Volume 2 - Number 2                                                                 February 1, 1999
Blackjack Pro®
Pursuing Excellence and Profit

Managing Your Winnings

You've spent the last year enjoying your 1% to 2% advantage over the game and used this to increase the size of your playing bank. This in turn has increased the size of your maximum bets. Now it's time to invest this money, and increase the size of your bank even further, using income tax rules as leverage!

I will use an example to make this idea simple and clear. Let's say you began 1998 with a bank of $5,000 and doubled your bank by winning a further $5,000. Your total bank is now $10,000. You have been depositing that money into your savings account as the year went by and earning interest, taxable interest. Your winnings have not been taxed until you put them in the bank. Do you want to pay taxes on the interest from your winnings? I didn't think so!

This is where an RRSP comes in. By taking your $5,000 and placing it in an RRSP, you will decrease your income taxes by your income tax rate multiplied by the $5,000. If you are taxed at a rate of 35%, you will save $1,750 on your income tax! If you normally don't pay much at the end of the year, you will be getting a cheque for $1,750 from the government that you can add to your bank. Even though you placed $5,000 in your RRSP it can still be thought of as a protected part of your bank, which is now $11,750.

As a player, you will want to limit your largest bet to a maximum of 1% of your entire bank. As your bank goes up (and down) you can adjust the size of this bet accordingly. As a winning player, you can forget your bottom 5K is in an RRSP, because you will never get down that far to touch it. Your maximum bet is now about $120 which you can have out when the True Count is +4 or more. Progressing bets can move from 5 to 15-30-60-120 within this positive expectation, but that is another matter.

One last note. You can place your money in a no service fee savings account or RRSP with ING DIRECT at a rate of 4.2%. Go to www.ingdirect.ca to find out more for yourself. You can E-Mail them as well at clientservices@ingdirect.ca or call 1-888-464-3232.

Hole Card Reading

At times, the observant player can spot the dealers hole card in a hand held 1 or 2 deck game. Based on seeing 25% to 35% of the dealers hole cards, an advantage of between 5% and 6% can be achieved! These days most games are dealt from shoes and getting to see the dealers hole card is almost impossible. Counting cards gives the skilled player information about the probability of what the hole card is and help with betting and playing decisions. Can there be other ways to determine what the hole card is?

By watching the cards come out of the decks, you may see some unusually long strings of small cards, or large cards. This can be caused by improper shuffling and the way the dealer picks up Blackjacks and busted hands before paying off any remaining players. This information may help you determine the dealers hole card up to 25% or more and give you an advantage beyond what you are now playing with. For further information contact Keith Smith or drop by www.winningways.com.

Woodbine to Get 1700 Slot Machines

In this to and fro battle between government levels, it looks like Woodbine Racetrack will get 1700 slot machines instead of over 2000. What this means to me is fewer machines with no one at them, and a few hundred extra square feet around these machines for people to wait to get on them. Still no Blackjack tables in site.

Train for Profit

Take the time to learn to play Blackjack professionally. Go beyond Basic Strategy one step at a time and become a Professional Card Counter. From simple counts to advanced systems, accompanied by sound money management skills, anyone can learn to make "Easy Money". Get in touch with Rob at blakjack@idirect.com.

Visit the Blackjack Pro® Website at http://webhome.idirect.com/~blakjack for the latest information on the game, not only in Southern Ontario, but all of North America.

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