Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Monday, Feb. 23, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Blackjack Card Counter
Sun Topics
Beyond the Sun
- Blackjack Card Counter on iTunes
- L.A. Times Vegas blog: Blackjack: Cheating with an iPhone
Blackjack Card Counter on an iPhone
More than a decade after the seminal blackjack strategy book “Beat the Dealer” brought the shadowy art of card counting to the masses, opportunistic blackjack players in the 1970s and 1980s began wearing miniature computers that tracked the value of cards through slight movements of fingers and toes.
These devices, placed in modified shoes or keypads attached at the thigh, transformed average players into blackjack experts with photographic memories.
That’s why such aids are illegal in Nevada — and why, more than two decades after these contraptions emerged, a new card-counting program has Nevada regulators on high alert.
Unlike the expensive homemade computers of years past, Blackjack Card Counter is an online application of the Apple iPhone or iPod touch and available for download at the company’s iTunes online store for $1.99.
The application assigns values to high and low cards and has a “stealth” mode, in which the device vibrates when the unplayed cards have a high ratio of high-value cards, which are more favorable for players. Gamblers betting big with more high-value cards in the deck and small when the ratio favors low-value cards could take away the casino’s house edge or gain an edge — a potential disaster for a bottom line fed by players losing a predictable percentage of bets over time.
In 1985 casinos fought the spread of electronic aids by successfully lobbying the use of such “devices” to be made a felony.
Using one’s brain to count cards is legal in Nevada. But gamblers using counting aids are treated much like cheaters who bend cards or use magnets to trigger slot jackpots: They can be imprisoned for up to six years, fined up to $10,000, or both. That’s on top of being hauled away in handcuffs and banned from casinos.
The threat of prison time had virtually stamped out the use of card-counting devices.
Tipped off by regulators in California, where customers had used the iPhone application, Nevada regulators issued a public notice to the state’s casinos Feb. 5. The announcement also served to educate an unknowing public that a seemingly innocent activity is a crime in Nevada.
“The unsuspecting public needs to be put on notice that you run a great risk of finding yourself in more trouble than it’s worth,” Gaming Control Board member Randy Sayre said.
“No longer are iPods or cell phones sitting out in the open assumed to be innocent devices,” he said.
This riles up gamblers upset by the measures casinos use to banish skilled blackjack players. Casinos could win more than they lose by allowing the masses a chance to count cards, they say.
It’s a valid point, because most players aren’t as good as they claim or think. But that reasoning doesn’t hold up in the case of “perfect play” computers, which would truly give gamblers an edge over the house. That fantasy simply can’t exist in a state where gambling revenue funds half of the state budget.
It would be difficult for players to use the devices undetected by hiding them in their clothing and blindly pressing keys at the right time, said Anthony Curtis, blackjack player and publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor newsletter. Moreover, big casinos are skilled at detecting and banning card counters, regardless of how it’s done.
Casinos would be foolish to arrest wannabes using iPhones. More likely, gamblers will be asked to leave — with apologetic bosses saying they have no choice but to uphold the law, Curtis said.
Concerned that players could be texting betting information, talking to a conspirator in code or using a calculator, many casinos bar cell phones at blackjack tables.
The device law also prohibits the use of strategy tools, which could theoretically mean a pencil and paper or the strategy cards sold in casino gift shops.
But those aren’t much danger to the crucial house edge.
They should not be allowed...same reason you cant bring food from mcdonalds and sit at burger king
Your there to gamble people know they are going to lose but they do it anyway. some people should not have the advantage while some dont.
How about the casinos showing some good faith against "devices" by eliminating the use of the automatic shuffle machines that give them a huge advantage on some table games?
It irks me that the casino hands out pencil and paper to Baccarat players so they can keep track of how often the house ("Bank"" wins versus "Player" wins, thereby inferring that cards have memory.
Similarly, Roulette now has a visble display of the past several dozen numbers that hit, as if this knowledge can give the player an edge.
That's cheating by the house.
First, unless you're European, nobody cares about Baccarat.
Second, roulette is still an utterly random game. While the odds of a back to back 00 or 0 is over 1000 to 1, it is still utterly random.
Therefore this new app is a cheating method. Just suck it up, and buy one of those little cards that tell you what to do and you'll be fine.
And yeah I do agree that the auto-shufflers are a devil's invention, and I've vowed to NEVER sit at one of those tables ever again.
More waste of time and taxpayer money by the shameful Nevada Gaming Control Board. The Board issued a memo to casinos about this silly device. The only people who are likely to use this device are beginners who will probably lose despite using the program, and probably have no idea that the program is illegal to use in a Nevada casino. The program does nothing that a competent card counter doesn't already do in his head, perfectly legally. I guess the Board has no time for properly investigating patron complaints of wrongdoing by casinos, but has time and money to waste on this nonsense.
Bill Zender, a respected and intelligent casino consultant, commented:
"How soon will it be before a customer is detained by security because he or she was simply text messaging their friend from the general proximity of a blackjack table? Worse yet, what about the possibility that this person will be arrested for possession of a cheating device which is a felony?"
With Nevada's economy reeling, it makes no sense to give casinos something else to be paranoid about. The paranoia this will fuel will result in many "good casino customers" (suckers) being hassled, and everyone with a cell phone to be looked upon as a possible criminal. This gives casinos another excuse to harass patrons, which will result in the typical cases of casino abuse. Lawsuits will of course follow, costing the casino industry far more money than letting a few wannabe card counters play. The Gaming Control Board again exposes itself as a laughingstock.
-----------------------------------
Opinions and Commentary on the Gaming Industry: www.TheBearGrowls.com
I actually had a dealer teach me how to count cards while I was playing at Red Rock. It's not difficult to do at all once you get the hang of it.
Casinos are a crooked business to begin with. They already have a house edge by the fact that they are open 24/7 and have a LOT more money to wager than the players. Yet, they find out every little way to get an even bigger edge. Ie, paying 6 to 5 on single deck black jack.
Hmm. An iPhone is just an iPhone unless this software is installed. I wonder how hard it would be to install this software in a volatile memory only and have the software wipe itself and if the phone was removed from the pocket based on a plug being pulled out of the device or something similar. No program, no proof, no crime. It should be very easy to implement with the iPhone SDK.
Surely there must be legitimate research into the actual advantage card counters enjoy over the casino. Even great card counters must find it hard to make enough money given how easy it is to spot their betting patterns. I remember when stores kept everything behind the counter to stop shoplifting. But now they put everything out to encourage impulse buying. They absorb the shrinkage in the much increased revenue created by this change in the retailing business model.
There is a version of blackjack, BlackJack eXtreme, which has not been submitted for Nevada approval, that is designed to encourage card counting, although electronic devices would be forbidden in this game also. Maybe instead of seeing accomplished card counters as the enemy, casino operators will begin to see them as potential "stars". Since Blackjack extreme is non-house banked, like poker, should stars emerge in this game they would be celebrities attracting civilian opponents.
And why not set up conventional tournament blackjack for card counters? Let the best counters with the best systems compete. They'll step out of the shadows, sell a lot of books, and make their living winning each other's money and the casinos can't lose. And once they go "pro", they won't even bother to try to beat the house again.
The casinos have successfully taking advantage of general ignorance of odds numerous times. People "know" that single deck blackjack has a lower house edge than dealing from a shoe, so casinos offer single deck blackjack with 6:5 payout. The very small advantage offered by the single deck is outweighed by the huge disadvantage of the lower payout for blackjack.
There are easy ways to exploit people's gullability regarding the iPods.
There's a lot more to "Card Counting" than just counting the ratio of high to low cards. This iphone application simply tells people when the shoe has more high cards in proportion to low cards. Big deal. Card counting is lucrative only when the player adjusts his betting AND PLAYING decisions based on the EXACT ratio of extra high cards (referred to as the "True Count" by professinal players). For example..you would normally always hit 15 vs a dealer's 10. However, if the True Count was +4 or higher...then you would stand on 15 vs 10. How would an iphone player know that? All he knows is that there's more high cards than low cards...he doesn't know how much more...he doesn't know how much extra to bet...he doesn't know how to alter basic Strategy plays...he's heading for trouble without all that extra knowledge.