And you could play perfect basic strategy according to how many decks there are and the specific rules that casino had. As well as knowing the appropriate Kelly betting stakes and having a sufficiently large enough bankroll [relative to the casino minimum] to cover any variance, what would you do? Here is the catch, after playing successfully any night you played, you would proceed to play the pokies for which you had no edge [no points / comp scheme would suffice to make each spin slightly +EV] and burn almost every last cent of profit. You would walk out no better but no worse off financially for the week [bar perhaps enough to pay for rent, a minimal set of expenses and food without digging into savings]. Technically you will be slightly "better off" because you purchased a number of grossly overpriced meals and beverages while in there as well, also you will saved on the cost of heating had you been at home instead for any of the last 48 hours. Those minor silver linings among others are BS of course in the grand scheme of things compared to the thousands incinerated / hard mental work wasted.
Months go by, your savings are the same but the mental stress nags you knowing you could have six figures in the bank and there is nothing stopping you other than the f****** retarded self-sabotage that you know is exactly that. You even create strict protocols for yourself, step by step shit designed for an infant so that after a night of counting you cash in your chips, and walk the f### out of the casino without playing the pokies. This works some of the time, however any profit that builds up over a few weeks or months is an illusion, the next time you play the pokies, not only do you incinerate the profit for the night, you throw away the profit for all the previous nights as well and end up back at square f****** one. This has gone on for a year and a half, life is just not worth living if you hate yourself and repeatedly fire shots at your feet. The pride of being able to beat the house [not by luck / superstition but by being systematic] even if you throw it away afterwards is great at first, if anything it is worth much more than the money burned but that pride diminishes and the depression of getting to the 99 yard line 20+ times without a defender in sight then throwing the ball backwards instead of getting a touch down is horrendous mental anguish to have to deal with.
How does a person deal with that situation / what the f### do they do?
- For clarification, the casino is not stupid but for whatever reason [perhaps the owner once upon a time was a counter himself] does allow counters [and will continue to do so for years to come] so long as they do not take down a property in one night [F them for a few million] or blatantly declare themself a counter / count aloud. Anybody that plays there more than twice a week that is not a loser or at best a wannabe counter will get blacklisted of course.
- The question is pretty stupid if a person can just stop playing the pokies, obviously they are more than a half full packet of crisps to be able to count cards in practise [not just theory] and more importantly, knowing all the other important elements to successfully make a profit. Evidently they have a compulsive gambling problem or some sort of pyschotic / mental problem(s) such that they are engaging in self sabotaging behaviour they fundamentally know is -EV and have no place engaging in. Many pro poker players play the pokies surprisingly, obviously the difference is the money they waste is a drop in the bucket compared to how much they make.
- Counting cards is the person's fulltime job. To be able to execute basic strategy perfectly, keep the count without error every time, and do that while maintaining conversation without losing concentration requires constant practise. Ok, so it is not really a fulltime job, they are a bit lazy but it takes fair chunk out of the week and the toll of working a "normal" job on top of that would be too much.
- The person has no interest in working a wanky white collar job or getting a degree from one of the many fine paper mills. Nevertheless they could save 12,000 euro a year working in a remedial job [aka taking it up the ass] instead but would have to wake up at 6am every morning, engage in mindless work surrounded by parasitic workers who could not care less how much profit [if at all] the company makes and be willing to be a subordinate to a collective set of idiot managers. This might considered the opportunity cost, though the savings might not be worth the mental stress hence it may not be an opportunity cost at all.
Months go by, your savings are the same but the mental stress nags you knowing you could have six figures in the bank and there is nothing stopping you other than the f****** retarded self-sabotage that you know is exactly that. You even create strict protocols for yourself, step by step shit designed for an infant so that after a night of counting you cash in your chips, and walk the f### out of the casino without playing the pokies. This works some of the time, however any profit that builds up over a few weeks or months is an illusion, the next time you play the pokies, not only do you incinerate the profit for the night, you throw away the profit for all the previous nights as well and end up back at square f****** one. This has gone on for a year and a half, life is just not worth living if you hate yourself and repeatedly fire shots at your feet. The pride of being able to beat the house [not by luck / superstition but by being systematic] even if you throw it away afterwards is great at first, if anything it is worth much more than the money burned but that pride diminishes and the depression of getting to the 99 yard line 20+ times without a defender in sight then throwing the ball backwards instead of getting a touch down is horrendous mental anguish to have to deal with.
How does a person deal with that situation / what the f### do they do?
- For clarification, the casino is not stupid but for whatever reason [perhaps the owner once upon a time was a counter himself] does allow counters [and will continue to do so for years to come] so long as they do not take down a property in one night [F them for a few million] or blatantly declare themself a counter / count aloud. Anybody that plays there more than twice a week that is not a loser or at best a wannabe counter will get blacklisted of course.
- The question is pretty stupid if a person can just stop playing the pokies, obviously they are more than a half full packet of crisps to be able to count cards in practise [not just theory] and more importantly, knowing all the other important elements to successfully make a profit. Evidently they have a compulsive gambling problem or some sort of pyschotic / mental problem(s) such that they are engaging in self sabotaging behaviour they fundamentally know is -EV and have no place engaging in. Many pro poker players play the pokies surprisingly, obviously the difference is the money they waste is a drop in the bucket compared to how much they make.
- Counting cards is the person's fulltime job. To be able to execute basic strategy perfectly, keep the count without error every time, and do that while maintaining conversation without losing concentration requires constant practise. Ok, so it is not really a fulltime job, they are a bit lazy but it takes fair chunk out of the week and the toll of working a "normal" job on top of that would be too much.
- The person has no interest in working a wanky white collar job or getting a degree from one of the many fine paper mills. Nevertheless they could save 12,000 euro a year working in a remedial job [aka taking it up the ass] instead but would have to wake up at 6am every morning, engage in mindless work surrounded by parasitic workers who could not care less how much profit [if at all] the company makes and be willing to be a subordinate to a collective set of idiot managers. This might considered the opportunity cost, though the savings might not be worth the mental stress hence it may not be an opportunity cost at all.