Blackjack player beats 3 Atlantic City Casinos for $15.1M
- Thread starter pcp198
- Start date
Yeap and it is NOT illegal in New Jersey. One of the famous blackjack players took the casinos to court and won.
Actually, it is not illegal in Vegas either, but they can refuse you service based on pretty much anything, so if they notice you counting, they can ban you. But I don't think there is a Nevada court ruling on it...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_counting#Legal_status
"In the United States, card counting without an outside device is completely legal. Casinos believe they avoid losing money by preventing card counters from playing."
"In Las Vegas, casinos are allowed to do this because the casino is private property, and the owner can decide who is allowed to enter."
"Ken Uston, one of the most widely known card counters, took the Atlantic City casinos to court in the case of Uston v. Resorts International where he achieved victory as the court ruled that casinos could not ban skilled players. But this did prompt the casinos to start taking measures to hinder card counters."
Thanks for the additional colour, Nick. This particular notion seems quite plausible, though of course it doesn't fit well with the CEO's replacement. Doesn't Icahn's invitation to Johnson to return suggest that they've isolated the reason for his success? (They had VT to rerun and analyse, I presume?)
Your preferred hypothesis is a good candidate but requires us to have more info on his betting patterns and bankroll fluctuations. Surely there must have been some casino worker gossip to shed a little light on this?
On a side note, I saw on your website that you refer to Ace Tracking as another name for Shuffle Tracking. Back in the day when I was playing mostly in Europe for a team, these were two distinctly separate strategies: Ace Tracking was purely memory-based, as you describe, whereas ST demanded a detailed running count.
I can intuitively count cards. Specifically, under ordinary circumstances, you expect "10 cards" to come up 4 times out of 13, which is....ummm...about 30% of the time. But sometimes I can just feel that they are coming up way more often, or way less often without conciously counting them. When that happens, I adjust my strategy accordingly. Seems to put the odds in my favor. I don't live near a casino, so I seldom get to play, but I always do well. Does anyone else do this? Sort of "feel" whether there is a drought of 10s or a flood of 10s without counting them?
SM
SM
When I was counting cards, I once knew a 3 was coming when I had a 17. I hit on a 17, and before they let the card come, the dealer cleared it with his pit boss or whoever it is that is higher than him. A 3 came, and I won the hand. I felt the 3 was going to come this was not from counting.
Once I was counting cards, and a manager came a took me to another table. This could have also been how I was betting. I was betting cash not chips, playing $ 100 bills.
By the way, its very easy to count cards, and I was using the same system as that movie 21 a long time before it came out. That system was published in a book on how to count cards a long time before the movie.
What's funny is that the movie seemed to claim you had to be a MIT math genius to count cards, which is silly. Maybe you had to be a genius to figure out the original system and make money off of it.
I always thought it was strange when I was at a table and I was the only one counting cards, yes many were using the basic system which says don't hit on a 15, but they did not alternate their bets in order to bet more when the count was favorable.
Once I was counting cards, and a manager came a took me to another table. This could have also been how I was betting. I was betting cash not chips, playing $ 100 bills.
By the way, its very easy to count cards, and I was using the same system as that movie 21 a long time before it came out. That system was published in a book on how to count cards a long time before the movie.
What's funny is that the movie seemed to claim you had to be a MIT math genius to count cards, which is silly. Maybe you had to be a genius to figure out the original system and make money off of it.
I always thought it was strange when I was at a table and I was the only one counting cards, yes many were using the basic system which says don't hit on a 15, but they did not alternate their bets in order to bet more when the count was favorable.
I don't see where the opportunity to count card lies. At least here in Canada we use about 5 decks all mixed together. The cards are never seen while being shuffled. maybe you can catch a glimpse, but the cards are probably moving at a faster pace then our brain can see.
I once caused a table to be closed due to my betting strategy, It was very simple, added with the basics of when to hit or stay it was surprisingly consistent for 2 nights.
I once caused a table to be closed due to my betting strategy, It was very simple, added with the basics of when to hit or stay it was surprisingly consistent for 2 nights.
stock777.. good to see others that agree he is skilled player & not about the fact he was only lucky. i never heard of any players being this lucky . people seem to think its card counting. martindale betting . etc. who knows? maybe a combination of everything. but betting at his level it did not matter since he asked the casino for allowances to bet high dollar amounts. he is a skilled agressive player that knows how to walk when he wins. that takes discipline not to give it all back regardless the amount of money being risked. The key problem that many gamblers or traders have is the emotional attatchment to money. the pros know how to manage risk & follow their gameplan to be profitable.
While intriguing, and of course you get bonus points for the Stu Ungar reference, this doesn't seem applicable. Even Ungar was unable to overcome a narrow min-max bet spread. He tried several times. His memory made him a sure winner at normal AC rules & stakes, but he didn't have any luck as a high roller either there or in Vegas simply because he couldn't vary his bet enough to make use of what he knew about the deck contents.
Random trivia: it was only a 3-deck shoe, not six decks. Still insanely impressive.
many people that play balckjack do not know perfect basic strategy or have of a understanding of proper bet sizing or risk mangement. most are dumb players that do not understand important aspects to play the game properly. The casino is threatened by any sharp players especially ones that are proficient in card counting. the idea of card counting is to adjust your basic strategy according to the flow of cards being dealt. what many people do is adjust their bet size drastically bringing attention to themsleves which is a dumb move. their needs to be a balance of bet size with counting to blend in & not bring attention that your a smart player. the casino rather have dumb players win at times then lose to any skilled player because they know they give up the house edge & they don't like that. only in blackjack. their are so many poor bj players out their that any skilled player sticks out like a sore thumb. better to act dumb but play smart to beat them at their own game. take the money & run.