Hold'em VS. Blackjack

[PizzaBoyPetey]

Assume that I'm new to Poker, and I'm new to card-counting. How will my time be better spent? Devoted to card-counting or poker? Note that I realize that neither is easy to do well. Am I right in assuming card-counting is easier? I also realize that poker is likely more fun in the long run. Also consider the short run: Which will be profitable quicker? Also consider online play as a factor; I don't live in LV but I go there a few times a year.. thanks for your input

[Skipbidder]

You've only posted this question in four forums so far. Surely you can put it in a few more.

[PizzaBoyPetey]

I'm looking for input, so i'm casting a wide net. thanks for your attention to detail.

[Dynasty]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm looking for input, so i'm casting a wide net. thanks for your attention to detail.

[/ QUOTE ]

But, people are going to consider what you're doing a form of personal spam and get upset over it. Correct etiquette is to post a question in one forum (hopefully, the proper one). If you don't respect the boards, you shouldn't expect people to help you.

As for your question, you're better off learning hold 'em. But, if making money is what you want to do, get a second job.

[valenzuela]

holdem , this is the right forum to ask the question.

[XChamp]

Buy Malmuth's Gambling Theory and Other Topics.

There is a long section on the comparisons of poker to blackjack and what it is like playing professionally for each.

After reading the comparison I would say poker is the way to go, especially since his essay is a little outdated.

[CORed]

When Ed Thorpe wrote "Beat the Dealer", the standard blackjack game was single deck dealt to the last card. Card counting was the closest thing to a license to print money. Now, most blackjack games are 6 or 8 decks with bad penetration and often bad rules. Many are not beatable or so marginally beatable that they are just not worth playing. There are still beatable blackjack games around, but blackjack at its best is a game with a small edge and high variance. It takes a big bankroll and the downswings can be brutal. There is nothing more frustrating than a bad run in blackjack. You will be dealt stiff after stiff. When the dealer had a big upcard and you hit, you will bust, when the dealer has a small card up and you stand, the dealer will make a 6 card 21. This will happen hand after hand, as you keep rebuying.

To make matters worse, if you get good, and build the bankroll to play at high enough stakes to make decent money, the casinos will throw you out as soon as they figure out what you are doing. Althoug, bad runs happen in holdem too, your edge is much bigger in a good holdme game relative to the variance. Holdem is more complicated. Blackjack is less complicated. Learning advantage blackjack is pretty much a matter of memorization and rote learning. Your opponent (the dealer) always plays the same, so there is never any doubt what the correct play is. Your advantage, standard deviation and risk of ruing can be calculated to as many decimal places as you want. The trouble is, those numbers are usually not all that great. Poker is more complicated. Your opponent can play any way he wants to, and how he plays is a major factor in determining how you should play. The good thing is that most of your opponents play pretty badly, so you have a much bigger advantage, if you play well. To me, poker is a much more interesting game, as well as being more profitable. IMO, you are much better off to devote your time to learning poker than to learning to card count in blackjack, and it's not close.

[tomdemaine]

Learn how to handicap sports. There'll always be a market and it's infinitly scaleable compared to both poker and blackjack well until you start moving lines on your own at least.

[lucas9000]

[ QUOTE ]
Assume that I'm new to Poker, and I'm new to card-counting. How will my time be better spent? Devoted to card-counting or poker?

[/ QUOTE ]

it doesn't take much time to learn to beat low limit hold em games. all you need is some discipline, patience, and a book or two. especially if you're multitabling low limits online, it can be done pretty mechanically.

[Mr_J]

"Learn how to handicap sports."

This is bad advice. Handicapping takes alot more skill than churning out a decent hourly rate at limit HE.

Poker is the way to go when you don't have much of a BR. It has the lowest BR requirements by far in relation to earning potential. Poker provides the best shorterm growth, and because of that it's the best one to start with.