Re: Hold\'em Vs. Blackjack
Having been blackjack player for years, I just converted to poker a few months ago. So, I feel qualified to give you a complete answer . . .
Blackjack is relatively easy to learn. Card counting is not really all that complicated and with practice you will be able to count cards, ogle the cocktail waitress, and keep up a banter with the dealer. You will also get to experience massive swings in your bankroll, because the most you will get is about a 1% edge. This means that you will need a bankroll of about 100 times your large bet, minimum several thousand dollars. Like poker you can't bet effectively at BJ if you bet fearfully.
You will note that all my BJ observations are based on live casino play. Simply put, I don't trust online blackjack. It is well known that cheating software exists, normal software with a 'cheat mode' exists, and (most important) an online casino has a motivation to cheat that an online poker room does not. If you choose to ignore this peril and play online anyway, I suggest you visit the wizardofodds.com and review his blackjack section and his blacklist of online casinos. Another valuble resource online is a blackjack site similer to this, called Greenchip. It is hosted by Sanford Wong, who is to the blackjack community what Sklansky et el are to the poker world.
The achilles heal of BJ is the need to spread bets (small most of the time, huge in rare +EV situations). This makes it obvious that you are counting if someone knows what to look for and cares to watch. Luckily, a shocking number of pit critters seem genuinly clueless. I think they get an hour or two of 'how to spot a counter' in their pit critter training class, and then they forget it. If and when you spread to a big bet and happen to hit hard, you will see it in their eyes as they try to remember the warning signes of cardcounting.
Now, I speak from the perspective of Midwest casinos, not Vegas. LV not only has tougher pits, it is almost completely overrun by 6:5 blackjack, which is unbeatable.
Like poker there are a zillion blackjack books. Be warned, many of the are just flat-out wrong, including such shockingly false logic and math that it is amazing that they got published. I recommend Professional Blackjack by Wong, and the World's Greatest Blackjack book, by Humble & Cooper. If you are considering which counting system to use, I would suggest -
If you have a 10K bankroll and the ability to bet $100 per hand in positive EV situations, KO is an easy and effective counting meathod. There is a book called KO blackjack that teaches this.
If on the other hand, you have a smaller BR and are going to try to make do with something like a $5-$30 bet spread, I suggest Hi-Opt 1, which is found in Humble & Coopers' book. Hi-Opt 1 has a higher degree of playing efficiency (i.e., how to play hands) than most systems, and still has high betting efficiency.
Besides the need for a large BR, the other negatives to blackjack are that it seems to be in it's decline as a beatable game (If 6:5 BJ spreads card counting will be officially dead.), and -
as a blackjack player, you have to act stupid. Many counters enjoy the cat and mouse game with the casino and the subterfuge of blending with the ploppies, but I find it frustrating. If you are at all a social creature with any amount of ego, you will find it trying to spend hour and hour acting like a moron. {ploppy: "that was a bad double, you sure got lucky!" Counter, stifling the urge to explain counting: " . . . yeah, i dunno, just had a feeling . . ."
Poker, I was surprised to learn, is actually more social, because there is no need to act like a bafoon. (On ocassion I have seen a poker player act like a bafoon, and have wondered if it was an act to generate action - but no, they have always turned out to be actual bafoons.)
The downside of poker is that (at least for me) it has a much longer learning curve. Whereas I was able to learn counting and play profitable BJ quickly, I have endured a long learning process with poker. I recommend starting at a site like Pokerstars that has games you can play for bets like two cents or five cents. Expect to lose at first. After several months of playing 20-30 hours per week mostly online, I am only now slightly profitable.
Blackjack is good training for poker, because successful blackjack depends on the discipline to do the mathmatically correct play even when it is scary or counterintuitive. I think that lack of discipline in this regard is the primary cause of losing at blackjack and poker.
Another lesson I learned the hard way is to avoid tournaments if you want to make money. what is your objective? If you want to a high chance to make a moderate amount of money, play a regular game. If you want a slim chance to make big payday (and drain your BR until you do) play tournaments.
Hope some of this might be helpful & good luck.
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