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Archive for April 15th, 2009
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On April - 15 - 2009
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Is Card Counting illegal?
On April - 15 - 2009
IS IT ILLEGAL ?
No. as long as you are using only your brain to count cards as opposed to a computer device) then it is legal. Then how the casino have the authority to kick you out? In Nevada, it is because the casino in on private property and they have the right to ask anyone to leave for any reason. If you count cards and the casino kicks you out and then you return, they can arrest you for tresspassing. Although some people think this is discrimination, it doesn’t meet the legal definition of discrimination because card counters are not members of a classification that is covered by discrimination laws, as defined by the Supreme Court. In Atlantic City the laws state that card counting is allowed. But in response to that rule, the casinos have made the game tougher to beat. They do this several ways: using 8 deck shoes, having lower deck penetration, prohibiting mid-shoe entry (and therefore cutting down on the number of players who sit down only when the count is good).
CAN THEY “BACKROOM” YOU?
Backrooming” is a term used to describe the process in which the casino takes you into their backroom in order to ask for your ID, take your picture, and lecture you (in the OLD days they might even rough you up). Under the laws of most states, it is illegal for a business establishment to detain a person, unless the customer has committed a crime and the business is holding the person while awaiting the arrival of police. So they can detain you if you are cheating (by using a mini computer, etc) but not for card counting.
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Card Counting History
On April - 15 - 2009
Ed Thorp is often credited as the Godfather of card counting, and in many ways, he is the originator of what you might consider “modern” methods of counting cards. But Ed Thorp did not invent card counting, and he was not the first blackjack player to count cards in an attempt to get an advantage over the house.
Playing Blackjack to Win
In 1957, Playing Blackjack to Win was published. The book is important because it’s the first published book about how to count cards in blackjack, five years before the famous Beat the Dealer by Ed Thorp. The book had a small print run and offered sixteen recommended strategy adjustments based on which cards had been exposed. The card counting method recommended in this book was a crude one and didn’t increase the player’s edge to a positive expectation, since it didn’t include a recommendation to vary bet sizes based on the count.
Other Pre-Thorp Card Counters
Ed Thorp himself mentions multiple gambling “characters” with different systems for beating blackjack, some of whom used crude systems for counting cards. With colorful names like “System Smitty” and “Greasy John”, these card counters’ specific methods are lost to history, since Thorp doesn’t go into great detail in Beat the Dealer regarding how they played, other than pointing out that they had a good approximate basic strategy and that Smitty was a progressive bettor.
Jess Marcum, a nuclear physicist for the Rand Corporation was a professional gambler who had figured out how to count cards as early as 1949, and who quit his job with the Rand Corporation in the 1950′s to become a professional gambler and blackjack player.
Harold Smith Sr., the author of I Want to Quit Winners, also counted cards, and preferred to bet bigger when the deck was rich in aces. Smith’s book was published in 1961, a year prior to the publication of Beat the Dealer. (Smith owned and operated a casino in Reno called Smith’s Club in the 1930′s.)
Edward Thorp’s Beat the Dealer
But Thorp’s book, Beat the Dealer, really was the first mathematically proven system for beating blackjack to become available, and he and his book almost single-handedly are responsible for a small cottage industry of professional gamblers today. Thorp became an overnight celebrity and put the fear of card counters into the hearts of casino owners for good. Thorp wasn’t always well-respected and legendary though; he was the subject of much derision and skepticism after the publication of Beat the Dealer.
You can read more about the history of card counting in part two, Edward Thorp versus John Scarne.
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Card Counting Explained
On April - 15 - 2009
What makes blackjack different from any other casino game is that the house edge is not fixed. Your probability of winning a hand is dependent upon the variety of the cards remaining to be dealt. If the deck contains high cards it favours the player. If the deck contains low cards it favours the dealer. Players can get the edge at Blackjack by using card counting. Card counting does not involve memorizing each card that is dealt from the deck. Instead the use a system to determine the ratio of high cards to low cards remaining in the deck. One of the most popular card methods is the Hi/Lo system which assigns a point value to each type of card in the deck.
Point Values
The Low cards: two, three, four, five and six are assigned a value of plus one. These low cards are valuable to the dealer who must take a hit if the total of their hand is under 17. They are less likely to bust if the deck had more low cards in it.
The High cards:Ten, Jack, Queen, King and Ace are assigned value of minus one. These high cards favor the player When the deck contains a large number of tens and aces it increases the players chances of drawing a pat hand (17 or higher) or getting a natural blackjack. A deck containing high cards also increases the probability of the dealer busting if they must take a hit.
The Neutral cards: seven, eight and nine have no value and are not counted. If you count 52 card deck using these values the total will be zero. There are an equal number of high and low cards and this is why the Hi Lo system is known as a balanced system.
The first step in learning card counting is to get familiar with the point values of each card. Get a deck of cards and turn them over one at a time while reciting their value. Here is an easy tip to speed things up: Instead of saying “plus one” for low cards, just say, “One” and instead of saying, “Minus one.” for high cards, say, “M-one.” You don’t have to say anything for the neutral cards.
For example you deal:
King (M-one)
9 (say nothing)
6 (one)
The Running Count
Once you have practiced the point values it is time to start keeping the Running Count for the whole deck. This time you will add and subtract the cards as you go along. For example:
1st card = King. The count is: M-one.
2nd card= Ace. The count is: M-two.
3rd card = 9. The count is still: M-two.
4th card = 10. The count is: M-three.
5th card =5. The count is: M-two.
6th card = 4. The count is M-one.
7th card = 3. The is: Even (You don’t have to see anything.)
8th card = 6. The count is One.
9th card = 8. The count is still: One
When you first start out you should not worry about speed. It will be pretty slow but you should be more concerned with your accuracy. After counting down few hundred decks of cards your speed will increase. A good counter can count a deck in about 20 seconds. As you get faster, turn on some loud music or the television to create some distractions. The downfall of many card counters has been getting distracted in a noisy casino because the practiced in a quiet setting.
The True Count
When you use the Hi Lo system you have to convert the running count into the True count to get a more accurate estimation whether or not you have an advantage. You do this by dividing the running count by the remainder cards yet to be dealt. These days you won’t find many single deck games if any and all, so you will be playing multiple deck games. These can range from two deck to eight decks so you will have to adjust a running count by the number of decks left to be played in order to determine the makeup of the deck.
For example: if you are playing a single deck game and nine low cards came out the deck would definitely be a positive however in a six deck game it would be less because there are still five and ½ decks left to be dealt.
Many players use the half deck estimations for the remaining cards. When you are starting out you can use full decks for your calculations. The way you determine how many decks have been dealt is to look at the discard tray on the table. You will have to practice by getting several decks of cards and piling them on top of each other one deck at a time until you are confident that you can determine the cards in the discard tray. Once you know how many decks have been played you subtract this from the number of deck you started with and you know the number of decks remaining. This is the figure will use to convert the running count to the true count. Here is an example for a six deck game.
You have determined that the running count is 12. You look at that discard tray and see that three decks have been played which means that there are still three deck remaining. You divide the running count of 12 by 3 and you get a true count of four.
Betting
The way you get your advantage with car counting is by betting more when the count is positive and betting the minimum when it is negative. You determine the size of your bets by the true count. Each bet is a unit and it is determined by the size of your base bet. If you were playing at a $5 table one unit would be $5. If you are playing at a $25 table one unit would be $25. The amount of units you bet from minimum to maximum is known as the spread.
When you play a double deck game you can get the advantage by spreading your bets from on unit to six. In a six or eight deck game you will have to spread from one to 12 units. The chart below shows you bet based on the true count.
Spread Based on Count
True Count 2 Decks 6 Decks
0 or less 1 unit 1 unit
+1 2 units 2 units
+2 3 units 4 units
+3 4 units 8 units
+4 5 units 10 units
+5 or more 6 units 12 units
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