Just got back from a fascinating presentation at school. They presented a documentary, "The Hot Shoe", about card counting and card counting teams in blackjack, followed by a discussion by the director and several members of the MIT card counting team.
It was an amazing look, not only at card counting systems, but also the inner workings of these teams that go into casinos and try to avoid detection. I basically took three things away from the movie and talk:
1. Blackjack is absolutely beatable if you teach yourself to count cards and can find a game with few decks and good penetration into the deck
2. Good, if not perfect, play is essential. One of the MIT card counters said that a single serious mistake every 100 hands wipes out your advantage.
3. The hardest part of all is to avoid detection with casinos sharing information and griffen investigations monitoring the patrons etc....
The guy who made the movie taught himself to count cards and went to Vegas with a $5000 bankroll (his music budget for the movie) and tried his luck. He had a $25 base bet, with an 8 bet spread. He was down as much as half his bankroll, but ended up $1000 ahead after 10 days. What a fukkin grind that was and he looked like a walking corpse at the end.
Anyway, it seems like too much effort for the potential profit, but really interesting. The only way to go would be an organized team where you can pool resources and more easily avoid detection.
It was an amazing look, not only at card counting systems, but also the inner workings of these teams that go into casinos and try to avoid detection. I basically took three things away from the movie and talk:
1. Blackjack is absolutely beatable if you teach yourself to count cards and can find a game with few decks and good penetration into the deck
2. Good, if not perfect, play is essential. One of the MIT card counters said that a single serious mistake every 100 hands wipes out your advantage.
3. The hardest part of all is to avoid detection with casinos sharing information and griffen investigations monitoring the patrons etc....
The guy who made the movie taught himself to count cards and went to Vegas with a $5000 bankroll (his music budget for the movie) and tried his luck. He had a $25 base bet, with an 8 bet spread. He was down as much as half his bankroll, but ended up $1000 ahead after 10 days. What a fukkin grind that was and he looked like a walking corpse at the end.
Anyway, it seems like too much effort for the potential profit, but really interesting. The only way to go would be an organized team where you can pool resources and more easily avoid detection.
