Fake. Counting cards (in blackjack) isn’t a good way to make money. It involves large changes in your bet size that make it extremely obvious. If you’re bad at it, places will let you do it while you lose money. If you’re actually good at it (he’s not), they’ll kick you out. It’s an obvious thing that places don’t put up with if you’re winning.
A shoe is several decks shuffled together. Usually they’ll go though less then half the shoe before shuffling and starting over, making your counting much less effective.
It’s absolutely possible to make good money counting cards. There’s a great series by Steven Bridges on YouTube where he goes through the process of counting cards in action, in several different casinos in different states and countries, both alone and with team-play.
No it doesn’t involve abnormal shifts in betting. Only idiots would move from $5 directly to $100 per hand. Average gamblers start small and get excited too.
If you do it slowly, starting at the minimum and getting “excited” when the deck is rich in tens, no one will notice or care. Play $5 to $50 and order a drink.
The average card counter is a young single dude in a baseball cap drinking a water. Wear a fun outfit, get a free drink, and talk to the dealer. No one will notice.
And yes, you can count a shoe. You just need to find a dealer that deals about 70% of the cards.
While the profits rolled in, so did the “heat” from the casinos, and many MIT Team members were identified and barred. These members were replaced by fresh players from MIT, Harvard, and other colleges and companies, and play continued. Eventually, investigators hired by casinos realized that many of those they had banned had addresses in or near Cambridge, and the connection to MIT and a formalized team became clear. The detectives obtained copies of recent MIT yearbooks and added photographs from it to their image database
So? I was replying to a comment that said it wasn’t a good way to make money. I gave an example of a group using it to make money for 20yrs. I’d argue that that proves it can be a good way to make money.
It 100% is still a good way to make money. It’s harder than it was, but I guarantee there’s card counters out there clearing heaps of cash each year. I know someone who makes good money doing it here in Australia (he used to be a top ranked poker player but picked up blackjack cos the money is easier. Ie, he doesn’t have to sit at the table as long to make his wad). And I just googled, and there is a shitload of people still saying it’s viable, many of them well known in the field. It’s not even hard to do right either, those big bet swings you talked about? Yeah, you do them your first week of learning to count before you wise up…
Because it isn’t sportsmanship that they’re interested in it’s getting all your cash. They don’t give a damn about the integrity of the game or anything like that.
Fake. Counting cards (in blackjack) isn’t a good way to make money. It involves large changes in your bet size that make it extremely obvious. If you’re bad at it, places will let you do it while you lose money. If you’re actually good at it (he’s not), they’ll kick you out. It’s an obvious thing that places don’t put up with if you’re winning.
Op is counting 52 cards in a basement game, he’s found his calling, until he encounters a shoe
Or worse.
For his sake, I hope he takes his winnings so far and walks.
Clowning on a bunch of underground gambling rings is a good way to end up on a lot of shitlists of a lot of less than scrupulous people.
I assume you aren’t talking of a literal shoe?
A shoe is several decks shuffled together. Usually they’ll go though less then half the shoe before shuffling and starting over, making your counting much less effective.
It’s really hard to do in casinos too. They often use something like six decks and shuffle well before they’re through it.
It’s not impossible to count a standard 6 or 8 deck but with dealers moving at 90mph it’s fuckin hard
It’s absolutely possible to make good money counting cards. There’s a great series by Steven Bridges on YouTube where he goes through the process of counting cards in action, in several different casinos in different states and countries, both alone and with team-play.
Oh, it’s on youtube? Must be true then!
Literally has videos on his channel of him card counting and winning big. Consistently.
No it doesn’t involve abnormal shifts in betting. Only idiots would move from $5 directly to $100 per hand. Average gamblers start small and get excited too.
If you do it slowly, starting at the minimum and getting “excited” when the deck is rich in tens, no one will notice or care. Play $5 to $50 and order a drink.
The average card counter is a young single dude in a baseball cap drinking a water. Wear a fun outfit, get a free drink, and talk to the dealer. No one will notice.
And yes, you can count a shoe. You just need to find a dealer that deals about 70% of the cards.
This group was pretty successful at it.
I mean. Temporarily.
I’d argue that getting away with it for 20yrs means they were still pretty successful.
In the OP implies this wasn’t twenty years ago.
So? I was replying to a comment that said it wasn’t a good way to make money. I gave an example of a group using it to make money for 20yrs. I’d argue that that proves it can be a good way to make money.
Oh, I meant it’s not a good way to make money now. I wasn’t speaking for 1990.
It 100% is still a good way to make money. It’s harder than it was, but I guarantee there’s card counters out there clearing heaps of cash each year. I know someone who makes good money doing it here in Australia (he used to be a top ranked poker player but picked up blackjack cos the money is easier. Ie, he doesn’t have to sit at the table as long to make his wad). And I just googled, and there is a shitload of people still saying it’s viable, many of them well known in the field. It’s not even hard to do right either, those big bet swings you talked about? Yeah, you do them your first week of learning to count before you wise up…
Lol if there’s one thing the police are needed for it’s protecting capital
Edit: looks like they were private dicks, carry on
Can’t be the police, card counting isn’t actually illegal, they literally have no jurisdiction unless you refuse to leave the premises etc.
I never understood why this isn’t allowed. Just seems like getting good at the game to me
Because it isn’t sportsmanship that they’re interested in it’s getting all your cash. They don’t give a damn about the integrity of the game or anything like that.
Card games basically don’t have integrity.
Because the whole point of a casino is to take your money.