Blackjack ILLUSTRIOUS 18, STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES

So you heard: 'If you are a practicing Hi-Lo player and have diligently committed to memory 150 to 200 index numbers, you may be interested to learn that for this particular game and style of play, you might as well throw 90% of your numbers away and keep just the “Illustrious 18.” On the other hand, if you have just mastered true count and were about to embark upon your study of the index-number matrix, I have saved you a great deal of work. Learn the plays in the chart and forget about the rest. You can trust me that you won’t be missing much.'

Bravos! Wouldn't it be nice if my chemistry teacher had told me that I only need to know 18 important elements of the periodic tables and throw the rest away?

 

One Day in the Life of a Blackjack Deviation Army Training Camp (See Footnote)

Drill Sergeant: “Gump! What is your sole purpose in this army?”
Camper Forrest Gump Junior: “To do whatever you tell me, Drill Sergeant.”
Drill Sergeant: “Goddamn it, Gump! You’re a goddamn genius! This is the most outstanding answer I have ever heard. Listen! People! The number of deviation indexes you need to remember is 18, not 81, not 150, not 200 as some outside scumbag have said.”
All Campers: “YES, DRILL SERGEANT!”

Note: Lines mostly adapted from Forrest Gump

 

And don’t forget you only play with a red chip but tell everyone you play black. Tell everyone you earn $2 million by playing 5 hours a weekend. You don’t need anything when you just lie to various forums.

 

Making $2 million? Dream on! The reality: Illustrious 18 makes counters poor, and enriches casinos. STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES.

 

The true cost of Illustrious 18 if you stop right then and there:

Moraine heard it from card counting gurus that you might have heard it too: Just by learning the 18 top deviation indices alone, card counters can reap 90% of all possible benefits from full deviation indices. A good deal, isn’t it? So far so good, but there is a cost to you if you stop right then and there.

Based on the 90% estimate, the performance of full indexes v. Top 18 indexes = 1 vs. 0.9, and 1/0.9 =1.111. This translates into that an Illustrious18 practitioner would leave 11.1% of his/her card counting profit on blackjack tables in a year. And in 10 years, 11.1% compounds into 1.111 ^ 10 = 2.87 = 287%. In 20 years, 1.111 ^ 20 = 822%.

From an Illustrious 18 adherent from the get-go : "Are you saying that I have lost 2.87 - 1 = 1.87 = 187% of my card counting profit in the past 10 years? And 8.22 -1 = 722% in the past 20 years?"

From Blackjack Deviation Training Camp Drill Sergeant: “Stupid! Winning less is not the same as losing."

 

Boy, Boy!!!
I just heard the distinguished (passé?) guru who once heavily promoted the notion that Blackjack card counters only need to learn 18 or so deviation indices has come up with a different idea. If I'm not mistaken, the guy is touting the value of learning something like "Nifty Fifty" nowadays.
Were Those Idiot(?) 18 Believers Fooled or F*%$#!?

 

We get guys like you that come along trying to tear down some of the known experts all the time. Guys like you trying to make a name for themselves. JSTAT did it with Thorp for years.

Schlesinger plays 200+ index plays when he plays blackjack, which is understandably less these day. 200+. That means he knows and plays every index play for counts that are so rare you are only going to see them once a year IF YOU PLAY A LOT.

All he did with the Illustrious 18 was point out that after the first group (he chose 18), that the value of deviating diminishes with each play. THAT is ALL! Really the value starts diminishing pretty quickly after the first 3. If you or anyone else wants to learn 100, 200, go right ahead. He never told anyone not too. He just pointed out that mathematically it just isn't worth that much.

I take it even more extreme. I play card counters basic strategy. Look it up. What that means is that I am playing almost every hand the same way with no deviations. And the way I play each hand is the optimal way at a TC of +2 to +3. So at a 0 or +1 count it might be slightly incorrect at a very minimal cost when your smallest bet is out, but always optimal when the bigger bets are out.

And for that very minimal cost you eliminate one of the biggest "tells" of a card counter, playing the same hand differently at different counts, adding years to your play.

Blackjack is not played on a fucking computer. Well it can be, but in real life at felt tables, there are consequences and reactions for every action. So to achieve longevity, you weigh risk vs reward for this action or that action. All based on the goal of longevity. Because you can be the greatest card counter of all time, playing some super duper count, using 200 index plays, but when you can no longer find a game that they will allow you to play, you know what you make? $0.

I am sure you will respond with some nonsense, because that is what guys like you do. I have been playing blackjack for a living for 20 years (just passed 20 years in March), and have done pretty well. Despite all the people that attack me for a variety of reason, I know what I am talking about. I know what works and what doesn't. What is important and what is dressing. And the Illustrious 18 (rather than 100's of index plays) is a good starting point for most players. And that is ALL Don was saying. Diminishing returns!

 

So I can't post the link here but I found CCBS at Las Vegas Advisor's site. Interesting.

You say that you play blackjack for a living and that you play CCBS. Does that mean you do not count cards at all, you just play CCBS?

 

Not at all. There are two parts to card counting. The bet spread, betting more when the count favors the player and playing deviation, according to the count or remaining cards. CCBS only effects the playing part. You are just removing one of the "tells" by removing the deviation and playing the same hand the same way....in a manner that is optimal when the largest wagers are out. But you still count so as to know when to place those larger wagers (player advantage).

 

Although you said you practice your own brand of "CCBS", but I think you are the best candidate Drill Sergeant for some blackjack boot camp to drill Illustrious/Idiotic 18 into the empty heads of all suckers who come along

Keep it up, and the Casino with Love would thank you for teaching the future generation of counters that they should always leave some money on blackjack tables.

 

Better to leave a bit of money at the table and be able to return and play several times a month for the next decade, that to squeeze a few extra cents of EV today, and be banned from future play. You can't win if you can't play. That is exactly what having longevity as a top priority is about.

The guys running those bootcamps that you dislike so much (I also am not a fan of) are guys that did exactly what you propose. They wore out their welcome everywhere and can't get a game, so they run boot camps and write books. Real AP's find ways to keep being able to play and keep being able to win.

 

Thanks Mate.

 

It has been documented that UNKewlJ has lied about and fabricated his entire blackjack persona, and the relevance - is that it is absurd to follow an imaginary playbook.

 

Moraine always think one shall either use ZERO deviations as you championed to eliminate the possibility of "tells" or shall use the maximum number of deviations -- preferably no less than 80 deviations -- that one can command, most of which are primarily used for camouflage when the opportunities arise.

The Idiotic/Illustrious 18 indices close to being the worst from a card counting standpoint. They are traps for unwary. They serve primarily the interest of casinos. Anyone who only uses the Idiotic 18 indices in casinos is like having a big "C" tattooed on his/her forehead.

Moraines says it here and would repeat it again, despite Moraine's unpleasant experience in saying the same thing in other forums -- many of which were dominated by the sidekicks or gofers of the gurus having some vested interest in drilling Idiotic/Illustrious 18 into the heads of any upcoming card counters.

 

More lies from an angry bitter member following me around the internet trolling. NOTHING of the sort has been prove, except in his alternative reality mind.

 

Moraine, you seem like a guy with an agenda to me. It isn't enough that you share some thoughts, which is perfectly acceptable, you seem to want to tear down anyone who thinks differently than you, including some long-time mathematically proven professional like Mr Schlesinger. Shame on you for that.

Players can do whatever they want. They can incorporate things into their play, that they believe, even if they are long proven voodoo type things. So why do YOU think you need to convince everyone that your way is the right way and everyone else is wrong? We see people like you all over the internet, usually selling "their way".

I would love to ask what you do for a living to actually support yourself, but I don't believe I would get an honest answer. So I will just tell you my impression. I suspect you do something else, non gambling related and gamble and play Spanish 21 on weekends and such. A weekend warrior type. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with weekend warrior or part time players. Several guys I learned a great deal from were part time players that had other careers as their primary method of support, while playing blackjack part-time or supplementally. Absolutely NOTHING wrong with that.

The problem I have is when some part time weekend warrior type starts spouting off at how the mathematicians and full time players are wrong and don't know what they are talking about while Mr weekend warrior, collecting a paycheck to pay his bills, while playing recreationally, has it all figured out.

I suppose you are going to claim I am wrong and you support yourself gambling. Do me a favor, don't even bother. to quote myself "it just don't take that much to figure out who knows what they are talking about and who is just talking" and you words and ideas you share speak for themselves. Of course.....you know it all, and everyone else is wrong, all the math experts and real players that have made millions are wrong. Good luck with that.

 

NOT HERE, NOT HERE, NOT AGAIN!!!

 

Can understand your righteous indignation -- be it genuine or faked.
Moraine ventured into the internet blackjack forums in 2021. Since, Moraine has learned that two topics may incurred vehement attacks from many:

1. The disadvantage and danger of that he teaching that blackjack card counters only need to learn 18 or so deviation indices, and
2. The possibility that casinos may still cheat today.

Moraine was amazed to find the sock puppets who attacked Moraine on the topic of casino cheating also attacked Moraine when he raised some cautionary notes against Illustrious 18. On reflection, it is simply natural since Illustrious 18 (or Idiotic 18?) is the best friend of casinos. It gives casinos the right tool to identify card counters, and help casinos to reduce their loss to car

 

Well since you didn't answer my previous questions, let me throw out another.

If in the 3 years since 2021, that you have figured out everything there is to figure out, and if you really believe your nonsense, wouldn't you just keep it to yourself? How would it be to your advantage to inform other card counters that playing Illustrious 18 is harmful to them. It would be far better for you if all other counters failed.

But of course none of that is reality. Reality is you are another one of those guys with a weird agenda or need to make a name for yourself and you think tearing down the real math of this game, and the experts that are credited with it like Mr Schlesinger, provides that for you. Don Schlesinger has provided mathematical proven information that has benefited more card counters than probably anyone in history. His math and conclusions are not some off the cuff hypothesis. Everything is 100% proven by math and computer simulations.

So just stop with this "Morain has discovered the secret to everything. Only he knows and everyone else is wrong". That is delusion.

 

Moraine can understand your righteous indignation.
Moraine ventured into internet forums only a few years ago. Since, Moraine has learned that the following two subjects may incur the wrath of many:

1. The danger/disadvantage of the teaching laid down by blackjack gurus that blackjack card counters only need to learn 18 or so deviation indices, and
2. The possibility that casinos may cheat today.

Initially, Moraine was amazed to find the individuals (sock puppets?) who attacked Moraine on the topic of casino cheating also attacked Moraine when he raised some cautionary notes against Illustrious 18. On reflection, it is simply natural since Illustrious 18 (or Idiotic 18?) has been casinos' best friend.
These are the irrefutable truth:
1. Casinos use Illustrious 18 to identify card counters.
2. Illustrious/Idiotic 18 adherents leave money on blackjack tables to the magnitude of 11.1% per year, and compounded to 287% in tens years or 822% in 20 years as explained in the earlier #5 post .

As they say: "Stupid Is As Stupid Does."