Card counting starts with a legend in Las Vegas. The legend was a man known as Greasy John who would play blackjack for hours on end and never lose. His nickname came from the fried chicken he would always eat while playing at the Vegas casinos. He died of a heart attack and no one ever learnt his secret, but he became part of gambling folk law.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston figures greatly in this tale. In 1959 Dr Edward Thorp, whose book ‘Beat the Dealer’ was published in 1966, came across an obscure mathematical paper outlining the first strategy for playing blackjack. The rules were simple and aimed at preventing a player from losing quickly. Blackjack odds are different from practically every other gambling game, because the cards are not returned to the deck after play, meaning that the odds change as the game progresses.

There have been many highs and lows across the years as casino operators and their blackjack-playing clients try to outwit each other. Which is ironical really, considering that the best-known method of card counting is called the High-Low system. By dividing the cards into 3 groups where face values of 1 to 6 are +1; 7, 8 and 9 are 0; and 10, Aces and Pictures are –1, a running total of cards played can be kept, allowing a player to know when the odds are in his favour. With this prediction ability the odds swing from 5% in the casino’s favour to 1% in favour of the player.

As card counters multiplied the casinos tried to change the blackjack rules. First they decided to shuffle the cards whenever they wanted, usually when a big bet was placed. This took too much time and most players became bored and left the tables. The shuffle was withdrawn after a mere six weeks. Next they tried increasing the number of cards, there was even a jumbo card shoe to hold more than 8 decks. This had little effect on the card counters who just had to wait a little longer before they had the advantage over the house. Finally dealers were taught to count the cards and learnt how to identify the counters and have them ejected.

In 1971 Keith Taft and his son, Marty, built a BJ computer that could count the cards for them. ‘George’ was an unwieldy device that strapped uncomfortably round the waist and caused acid burns from leaking batteries and was not used. Four years later, with the invention of the microchip, ‘David’ was pocket-sized and worked from inside a shoe. The High-Low count rose to new levels as the player advantage increased to 3%. One week in April 1977 they made $40,000 at the Las Vegas casinos and were soon selling ‘Davids’ for $10,000. On May 11 1977 they were accused of cheating, but as neither the police nor the FBI could work out precisely how the device worked there was no charge brought.

By 1985 the Las Vegas casinos had lobbied to change the law. In Nevada no card counting machine can be used and the penalty is 10 years. In 1992 the MIT finds its way back into the tale. Renowned for its free-thinking students it was the ideal place for an underground club of investors, Strategic Investments, to look for a revolutionary new approach to card counting, which was failing because bets would be made in a recognisable pattern (bet spreading) and players asked to leave. Three MIT whiz kids became a team that could make large bets without suspicion. The ‘spotter’ would count the cards, the ‘controller’ would make small bets and the third player would make the big bets when signalled.

Soon there were around 125 team members working the card tables in Las Vegas. However, the money was going to the mystery backers of Strategic Investments so the original trio became the ‘Amphibians’ in 1993. That same year the casinos brought in Griffin Investigations who created a database of photos and information on the big winners. It was noticed that the pattern of play was at weekends by people of college age, many having given a Boston address. Griffin checked the MIT Year Book and found the winning players.

With the advent of facial recognition software the casinos had their weapon to fight the card counters. The Amphibians moved into Europe for a time before the Griffin database went worldwide over the Internet.

Punters will always try to beat the system and operators are intent upon staying ahead of the game. It all helps to keep product developers on their toes and stops life from getting too boring.

© Copyright 2004 CasinoCompendium



>>> return to archives
>>> return to frontpage