step in the shuffle procedure.) Once the initial clump is created, ShuffleMaster Box alternates from left elevator to right, firing cards onto the center stack based on the intertwine selection. When both outer elevators have been emptied into the center, the entire process is repeated, using the same intertwine previously determined. The shuffle process is performed 5 or 6 times (randomly selected, independent of the loose/tight intertwine selection). Finally, the cards are reverse moved to the left elevator shaft completing the shuffle procedure. For the each subsequent shuffle, cards to be shuffled are stacked in the center elevator. To begin the shuffle procedure, the previously shuffled cards are removed from the left elevator and the [RED] start button is pressed.. This closes the glass door and the above-described procedure is invoked. Essentially, that's all there is to the ShuffleMaster Box procedure. Even BEFORE you study the cards produced by this machine, the above-mentioned description should make it rather obvious that the Shuffle Master BOX does not REALLY produce random cards.

Def. one of the negative signals to get up and leave is you're getting 12's and busting them. Then usually the dealer either has a 20 or 2 or 3 under the 10 up card and would had busted if you stood. Too many bust ahead hands isn't a good sign. Also another is 14 ! When i'm at a dealer biased table, i receive a lot of 14's, and usually can't get out of them whether i stand or hit. Yeah, everyone at the table moans and the floormen watch when I stand on 10,2 vs. 10. You know 4 is bad luck in china because it sounds like the word Death in Chinese. So 4, 14's or patterns of 4,7,4,4,7,7,4,4 are examples of some types of clumps i see. But usually 4's & 7's produce 11's, but also produce 7,7 & 4,4 which are 2 hands i really hate. You know that flight that crashed was flight 447. And i always knew that 4's and 7's together are a bad sign (according to some chinese numerology). I might be bringing superstitions into this, but it just seems weird sometimes. Why does the casino make out that 777 is a good thing ? Or is it ? Three 7s – Those with three 7s can have unfortunate lives surrounded by untrustworthy types and poor investments. Oftentimes these are interrelated. However, they’re able to withstand all of life’s blows by their strong inner life. Four 7s – A rare chart to find. Those who have four 7s are likely to encounter many difficulties in relation to their health, home and finances. I always thought 888 was the best luck Eastern point of view... maybe we should change the jackpots to 888 ? toll free ?

Hey Keith! I'm near the Hardrock Cafe in Tampa Florida. We have 3 Hardrocks with 6 & 8 Deck Shoe Blackjack. The 8 Decks use a Shuffle Master II while the 6 Deck Games are hand shuffled! Also, the Big M Casino in Fort Myers! When I play outside of Florida, i go to Biloxi and or Tunica. I love Mississippi, even though the 2 Deck games are clumped just as well, they're easier to beat. And you can use counting techniques in some of the games if they exhibit good behavior I played in Niagra Falls (Canada Side). Good 8 & 6 deck shoe games... typical AC clones I also played Blackjack in Russia. There it is hand shuffled, 6 deck game but no hole card. Now the casinos were moved out of the cities in Russia because they were run by Chechins trying to raise money to fund terrorists in Chechnya. Putin made that a law. So now the casinos are outside the cities, some quite far. I was in Rostov Russia playing at The Golden Jack (still have the players card). Nice casino! Now they're located 150 miles out of the city. I used to live in Russia. Oh there's a little casino at the Frankfurt airport in Germany... 3 blackjack tables and some slots. haha.. i played a negative progression at third base there. Very random game. That was a continuous shuffler game though. Won a few hundred Euros @ 7 in the morning then i had to catch the plane. That felt good (especially at the exchange rate for dollars at the time 1.55 to 1). In the past i played a lot in Vegas when you could still win at card counting Downtown... good old days!

I've known a few Blackjack shills who work for drinks... sit in to mess things up! If it doesn't mess it up, it makes a few of us upset... I feel for you Ellis! Problem is, the casinos don't want seminars that educate people how they can REALLY beat the casinos... I always play stupid and lose a little on purpose once in a while so they don't get wise to me. The casino by me thinks i'm a total moron and just lets me play and comps me all the time! What better life than that! I usually end up playing by myself at the table and gradually switching to a 1 - 2 - 3 progression or better and just play BS more or less (unless something gives me the signal). everyone else leaves because they're disgusted with my blackjack playing! Now you think they would sell books on how to really make money in the stock market and how to overcome all the corruption ? Again... stockmarket books are like BS books ... you know what they do ? Make us all PREDICTABLE ! If 90% of us are predictable because we're brainwashed by these idiots (well they're not idiots), then they know are next move and can devise a system to defeat us.. hence ... create non-random shoes because most people play BS ... so the casino knows what most people will do... so they devised a system to make the most of it! profits wise...

How many have ran into 10,2,10,2,10,10,10,10,2 clumps ? I hate these. How often do you break on 12's ? I break on 12's more than i break on 15 and 16 put together! Everytime i get a 10,2 and the dealer has 10 up, i don't want to hit, because most likely i'm drawing a 10. What are some thoughts on this ? When or when not to hit 12 vs. 10 or 12 vs. anything else! Ellis ?

And the CIA was never involved in making money off Narcotics Ellis, what's your opinion on dealers who can cheat you ? That is, dealing seconds from a shoe or palming, switching the hole card as he passes over his area to deal a card to third base. A buddy of mine, I could give the name and location, but i can't, showed me this. He would peak at the card as he pulled it from the shoe. Now what was interesting was, he kept the card close to the felt. As the card passed over his DOWN first card, he switched it with a flip of his hand.. i couldn't really see it at all it was so fast, but i heard it. So if his down card was a 10, and third bases first card was a 10, and he knew his down card was a 10 via peaking, as his hand passed over he switches the 2 cards, so your final hand at third is 2 10's. So he gives you a good hand. Then he finally gives himself the last card. He could help you or hurt like this. So maybe you do want to bet for the dealer Again, this casino dealt the dealer's first card down, not up. I would be suspicious of that right there. If you can't see it, you never knew what it was! After watching very closely, i saw a very very quick flash of a 4diamonds that would of been mine be replaced by a King of Hearts! wow! Another incident was when i was on a cruise, a particular dealer was very good with the cards. He showed us a few card tricks and you couldn't even tell you're being cheated. "I can give myself a blackjack with this same ace of clubs.." and he did it ... and you couldn't see what he was doing. I mean this scared me because this guy was good and worked as a dealer. And finally when i was at the Silver City Casino in Vegas during the 80's, they had this guy Bill from Missouri (name tag). As soon as i put down a 25 dollar bet, he bent his last card to my face and said... see the hole card ? I'm like what ? And i did. So i started betting for him! I won a quick 800 dollars. He also delt 2nds.. he would put the deck up so you couldn't see the top, and you could here it and see the funny action. Now the pitboss was laughing and the other player at the table had no clue. So that tells me if the dealer is in on it, and the pitboss knows about it ... forget it! Where there is money, there is corruption. I saw him do so many peaks... after every round he would look at his watch... turn the deck over and peak... that i knew about already because i can do that myself and deal seconds. I'm not that good because sometimes i make a mistake and get stuck, but if it works, you can't tell, but you could hear it. FFFFT! Sometimes it seems the dealer gets toooooooooooo many miracle hands AT THE RIGHT TIME WHEN YOU HAVE A LARGE BET OUT... it might be random.. but i've seen cheating in action, so i know (at least to myself) it goes on. All I know is this, the cards DON'T know what you're betting.......... but the dealer does...

The tweening can be set for these machines, although they claim it changes round to round. But it does promote clumping or can neutralize a deck. So you can have tight tweens or large tweens. Larger the tween, the greater the clumping.. esp. with a full table! One would argue if this can be set from the players card computer that's in front of the table.. makes you wonder.. then if that's the case, who says the eye in the sky can't do it also. They have cameras and mics on you 24-7! But if the shuffle machine fails to do what it is suppose to do, the pitboss or floorman comes over and yanks the 8 decks out and the dealer shuffles manually ... or in otherwords.. if the table was dumping or you are just winning too much, they try to break the pattern But since casinos are 100% honest , they would never do anything to manipulate the shoe now would they...

I usually play 2 or 3 hands to eat up a low card run so we can get to the high cards (or we should... depending on how long the clumps run). In a random deck, what you see is short term anyway because i don't think changing hands has ever helped me in a random deck. I know you're trying to create a winning shoe by giving the cold hand to the dealer yes it appears every shoe has its number of players ... and a even distro 3 Players + 1 Dealers makes zippers work well for the dealer. 10 5 10 5-D, 5 10 5 10 .. so now if the dealers up card is 5 (low card) and the last card was 10 in the zipper... good chance the next card is low and the dealer pats ... you probably seen this happen.. everyone stands on their stiff, with the dealer showing a low card 2-6, but the dealer pats! I've seen this numerous times too often to just be random. It's those zippers. Now if the first card is low in the deal of a zipper 5-10-5-10D, 5-10-5-10D ... dealer has a nice 20 ... so maybe it's better to keep the table odd

That's what i was thinking also after i read that. I understand the 7 to 0, but -7 to 0 would mean low cards are falling. Also, sitting at 3rd base playing random cards makes sense, i find this to be true also in these type of games. No more than 3 players at the table. I just use BS here when doing the 1-2-3 or 1-4-6 (if i get there) NP. But my question is, would you alter BS if you see a low run or high run before your hand. Let us say the deck is random, you hold 15 vs. a 4, and seen that the last 3 cards delt on the table were all low ? Assume the 4th will be low also and hit, or is this normal if the game is random ? I don't know if 3 cards is enough info for a low run ... or a high run. at least 5 lows or 4 highs would give a better indication but then again, if it's mostly random, those might be small clumps ... 3 or 4 cards long.. and change on you for the worst not the better... Ellis what is your view on this ?

Counting books are absolutely filled with mathematical flaws that anyone with any head for math can plainly see. But you don't because you want it to work. Its a scam pure and simple. But the part that pisses me off it they KNOW its a scam. Every player they have is on the wrong side of the standard deviation. If you know ANYTHING about standard deviation you know that all counters cannot be on the wrong side if counting worked at all. It doesn't! We all got scammed, including me. Once I realized that I could beat this game daily and they couldn't beat it at all, I wrote my own book to save others from the fate that befell me at their hands. I don't call that "nice". OK, so I'll be nice. He's a gentleman scammer. The casinos love him. And with very good reason.

Cliff, you are so right! I use High Opt II (when it works anyway, i usually don't bet with count, i employ card clumping methods, but the counting helps me profile the deck) and sometimes the count has been over +60 in an 8 deck shoe. That's usually the peaking period of the clumping, then after that the deck goes all neutral. It's a typical trend I encounter time & time again. And the count goes negative when all the HIGH cards are coming out ! By the way, it's an honor to chat with a true professional like you! Heh, i love how they pick up all the blackjacks first and put them in the discard tray, and then during the future, the blackjacks fall all at once, and most likely the dealer pushed your blackjack also! Again, ace ten clumps that give the dealer a blackjack also (but not all the time), just like the solid ten clumps where everyone has a 20 and you push!

Oh I agree. Not only isn't the shuffle non-random because they don't shuffle enough, but the way the shuffle in which they promote card clumping. Let's say you pick 26 & 26 cards to shuffle, but put the 26 in the upper 50 % of the other pick... the cards on the bottom are still together untouched... and if it's a clump of some kind, it goes in the pile. Now the final shuffle is to split the 8 decks, 4 on each side then pick from each side and put them all together ... well if you have clumps (that were retained from the first part) now you're increasing the clumps or creating "Zippers". So a low goes in another low, or high or neutral. But they keep doing this round after round. Then it reaches a peak (if you're counting you know what i mean ... count skyrockets rapidly and the low cards just keep coming out when you would expect high cards). Now after this peak the decks seems to go all neutral again. Of course the peak goes the other way also depending on where all the clumps are in relation to the cut. If you follow this, it happens almost everytime, and especially at crowded tables because you have longer sequences of cards that get picked up thus creating the clumps that eventually become larger clumps through the shuffling process. And casinos laugh when you confront them on this...

First of all, I was one of the early believers in the so-called "Card Clumping Myth". I can tell you now, this isn't a Myth. You can create the same affect at home with 6 or 8 decks using the same shuffle and also "chunking the cards" when you shuffle. Most of the dealers do this if you watch, esp. the dealers that are called in to cool off the table because it's dumping. I spoke with Keith many years ago about things some of you are just starting to believe. Of course the casino would never admit to such things and purposely subverts all information on creating non-random cards that eventually wipes out BS players and fundementalistic card counters. Now there is a time when BS & Card Counting Work, then there is a time when BJ101 works, then there a time in which nothing works and the option is to leave or bet min. and ride it out. You can also create your own sequences of cards by misplaying (oh did i say misplay, what's a misplay if you win...) to get certain cards together to alter the bias. This is very advanced and not easy to do, but it works if you know what you're doing. A thorough understanding of the Shuffle Master Mechanics is required, i mean THOROUGH (of all the types that are out there). Anyway, to make a long story short, when you start to do this, and the table is dumping, all of a sudden... EHHHHHHHHH! Malfunction, the shuffle master II machine doesn't work. Now this happens EVERYTIME to me when i do this, and it's funny how it's only my table. I always watch for this and i never see it happen, unless you start altering the bias. I confronted the floormen about this but they always deny it. I can make it happen everytime, and i get a kick out of it. So what does that tell you ? It tells you that casino is trying to wash a player biased shoe and maybe even take those particular cards out and put in 8 fresh new decks. But oh! They leave the bad shoe in play ... why don't they take those cards out also ? hmmmm Keith wanted me to post this for all you non-believers. Believe me, it does happen and it happens for a reason. A friend of mine (who is a pitboss) always told me he whispers "chunk the deck" to who ever is shuffling (if it's a hand shuffled game) to cool off the table. This of course happens after everyone wins some money, then everyone starts to lose, chase their money and give some of their own if not all to the casino. Basic Strategy then becomes the worst way to play... I know most of you here already know this.