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Article: Team Play Blackjack Seminar


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$799 for this?

That's It?

I'm all in. I will sign up at once.

And also a PM from Kachatz1

Good, and thanks.

I don't play much Blackjack, though I am always open to new tricks!

If it can be sone with just SINGLE OTHER PLAYER AS A "TEAM", WITH SIMILAR RESULTS to a 4-5 man group, I am all in!

Does it have relevance to Bac?

Always looking for a chance to go to Vegas...

In the Bahamas (wish I could do it there again) we played with both 4 and 5 man teams and on one occassion, a 3 man team. I say "man" but we had a lot of married couples there. I didn't notice any significant difference in team performance. All teams won regardless of the size of the team.

With a 4 man team, it might be a little easier to keep strays from getting in your game but this didn't turn out to be the problem I thought it might be. Strays didn't seem to make any difference and they usually didn't stay long because our plays were so peculiar.

Yes, two people can be a team. Keith and I, and John Laita and I have done this many times. It might be slightly better if both partners played two hands but we seldom bothered with this. A few casinos have a rule that if you play multiple hands, you must bet the same on both, but I'll show you how to get around that very easily and abide by all casino rules. But if you plan to play by yourself you need to avoid the few casinos that have that rule, if any still do.

We've done this with both machine and hand shuffled cards. In fact at my table in the Bahamas the pit boss told the dealer to stop shuffling altogether. But that just made it worse for them! We litterally killed that table.

Its just one of those common sense things I designed that ended up working even better in actual casino games than it did in theory. It functions on the long established principle that low cards are dealer favorable and high cards are player favorable.

There is no thinking involved. All your bets and plays are automatic. You already know what you are going to do before you even get your cards. I could teach 4 baboons ..... And there isn't any casino counter measure that can do anything but help you.

Again, the hardest part is to keep from laughing but you must to avoid alerting the casino that something is amis. Everyone knows their role before the game so we avoid discussing plays at the table to avoid any possibility of collusion. The fact is, no discussion is necessary.

This is an extremely fun thing to do and requires no thinking so the more you party at the table, the better your cover. You might want to avoid picking on the same shift at the same casino every time.

No, I don't see any way this can be relevant to Bac. Hell, it's not even very relevant to true BJ. It's in a class by itself.

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And also a PM from Daytrader:

Hello, Ellis, Keith,

For the Aug 25th seminar in Vegas for the team BJ:

1. What is the cap/max # of attendees to be considered? How many enlisted thus far?

2. Will there be playing sessions, debrief sessions, etc., after the seminar - such that attendees can execute and debrief in real time? And then seek constructive commentary from you?

3. In the team BJ approach - without revealing "trade secrets" - how many team members needed per table? What were bankroll requirements for each and for total team per table?

I will plan to be there - look forward to meeting you both in person and always enjoy learning more!

Thank you.

Daytrader

If you don't mind Daytrader, I don't see anything about your questions that need to be confidential but thanks for the thought. Others might be wondering the same sort of things.

We can accommodate 80 attendees in two shifts. Recognize that BJ is far more popular than BAC so we have access to more BJ players than Bac. It's too early to get a read but we have had as many as 500 attendees for BJ seminars in the past. But in this economy I doubt we will even get 80. I'd be happy with 40.

Normally, I always do a casino demonstration after a seminar but at the last PA seminar I was physically unable so I don't want to make promises. But they do have tables right there at the Dealer school so I think we can set up a demo right there.

A team doesn't need a big starting bankroll. In the Bahames all the players played for 5$ units while the single base player played at $25 the first night. After that the Base players upgraded to $100 units while the rest stayed at $5. The biggest drawdown any player had was $90 but, of course, he was reimbursed before the profit diffy up. After the first game everybody was playing on winnings from there on out. The other casino had a $10 min. That was no problem.

The occassion frequently comes up where even a min bet player is consistently winning, especially the 3rd base player. So by the second night we adjusted for that by simply saying if your position is consistently winning, raise your unit. That worked fine and we did even better the 2nd night. But out of 48 players, the biggest drawdown for an individual player was $90. We don't need huge bank rolls for this. We can get away with less than normal.

BTW, in the Bahamas we only spent about 4 hours a night playing. The rest of the time we were in or at the ocean.

Yes, we can probably again arrange a breakfast debriefing. In the Bahamas the only question that came up was what about the winners that were only playing nickels. We took care of that.

I can't impress on you enough how ridiculosly simple this whole thing really is. That is what tends to bring on uncontrolled laughter. But try to act serious.

I think I already addressed your other questions.

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Hi, Ellis,

Wow! Thank you for the detailed report. Your unique team play approach seminar will definitely be worth study and attendance.

I look forward to it.

Regards,

Daytrader77459

Guys, it already looks like I totally underestimated the popularity of learning this simple BJ parlor trick. It looks like we already need two seminar shifts and maybe more. But whatever it takes, no one will leave that seminar W/O knowing exactly how to do this, even if it means Sunday sessions.

That shouldn't have surprised me. Consider this: Even if you have never played BJ, attendees can say to their friends, look guys I know a way we can play as a team and beat the casino. Let's go to Vegas. Pick your own team mates. You can teach them how to do this parlor trick before you ever leave for Vegas or wherever. Now, your friends can make money too! That is the whole idea of this.

Not only will we allow you to do this, we ASSUME that is exactly what you will do.

But I'd like to see our Bac players there too. Look, if you can win money from a casino, what do you care what kind of table it was? And there are a lot more BJ tables than Bac if you live in the U.S. NOR works on some Bac tables but not all. This parlor trick works on ANY BJ table and you don't even have to know how to play BJ. It's a chance of a lifetime.

BTW, I already figured out the name for the manual: The BJ Team Play Parlor Trick. But don't expect a lot of pages - it simply won't take many.

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Hi Ellis,

When will the BJ Team Play manual be ready? Can paid attendees get manual earlier than Aug 25th so we can study it? Try it? And develop good play execution questions which may be v helpful for seminar attendees? Thx.

Daytrader77459

That is a good idea! I'll certainly try.

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I was there in The Bahamas for the Team Play event! That was a lot of fun! First day my team made a couple of mistakes but then we got everyone working together. It works so smooth and watching the goofy look on the pit boss, that's fun! Now you have the power! You're not this little player all alone. It gives you power when you get this working together. Team Play is teamwork!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've registered and I'd also LOVE to get the manual early if possible. Many thanks for making this available!

One question, though. Do you have any concerns that this will become too widespread. The potential for bankroll growth with this method is nothing short of amazing.

You can have peace or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once. Robert Heinlein

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I've registered and I'd also LOVE to get the manual early if possible. Many thanks for making this available!

One question, though. Do you have any concerns that this will become too widespread. The potential for bankroll growth with this method is nothing short of amazing.

Hi quark! Daydrader is helping me try to get the manual out early but I still can't make any promises.

You know, all the way back when I wrote NBJ I was concerned too many people learning it might ruin the game. But the fact is we are only an insignificant drop in the bucket next to the millions of BJ players world wide. NO worries.

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Mr. Davis, I would like to attend the team BJ seminar but that week I can not make it. Will you guys have another seminar in the future?

For health reasons this is likely my last seminar but as I have mentioned we will have a Team Play Manual and On line training program right here at BTC.

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What method you teach at these seminars?

0 proximity and NB or WC or Precision Blackjack

thanks

The upcoming Aug seminar is Team Play BJ. I have taught all of them in seminars many times plus Team Play once before but this is very likely my last seminar.

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Very good, and thanks. I will certainly understand if it's not possible to release it early.

With regard to burning out a method, one thing friends and I have observed over the years is many people learn winning methodologies, but for some unknown reason they decide they need to "personalize" them. Soon after, we'll hear them say, "That method doesn't work, I tried it." This often comes after a method experiences some losses, especially if they're bunched together. To play any method successfully, one MUST be able to accept it is unlikely you'll win every single session you ever play.

Edited by quark711

You can have peace or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once. Robert Heinlein

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Very good, and thanks.

One thing friends and I have observed over the years is many people learn winning methodologies, but for some unknown reason they decide they need to "personalize" them. Soon after, we'll hear them say, "That method doesn't work, I tried it."

You have some very observant friends! This is very common. I guess it is human pride that makes them do such things. I teach the way I play because I know from table experience that is the best way to play out of many ways tried. But once you "personalize" it, you will often ruin it. But will they blame themselves? Of course not. It is easier to blame me.

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My edits weren't picked up in your quote bubble - you're fast - LOL! Yep - it's always easier to place the blame for failure elsewhere. The upside is as a result there are more opportunities for the rest of us.

You can have peace or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once. Robert Heinlein

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Not sure if these questions have been answered yet, but I didn't find the answers.

Can this team play be used at indian casino bj games in San Diego? Do we need to look for a specific # of decks or a specific casino? Thanks.

Good questions for a Johnny come lately: Ha, I'm sure this approach does not care about the Nationality of the casino owners.

We have 768 hours of experience playing 6 deck hand shuffled. So that game type we can definitely vouch for. Also those two casinos tried every shuffle type they could think of including omitting the shuffle altogether. Nothing could save them.

We really don't know if any of our advantage was derived from repetitive play of the same cards so I don't think shuffle machines would make much difference. I also don't see where the number of decks would make much difference, if any. But we are sure about 6 deck and that is the most common BJ game.

We started our play about 8pm each night so we were playing clumped cards. Our play maintains clumping. So we can vouch for clumped cards. So playing brand new cards in the morning you might want to stay at table min for a couple of shoes because we can't vouch for brand new cards. This might be over cautious but, just in case.

Likewise we can't vouch for continuous shuffle machines so I would avoid those for now, again, just in case.

Team Bankroll, which you asked about in your PM, is minimal because most of your team will be flat betting at table min. But it's a good idea to stick to $5 and $10 tables, like we did.

I'm sure we will learn more about your questions as time goes on and teams report in. That's one of the benefits of this forum.

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I must say that the Introduction to Team Play Manual was very nice reading. Have a question, you mentioned that every player at the table have to know how to "hurt" the dealer. Does that mean If we are just two players, we can't sit down at a half full table table with players we don't know?

We have to sit down at an empty table and play just the two of us?

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I must say that the Introduction to Team Play Manual was very nice reading. Have a question, you mentioned that every player at the table have to know how to "hurt" the dealer. Does that mean If we are just two players, we can't sit down at a half full table table with players we don't know?

We have to sit down at an empty table and play just the two of us?

Hi Fred! It is certainly best for the team to sit to an emty table. If it isn't new cards in the morning, the fact that it is empty nearly always means it is clumped which is what we want. You definitely want to fill 1st and 3rd (the first dealt by the dealer and the last) so if those seats are empty, by all means.

In fact the manual will cover exactly the situation you bring up under Partners Play. That is played from 1st and 3rd and I think the next best thing to full team play. Here, the fewer players the better but two floor players is OK. Also Partners Play is far less noticable by the casino. We also have far more experience with Partners Play since several of us have been doing it for 20 years.

This brings up the question of what happens if a floor player takes one of the empty seats left by the team. I was very concerned about this before we actually tried Team Play. But it turned out in reality not to be a problem at all.

"every player at the table must know how to hurt the dealer" Well no, you are taking this the wrong way. Except for the team leader all the team players hit or stand based on one very obvious key. That is ALL they have to know. Therefore your team can have members who have never played BJ before. Most of our 48 Team players in the Bahamas had never played before. Ha, we had to explain to them afterward that it is not usually that easy to win when you are playing alone.

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In keeping with our mission statement at the beginning of the beatthecasino.com site, the purpose of these ongoing clinics is not only for players to fully understand the five Twister Series Systems but to comprehend and appreciate the overall Twister approach. It is not only a forum to get your every question answered thoroughly, but a commitment devoted to creating the best Baccarat players in the world in open casino floor play, private high stakes room play and million dollar tournament play. Devoted students can and will become winning players just as many Twister players already have.

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what is the minimal and maximum amount of people for a Team Play? min (2 players or 3 players) and max 6 players?

Good question as usual Danicito.

The minimum is 1 playing multiple hands.

Partners play will also be covered in your manual.

The maximum is 7

But the optimum is 4 or 5.

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