Farming

[Mad Dog]

I hate doing table selection. It's boring, and I hate doing it. I have always wanted to find a way to create a player bias instead of look for one. I have been experimenting with doing this and I think I'm on to something.

I don't mind investing some money to set up a table for take down. I look for a table with a low minimum bet and buy in for 12 units at that minimum level. I play dealer strategy from third base. During this time, I am not trying to win. I am conditioning the cards to produce a playable game.

I choose tables that have a low number of players, and play at a time when it is unlikely that the casino will be able to control player number.

I play dealer strategy for a good long while, and study the shoe at the same time. When I see that the dealer break ratio is well above normal, I buy in for 12 units at my normal unit size, and just play NBJ 1-4-6 with aggressive raising of stakes. If I see the dealer break ratio get low, I suspend my play, and flat bet table minimum, playing dealer strategy until the cards are behaving themselves again. Also, if I see an entire round of two-ten pushes, I immediately retreat to dealer strategy at the table minimum.

If you're lazy about table selection, you need something with which to replace it. I replace it with 12 table minimum units, and some aggressive hitting.

There's nothing like a good blackjack game. I'm willing to invest a little cash to create one by "plowing the field".

[Keith Smith]

We used to do this on AC in the early 90's but had a lot of success putting the dealer strategy player in the middle of the table. The reason being is that the third based players hand is more like the dealer than any other position so it tended to move the bias to the middle of the table.

[Mad Dog]

Well I must say, it's a great thing to do! I think it should be front and center in our training. Good tables are hard to find, but they may be easy to make with a little cash and a low player number.

[Keith Smith]

Better yet is play with a team, a sacrifice player at third, the heavy hitter on first.

The sacrafice player on third sole job is to feed the dealer tens when he see an identifiable clump of tens. In addition, his job is to hit as much as possible when he is in a clump of lows. It can get draw an awful lot of heat though when you split 10s and hit 19 etc to pull lows.

An added twist per your suggestion was have him play dealer startegy rather than basic strategy when the cards are deemed random to affect the card flow bias.

[Mad Dog]

I have had many conversations with pit bosses about winning, getting barred etc. The one thing they always say is "As long as you're not playing with a team."

I'm a lone wolf when it comes to blackjack. Here's my top ten reasons:

1. Teams are stupid.

2. Casinos will bar you if you play on a team.

3. Stupid team members don't do their job, fear losing etc.

4. Team play is collusion and is illegal in some places.

5. Stupid team members skim cash.

6. Stupid team members have lives.

7. Stupid team members can't go RIGHT NOW to the casino.

8. Teams require management and overhead.

9. Working for a team is like working for a boss.

10. Per capita one well trained man can do better than any team over the long haul.

[Keith Smith]

Well I guess me & Ellis are stupid then thats all we ever did in the 90's is play together. At the Taj, Clardige, Central City , Foxwoods, Vegas. Hell I used to throw my chips to him and vis versa. I remeber throwing Harvey black chips when he played first base and Ellis was at third and I was in the middle. I guess we were stupid then

hahahah

K

[Mad Dog]

I played on a team with Ed Goldstein and a couple of other guys for about an hour at the Mirage in 1993. I was a sac player at third. I did anything and everything I could do to get a ten to appear before the dealer, including splitting 10s hitting 19 etc. Afterwards Goldstein said "The moves were wrong." So he and I disagreed as to what the sac player was supposed to do. Goldstein was stupid about team play. We made money, but no more that we could have made individually, and then felt stupid sneaking around and dividing up the money. We all said "teams suck" and went our separate ways. That was the last time I saw any of those guys.

Blackjack teams suck. They are impossible to organize, and keep together. It's like herding cats.

Why play on a team when you can kick ass all on your own?

[Mad Dog]

Also, when you're playing on a team, you're playing with other people's money. That sucks hard for the guy who's making the tough hit/stand decisions with the big bets. Playing with other people's money is stupid.

[Keith Smith]

.

Ok you dont like team play. I dont think you're stupid though for not liking it.

[Mad Dog]

"None of us are as stupid as all of us."

[Mad Dog]

Regarding farming, the last time I used it I started out with a schlocky table and produced a productive type 1 game. It was beautiful.

If you have never played a type 1 game using 1-4-6 then you don't know what you're missing.

It is a myth that type 1 games don't exist anymore. They do. You can find them using table selection, or make them using farming techniques.

[Mad Dog]

I recently tried farming in a game that had a severe cycle bias wherein I tried a new strategy for ten clumps. I split my tens. Four tens in a row. I was able to get a low card on most of them. This helps create the HI-LO-HI-LO pattern that helps the dealer break. It dilutes the tens clump and lengthens it as well. It must have seemed like I was trying to lose, but I played even.