Blackjack's Striking It Rich With A Rich Deck

It's the dinner hour at one of the larger Atlantic City casinos. Throngs of people are crowding the restaurants, leaving a number of vacant seats at the blackjack tables. A distinguished-looking man, conservatively dressed in suit and tie, enters and casually strolls around the $25 tables. Singling one out, he sits down and makes a $100 bet.

He is dealt a twenty, with the dealer showing a four. After the other players complete their hands, the dealer turns over a nine, hits with another nine, and breaks. The gentleman is paid off and leaves the entire $200 in his betting circle. Now he is dealt an eleven, the dealer shows a ten. Coolly he bets a second $200 on the hand and draws one more card, a ten for a perfect twenty-one. The dealer turns over a ten for a total of twenty. Our player calmly picks up his chips and leaves the table, the pit, and the casino $500 richer. He doesn't even bother to cash in.

That was a card counter in action. While strolling he was carefully watching for beginning games, timing his arrival at the table so he could scan the exposed initial cards, searching for a favorable count. As soon as the count dropped, he left. Although he wins only about half of his hands, his pattern of playing only when the deck is positive together with bet variation gives him a considerable edge.

Now let us look at another card counter in another Atlantic City casino. Also picking a time when he can play at uncrowded tables, he follows a similar pattern. Chips flow back and forth across the table as the player's stack fluctuates between fifteen and twenty-five green ($25) chips. Making minimum bets, he's waiting for a hot deck, rich in tens and aces. He gets it. Raising his bet to $100, he draws a thirteen against a dealer two. He stands. The dealer flips over a ten and hits his hand with a breaking ten. Our player smiles. More hands are played and he is winning consistently, making all the right decisions, doubling down when he is supposed to, and splitting pairs when it is to his advantage. After only thirty minutes of play, he is $1,000 ahead. He stays.

Now the villain enters "the pit boss". His job is to keep an eye on six to eight games and make sure everything is going smoothly. If there is a dispute, he settles it. He also watches for counters. Spotting our player early in his session, he waits for the evidence to build up, noticing the precision play, splitting a pair of tens against a six for example, and pulling a ten to each hand. The verdict is in and the heat is on. Whispering instructions in the dealer's ear, the pit boss is watching the counter like a hawk. When our player increases his bet from $50 to $400 to take advantage of a very favorable count, the boss moves in for the kill. Flanked by two security guards who read the counter his rights, he asks the player to take his business elsewhere, advising him that from this point on, he will not be allowed to play blackjack in this casino. And so ends another battle in a war that started in Las Vegas twenty years ago.