Do Casinos Beat Up Card Counters
Casinos do not like card counters, not one bit. The casinos make every effort to identify and punish blackjack card counters. You might not go to jail for counting cards, but you can be banned from ever entering the casino again and suffer the embarrassment that comes from being kicked out. Click here to read more about it. You should walk into the casino knowing how you are going to play every possible hand and do not deviate from it. No hunches, no hesitations, etc. Play like a machine. There are three things needed to beat the house in the long run: 1. You must be a skilled player with an effective card counting strategy. You can't beat the house with your cards. West Ham United beat Fulham 1-0 at home earlier this season. Fulham have won 3 and lost 4 of their last 7 games at home against West Ham United. The last time they met here ended in a 0-2 win for The Hammers in December 2018.
Card counting is a very popular concept in blackjack and poker, though many new players have a lot of misconceptions about card counting that need to be cleared up. The biggest question, of course, is whether or not it works – and whether or not it’s worth taking the time to learn.
Essentially, card counting is a strategy that involves players keeping mental track of the cards that are played during a card game like blackjack or poker. It’s been used by a variety of professionals such as Blair Hull and Ed Thorp. And while card counting clearly requires a very sharp memory and a quick eye, can it actually work?
Card Counting Success Stories
There are a lot of reasons most players shy away from card counting, but it can work if you really take the time to master it. Here are some success stories of players that made out like bandits by counting cards.
Josh Axelrad
Josh Axelrad was on a blackjack team in Las Vegas. He learned the art of card counting and helped his team win hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 2010, he wrote the book Repeat Until Rich: A Professional Card Counter’s Chronicle of the Blackjack Wars, which teaches other players the fundamentals.
MIT Blackjack Team
The MIT Blackjack Team was a group of current students and graduates of MIT, Harvard, and other Ivy League universities who used card counting techniques to successfully play in casinos from 1979 to the early 2000s. The players invested a lot of time into learning the basics of card counting. Five years after the team was founded, the players had earned over a third of a million dollars. They actually stored their winnings in garbage bags while traveling on public transportation to avoid attracting muggers.
Jeff Haney
Jeff Haney was a popular card counter in the early 21st century. He was invited to a number of special events for high rolling blackjack players due to his success. His escapades are documented in a number of journals on the Las Vegas Sun website.
Challenges of Card Counting
Every player would love to know what cards the dealer is holding. That would reverse any edge casinos had over their players. Unfortunately, card counting isn’t nearly as easy as it appears at first glance. Here are some challenges that you need to be aware of:
Getting Banned if You’re Caught
Many people believe that card counting is cheating and therefore, illegal. This isn’t the case. Card counting is a skill that few people can master, and criminalizing it would essentially make it illegal to think while playing (not a very reasonable expectation).
Casinos don’t necessarily care if you try counting cards either. However, they do care if you are successful at it. Talented card counters won’t be arrested, but they can be promptly banned from the casino after the house catches on. Players need to switch tables and casinos frequently if they don’t want to get banned.
Not Practical Online
Card counting can be a good strategy to follow at a traditional casino, especially for games with four or fewer decks. However, it isn’t possible online, because the casino automatically reshuffles the deck after every hand. You’re better off taking advantage of great bonuses and following the basic rules of thumb to maximize your odds of winning.
Dealing with Multiple Decks
Card counting is difficult enough when you’re playing with a single deck. It is exponentially harder if you are playing with multiple decks. Since most casinos use four to eight decks for blackjack, keeping track of cards can be extraordinarily difficult.
Different Types of Blackjack Can Limit Effectiveness of Card Counting
Even if you can master card counting with traditional blackjack, that doesn’t mean you will be able to do it successfully with other variants of the game.
For example, card counting may not be as effective if you are playing Spanish 21 blackjack, since players have a number of unique options (like being able to split up to four hands and trying to match the dealer). Other strategies may prove to be more effective, which is why few card counters consider playing Spanish 21. It could still work with a smaller deck, but it’s not usually recommended for new card counters.
What is the Best Card Counting System?
There are a few different systems for counting cards. One of the systems that is easiest to pick up on is known as the Hi-Lo Count. The Wizard of Odds provided a great tutorial on it. Here’s a quick overview:
The goal of the Hi-Lo Count approach is calculate a variable called the “true count.” Your true count is a guide to help you adjust your bets. Here are the steps to calculate it:
*You start off with a running count, which is initially set at 0.
*Every time a new card is played by the dealer, you need to adjust it incrementally. If the new card is anything from a 2 to a 6, then you add one to your true count total. If it is a 10 or a face card, then you subtract one from your total. Other cards don’t have an impact on it.
*Divide your running count by the number of decks in play.
You’ll want to raise your bet as your true count increases. How much should you raise it by? It’s pretty subjective. A lot of classic books on card counting have some very strict formulas for it, but you should probably refrain from using them. Casino managers are familiar with them and can catch on quickly if you’re using a common card counting practice. You’re better off finding your own method and sticking to it.
Have you had any luck with card counting? Feel free to share your thoughts below!
Do Casinos Beat Up Card Counters
If you want to become a blackjack card counter, you’re going to need to know how casinos spot card counters. It’s not illegal to play perfect blackjack strategy. It’s not even illegal to count cards when your play blackjack. But the casino has the right to refuse service to anyone, including gamblers who count cards. The trick is to keep the casino staff from noticing your tactics.
The big downside of being caught counting cards is being placed on a list that will bar you from playing in that casino ever again. Yes, there really is a nationwide database of suspected card counters.
Here’s a look at how blackjack dealers, casino staff, pit bosses, casino security, and gaming managers spot card counters.
Changing Bet Levels
Do Casinos Beat Up Card Counters Go
The best way to get busted by casino management for card counting is to alter your bets after a lot of low cards come out of the deck. If a ton of low cards are dealt in a row, your chances of seeing cards worth 10 or 11 become much higher. If you start betting 5 or 10 times your normal wager amount after this streak, you’re going to stand out to the casino as a card counter. Card counters make their money by figuring out when the odds are in their favor and making big changes to their bet size based on that advantage.
Many casinos have a system that scans all the cards dealt from their blackjack shoes automatically, meaning the casino maintains its own running card count. If you’re a blackjack player who is consistently betting smaller amounts when the deck is cold and larger amounts when the deck heats up, you will most likely be asked to leave the casino or switch games to something like a slot machine that is based on luck rather than skill.
Facial Recognition – Spotting Card Counters
Casinos now use facial recognition programs built into their surveillance camera equipment to look for known card cheats. When you walk in these casinos, your face will be compared to the faces of card cheats in a large database. If you match, you’ll probably be asked to leave.
Gambling Chips and Computer Chips
Facial recognition is not the end of the technological aspect of catching card counters. The latest in anti-card counting technology is a set of special intelligent blackjack chips that track your bets automatically.
Obvious Card Counting Behavior
You can be the best card counter in the world, but if you don’t use subterfuge, you’ll get busted every time. Counting cards is about more than tracking specific cards and keeping a running count. Part of the trick of card counting is to maintain the count in your head while blending into the casino environment. This isn’t as easy as it sounds, because the average gambler is likely to want to talk to their neighbor or the dealer every once in a while. Any type of distraction can blow the count, so you have to be able to walk and chew bubble gum at the same time.
Card Counting Teams
Some card counters might try to do like you’ve seen in the movies: team up with other card counters to distract casino management and improve the counting technique.
Each member of the team has their job, from the back-spotter and the spotter to the gorilla, each with their own distinct role. With one or two people watching the tables and finding hot shoes, and one or two moving in and betting big when the table is hot, you can hardly go wrong. But the problem comes with signaling. There’s really no good way of sending signals that isn’t obvious.
Being seen together at different casinos is another great way to get busted teaming on a casino. Blackjack teaming may work for a while, but like in the famous Kevin Spacey MIT blackjack team movie, you’ll probably end up with broken thumbs.
How Casinos Deal with Card Counters
Casinos have a number of ways they deal with card counters. The obvious one is what I mentioned before: ask them to leave the casino or stop playing blackjack. But if you’re card counting, the casino might take less extreme methods, just in case.
One method is to have the dealer engage in conversation with you, to distract you from your count. Another tactic is to send an employee of the casino (who isn’t the dealer) to start a conversation with you. Some casinos have been so aggressive at this that laws have been passed to keep it from happening—not in America, though. So if you’re a card counter, you can expect a visit from casino management or security. And they’re going to want to talk your ear off.
Anti-Card Counting Measures
The most common way to deal with card counters is to increase the number of decks in the blackjack shoe. Casinos have between 1 and 8 decks in the shoe, though 4-6 is more common than 1 or 8.
Another method is to shuffle the deck more often. Casinos might have a policy where they reshuffle the deck every so often, or when the card count gets to a certain point. But frequent shuffling means the table deals out fewer hands in an hour. Since most players at a blackjack table are not card counters (and therefore play at a disadvantage), fewer hands means less profit for the casino. Some casinos place tables with only 6 spots for players, instead of the traditional 7 player spots. Again, this has the obvious drawback of less players playing and therefore fewer profits, though it does lower the advantage of the card counter by about one-half of one percent.