THE
CARD-COUNTING
MOTIVATOR
CHECKLIST
Mastering the skills in this checklist makes the difference between being perpetually broke and taking millions from ca-
sinos. There are no shortcuts. These items should be done in conjunction with our Video Course, not as a replacement
for watching the video course. Each section of the Video Course has action steps to aid you in your training process. This
checklist will help you make sure you’re moving forward methodically in your card counting training and joining the elite
community of successful card counters.
B L A C K J A C K A P P R E N T I C E S H I P. C O M ©2019
BASIC STRATEGY
Repeat these 3 steps until you can play perfect basic strategy. This is the absolute foundation
to card counting. Do not proceed to the next steps until you’re perfect at basic strategy.
Fill out (2) Two Blank Charts every day
Recite it verbally 2x/day (10x/day is even better!)
Play the Basic Strategy Training Drill a minimum of 200 hands/day
CARD COUNTING
Repeat these 4 steps until you can keep the running count perfectly.
Continue to practice basic strategy
Count through a deck of cards.
Remove 1 facedown card from a deck, count down the remaining 51 cards. At the end,
check your running count. If you have a +1, verify that the facedown card was a 10, J,
K, Q, or Ace. If you have a 0, verify that the facedown card was a 7, 8, or 9. If you have
a -1, verify that the removed card was a 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6. Do this until you can perform it
perfectly within 30 seconds
Play the Card Counting drill a minimum of 2 shoes/day (The more the better!)
Back-count at a casino. Go to a casino and just watch. DO NOT PLAY. Don’t even
bring money to play with. Just watch and count down tables. This will help you adjust
your counting to real life casino conditions.
BASIC STRATEGY + COUNTING
Practice Until Perfect
Use the Free Play drill or our iOS App or have a friend deal to you. Check the count
after every round to make sure you are not making mistakes. If you make a mistake, try
to figure out what happened so you can eliminate the mistake moving forward.
B L A C K J A C K A P P R E N T I C E S H I P. C O M ©2019
TRUE COUNT CONVERSION
Practice Until Perfect.
Play the True Count Drill to practice dividing the running count by the number of decks
remaining. Start with Full Decks. When that gets easy, move on to half deck divisors
(decks remaining)
You can create the same drill manually with a discard tray, 6 decks of cards, and a hat
or bowl with the numbers 1-30 written on them. Just set the discard tray to 6 decks
remaining (less than a deck in the discard tray), and pull numbers out of the hat/bowl
until you’ve done every number. Then repeat with 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 deck divisors (decks
remaining).
DEVIATIONS
Practice Until Perfect.
Print out a Deviation Chart and start reciting deviations (choose S17 or H17, depending
on the game you will most often be playing). Make sure you understand what each
deviation means.
Fill out Blank Charts with both Basic Strategy AND Deviations
Be able to recite deviations as a sentence. For example: “Basic strategy is to never
split 10’s against a 6, but at a true count of 4 or higher you will split 10’s against a 6.”
You can find the deviations explained on our Deviations page.
Use the Deviation Drill until you can play it perfectly for at least 100 hands.
BANKROLL MANAGEMENT
Make sure you know your betting strategy. We provide custom Bankroll Coaching, or
you can base your decisions off of the situation that best reflects your bankroll size in
this document: blackjackapprenticeship.com/recommended-blackjack-bankroll/
B L A C K J A C K A P P R E N T I C E S H I P. C O M ©2019
BONUS TIPS
Don’t play in a casino until these steps are mastered. It will just be a distraction
Don’t brag about big wins. Even gamblers have big wins. Wins aren’t the goal right
now… perfect blackjack is. And Perfect blackjack leads to a winning game.
Don’t skip steps. I know counting is more sexy than basic strategy. But basic strategy
is the foundation. The better you are at basic strategy, the better card counter you will
be. Trust us.
Holy freaking crap! You’ve made it further than most people who’ve dabbled in card counting. If you’ve made it this far,
you are well on your way to beating the casinos! Hopefully by now you’ve started networking on the Forum and research-
ing playing conditions for casinos near you on Casino411. Let us know how we can continue to help you beat the casinos!
B L A C K J A C K A P P R E N T I C E S H I P. C O M ©2019
