Originally Posted by
Rounder
I know Colin and the church team swore by the SoCal joints and KC reported to win big in the region in "Inside the Edge".
Of course, you think all of these people are frauds, so...
Rounder are you a disciple of Colin Jones and BJ apprentice? I am not a fan, because I don't like the idea of churning out BJ card counters for a profit. And these new players usually have just enough knowledge to fail.
Wikipedia, and we all know what a reliable source that is (if these numbers are way off Colin could have changed them), says the Church Team operated for 6 years from 2006 through 2011 and won 3.2 million dollars in that time. They also had 15 members at any given time. A little grade school division puts that at 35,555 per player per year. Except there were investors that had to be paid first. So it doesn't seem like a great deal of money, when you divide it all out. Now people that run the team like Colin, and I presume were investors as well, made more, but still it just isn't a great deal of money when divided by that many people.
And for this money, they burned out their names and faces (not to mention games) everywhere, to the point that they now run boot camps and write books.
Plus I always felt the whole concept of the church team was about making the movie more than anything. I think they though it a cool idea a group of supposedly religious players winning money from the casinos, hence the names "The Church Team" and "Holy Rollers".
K.C. I have a little more respect for. At least he played solo and made a million or so for burning out his name and face.
As, you may or may not know, I have taken a different approach to card counting based on longevity. I have identified and play (betting) levels and a style (short sessions to minimize bigger wins in one place that have to be answered for) that has allowed me to play my home base rotation since I relocated to Las Vegas in late 2009. As a player who has opted for longevity and playing limits and style well tolerated, I guess I am just not a big fan of these guys that did the "slash and burn" thing" for a few years. I think they made it worse for the rest of us.
As for Zenking: I don't know that the problem is any of the A, B or C that you listed. I believe ZenKing is a good card counter, but he never learned the normal variance associated with blackjack card counting, nor how to deal with it. Thus, when he is running bad, he screams that everyone is cheating him and when he is running good, tells us he is the "Greatest card counter ever", able to still win, despite being cheated.