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Comment by downandout | Hacker News Reader

the casinos simply ask you to leave if you win too much.

I was actually backed off from the first place I went to after I learned how to count cards while I was losing. If the pit boss or dealers know how to count themselves and identify you as a counter, they want no part of it. In most cases, they'll either "flat bet" you (tell you that your initial bet is your maximum), or they'll tell you that you cannot play blackjack there. Actual barrings usually don't occur until the second or third offense.

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That's only if you vary your bet size. That's a definite tell.

How do you profit from card counting without varying your bet size?

I guess you could always count from the sidelines and bet only in advantage spots. Not very practical I suppose but card counting in general seems pretty implausible these days

One strategy I know of is to have multiple people. One person sits at the table and always bets low, the other always bets high but only sits down if the person at the table signals to them that the odds are good (They can be off doing other stuff while the low-better is doing the counting, so they're not just standing around waiting).

You're still right though, the odds aren't that great and once they get a hint you're doing something weird you'll get thrown out.

That's what the MIT blackjack team did in the 90s.

That was the strategy used in the '21' movie with Kevin Spacey which was actually based on a true story!

Have someone else sit at your table when the count is good and bet high

Probably more polite than when organized crime was involved in Las Vegas casinos.

There's card-counting software called Casino Verites (IIRC).

the situation is certainly more polite these days, but is organized crime really not involved anymore?

Most of the casinos are publicly traded, so for them to be involved someone would have to be lying on the financial statements submitted to the SEC. SOX would make that illegal at best and I believe reward anyone who blew the whistle on it with a substantial reward.

So if they are involved it would be more likely related to contracted services and such where you could pad the actual cost by a large amount and no one is going to look too closely.

That's why it's done in teams.

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