How Casinos Catch Card Counters 

How is this legal ?

​@tedphillips2501 how would it be illegal you aren't changing the outcome of the game physically you just using info I. Your head.

he must be the chillest guy

@@oleafyworld I mean if they make money from tips they probably want you to win

@@stinginggolf3952 that's a good point

@@stinginggolf3952 win for both parties, screw the casino.

@@BestofAdinRoss The "Pit" watches the Dealers just as carefully as it watches the "Players". Any Dealer doing anything "suspicious" will be out on their ass quicker than any so called "Counter". These How to Play BJ and "COUNT" videos make me laugh!!!! " COUNTING"!!!!! Maybe only 5 or so in all of VEGAS! ( I mean real SUCCESSFUL Counters! )

Lmao

Based

Then you were not dealing to real counters. They never tip and if they do it might be 1 dollar if they like you. Notoriously cheap as it kills the EV.

@@Bigernmcrakn I doubt that you've had much experience with real counters. They aren't idiots. They know that as long as they keep the dealer happy, there is a good chance they can keep playing when the dealer catches them. The counters you dealt with were probably new to the game, assuming you dealt with counters in the first place. If tips cut too much into the profits, you're not even dealing with high value counters in the first place. Probably because high value counters do enough research to know that they should just skip the casino you work for. I'm gonna hazard a guess and say that the casino you work for has a low maximum bet.

How did you enjoy dealing cards? And how did you get into it? I’ve been interested in potentially trying to be a dealer as well

If you want to tip a dealer simply announce that the top chip on your bet is for the dealer. If you win you take the top chip off the winning chips the dealer paid you with and you give it to him or her that chip. Now... you don't come off as some kind of ungrateful player that never tips. I usually do it on my last hand before leaving the table.

@@tedosmundson7326 That depends on the casino. In the ones where I live, when you want to play for the dealer, you usually put the chip in front of your bet. That way you don't have to announce, and the dealer can grab it right away. Generally, when the tip is put on top of the bet, it means the player can still choose to gamble it, and potentially lose the bet for the dealer.

Did you win that side bet ?

Little did you know he was waiting for you to say leave me the fuck alone bud to the side bet guy lol.

Which side bets you talking about? (I haven’t been in casino yet lmfao just curious$

@@kingofgrim4761 could be pairs/ suited.

@@johnandrews9433 Bc that came back with more questions

I'm a dealer too. I have to agree with this college, we are there to make some money for our family. So as long as you are tipping the dealers and having a good behavior, we really don't care about it. Dealers earn money from tips in the table. Management team earn money from casino winning. Casino owners put a goal for example, they say. Okay if we make 1 million dollar profit this month, management gets 10% of the winning like bonus. Is just an example. But I think you understand the idea of how casino works.

Be casino Make millions every month Pay a dealer a fraction of what we make Expect dealer to stop "cheaters" but not pay them extra

@@callingyourphone1212 that's why the casino pretends to expect it. They know dealers don't usually care.

@@jesusalexanderfernandezzap526 do you card count as you deal?

@@jesusalexanderfernandezzap526 imagine sneaking into a casino at 16 with your buddies winning several grand Nothing big Friend got busted by security totally ratted me I only won 5 grand profit wise got INTERNATIONALLY BANNED and court ordered to stay out otherwise I get a lengthy prison sentence Tried several casinos in US Mexico All of them had my face Only went in once Friends were completely let go Busted for counting slot machines

Same. I have never played in my life or know how to play

same. i’m not even old enough to gamble lmao

I had to google a lot of the terms he used here. For example, I've never heard the term "back off" before. I just thought casinos simply kicked out card counters when the caught them.

I remember when he said back off

Just using context clues, I was able to understand most of the video.@@cynthiatravers8757

Government gets their skim so its legit.

I get your point but casino's are for losers or some people who wanted to go wild all in once in their life. But you realise that if they allowed card counting most of them ban blackjack or go bankrupt.

Probably not going bankrupt but like I said, casino's only like the losers

Casinos have a right to refuse to give service to anyone. If any player makes the casino lose money in the long run, they would want to get them out ASAP.

I worked for a casino for awhile. Every casino is a monument to losers. Those beautiful palaces aren't built on winners. They are built on losers. Every game is a sucker game. Every bet is a sucker bet. I would get depressed just walking through the place, because to me in exuded "looserism". No windows, no clocks on the wall, no natural light, and everywhere you look, hollow eyed losers. I used to sit at the blackjack table occasionally before I went to work there, but never once while I worked there. Every casino operates on the PT Barnum dictum "Never give a sucker an even break"!

There are people out there who need to do math with their fingers and thinking that they can count cards too

Yea you need to practice the skill (just like any other skill). A good computer simulation is a decent start but you gotta count on spending some amount of time at it

If they're doing things that aren't basic strategy they're not a skilled player just a random lucky person.

This is called random luck. I guarantee you that guy has lost his huge stacks of hundreds playing this way. The house always wins, even with perfect basic strategy.

plot twist: it was a casino hired actor to encourage you to go balls to the wall

@z0hrd We didn't have bank like he did, though :) The table was packed too. The Pitt boss went through 5 dealers of two trays of chips. The guy got mad at us for getting verbally excited one time and frowned at us. Most amazing thing I've ever seen. He had to have known what was coming. 🎩

@@davesmith3023 Well, yeah.

Now that sounds like a fun thing to try every once in a while 😆

Was probably a basic strategy card

@@Johnny2Feathers that’s what I’m thinking lol. They probably handed out basic strategy cards and people like the OP, thought it was strategy to count cards.

@@bt49730 honestly, from a casino standpoint its not a bad idea to encourage the learners. you will 100% lose money counting cards until you are virtually perfect, by giving people a spot to play it encourages them to play more hands for “practice” effectively winning the casino more money. nobodies going to look at a guide for counting cards and immediately pick it up. the casino could still back off people that are doing a little too well at counting.

@@aidendoig4542 I can agree to your standpoint as well. It helps encourage advantage play and majority of the time they may be making mistakes and losing money in the process. However, I feel like by encouraging people to advantage playing, it discredits the casinos credibility.

It's really kind of dumb. It will also be ratting yourself out because they'll wonder how you know he was a counter.

Because gamblers are an obscure race of children who bet with their emotions, not their heads.

Most gamblers hate seeing others winning, especially if they're on a losing streak.

if you had a brain you would know it makes perfect sense

same people that tell their teacher they forgot to give everyone homework

possible she wanted yer nutz for either her or her 50 year old daughter

I think that you are dreaming.

Even if the dealer was counting herself its impossible for her to deal 5-6 21's on purpose, it just is. even when counting its still chance

@@joeyhummelman5061 The next suggested video is "Do Casinos Ever Cheat?".

a private business can throw you out for any reason as long as its not race, sex, or religion. I agree its messed up but thats where we stand.

I've heard in Atlantic City they can't kick you out, but they can lower your maximum bet to make counting useless.

@@michaelmoran2125 medical reasons is also listed in there as well as seen in the charter of rights.

This is America the only people allowed to lose money is the general public

The thing is, its not suposed to be a game. Its a "chance beting activity". The "produto" that they "sell" is a random chance of winning a prize. Because of this its not allowed to use rules or mechanics of the "game". Its a total shit excuse, i dont agree but its what everyone will tell you

That's a pretty cool way to back someone off

That’s how casinos should do it. At least you’re compensated with free food

@@colonelpanic17 Always remember, if you are cool about it, they (most of the time) will be cool about it too.

"Alright pal, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way.." "Oh the easy way, please! Definitely the easy way thank you."

@@cm55088 And don't forget I got a very full tummy as well. young and Military, I could eat a LOT! hehe😄

How's Sarah?

I probably would have told him it’s rude to stare and asked if he wanted anything

@@danielyuan9862 LOL!!!

Good luck getting an accurate count in 3 mins.

My casino bans us for life if we are fired.

Can you explain 2:40 to me

was thinking that exact same thing

Hell yea haha why would you ever tell on someone who is winning???

Facts

@@dpsheals Jealousy. And being annoyed that he is only playing when the count is good, whereas they are playing the bad shoes.

All the dealers I have tell me not to ruin the flow of the cards

@@Phlegethon there is no “flow of the cards” and don’t let anyone try to rattle you on that. If the count is positive than play it no matter what, you’re there to win while others are there to gamble and lose

in most cases... played table min to two spots of table max and they literally gave no shits this weekend. good for me i guess. Pretty sure heard pit boss mention that she gave "them" all the tools they need. If they dont catch on, "not my problem".

The problem is that card counters mathematically MUST tell on themselves. If your bet isn't following the count, your whole advantage is destroyed. Counting cards and 'staying under the radar' are mutually exclusive. Much of the video here glosses over this issue, depending on the incompetence of casino employees to spot what is obvious to see to anyone who knows blackjack and counting.

There is tons of ways they get caught. I can usually identify one within 10 minutes of play. How they handle chips is one. How fast they play is another. Perfect basic strategy is another as 99% of BJ players deviate from basic strategy. If you talk with one during a hand his eyes bounce back and forth from you to the game so he can keep the count. This is just a little taste of the things they do to rat themselves out. I have zero issue with card counters, I am fascinated by what they do. The people who pay my salary do not like them.

This information in this video is about 6-7 years behind my casino's detection methods and I would not call us on the cutting edge of the technology.

@@octobrix8056 Care to share?

The next time you are in a group and see some random person make a mistake and hurt themselves, notice in the group the reactions. Some of the group, I'll bet you, will laugh and snicker with glee. Others will express empathy. Whichever type you are, it's hard to imagine being the other type.

Yep,this is real life especially when involved with money.

Excuse my confusion, but how exactly is card counting classed as cheating? It’s a legitimate technique to improve your odds of winning. Unfortunately it comes down to the basic fact that casino’s are in the business of separating you from your money, over time, with your willing engagement under the illusion of potentially winning…. The only way to beat a casino is with a piece of 2 by 4.

@@tornagawn Back in late 90's it cost the Taj Mahal one million dollars a day just to stay in business. That was their cost. Casinos aren't in business to give you money, but they will allow you to GAMBLE and let you take some of theirs if you're lucky. The casinos typically hold 17% of every dollar you buy in for. Does that mean everyone loses? Not at all. But turning the odds in your favor by counting takes away the gambling part of gaming, and they can't survive it the odds were turned against them.

@@Kevin-ib4gv So, if the game is no longer random, don’t let anyone play! My sympathy for Casino’s isn’t that great.

@@tornagawn Neither is their sympathy for card counters and that's why they bar them. In my 22 years as a dealer they don't even consider a card counter a threat unless you bet black, which in case you don''t know, are $100.00 chips. Bet nickels and quarters (5.00 & 25.00) chips all day long and count to your hearts content. You're not a threat.

card counting isn't cheating because it's math, you can't make it illegal to think

if you friend could back up his spot on the dealer, you should have fucked up the dealer and eventually pitboss. Then go away with your money.

The house will shuffle more if the table is full and they can't send in a saboteur.

that doesnt sound legal. or is it?

@@darealrulezbreaker9493 who cares. Aslong as the goverment gets a cut out of it. We peasants need to shut up and just accept it

@@darealrulezbreaker9493 Doesn't matter if it is or isn't, its your word against theirs, and they have an army of lawyers that will absolutely crush you with legal fees until you're bankrupt. The house always wins.

Im currently trying to get a job at a casino in their surveillance department. Should I mention card counting on my resume? Or should i not mention anything of the sort?

@@caymangeorge1851 I'd totally mention it. Already possessing the skill is a benefit. You must remember, the same way the FBI hires hackers, casinos hire card counters. You just have to make sure you don't get caught doing it at another property or you could jeopardize your gaming license.

@@vawus how much he win before kick

How often do counters get backroomed?

@@davidsmock8235 Pretty sure that only happens in the movies. I've worked in retail loss prevention and in casino surveillance and the potential exposure to lawsuits for detaining somebody against their will is massive. I know retail shops are so scared of "bad stops" (where someone doesn't have the merchandise you detained them for) that if it happens even one time, you're fired. It's a huge financial liability. And that is them reacting to something that is actually illegal, versus a casino reacting to something that isn't illegal. Could you imagine getting detained against your will for something that isn't even illegal? Good God, I would pray for it to happen honestly. They better kill you or you're gonna find a pro bono lawyer and have a slam dunk civil case. Sue for millions and they'll settle for possibly hundreds of thousands. They could send the hitman when the lawsuit comes if they are truly mobsters. Most casinos aren't mobsters. Backroom detention ain't gonna happen unless the on-site gaming commission agents have you (they are actual law enforcement) in which case they are just gonna trespass you and you leave. If you're only dealing with casino staff and the state gaming agents aren't involved, ain't gonna happen and you can walk away from them like they aren't even talking to you. They are civilians with no authority to demand anything from you or hold you against your will for ANYTHING. Retail loss prevention is a different story. They are legally allowed to headlock you, slam you on the ground, and cuff you to hold you until police arrive (if you resist apprehension). It's a citizen arrest because you actually committed a crime. I know because I've done it more times than I can count haha.

Casinos control everything. They are watching you while you play whether it's slots or card games. They watch everyone. They have special teams who watch camera footage 24/7

Bookmakers do this all the time!

I know what you mean, but it's not like "cry" it's more like "oh no he's taking our money kick him out before we actually cry"

You're cheating if you win.

4real Counting cards shouldnt even be a topic

Fr, casinos, carnivals, and arcade games are all just scams for the stupid. Carnivals will subtly change things purposely to rig it against you, and by the time you even win a prize, you probably paid 5x the amount it actually was worth. Arcade games are even worse, you'll never win a single stack em game unless you press down the exact millisecond on the final layer. Aside from that, the rest of the other arcade games are pre-coded to only let players win after a certain amount of plays.

You could also lose your investment if the company goes bankrupt, insolvency. See WorldCom, Enron. K-Mart didn't even completely go under, all the shares just went to zero and they reorganized with a new set of share holders. I know, because I had K-Mart stock in the 1990's when the did that stunt.

Simple rule: casinos win. Punters lose. What's tricky about that concept?

You don't get banned by winning once. You get banned by consistently winning, and costing the casino/carnival money. A carnival prize is likely going to be worth less to the carnival than even the price of a single play of the game, or at the very most will only cost the carnival a few cents after considering the price of the game. Meanwhile, a casino will always lose money to a winning player, due to the nature of gambling.

@@thetechconspiracy2 money always coming in and money always coming out

exactly - things need to change.

imagine if you could have a 110% revenue by counting and leading the casino to be at a 10% deficit for as long as you are playing. it is straight up losing money. now the carnival prizes are worth like 1$ or 2$. sometimes the big prizes is worth like 5$. you still have to pay to try to win and often the amount you payed to even play is more than the prize you win

I don't think that people are agreeing with casinos' practices. They're just saying that casinos have the right to do so as private businesses, which they do whether it's right or wrong. Don't support the business if you don't agree with their practices.

How do you get into stuff like that? I would honestly love to get into this kind of work, I'm a magician and ever since I was a kid I've been fascinated with gambling "cheats" (I know counting isn't technically cheating but you know what I mean), I've never been the type of person who could actually cheat someone, but I've built up quite a lot of knowledge on how to do it over the years. Darwin Ortiz's stories of working as a security consultant always sounded so cool lol

you are full of it, facial recognition software isnt' good enough to do anything you say

@@houseofaction lol what makes you think that? the software is very advanced

@@houseofaction it definitely is. It might not be able to do the same on the streets, where cameras are rarer and you are moving, but sitting for tens of minutes under cameras is enough to get a good shot. Some very basic software can make a shortlist, and then it's possible for humans to verify if needed.

If your play is anything less than perfect you need to practice more as you are on a losing road without perfect play.

Same!!

If your Bankroll cant cover BJA you don't have a bankroll... its less than 40 bucks a month

@@MrCrisco145 isn’t it like 300$ upfront? I have a small 4000 bankroll that I am building, and I have a shit job so if I have to replenish it would be quite slowly.

@@MrCrisco145 broke AF but on the way to vegas

@@MrCrisco145 No it isn't. Forum membership is reasonable but the training course is thousands of dollars.

Depends on the casino what database they purchase, there are a number of different ones. There is also a free one out there but man that interface sucks on it. I also find if you fail to type in the exact name of the card counter it won't work, for the free one, that is. The paid one we utilize works great and its got a nice facial recognition software if I can't get a name on a person.

You're not wrong, but the Venn diagram of good tippers and good counters had a very thin overlap.

@@jacobharstad5696 ah gotcha makes sense

My friend called out a card counter sitting next to us then the card counter and his friends beat the crap out of us both in the parking lot.

@@Ivan.A.Trulyuski looooool don’t snitch

@@Ivan.A.Trulyuski as he deserves

As a dealer, I can't stand players snitching on eachother like that. If I get a card counter, the only worry in my head is how they're treating me. I'm courteous and nice to all my guests, and expect the same treatment back.

@@Ivan.A.Trulyuski lol snitches get stitches!

Fair. Your dad is not the bad guy. Is the casino.

@@ACEDshooter He was just following orders lol

I'm betting in a lot of cases people were taking it to a level he couldn't turn a blind eye.

Could have done a less unethical job.

@@pepaigeaNazi soldiers was just following orders too

It’s all about the math 👍. Math was always my strong suit 🤣. My first win was on a school bus trip in 5th grade and the coach knew all about it and all were impressed. See My folks were contract bridge champions so I learned to play that by the age of 12. What math teachers couldn’t figure out in like advanced algebra & trig was I knew the answer but could not explain how. It wasn’t until college that I took Finite Math and had an A because it’s all Matrixes! I was using matrixes the whole time. By the time I was of legal age for the casinos I would go to the tables and win big 3 out of 5 nights. The key is go in prepared to lose X amount and if you do just walk out & when you win big do the same. ☮️

As a dealer/pit boss of ten years, I have to say, facts. We had a list of people we flagged for possible counting, and only finally approached two of them to put them on special rules. What had they done differently? They were ahead on the year (something like 10k ahead after 100k in). That was it.

El Cortez is so sweaty. When I was spreading from 25 $ to 125 $ on a single deck at El Cortez, the pit boss came and told the dealer to shuffle mid-deck on any high bet that she sees me make.

and the fact is that most people who attempt to count cards fail to turn a profit. For me, even 1 single drink of alcohol messes up my counting and i give up and have a good time. With no alc, I can kind of get it but not guaranteed >50% so they'll help me like you said.

@@anderivative well, I think the advantage is averaged. Nobody knows the next card, or remaining sequence in the shoe. I have one drink to take the edge off. But counting takes a lot of practice. Dealers and security know how to count too. So they can spot an amateur a mile away. Watching your eyes follow every card slowly thinking. They usually don’t care here at the Indian casinos in CT, unless your at the high roller table and making big money. If you’re playing a $10 or $25 minimum, they don’t care. But as mentioned previously some dealers are just cool people and want to see some players winning sometimes, or they’re just miserable assholes like in “Vegas Vacation” with Chevy Chase.

​can you describe 2:40 to me.

Come to Vegas. We’re waiting for you. ;)

being backed off if you're not actively successfully counting cards is gangster as fukk. Do that in front of a honey fukk yeah

You're not supposed to win! That's the whole point....

With me it's a continuous fraction going in my head, especially since the true count, unlike the running count, is an estimated figure and seldom a whole number anyway. Running count is the numerator and the estimated decks in play the denominator

Bro why deal you ruin peoples lives with drug

@@tomjj2743 1 I make good money.2, people ruin their own lives by choosing to go to a casino when they don't have the money. Their choice, not mine

@@jonahgoodrich7708 except that’s not how it works. People don’t go to casinos if there aren’t any.

@@jacobdaniels3246 And casinos wouldn't exist if people wouldn't go there to spend all their money

@@jacobdaniels3246 it works both ways

While very interesting it would be incredibly hard to do.... not only would it be impossible to get data from the casinos, it would be very difficult to separate out true costs and $$ won/lost. Keep in mind that card counters aren't breaking any rules and they are only _improving_ their chances of winning, not guaranteeing it... so how do you differentiate a "bad" counter from a counter who just lucked out that night? Also, a casino isn't sinking any additional resources into card counters that aren't already there to identify actual cheaters... all the surveillance, equipment, pit bosses, and even each game's rules are designed first & foremost to prevent cheating. And as blackjack only makes up a portion of the games at most casinos, the impact to the casino's bottom line is going to be hard to quantify. Personally, I agree that card counters make up a very small portion of most casinos' patrons and an even smaller number of them are successful. Given how readily they can mitigate a card counter's advantage with things like multiple decks, shuffling, etc, I can only assume that those casinos who choose not to bother either don't see card counting as a big problem _and/or_ they are banking on identifying advantage players _after_ they have put money down but _before_ they win too big at the tables.

Help me understand 2:40

This is the best comment so far. As a Casino employee I have had lots of "Counters" that after I watched their play I was more than happy to watch them take a shitter. 10% of counters are really good at what they do, The rest are posers.

Who cares

You don't need anything more than a very average memory for card counting - you just need to remember one number, and even that is just for seconds as the number keeps changing +1 or -1.

More like "That's grounds to have the casino investigated by men in nice suits with a moving van."

I am sure the 36 euro payout was going to break them. Any issue in the delivery of a hand kills the hand as dead. No winners will be paid and no loser will be taken. If the integrity of the game is compromised in any instance it is a dead hand.

@@Bigernmcrakn I'm not sure why they'd do it. Possibly they didn't know how much i bet or saw that i was observing the pattern and shut it off before I could make a second bet.

I once played online casino roulette with Centrebet which recides in Australia. The country I live in is so f**ked up with banning private company casinos that Centrebet isn't serving us anymore. The government only wants government run gambling so they can get all the money. I think I have a fairly good brain for spotting patterns. So I gave it a go and had okay luck or my pattern recognition worked for me that time. After 3-4 hours of floating in the plus, because playing outside bets mixed with inside, they literally flipped the numbers of the wheel on reverse/ mirrored on me, without flipping the digit mirrored. I googled a reversed image of a European wheel and continued floating in plus 😂

I don't know how this is possible to do such a mirrored wheel without mirroring the numbers also. Because the live video of the wheel looked so authentic, at least to me

definitely be meeting up in the parking lot to shake hands.

I heard than in Europe most casinos use continuous shuffle machines. If that is true then card counting will not work. The reason cars counting works is because the deck is finite. Continuous shuffle machines effectively make the deck infinite.

That's because this is not a beginners guide, we have an entire playlist for that to answer all beginner questions that hopefully would be helpful: ru-vid.com/group/PL4HeBZsaiIf6mJXu-2NPuC5e6VbO-veLb

@@Blackjackapprenticeship thanks for the reply and clarification - nice job.