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Countermeasures against Card Counters in Casinos
1. Unused cards from the previous shoe are not mixed into the next shoe.
2. Casinos use six or eight decks of cards shuffled together.
3. They use continuous shuffling machines (e.g., shuffle star) to shuffle cards.
4. Thick cutting cards are used (cutting off 100 cards or more).
5. Dealers hide the discarded cards from the players.
In the past, before Edward Thorp published his book "Beat the Dealer," the game of blackjack in casinos used two decks of cards shuffled together, and the cards were shuffled by hand. The cutting card was thin (cutting off about a quarter, approximately 26 cards), and the unused cards from the previous shoe (about a quarter, approximately 26 cards) were mixed into the next shoe. The dealer exposed each discarded card to the players.
In this way, card counters could estimate the distribution of high cards in the shoe they were betting on. When card counters calculated that there were significantly more high cards after they bet on a shoe, they could increase their bets, double down at the right time, split pairs, or decide whether to "buy insurance," etc., to increase their chances of winning. Although not every hand is a win, they win most of the time, so card counters can achieve an "average win."
Rules of Blackjack
Two decks of cards are shuffled together, and the number of large, medium, and small cards is fixed. There are 40 large cards (A, K, Q, J, 10), 24 medium cards (9, 8, 7), and 40 small cards (6, 5, 4, 3, 2), totaling 104 cards. According to the rules of blackjack, if the large, medium, and small cards in a shoe are distributed normally (normal distribution), the dealer has a significant advantage and a higher chance of winning. Even for players familiar with "basic strategy," the average return on their bets is -0.5%, meaning their expected return rate is negative, i.e., they lose an average of 0.5% per hand, or $5 for every $1000 bet. For players who do not know "basic strategy," the average loss per hand is 1.5% or more.
The blackjack card counter can apply their skills when the conditions are right:
If the card counter can determine that there are significantly more high cards in a shoe (104 cards), for example, if there are 50 large cards, 25 small cards, and 29 medium cards, then the shoe is advantageous for the player. Thus, the card counter can apply their skills—based on the probability distribution of large and small cards, combined with "basic strategy"—to beat the dealer. In the past, card counters had the opportunity to encounter good shoes where there were significantly more high cards.
However, due to five constraints, card counters cannot calculate the exact numbers of large, medium, and small cards that have been used or are remaining, and thus cannot calculate the distribution and probability of the remaining cards.
1. To prevent the situation where the second shoe contains significantly more large cards from the first shoe.
2. To increase the difficulty of remembering the cards that have been used and estimating the remaining cards.
3. To ensure a more even distribution of cards in the entire shoe, preventing the situation where most of the small cards (or large cards) have been used up in the first half, which could be advantageous for the card counter.
4. To compensate for any deviation caused by the shuffling machine, the cutting cards are thicker, making it impossible for the card counter to calculate the exact numbers and proportions of large and small cards among the remaining cards. The number of large and small cards in the cut-off cards may be balanced or may increase the proportion of large cards used in the first half.
5. To limit the information available to the card counter, the dealer only reveals part of the used cards' size distribution, making it impossible for the card counter to calculate the number and distribution of large and small cards among the remaining cards.
The average return of a card counter (or professional gambler) is based on exploiting the vulnerabilities in the card rules and the dealer's dealing process. However, casinos have now "improved" their rules and plugged all the "loopholes," making it impossible for card counters to use their skills. The so-called "average win" or "guaranteed win in the long run" has become a thing of the past. |
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Post time 12-3-2024 20:38:43