STREETWISE BLACKJACK

Streetwise Blackjack

On Becoming a Professional Gambler

By Peter Ruchman

"In fact, if anyone has plans to be a professional gambler from the outside (against the house), they should be told it simply isn't possible. We've seen hundreds of counters come and go through the doors of our bookstore. We know only a couple who made any serious money. After all, the average percentage advantage the expert player has is about _ percent. This means to make $37.50 per hour, there must be $5,000 in action. There's more to playing winning Blackjack than the ability to count. There are psychological pressures that cannot be explained, let alone taught."

Those words were written by Gambler's Book Club founder John Luckman in 1978 and borrowed from Volume 2, Number 2 of The Overlay, the shop's seasonal catalog update and newsletter. Today, more than ever, the song remains the same.

About once a week, as the in-house blackjack guy, I field this recurring question, in-person or on the phone, "What counting method is more powerful than ___XYZ________ (the one I'm using) so that I can turn pro?"

No matter the source, my response is the same: the answer isn't blowing in the wind, it is right here. Consider the these factors:

1. Experience -- I'm found of noting if you compare playing high level blackjack with any other activity in life, it is reasonable to think it takes a person some time to build up enough experience to play on an expert level. Compare gambling to any other profession‹why should it be any different? Whether you use the older apprentice system or contemporary college method, there is a learning curve. And would you label a recent college graduate an "expert?" It takes a great deal of time, energy, and a high level of commitment to reach a professional level. Even then, it is often difficult to sustain for any number of reasons.

2. Psychology -- As John related in his opening remarks, it is often the psychological pressures, not financial or social, which cause the greatest amount of difficulty. From the Mississippi riverboat gambler's day to the present, there has sprung a popular misconception about professionals. In my life, I have known several and few get up at noon, wear silk shirts, and eat in gourmet restaurants all the time. If that is the case, it usually doesn't last long. Most professionals I know are dedicated individuals who work VERY hard at their chosen activity. The public perception and working reality are very different.

There's an old gambling expression, "Scared money never wins." Simply put, it means, as a non-pro, if you need to make the rent, pay the bills and put food on the table, you are probably going to alter your style of play‹you will be playing from a perspective of fearing you might lose and fail to take advantage of fortunate situations as they arise. In other words, you don't play loose or aggressive but tight and apprehensive. You'll never win that way. Then there's the grind. The thought of playing blackjack as a business (now there's a great book titleŠ) might be enticing to one who plays recreationally. After all, there's no heavy lifting, you make your own hours, and have no boss. You may not be considering the repetitive, somewhat boring nature of blackjack when you do it day-in-day-out. And casino life was never known as a healthy environment.

3. Financial -‹ This is the hardest for most folks to grasp. If you are playing blackjack as a business, you can't come in undercapitalized. That is the predominant cause of most small start-up business failures. And if you are a blackjack pro, you are funding your own small business venture ‹- yourself. How much is enough? I can't tell you how to live, but ketchup soup under the freeway is not the generalized ideal. Add up all your bills -‹ all of them! Throw in those clubs, movies, nights on the town, bar tabs, annual presentsŠeverything. Add in some for emergencies like car troubles, health problems, etc. Then ask yourself if you believe it is possible to make that much on a monthly basis -- EVERY MONTH!

Take into account you are not going to win every day -- then factor in prolonged losing streaks. Do you want all that pressure (re-read "Psychology" immediately above)? There are some in the gambling universe who define themselves as "grinders." They aim to make a relatively small amount each day, say $100. Sounds easy, right? Not so fast, Mr. Andretti!

What if you lose? -- a reasonable possibility. Do you then have to make $200 the next day? And what happens when you lose three or four days in a row? Experienced players will tell you it happens all the time.

Which brings us back to the oft-asked question, "How much do I really need?" Realistically, at least $50,000-$100,000 minimum might be a starting point. Anything less would be under-funded, forcing overbets, disproportional to the amount of bankroll. There are no rules in this free form universe, but most working professionals prefer to expose a minimum of their bankrolls, ranging from 2-5 percent at a time.

That means that if you have a total of $10,000, you can only play with $200-$500. That won't work very well for any other than a $5.00 minimum table, and not very well at that.

I'll offer a few more thoughts on this volatile subject next week.