Quit Your Job & Play Blackjack? II

The dips always seemed to come when rent was due. I have slept in the back seat of my car. I have eaten at Mr. Sy's (a former Las Vegas casino that served a free scrambled-eggs breakfast to anyone). It is not easy to live on your winnings when you are not winning. It is not uncommon to lose half your money in two days. Of course, if you keep playing, you will eventually get it back — providing you play a winning game. It helps a lot if you can circumvent living expenses.

My personal recommendation for those who want to quit working and play blackjack is this: Keep working and playing blackjack in your spare time until you have $10,000 plus enough to live on for three months. If after three months, your bankroll is less than $10,000, you should quit playing blackjack. If you have won enough to set aside enough for the next three months, you have a handle on the game and should keep playing and making improvements in your game. Also, you should have a few months' experience before you attempt even this. Do not come running to Las Vegas with a few hundred dollars and a head full of dreams. You will have to call Mother to wire you the money to get home. You cannot cut it playing red ($5) chips, unless you are very lucky. If you are a good player, you can make a living playing green ($25) chips if you are willing to work for it. When you make it to black ($100) chips, life is easy.
I have never been officially barred. Despite their faults, most pit bosses are tactful. They generally let you know in their own polite way that you are getting there. The heaviest hint is to be comped when you are winning. If the pit boss smiles and says something like, "You look hungry," you are a fool to keep playing. That is why I keep a "cool it" list. When the whole of Las Vegas is on my "cool it" list, I will have a choice: Either move on to new territories or play until everyone says no. I think, at that point, I will move on.
A former pro adds:
I enjoyed reading Peter Giles's article. I too went to Vegas to become a professional blackjack player and did manage to support myself for close to a year by playing nickels ($5 chips). I finally did reach a point where I thought I had it made; enough money to support myself for more than three months, and a playing bankroll sufficient in size to allow me to play two hands at $25 at a 3% advantage. I found that thinking you have it made and actually having it made are a long ways apart as far as playing blackjack goes. I suffered a very severe losing streak and ended up going back to a regular and less risky form of employment to support myself.
I did learn many things from my first attempt as a professional blackjack player (yes, I plan on future attempts), the foremost being that too much playing can be hazardous to your mind. Playing for over nine hours straight one day at the Circus convinced me that there are other ways of "blowing your mind" aside from drugs and alcohol!

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Peter Giles may be interested in an article written about Ken Uston that appeared in the April 16, 1979 issue of Sports Illustrated. One million hands of blackjack were played on a computer and the results showed that it is possible to have a six-month losing streak while playing 30 hours a week! I feel any person who could withstand a streak like that and still keep all his marbles in place should be nominated for sainthood!
Personally, I do not recommend anyone quitting his or her job to become a professional blackjack player. I trunk it makes much more sense to keep blackjack as an occasional activity. I prefer the attitude expressed by another reader:
Vegas still is worth a trip if they do not know your face. I use the method of hit and run, come back much later. I made a year's salary in two and a half weeks there. An Army professional asked my advice on becoming a full-time professional blackjack player. I advised him to stay with his profession and play blackjack just part time. He tried full-time blackjack anyway. A year later I received this letter from him:
Let me tell you how my experiment at full-time blackjack worked out. I left the Army on 1-1-85 and have stayed in the Army Reserves. To date, I have grossed $24,200 playing blackjack this year. I have made eight trips to Las Vegas, three to northern Nevada, three to Atlantic City, and other trips to the Bahamas, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, England, Holland, Korea, and Philippines. Trip expenses have consumed about $10,500.I have been able to hold trip expenses down by taking advantage of free space-available flights on USAF aircraft and getting rooms at military bases.

However, I have gone back to full-time work as of 8 July. Since then I have been playing blackjack part-time. My job is made for blackjack because I am allowed to work "credit hours," and easily can work enough extra hours to have a four-day weekend. That and the judicious use of annual leave give me a full week off every other month, and a four-day weekend the intervening months. I project 12 blackjack trips during 1986, with about 360 hours of blackjack play.

Without doubt, I now agree with your view that part-time play is preferable to full-time. Playing full-time, you simply wear out your welcome at too many places. During 1985 I was barred from El Cortez (again), the Las Vegas Tropicana, Mizpah in Tonopah, Cactus Jack's in Carson City, Comstock in Reno, Curacao Concorde, the Aruba Palm Beach, three illegal casinos in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and the Paradise Beach in Pusan, Korea. It seemed to me that, had I continued playing full-time, I would be blacklisted worldwide in a matter of months. Playing part-time, I think my longev-ity will be much, much greater — perhaps even life-long.
    Ah well, I had enormous fun playing blackjack full-time. If I did not think my full-time play meant my playing days were numbered, I would still be at it.

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