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HOW CARD COUNTING WORKS Card counting is based on the premise that high cards are good for the player while low cards are good for the dealer. High cards are good for the player because they increase the chance of a player getting a "blackjack", which usually pays 3 to 2. Low cards are good for the dealer because they decrease the chance that the dealer will bust. Card counters raise their bets when the ratio of high cards to low cards in the deck is skewed in their favor. They also make strategy adjustments based on the ratio of high cards to low cards. These two adjustments to their playing strategy can give players a mathematical advantage over the house. Contrary to popular image, card counters do not need savant qualities in order to count cards, because they are not tracking and memorizing specific cards. Instead, card counters assign a Heuristic point score to each card in the deck and then tracks the total score. (This score is called the "count".) Different card counting systems assign different point values to various cards, but one of the most common systems, the Hi-Lo Count , is illustrative. In this system, the cards number 2 through 6 are counted as +1 and all tens and aces are counted as -1. The 7, 8, and 9 are given a value of 0. The Hi-Lo system exemplifies a "level one" counting system; other counting systems also assign +2 and -2 values to certain cards and are called "level two" systems. Many card counting experts agree that the additional accuracy derived from a "level two" system is offset by the increased difficulty of keeping count and the greater likelihood of making a mistake. Another commonly used card counting system is the "K-O", which is an example of an unbalanced counting system. The points are the same as the Hi-Lo system with the addition of 7's also being counted as +1. The unbalanced counting system aims to eliminate the need to take into account the effect that multiple decks have on the point count, which is a process of division that many players have trouble with. The "K-O" count was popularized in ''Knock-Out Blackjack'', a book by Ken Fuchs and Olaf Vancura . HISTORY OF BLACKJACK CARD-COUNTING The father of card counting is American Mathematician Dr. Edward O. Thorp . His 1962 book ''Beat the Dealer'' (ISBN 0394703103) outlined various betting and playing strategies for optimal blackjack play. Although mathematically sound, the techniques described no longer apply as Casino s took counter-measures (such as no longer dealing to the very last card). Also, the counting system described (10-count) is harder to use and less profitable than the point-count systems that have been developed afterwards. A history of how counting developed can be seen in David Layton's documentary film, "The Hot Shoe." In the early days of card-counting, it is undoubted that a few players were hugely successful. Ken Uston recounts his early successes—and court battles with the casinos—in his book ''Ken Uston on Blackjack''. In reality, Ken Uston, though perhaps the most famous card counter through his 60 Minutes television appearance and his books, was overall only a small winner. The most financially successful card counters have made their fortunes in other businesses. Ed Thorp, for example, ran a successful fund. In the 1970s and 1980s, as computing power grew, more advanced (and more difficult) card counting systems came into favor. Many card counters agree, however, that a simpler and less advantageous system can be played flawlessly for hours, thus maximizing return, whereas a more complex system is prone to user error, removing any additional accuracy it might have afforded. In the 1970s '' also covers Team Play in his recent book Bringing Down The House (ISBN 0743249992), which describes how MIT students used it with great success. See also the Canadian movie The Last Casino . There have been several MIT Blackjack Team s, made up of MIT students who team up to use a combination of card counting and group play to attempt to beat the house. The most successful independent team is the one founded by Thomas Hyland in 1979. Dubbed by some as the "King of Card Counting," Hyland personally trained the members to work individually and later in teams to win millions at Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Caribbean and Canadian casinos. When the casinos caught on to them, Hyland developed the "ace locating" technique. This made it more difficult for casinos to detect when the players were card counting. In 1994, members of the team were arrested for card counting at Casino Windsor in Ontario, Canada. However, the judge ruled that the players' conduct was not cheating, but merely the use of strategy as it did not physically alter the game. COUNTERMEASURES AGAINST BLACKJACK CARD-COUNTERS Counting cards in blackjack has become substantially more difficult as a result of casino countermeasures. The most common is the use of more decks, which decreases the player's advantage, but even in the few remaining single- and double-deck games, dealers will often Shuffle prematurely or unusually frequently to defeat a suspected card-counter. However, for the casinos there is a downside to frequent shuffling: It reduces the amount of time that the noncounting players are playing and consequently losing money to the house. It has become common for casinos to use automatic shuffling machines to compensate for this. Some models of shuffling machines shuffle one set of cards while another is in play. Others, known as Continuous Shuffle Machines (CSMs) allow the dealer to simply return used cards to a single shoe to allow playing with no interruption. Because CSMs essentially force minimal penetration, they remove almost all possible advantage of traditional counting techniques. As a result, some blackjack players call for a boycott of tables using CSMs. In the case of online casinos, the deck is shuffled at the start of each new round, ensuring the house always has the advantage. However, some online casinos periodically animate the dealer shuffling the cards to give the illusion that the cards are shuffled infrequently. Unfavorable rules can cut into a player's advantage, such as no double down after splitting, and having the dealer hit a soft 17 (ace, six which can play as 7 or 17.) Starting around 2004 a number of casinos began offering a 6:5 payoff on player blackjacks instead of the more traditional 3:2 payoff. These games are generally single-deck, inviting unwary card-counters and other players who believe they have an advantage. The inferior payoff substantially increases the House Edge and makes the game unbeatable, even by a card-counter who is practicing the most sophisticated system perfectly. A Pitboss who determines that a player is a card-counter might either "back off" the player by inviting him/her to play any game other than blackjack, or will ban him/her from the casino itself. In jurisdictions where this is not legal, such as Atlantic City, a pitboss can require the player to flat-bet and disallow players from entering in the middle of a shoe. The player's name and photo (from surveillance cameras) may also be shared with other casinos and with the Griffin Investigations , whose business is maintaining a database of card-counters and cheaters for the benefit of casino operators, known as the Griffin Book . Many casual card counters make small mistakes that cost the advantage they gain by counting. Two or three mistakes per hour may give back all of the counter's advantage. Even if one can count perfectly when practicing at home, it is much more difficult in an actual casino. The loud, distracting environments of most casinos, and even the availability of complimentary Alcoholic Beverage s, play roles as casino counter-measures. Casinos look out for known card counters, who may be banned from play depending on regulatory commission rules. They also look for suspicious actions such as a long series of small bets followed by large one. Monitoring player behavior to assist in this identification falls to on-floor casino personnel (" Pit Boss es") and central security personnel who may use video surveillance ("the Eye In The Sky ") as well as computer analysis to try to spot playing behavior indicative of card counting; early counter-strategies featured the dealer learning to count the cards themselves to recognise the patterns in the players. In addition, many casinos employ the services of various agencies who claim to have a catalog of advantage players. If a player is found to be in the Griffin Book or Biometrica , he will almost certainly be stopped from play and asked to leave regardless of his table play. For successful card counters, therefore, skill at "cover" behavior to hide counting to avoid " Drawing Heat " and possibly being barred, may be just as important as playing skill. Casinos may alter the game's dynamic against card counters by raising the minimum or lowering the limit on a table with a suspected counter, or by reshuffling sooner than the normal end of the shoe if they think that the player is offering a large bet on a positive count. There have been some high-profile Lawsuit s involving whether the casino is allowed to bar card-counters. Essentially, card-counting, if done in your head and with no outside assistance with devices or additional people, is not illegal, as working figures within one's own mind is not an arrestable offence. Using an outside aid, though, is illegal . However, the casinos despise counters and, if permitted by their jurisdiction, may ban counters from their casinos; in Nevada, where the casinos are ruled to be private places, the only prerequisite to a ban is the full reading of the Trespass Act to ban a player for life. Some skilled counters try to disguise their identities and playing habits; however, some casinos have claimed that Facial Recognition Software can often match a camouflaged face with a banned one. Whether this is true is unknown. Almost all casinos in the United States use Griffin Investigations consulting firm to help them track down and monitor card counters. Modern technology is also providing some advantage in monitoring for card counters, for example the MindPlay system. SEE ALSO |
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