The other day I went out to play a little blackjack. This isn’t a super common event for me since I spend most of my time training blackjack players and working on other businesses but the experience was memorable and has some lessons for all of us. This particular casino I played at was a small one. By small I mean, 4 table games open (only one of which is blackjack) and only one pit boss. This particular night the cards were landing for me. I couldn’t lose. No less than 3 times I emptied all the chips in the rack above $5. This means that I had stacks and stacks of chips in front of me and the casino had no chips in front of them.
This:
a) is really hard to do
b) feels really good
c) shows how completely incompetent the pit boss is.
You do not win all the chips in one hand. There are warning signs. The process of getting more chips usually takes from 5-12 minutes from start to finish. This is usually expedited when one of their customers is sitting there with tons of money on three blackjacks that the casino does not even have enough money to pay out. I know what you are thinking. I was the only person in the casino. What kept the pit boss from attending to his job? Was he dealing with some gaming theory issue? Was he training some confused dealer? No. he was texting on his cell phone. I’m not sure what what he was texting about, but my guess is it was either the latest Twilight movie or the next neck tattoo he was going to be getting. This is was happening in real life. And it wasn’t the first time. So, as I was sitting around waiting watching ev float out the window, I had time to think about why I should in fact not be upset about the situation.
- Any casino that is run this poorly in an area as simple as this is sure to have a poorly run surveillance / card counting detection dept. Think about it: If the guy doesn’t notice the tray is out of chips because he is texting do you think he’s going to notice that I am adding and subtracting the number one (in my head) and dividing it by the number of decks left to be dealt?
- Employees who perform like this do not usually care about their jobs. This means they don’t care about the money or if you are taking it. Contrast this with the owner counting with you over your shoulder and equating every blackjack you get with money coming out of his pocket (this has happened).
- It’s easy to make a pit boss like this like you. Talk to him. Treat him like a real person. Talk to him about Twilight, monster trucks, tattoos, casinos, whatever. If he likes you he’s probably not going to back you off. You’re probably the most exciting thing that can happen to him on any given night. Be an asset to him, not a liability.
In conclusion, there have been countless stories I can tell of seeing casinos being run poorly. I will post more later but remember to take it in stride and treat them like your customers because sometimes counting the cards is the easiest part. Sometimes the best thing you can do is take your ego out of it and watch your bankroll begin to grow.
Saving the World One Card at a Time,
what was the total win??
Well, I normally don’t like to divulge that type of information but let’s just say it was somewhere in the range of 17k-19k. Keep in mind that, that’s a pretty significant amount for a casino of this size. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is a week or two worth of revenue.
definitely a nice win…were you using straight counting?? the pit boss must have been blind!!!
wow I bet he got fired. well that is unless the casino security was texting as well lol.
Are these typically your favorite places to play, or do you find more ease blending in at a huge bustling Vegas casino. The reason I ask, is I have been turning decks over in my kitchen now for about a month here in AZ and (although I don’t want to go until I am ready) I think it’s getting close to trying a casino for the first time to at least gauge where I am at. It would be pretty easy for my to take off and hit an Indian Casino here in town, but I am wondering if a Vegas trip would be in order, cause if I need to work on my cover technique I can literally hop from place to place. I guess, in a nutshell, O’m a bit gun shy about where and when to start.
Colin – When you are first learning it doesn’t really matter. I would play local. Just get as many hours in as you can and bet as small as you possibly can. Most beginning card counters think the whole world is watching them and they shouldn’t be if you keep your bet below $25. Take my word for it. As long as you’re friendly they don’t care.
Every Monday my friend and i go to the local casino, and we both count as a team, when we first started we would play the minimum bet($5) then when the count was high we would bet neary $60-$70. the first few times it worked really well but then we would lose a few and win a few so we decided to settle down with such a huge bet increase, now we bet around $25-$30 when the count is high and it hasnt been working and we have been losing a good amount of money, are we still betting to much?
also is it better for my friend and i to play on the same table, or on separate tables?
Ben,
No. 3 is my favorite. I call it the art of distraction. I’d get them talking about their life and just count away. I once had a floor manager tell me all the craziest Vegas stories he’d ever heard while I counted away right in front of him.
If you bust, does the dealer show their card? If not, how do you accuratly keep count? Or for every card you cant see do you factor in a margin of error? For instance, true count of 1 plus or minus 2. Two being the number of cards you didnt see because you busted. Sorry, if I sound like a Rank Amateur.
Rank,
Yeah, if you bust, the dealer will still show their card. If you ever miss a card, then the card you missed effectively becomes like all the other cards behind the “cut card”. Normally, there is 1-2 decks of cards you’ll never get to see. If you miss more cards, then that’s adding to the amount of cards you don’t get information from. It’s best to never miss a card, because you need every bit of valuable information to be making as accurate of playing and betting decisions as possible!
Im in the same boat as (Colin in Az). I also am new to Card counting and I also live in Az. There are alot of casinos were I live So it only makes sense to turn this into something serious. I havent been this pumped to learn something in along time. This site is great! keep up the good work.