Professional Blackjack
- Of course he has done his share of winning at gambling games. When he was in graduate school, playing blackjack was his major source of income, and he stayed in school long enough to earn a Ph.D. He published his first book, Professional Blackjack, in 1975 while a student at Stanford.
- Great selection of blackjack supplies including dealer shoes and discard holders, table layouts, poker chip trays, and more at discount prices.
Contents
Professional blackjack players don’t make a set amount of money every month like a salaried employee does. Playing blackjack for a living is more like owning your own business or working for 100% commission. Therefore different professional players make different amounts of money based on many varying factors. A professional blackjack player will attempt to minimize the losses inherent in the game by placing bets minimum when the shoe is “cold.” I did not mention the learning curve required to count cards effectively, discretion imperative to the casino ( note: the casinos do not like card counters) and large bankroll it takes to resist the variance. Blackjack is a game of skill and even as a professional who plays the game for a living you cannot expect to win all the time. Ensure that you have a bankroll that is able to help you tide over the times you lose.
- Yearly salary of a professional blackjack player
What is the salary of a professional blackjack player? It’s a common question I hear, but what would seem like a simple enough question actually has a fairly complex answer. First of all, the term “blackjack player salary” isn’t quite appropriate. Professional blackjack players don’t make a set amount of money every month like a salaried employee does. Playing blackjack for a living is more like owning your own business or working for 100% commission. Therefore different professional players make different amounts of money based on many varying factors. Some of the more obvious factors being the stakes the played at, the amount of time spent playing and the skill level of the player. There are also many less obvious factors involved in determining how much money a professional player will make. I’m not going to cover all of them here, but just a few of these additional variables include the quality of the blackjack games played, the card counting system used and the size of the player’s betting spread.
The “Salary” (Income) of a Pro Blackjack Player
Blackjack Player EarningsEvery blackjack player has a theoretical “expected value” of their play. When you bet $100 on a hand, you’re going to win or lose $100 (assuming you don’t push, double, split, surrender or get a blackjack). However, over time there’s an average value of that hand. In card counting, high positive counts create a positive expected value for a card counter and negative counts create a negative expected value. Knowing this, and knowing how to take advantage of this, is the foundation of how professional blackjack players are able to make money.
So exactly what is the total overall expected value for a professional blackjack player? Check out the examples below to get an idea. For simplicity I’m going to do some rounding off and I’ll assume only one hand is being played with all counts being played through (no backing out on negative counts).
# of decks: 2
Rules: S17, DA2, DAS, no RSA
Stakes: $100 units
Betting Spread: 1-5 ($100-$500)
Penetration: 68%
Counting System: Hi-Opt II with Full Indices
Hands/Hour: 180
Expected Value = $390 per hour
# of decks: 1
Rules: H17, DA2, no DAS, no RSA
Stakes: $50 units
Betting Spread: 1-4 ($50-$200)
Penetration: 7 Rounds (heads up)
Counting System: Wong Halves with Illustrious 18 Indices
Hands/Hour: 200
Expected Value = $285 per hour
# of decks: 6
Rules: S17, DA2, DAS, LS, no RSA
Stakes: $50 units
Betting Spread: 1-10 ($50-$500)
Penetration: 80%
Counting System: Hi-Lo with Sweet 16 & Fab 4 Indices
Hands/Hour: 220 (heads up)
Expected Value = $275 per hour
Needless to say, changing any of the variables listed would alter the expected value of an hour played. Now let’s assume for simplicity that a professional blackjack player played each of these scenarios for 5 hours per week. That’s a respectable 15-hour work week (nice, right?). Here’s what the 15 hours per week would yield in theoretical expected value…
(5 hours X $390) + (5 hours X $285) + (5 hours X $275) = $4,750 per week
$4,750 X 4 weeks = $19,000 per month
Yearly Theoretical Earnings from Playing Blackjack
Okay, so in this example you’re looking at $19,000 per month, which would then be $228,000 per year if you played for 12 months. These numbers are theoretical, meaning that your reality will not be exactly there. You might overshoot your theoretical (gotta love that) or you might fall short (not as fun). However, if you play enough hours it all pans out over time, or at least your results will be in the ball park of your theoretical earnings. Getting it all in cash is nice too.
If you’re contemplating a career as a professional blackjack player, you have to understand your own personal circumstances. You might play more or less hours than this. You might play higher quality or lower quality games. You might not have a very high skill level or you might play at higher or lower stakes. You also need to know what kind of bankroll can handle these levels of action, but that’s not something I’m going to get into here. This is just a teaser to show you the potential of a skilled blackjack player rather than a guide on how to actually reach these numbers. If you want to know everything that goes into being highly successful, you’re going to need to do more than just read a few pages off a website. You might want to consider my next blackjack class. I apologize for the shameless plug, but whether you want to become a professional player or just make some extra cash on the weekends, my class is definitely a smart investment.
David Lane is a blackjack enthusiast who has just published the novel The Count Of The Cards . He tells us here why he decided to end his playing blackjack professionally.
My friends often ask me why I ended my career as a professional blackjack player. This is not because of my novel which has just been published because I stopped more than four years before writing the book. This is mainly because of the lifestyle I led as a professional player.
Professional Blackjack Indexes
Contrary to what everyone thinks, the life of a professional blackjack player is not all about glitz and glitter. Of course, there are times where you live like a king, but it also happens that you had to fight to survive. However, neither of these extremes have influenced my choice. If I stopped playing professionally, it is mainly because of the lifestyle I led. There are many things to know and do to become a professional card counter.
I do not mean the technical aspects of blackjack, but the strange lifestyle and staggered hours required in the game A card counter can play in a casino to play rush hour but during peak hours is more interesting for many reasons. One of the most important reasons is that the tables allow the uncrowded pro player to play more hands per hour. But finding a casino where there are not too many people is a task that may prove difficult. In general, you should go to the casino between 4 and 7 o’clock in the morning. So I played blackjack during these hours and I slept all day, which is not very convenient if one wants to have a social life or family.
Another challenge is how to find a table where the rules and playing conditions are favorable. There are good games and bad games blackjack blackjack. Tables to a single shoe that pay a natural blackjack against 5 to 6 instead of 3 cons 2 are a good example of bad games. This does not look dramatic, but a card counter has a slight advantage in most cases and reduced payments eliminate this advantage.
The games of blackjack where the dealer hits on soft 17, which the dealer distributes only half the cards (50% penetration) and where a casino employee zealous watching you while you play because of your high stakes are avoided. Even if a good card counter overcomes these obstacles, the most time, effort and patience required can use the player more motivated after a while. Whether a player is beginner or professional, the placing of the bets should be done at the safe and secure table. The rankings of the betting tables can be checked at https://mahir123.com site to increase the winning changes. The use of the information is made with the excellence and expertise of the bettors.
I am often asked if winning a large sum of money does not compensate for the disruption caused by the life of professional blackjack player. The answer is yes, but it is important to understand that a card counter loses hands frequently. The goal is not to win every hand but to win most of those where you have placed a big bet, according to the method of counting cards. A professional blackjack player will attempt to minimize the losses inherent in the game by placing bets minimum when the shoe is “cold.”
I did not mention the learning curve required to count cards effectively, discretion imperative to the casino ( note: the casinos do not like card counters) and large bankroll it takes to resist the variance.
So, I want to discourage new blackjack players? Not at all, because there are very talented players who are doing very well today. But ask these players and you will see that they have worked hard for years to gain experience and skills necessary to play blackjack at a professional level.
So why have I stopped my playing career? Apart from the fact that I had the opportunity to work in a field asking me less effort, I found a new passion in writing novels. I do not write books but learning the game of fiction, my first published novel is centered around a blackjack player who is caught in a history of crime and suspense.
Blackjack Professional Download
I am pleased to have had a career of professional blackjack player and I do not want to discourage those who are engaged in this way. But if you’ve ever seen blackjack as a hobby, do not think it will be easy to become a professional card counter. For it is not given to everyone.