Anyhow, a mathematician from Dublin has created a piece of technology that is “guaranteed” to rid casinos of card counters. Wesley Cooper, a PhD student at the Trinity College claims that he has developed a system whereby casino operators can effectively detect blackjack players who are counting cards. The technique operates on the basis of statistical analysis combined with an automated surveillance system and is called Clear Deal.

According to Cooper himself:

Blackjack is beatable if you have good maths brain. At the moment, casino surveillance staff have to watch the tables and try to identify suspicious play using their experience and instincts. This system does the same job automatically using computer-vision techniques and algorithms.

So what does this new system mean for blackjack players around the world? If proven to be successful – it is currently being tested by an international casino operator – card counters may be out of business. As much as people would like to think that card counting is part of blackjack (and I honestly think that it is; people have been doing it for thousands of years!), casino operators and the law might push for its abolition.

Let’s see what will happen.

I sure do!  And if you do as well, you should head on over to Bodog Casino, which is giving away FIVE Apple MacBooks.  The promo started yesterday, August 20, and will continue to run till the 1st of October.  More so, weekly bonuses of $100 for each of the 10 lucky players are going to be given until the abovementioned date.  The top prize – or prizes rather – would be given away at the end of the promo to the top 5 blackjack players.

Cappers Mall gives us more details on the contest:

The Bodog Casino Blackjack leader board – online at www.bodoglife.com/play-now/blackjack-contest.html - is updated daily and gives players the ability to track exactly where they stand from one day to the next. Competition weeks run Wednesday-Tuesday, starting today. At the end of every competition week, the top 10 players who’ve hit the most natural two-card Blackjacks in the preceding week will be awarded a $100 bonus. After each week’s bonuses have been awarded, the leader board is reset and the weekly competition starts all over again. Best of all, there is no limit to the number of times a player can win. Ending up in the top 10 each week for six weeks straight could bank a player $600 in bonuses and a shot at one of five grand prizes of an Apple* MacBook® computer worth over $1,600!

Even better, Bodog is giving players a lending hand.  With their Blackjack Mastermind, a downloadable strategy guide, players would be able to improve their blackjack skills.

Wanna play?

There are countless variations of blackjack in existence today but have you heard of Hot Action Blackjack?  This is the special version of blackjack that is on offer at Pacheco’s California Grand Casino.  If you haven’t heard of this casino, it is about time that you did.  It has been around since the 1850s – 1854 to be exact.

Their take on blackjack is dubbed the Hot Action Blackjack which origins hail back to the 1990s.  It was invented by the casino owner, Wil Wilkinson.  How is Hot Action Blackjack different from the “normal” blackjack?  SF Gate narrates:

Like most blackjack games at Bay Area cardrooms, this game has no house-backed dealer; instead, players take turns being the player-dealer.

There are many ways for players to win. For starters, the game is played with jokers, so any hand with two jokers is a “super natural,” and pays 4:1 (meaning a $10 bet would pay $40). Two suited aces, dubbed a “natural 22,” is also a winner, and it pays 2:1. A “natural 21,” what players commonly associate as a blackjack, pays 6:5, but only when the player-dealer does not have better or equivalent hand.

Beyond these special hands, ordinary blackjack rules apply. Players are paid 1:1 on their bets when they stand and the player-dealer goes over 21. Players also are paid 1:1 when their hands get closer to 21 than the player-dealer’s without going over.

Easy enough, isn’t it?  Oh, and if that isn’t enough to entice you to play at the casino, their weekday FREE lunches just might.

So Bill Kaplan and J.P. Massar got together and realized what was hindering the blackjack team from succeeding in their endeavors at the tables. What happened next?

Bill Kaplan, having observed the team in action, made a proposal – he would back the team and manage them as well. On the outset, members of the team did not like the idea. What Kaplan wanted was to find financial backers AND to run the team as a formal business. Management procedures were to be followed, a required betting and counting system was to be put in place, players would have to go through training and approval processes, and so on. Naturally, the free spirits of the team felt affronted.

However, their passion for blackjack and the knowledge that Kaplan had a handle on things he dealt with won out eventually. Thus, the first MIT blackjack bank was born. This happened on the 1st of August, 1980. The total bank amounted to almost a hundred thousand dollars, with the money coming from the players and other financiers. Within 10 weeks, their bankroll was more than double of what they had when they first started out.

And so the story played out. What started as a theoretically unbeatable but practically unsuccessful team was developed into a lean mean card counting machine. The MIT Blackjack Team went far and wide, experiencing humongous successes in various casinos and in the process, earning a name for themselves all over the world.

Starting in the late 70s, a group of enterprising young men – some students and some ex-students – of MIT (plus Harvard Business School and Harvard University) made use of their math skills to come up with card counting techniques and various strategies that would eventually make them kings of the blackjack table. How did it all start?

As a matter of fact, there was a course offered under the Independent Activities Period (IAP) called “How to Gamble if You Must.” A group of students who took this course then went to Atlantic City to try out their newfound skills. Unfortunately, they drew blanks. They were not about to give up though - two of the original members initiated their own IAP course and continued with their activities. Still, they were not getting the results that they wanted at the blackjack tables!

It was not till 1980 when Bill Kaplan and J.P Massar got together that the returns actually became significant. This is due to the fact that they realized that the individual players utilized their own card counting techniques – and they were all different from one another. This was the culprit of their “unsuccess.”

(to be continued)

We all like cool toys every now and then. To be honest, some people like them more than others. I suppose I can admit that I am one of them. From mobile phones to small laptops to whatever other cool gadgets I can find, I somehow end up buying them when I can. And for someone who likes to play blackjack, a gadget that allows me to play blackjack anytime I want to is definitely a treat!

That is why I was quite excited when I read about this portable blackjack machine:

This video blackjack games color touchscreen LCD allows fast, casino-style game-play, and the entire unit is smaller than a laptop computer, ensuring ease of use when traveling. You can employ authentic blackjack strategies to take down the house; splitting aces, taking insurance to guard against a natural 21, and doubling down when youre holding an ace or a ten require only the touch of the screen. You can late surrender to cut your losses, and games can be played with one, two, or six decks to limit the effectiveness of card counting. The screen folds down and the device stores unobtrusively in a backpack or carry-on bag. Operates using three AAA batteries (not included) or the included AC adapter.

Of course, you won’t be able to make a quick killing on this and one thing’s for sure - you’ll end up $119.95 poorer after buying this, but at least you managed to stave off the Blackjack monster but for a moment.

I don’t know about the price though – a little over a hundred bucks? Is it worth it? What do you think?

1. A suitable playing bankroll, large enough to allow the player to earn at an acceptable rate while running a risk of ruin of 1% or less. This bankroll should be separate from living expenses.
2. The ability to suffer long losing streaks without losing patience or the proper perspective or succumbing to the temptation to overbet one’s bankroll during such periods.
3. Flexibility in changing styles of play when conditions warrant.
4. Acting abilities are desirable.
5. A willingness to spend large amounts of “downtime” when assessing games and playing conditions.
6. The ability to spend long hours in a sitting position, while tolerating rude players, dealers, floor personnel, drunks and cigarette smoke.
7. Should be willing to travel long distances to find good games.
8. The ability to mentally perform simple mathematical calculations while carrying on a conversation.
9. Experience with the use of computers.
10. Knowledge of the use of false identification is preferred.

The first 9 are really part of commonsense, I would think. You need these things in order to succeed at blackjack. Though they may NOT be necessary to play the game, you certainly would gain that edge with them. Now how about number 10? Hmm, yeah, it could come in handy, don’t you think?

POSITION DESCRIPTION
PROFESSIONAL BLACKJACK PLAYER
Job Summary: This a position which is self supervised. It involves the successful play of the casino game of “21,” also known as “blackjack.” It may involve travel to various casino locales in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Job Duties:
1. Playing blackjack in a casino, utilizing card counting and/or other advantage-play individual games in different casinos.
3. Developing an “act” designed to fool casino personnel into believing the player is not playing with an advantage.
4. Assessing and analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of various blackjack games offered by casinos.
5. Computing appropriate betting patterns based upon specific games and the size of bankroll.
6. Keeping current on playing conditions through the use of personal observation, various periodicals and Internet sites.
7. Observing and assessing casino personnel, particularly dealers and floor persons.
8. Keeping records of play, observation of conditions, casino personnel and individual dealers.

That does not seem so easy, does it?  There is more – let us look at that in the next post.

Indeed, they are even going one step further by expanding their offering of blackjack! Casino Gambling Web once again reports:

The Seminoles compact allowed them the rights to offer blackjack at their casinos in the state, but the ruling by the Supreme Court voided that compact. The Seminoles appear unfazed by the ruling.

Not only have they not shut down their blackjack tables, they are actually expanding them. The Seminoles are planning on putting tables outside by their poker room so that people waiting for poker can play blackjack.

They also will be targeting people passing by on their way to and from the various clubs at the Hard Rock. The original demand for the game has been great, leading to the decision to expand.

Looking at it from a purely business perspective, what the Seminoles are doing makes perfect sense. After all, blackjack is continuing to attract people. It is true that poker might still be the favorite of some but if there is not enough room for people to play poker, then why not offer something else that they can use to kill time? Blackjack seems to be the perfect choice and any businessman would grab this chance to make more revenue.

A lot of my friends who play blackjack – and this includes me – spend a considerable amount of time playing on the computer simply because it helps in honing their skills. Of course, there is nothing like playing with your friends live but the proliferation of blackjack software is too tempting to resist.

Take the Blackjack Expert 2.7, for example. This software is unbelievably advanced! I have not had the chance to try it out but based on the descriptions and reviews I have seen online, anyone who is serious about improving his blackjack skills should get it.

Pocketgear gives us a glimpse into the software’s capabilities:

Blackjack Expert is a game simulator and testing tool combined in one easy-to-use program. As you play against the computer, your decisions are tested for correctness: actions, index plays, bet sizes, and insurance. The software comes with advanced casino options not seen in other Blackjack programs: splitting,number of decks, insurance, doubling after splits, dealer hits/stand on soft 17, ace re-splitting, and doubling limits. Whether you’re just looking for a great Blackjack game or looking to learn or practice Card Counting techniques, Blackjack Expert is the fastest way to improve your game. Card Counting can give you a statistical edge over the casino so that you can actually make money playing Blackjack.

Interested yet? Maybe you should consider getting a copy.