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I have but it's been about 10 years. The key to tournaments is to remember you are trying to win more than the other players at the table. So it's all about sizing your bets in relation to the other players. There's a good book about it that I read. I think it's called Play to Win by Ken Einiger.

Play To Win

Glad you had a good first experience; surprisingly at the sweatiest double deck game on the strip at Treasure Island =).

If you are in for the long haul EV; I would urge you to continue to practice your counting, indexes, cover betting, and then do some EV simulation with your particular table rules, bet spread, bankroll size, etc. Knowing the math will help you understand how you are doing, and guage your expectations better.

The biggest thing every card counter needs to come to terms with is the alarming swings of variance inherent to the game. You need to know intimately the expectation, risk of ruin, etc for your game; particularly when you begin to have losing sessions, and they will frequently and absolutely occur should you log enough hours. It took me awhile to not feel the pain of losing many max bets in row. Now I am confident enough in my skills and the math that I just measure how i'm doing relative to the EV I have simmed out ahead of time. Luckily for the past few months I have been far above expectation, even with a nasty 175 unit negative swing recently.

As an additional bit of information. I don't know the state of your bankroll etc but I would strongly urge against logging many hours of Vegas Strip Double Deck games. These tables are absolutely easy counter traps, and even at the green chip level it doesn't take much to get the Eye of Sauron on you and the push-back even with a bare minimum 1-4 unit spread. http://www.amazon.com/Burning-Tables-Las-Vegas-Andersen-ebook/dp/B005LW1XQ2 is good knowledge to have for counters, but his advice is green-chip play is very dated. They very much watch green chip play very closely in vegas these days, particularly so at DD games.

If you've only got a week of prep time, you're probably not trying to count cards or do any other kind of advantage play. So this is narrowed down to needing to know two things - where to get a table with fair/favorable rules, and the basic strategy for the rulesets you'll be playing under.

This link will cover much of the first part. It's taken from the CBJN, but omits all of the info that's specific to card counters, leaving just the Vegas section and just the rules for those casinos.

As a casual player, I would recommend trying to find the lowest minimum table that still ofers things like the dealer stands on soft 17, double down on any two cards including after split, etc. Use the rules that are state law in Pennsylvania as a guideline on what should be acceptable (for reference, those are blackjack pays 3 to 2, dealer must stand on soft 17, double on any 2 cards, double after split, split to 3 hands (except no resplitting aces), late surrender available.) This results in a house edge at roughly 0.36%; if you find better at a place near you, great.

I would bring no less than four strategy cards with you - one for multi-deck (4 or more decks) where the dealer stands on soft 17, one for multi-deck where the dealer hits on soft 17, and one two-deck games for each of those. Really, I'd just buy this or print your own from any site that allows that. You're probably not going to get good quality single deck unless you're going to the El Cortez anyway.

Some casinos will ask you to not display it on the table, but you are always allowed to reference it, if you have it.
I recommend this as the most comprehensive set of cards out there (but then again I might be a little biased):
https://www.amazon.com/DON-SCHLESINGERS-BLACKJACK-STRATEGY-CARD/dp/B00KNBDQM0

However, the best strategy is to practice until you don't need the cards anymore!

The book I learned from is Blackjack: the basic strategy book “1001 problems and drills” on amazon. It’s all visual so it’s really good for beginner for next level. Good luck.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1496110196/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1526010181&sr=8-6&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=blackjack+book&dpPl=1&dpID=41ysQW1CLnL&ref=plSrch

yes I recommend you purchase my e-book on blackjack :

https://www.amazon.com/Win-at-Blackjack-Hi-Lo-System-ebook/dp/B01MEDJ2D3

with important information including how to learn how to count cards, index plays for various rule sets, how to size your bets appropriately, some info on a few different locations and much more. all for only $3!

this is a good introductory book on the subject that will teach you how to be a consistent winner

"Blackjack Attack Playing the Pro's Way" by Don Schlesinger could easily be retitled "How Much Should I Bet" or you could use Casino Verite Software to arrive at optimal bet spreads.

this book is the best resource I have found for learning how to count

I apologize for being so ‘secretive’ - it is really just shyness and being unsure of the forum rules. I really want to help as many players as possible though, that’s why I wrote the book. https://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Blackjack-Strategy-Basic-Made/dp/1533147744/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Perfect+blackjack&qid=1555595731&s=gateway&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/Blackjack-Blood-Card-Counters-Complete-Winning/dp/0935926232/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478931630&sr=8-1&keywords=blackjack+for+blood

and wizardofodds.com

https://www.amazon.com/Comp-City-Casino-Vacations-Second/dp/0929712366