==Phrack Magazine== Volume Four, Issue Forty-Three, File 9 of 27 How to "Hack" BlackJack By Lex Luthor and The Legion of Gamblerz!! (LOG) lex@mindvox.phantom.com (or) lex@stormking.com Part 1 of 2 (50K) BLURB: "I learned a lot of things I didn't know from Lex's File" ---Bruce Sterling Introduction: ------------- With the DEF CON 1 hacker/cyberpunk/law enforcement/security/etc convention coming up in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 9-12 1993, I felt that now would be a good time to write a "phile" on something the attendants could put to use to help legally defray the costs of going. The thought of a bunch of ex-hackers running around Las Vegas without shirts (having 'lost' them in the various Casinos) frightened me into immediate action. Besides, I don't write articles on 'Underground' topics anymore and since I have done a lot of research and playing of Casino BlackJack, the CON in Vegas provided me the perfect excuse to finally write an article for PHRACK (not withstanding the pro-phile in Issue 40 which doesn't really count). Regardless of whether you go to this DEF CON 1 thing, if you ever plan to hit a casino with the purpose of MAKING MONEY, then you really should concentrate on ONE game of chance: BlackJack. Why? Because BlackJack is the *ONLY* casino game that affords the educated and skilled player a long-term mathematical advantage over the house. All the other casino games: Craps, Roulette, Slots, etc. have the long-term mathematical advantage over the player (see table below). BlackJack is also the only casino game for which the odds are always changing. Don't be fooled by all the glitter, a casino is a business and must make a profit to survive. The profit is ensured by using a set of rules which provides them with an edge. Now you say: wait a sec, how do they make money if BlackJack can be beaten? There are a couple of reasons. One reason is that there are very few good players who make it their profession to beat casinos at BlackJack day in and day out. There are many more who THINK they are good, THINK they know how to play the game, and lose more money than the really good players win. Notwithstanding the throngs of vacationers who admit to not being well versed in the game and consequently are doomed to lose...plenty. Another reason is that if a casino thinks you are a "counter" (a term just as nasty as "phreaker" to the phone company) there is a good chance that they will ask you to leave. See the section on Social Engineering the Casino to avoid being spotted as a counter. Also, the house secures its advantage in BlackJack from the fact that the player has to act first. If you bust, the dealer wins your bet regardless of whether the dealer busts later. The following table illustrates my point regarding house advantages for the various casino games and BlackJack strategies. The data is available in most books on casino gambling. Note that negative percentages denote player disadvantages and are therefore house advantages. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- GAME Your Advantage (over the long run) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Craps -1.4 % overall average Baccarat -1.1 % to -5.0 % Roulette -2.7 % to -5.26 % Slots -2.5 to -25 % depending on machine setting Keno -25 % more or less BlackJack (WAG Player) -2 % to -15 % BlackJack (Mirror Dealer) -5.7 % BlackJack (Basic Strategy) -0.2 % to +0.3 % BlackJack (Basic Strategy & Up to +3.1 % depending on card counting Card Counting) system and betting range. A -2 % player advantage (2 percent disadvantage) means that if you play a hundred hands at a dollar each, then ON AVERAGE, you will lose two dollars. Note that the typical "pick three" State Lottery game is a disaster as your advantage is -50 %. If you make 1000 $1 bets, you will lose $500 on average. Some people say that state lotteries are taxation on the stupid... This article contains thirteen sections. It was written in a fairly modular fashion so if there are sections which do not interest you, you may omit them without much loss in continuity however, all the sections are networked to some degree. For the sake of completeness, a fairly comprehensive list of topics has been presented. Due to email file size restrictions, I had to divide this article into two parts. Note that I am NOT a Professional BlackJack player, the definition being someone whose livelihood is derived solely from his/her winnings. I did however, dedicate a summer to gambling 5 evenings a week or so, keeping meticulous records of wins, losses and expenses incurred. I averaged 1-2 nights a week playing BlackJack with the other nights divided among 3 different forms of Pari-Mutual gambling. At the end of the summer I tallied the wins/losses/expenses and am proud to say the result was a positive net earnings. Unfortunately it was instantly apparent that the net money when divided up by the number of weeks gambling was not enough to warrant me to quit school and become a professional gambler. Besides that one summer, I have played BlackJack off and on for 7 years or so. In case you were wondering, no, I have never been a member of GA [Gamblers Anonymous] contrary to what one of those Bell Security "Hit-Lists" circulated many years ago would have you believe. The topics contained herein are: o Historical Background of the BlackJack Card Game o Useful Gambling, Casino, and BlackJack Definitions o Review of BlackJack Rules of Play o Betting, Money Management, and the Psychology of Gambling o Basic Strategy (End of Part 1) o Card Counting (Beginning of Part 2) o Shuffle Tracking o Casino Security and Surveillance o "Social Engineering" the Casino o Casino Cheating and Player Cheating o Some Comments Regarding Computer BlackJack Games for PC's o A VERY Brief Description of Other Casino Games o Selected Bibliography and Reference List Notes: a) I made extensive use of my many books, articles, and magazines on gambling and BlackJack along with actual playing experience. References are denoted by square brackets [REF#] and are listed in the Selected Bibliography and Reference List section. b) It's hard to win at something you don't understand. If you want to win consistently at anything, learn every thing you can about it. BlackJack is no exception. History of BlackJack: --------------------- I provide this historical background information because I find it rather fascinating and it also provides some insight into contemporary rules and play. I think it is worth reading for the sole reason that you might some day use one of the historical tid-bits to answer a question on Jeopardy!#@%! Seriously, the first couple of paragraphs may read a bit like a book report, but bear with it if you can as I did all of the following research specifically for this file. First, a brief history of cards: Playing cards are believed to have been invented in China and/or India sometime around 900 A.D. The Chinese are thought to have originated card games when they began shuffling paper money (another Chinese invention) into various combinations. In China today, the general term for playing cards means "paper tickets". The contemporary 52 card deck used in the U.S. was originally referred to as the "French Pack" (circa 1600's) which was later adopted by the English and subsequently the Americans. The first accounts of gambling were in 2300 B.C. or so, and yes, the Chinese again get the credit. Gambling was very popular in Ancient Greece even though it was illegal and has been a part of the human experience ever since. Today, with the all too common manipulation of language to suit one's own purposes, gambling is no longer a term used by casinos....they prefer to use the word GAMING instead. Just as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has replaced the term Shell Shock in military jargon. Since this manipulation of language is all the rage these days, why don't we water down the name Computer Hacker and replace it with Misguided Information Junky or someone who is afflicted with a Compulsive Curiosity Disorder? The history of the BlackJack card game itself is still disputed but was probably spawned from other French games such as "chemin de fer and French Ferme", both of which I am completely unfamiliar with. BlackJack originated in French Casino's around 1700 where it was called "vingt-et-un" ("twenty-and- one" in French) and has been played in the U.S. since the 1800's. BlackJack is called Black-Jack because if a player got a Jack of Spades and an Ace of Spades as the first two cards (Spade being the color black of course), the player was additionally remunerated. Gambling was legal out West from the 1850's to 1910 at which time Nevada made it a felony to operate a gambling game. In 1931, Nevada re-legalized casino gambling where BlackJack became one of the primary games of chance offered to gamblers. As some of you may recall, 1978 was the year casino gambling was legalized in Atlantic City, New Jersey. As of 1989, only two states had legalized casino gambling. Since then, about 20 states have a number of small time casinos (compared to Vegas) which have sprouted up in places such as Black Hawk and Cripple Creek Colorado and in river boats on the Mississippi. Also as of this writing, roughly 70 Native American Indian reservations operate or are building casinos, some of which are in New York and Connecticut. In addition to the U.S., some of the countries (there are many) operating casinos are: France, England, Monaco (Monte Carlo of course) and quite a few in the Caribbean islands (Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Aruba, etc.). Now: The first recognized effort to apply mathematics to BlackJack began in 1953 and culminated in 1956 with a published paper [6]. Roger Baldwin et al (see Bibliography) wrote a paper in the Journal of the American Statistical Association titled "The Optimum Strategy in BlackJack". These pioneers used calculators, and probability and statistics theory to substantially reduce the house advantage. Although the title of their paper was 'optimum strategy', it wasn't really the best strategy because they really needed a computer to refine their system. I dug up a copy of their paper from the library, it is ten pages long and fairly mathematical. To give you an idea of its importance, the Baldwin article did for BlackJack playing what the November 1960 issue of The Bell System Technical Journal entitled, "Signalling Systems for Control of Telephone Switching", did for Blue Boxing. To continue with the analogy, one can consider Professor Edward O. Thorp to be the Captain Crunch of BlackJack. Dr. Thorp, then a mathematics teacher, picked up where Baldwin and company left off. In 1962, Thorp refined their basic strategy and developed the first card counting techniques. He published his results in "Beat the Dealer" [3], a book that became so popular that for a week in 1963 it was on the New York Time's best seller list. The book also scared the hell out of the Casino's. Thorp wrote "Beat the Market" in 1967, in which he used mathematics and computer algorithms to find pricing inefficiencies between stocks and related securities. Currently he is using an arbitrage formula to exploit undervalued warrants in the Japanese stock market. The Casinos were so scared after Beat the Dealer, that they even changed the rules of the game to make if more difficult for the players to win. This didn't last long as people protested by not playing the new pseudo-BlackJack. The unfavorable rules resulted in a loss of income for the casinos. Not making money is a sin for a casino, so they quickly reverted back to the original rules. Because Thorp's "Ten-Count" method wasn't easy to master and many people didn't really understand it anyway, the casinos made a bundle from the game's newly gained popularity thanks to Thorp's book and all the media attention it generated. Beat the Dealer is rather difficult to find these days, I picked up a copy at the library recently and checked the card in the back to see how popular it is today. I was surprised as hell to find that it was checked out over 20 times in the past year and a half or so! How many books from 1962 can claim that? I do not recommend reading the book for anything other than posterity purposes though, the reason being that newer books contain better, and easier to learn strategies. Another major contributor in the history of winning BlackJack play is Julian Braun who worked at IBM. His thousands of lines of computer code and hours of BlackJack simulation on IBM mainframes resulted in THE Basic Strategy, and a number of card counting techniques. His conclusions were used in a 2nd edition of Beat the Dealer, and later in Lawrence Revere's 1977 book "Playing BlackJack as a Business". Lastly, let me mention Ken Uston, who used five computers that were built into the shoes of members of his playing team in 1977. They won over a hundred thousand dollars in a very short time but one of the computers was confiscated and sent to the FBI. The fedz decided that the computer used public information on BlackJack playing and was not a cheating device. You may have seen this story in a movie made about his BlackJack exploits detailed in his book "The Big Player". Ken was also featured on a 1981 Sixty Minutes show and helped lead a successful legal challenge to prevent Atlantic City casinos from barring card counters. Useful Definitions: ------------------- Just as in Social Engineering the Phone Company, an essential element for success is knowing the right buzzwords and acronyms. Therefore, I list some relevant definitions now, even though the reader will probably skip over them to get to the good stuff. The definitions merely serve as a reference for those who are uninitiated with the terminology of gambling, casinos, and BlackJack. If you encounter a term you don't understand in the article, look back here. The definitions are not in alphabetical order on purpose. I grouped them in what I feel is a logical and easy to remember fashion. Action: This is a general gambling term which refers to the total amount of money bet in a specific period of time. Ten bets of ten dollars each is $100 of action. Burn Card: A single card taken from the top of the deck or the first card in a shoe which the dealer slides across the table from his/her left to the right, and is placed into the discard tray. The card may or may not be shown face up (which can affect the count if you are counting cards). A card is burned after each shuffle. I have not been able to find out how this started nor the purpose for burning a card. If you know, drop me some email. Cut Card: A solid colored card typically a piece of plastic which is given to a player by the dealer for the purpose of cutting the deck(s) after a shuffle. Cutting the cards in the 'right' location is part of the 'shuffle tracking' strategy mentioned later in Part 2. Hole Card: Any face down card. The definition most often refers to the dealer's single face down card however. Shoe: A device that can hold up to eight decks of cards which allows the dealer to slide out the cards one at a time. Hard Hand: A hand in which any Ace is counted as a 1 and not as an 11. Soft Hand: A hand in which any Ace is counted as an 11 and not as a 1. Pat Hand: A hand with a total of 17 to 21. Stand: To decline another card. Hit: To request another card. Bust: When a hand's value exceeds 21....a losing hand. Push: A player-dealer tie. Pair: When a player's first two cards are numerically identical (ie, 7,7). Point Count: The net value of the card count at the end of a hand. Running Count: The count from the beginning of the deck or shoe. The running count is updated by the value of the point count after each hand. True Count: The running count adjusted to account for the number of cards left in the deck or shoe to be played. Bankroll: The stake (available money) a player plans to bet with. Flat Bet: A bet which you do not vary ie, if you are flat betting ten dollars, you are betting $10 each and every hand without changing the betting amount from one hand to the next. Black Chip: A $100. chip. Green Chip: A $25.00 chip. Red Chip: A $5.00 chip. Foreign Chip: A chip that is issued by one casino and is honored by another as cash. A casino is not necessarily obligated to accept them. Settlement: The resolving of the bet. Either the dealer takes your chips, pays you, or in the case of a push, no exchange of chips occurs. Toke: Its not what some of you may think...to "toke" the dealer is just another word for tipping the dealer. Marker: An IOU. A line of credit provided by the casino to a player. Junket: An organized group of gamblers that travel to a casino together. Junkets are usually subsidized by a casino to attract players. Comp: Short for complimentary. If you wave lots of money around, the casino (hotel) may give you things like a free room or free f00d hoping you'll keep losing money at the tables in their casino. Heat: The pressure a casino puts on a winning player, typically someone who is suspected of being a card counter. Shuffle Up: Prematurely shuffling the cards to harass a player who is usually suspected of being a counter. Nut: The overhead costs of running the casino. Pit: The area inside a group of gaming tables. The tables are arranged in an elliptical manner, the space inside the perimeter is the pit. House: The Casino of course. Cage: Short for cashier's cage. This is where chips are redeemed for cash, checks cashed, credit arranged, etc. House Percentage: The casino's advantage in a particular game of chance. Drop Percentage: That portion of the player's money that the casino will win because of the house percentage. It is a measure of the amount of a player's initial stake that he or she will eventually lose. On average this number is around 20 percent. That is, on average, Joe Gambler will lose $20 of every $100 he begins with. Head-On: To play alone at a BlackJack table with the dealer. WAG Player: Wild Assed Guessing player. SWAG Player: Scientific Wild Assed Guessing player. Tough Player: What the casino labels an '3L33T' player who can hurt the casino monetarily with his or her intelligent play. Counter: Someone who counts cards. High Roller: A big bettor. Mechanic: Someone who is elite in regards to manipulating cards, typically for illicit purposes. Shill: A house employee who bets money and pretends to be a player to attract customers. Shills typically follow the same rules as the dealer which makes them somewhat easy to spot (ie, they don't Double Down or Split). Pit Boss: An employee of the casino whose job is to supervise BlackJack players, dealers, and other floor personnel. Review of BlackJack Rules of Play: ---------------------------------- The rules of BlackJack differ slightly from area to area and/or from casino to casino. For example, a casino in downtown Vegas may have different rules than one of the Vegas Strip casinos which may have different rules from a casino up in Reno or Tahoe (Nevada). The rules in a casino in Freeport Bahamas may differ from those in Atlantic City, etc. Therefore, it is important to research, a priori, what the rules are for the area/casino(s) you plan on playing in. For Nevada casinos you can order a copy of [1] which contains rules info on all the licensed casinos in the state. Later in this article, you will see that each set of rule variations has a corresponding Basic Strategy chart that must be memorized. Memorizing all the charts can be too confusing and is not recommended. The BlackJack table seats a dealer and one to seven players. The first seat on the dealer's left is referred to as First Base, the first seat on the dealer's right is referred to as Third Base. A betting square is printed on the felt table in front of each player seat. Immediately in front of the dealer is the chip tray. On the dealer's left is the deck or shoe and beside that should be the minimum bet sign--something that you ought to read before sitting down to play. On the dealer's immediate right is the money drop slot where all currency and tips (chips) are deposited. Next to the drop slot is the discard tray. Play begins after the following ritual is completed: the dealer shuffles the cards, the deck(s) is "cut" by a player using the marker card, and the dealer "burns" a card. Before any cards are dealt, the players may make a wager by placing the desired chips (value and number) into the betting box. I used the word "may" because you are not forced to bet every hand. Occasionally a player may sit out a hand or two for various reasons. I have sat out a couple of hands at times when the dealer was getting extremely lucky and everyone was losing. If you attempt to sit out too many hands especially if there are people waiting to play at your table, you may be asked to leave the table until you are ready to play. If you don't have any chips, put some cash on the table and the dealer will exchange them for chips. Once all the bets are down, two cards (one at a time) are dealt from left to right. In many Vegas casinos, players get both cards face down. In Atlantic City and most every where else the player's cards are dealt face up. Should the cards be dealt face up, don't make the faux pas of touching them! They are dealt face up for a reason, primarily to prevent a few types of player cheating (see section on cheating in Part 2) and the dealer will sternly but nicely tell you not to touch the cards. As most of you know the dealer receives one card down and one card up. The numerical values of the cards are: (10, J, Q, K) = 10 ; (Ace) = 1 or 11 ; (other cards) = face value (3 = 3). Since a casino can be as noisy as an old Step-by-Step Switch with all those slot machines going, marbles jumping around on roulette wheels, demoniacal shrieks of "YO-LEVEN" at the craps table, people screaming that they hit the big one and so on, hand signals are usually the preferred method of signalling hit, stand, etc. If the cards were dealt face down and you want a hit, lightly flick the cards across the felt two times. If the cards were dealt face up, point at the cards with a quick stabbing motion. You may also want to nod your head yes while saying "hit". The best way to indicate to the dealer that you want to stand regardless of how the cards were dealt is to move your hand from left to right in a level attitude with your palm down. Your hand should be a few inches or so above the table. Nodding your head no at the same time helps, while saying "stay" or "stand". Permit me to interject a comment on the number of decks used in a game. Single deck games are pretty much restricted to Nevada casinos. In the casinos that have one-deck games, the tables are usually full. Multiple deck games typically consist of an even number of decks (2, 4, 6, 8) although a few casinos use 5 or 7 decks. The two main reasons many casinos use multiple decks are: 1) They allow the dealer to deal more hands per hour thereby increasing the casino take. 2) They reduce but in no way eliminate the player advantage gained from card counting. Dealer Rules - The rules the dealer must play by are very simple. If the dealer's hand is 16 or less, he/she must take a card. If the dealer's hand is 17 or more, he/she must stand. Note that some casinos allow the dealer to hit on soft 17 which gives the house a very small additional advantage. The dealer's strategy is fixed and what you and the other players have is immaterial to him/her as far as hitting and standing is concerned. Player rules - The player can do whatever he/she wants as far as hitting and standing goes with the exception of the following special circumstances. See the section on Basic Strategy for the appropriate times to hit, stand, split, and double down. The aim is to have a hand which is higher than the dealers'. If there is a tie (push), neither you nor the dealer wins. Should a player get a BlackJack (first 2 cards are an Ace and a ten) the payoff is 150% more than the original bet ie, bet $10.00 and the payoff is $15.00. DOUBLE DOWN: Doubling down is restricted to 2-card hands usually totalling 9, 10, or 11 although some casinos allow doubling down on any 2-card hand. If your first two cards provide you with the appropriate total and your cards were dealt face down, turn them over and put them on the dealer's side of the betting square. If your first two cards provide you with the appropriate total and your cards were dealt face up, point to them and say "double" when the dealer prompts you for a card and simultaneously put an equal amount of chips NEXT TO (not on top of) those already in the betting box. The dealer will give you one more card only, then he/she will move on to the next hand. SPLITTING PAIRS: If you have a pair that you want to split and your cards are dealt face down, turn them over and place them a few inches apart. If your cards were dealt face up, point to your cards and say "split" when the dealer prompts you for a card. The original bet will go with one card and you will have to place an equal amount of chips in the betting box near the other card. You are now playing two hands, each as though they were regular hands with the exception being that if you have just split two aces. In that case, you only get one card which will hopefully be a 10. If it is a ten, that hand's total is now 21 but the hand isn't considered a BlackJack. That is, you are paid 1:1 and not 1:1.5 as for a natural (BlackJack). Combined example of above two plays: Say you are dealt two fives. You split them (you dummy!). The next card is another 5 and you re-split them (you chucklehead!!). Three hands have grown out of one AND you are now in for three times your original bet. But wait. Say the next card is a six. So one hand is a 5,6 which gives you eleven; another just has a 5 and the other hand has a 5. You decide to double down on the first hand. You are dealt a 7 giving 18 which you stand on. Now a ten is dealt for the second hand and you decide to stay at 15. The last hand is the lonely third 5, which is dealt a four for a total of nine. You decide to double down and get an eight giving that hand a total of 17. Shit you say, you started with a twenty dollar bet and now you are in for a hundred! Better hope the dealer doesn't end up with a hand more than 18 lest you lose a C-note. The moral of this example is to not get caught up in the excitement and make rash decisions. However, there have been a couple of times where Basic Strategy dictated that certain split and double down plays should be made and I was very low on chips (and cash). Unless you are *really* psychic, don't go against Basic Strategy! I didn't and usually came out the better for it although I was really sweating the outcome of the hand due to my low cash status. The reason it was stupid to split two fives is that you are replacing a hand that is great for drawing on or doubling down on, by what will probably be two shitty hands. INSURANCE: This option comes into play when the dealer's up card is an Ace. At this point all the players have two cards. The dealer does not check his/her hole card before asking the players if they want insurance. The reason being evident as the dealer can't give away the value of the hole card if the dealer doesn't know what the hole card is. If a player wants insurance, half the original amount bet is placed on the semicircle labeled "insurance" which is printed on the table. If the dealer has a BlackJack the player wins the side bet (the insurance bet) but loses the original bet, thus providing no net loss or gain since insurance pays 2 to 1. If the dealer does not have a BlackJack, the side bet is lost and the hand is played normally. If you are not counting cards DO NOT TAKE INSURANCE! The proper Basic Strategy play is to decline. The time to take insurance is when the number of non-tens to tens drops below a 2 to 1 margin since insurance pays 2 to 1. It's simple math check it yourself. SURRENDER: This is a fairly obscure option that originated in Manila (Philippines) in 1958 and isn't available in many casinos. There are two versions, "early surrender" and "late surrender". Early surrender allows players to quit two-card hands after seeing the up card of the dealer. This option provides the player an additional 0.62 percent favorable advantage (significant) and therefore the obvious reason why many Atlantic City casinos abandoned the option in 1982. Late surrender is the same as early except that the player must wait until the dealer checks for a BlackJack. If the dealer does not have a BlackJack then the player may surrender. The following table was taken verbatim from [5] and is valid for games with 4+ decks. It details the best strategy regarding late surrender as determined from intensive computer simulation: TWO-CARD HAND TOTAL DEALER'S UP-CARD ------------- ----- ---------------- 9,7 16 ACE 10,6 * 16 * ACE 9,7 * 16 * 10 10,6 * 16 * 10 9,7 * 16 * 10 10,5 * 15 * 10 9,7 16 9 10,5 16 9 "In a single-deck game, you would surrender only the above hands marked with an asterisk, as well as 7,7 against a dealer's 10 up-card." [5] Casino variations - Note that some casinos do not permit doubling down on split pairs, and/or re-splitting pairs. These options provide the player with a slight additional advantage. Betting, Money Management, and the Psychology of Gambling: ---------------------------------------------------------- Let me begin this section with the following statement: SCARED MONEY RARELY WINS. Most gambling books devote quite a bit of time to the psychology of gambling and rightfully so. There is a fine line to responsible gambling. On one hand you shouldn't bet money that you cannot afford to lose. On the other hand, if you are betting with money you expect to lose, where is your confidence? When I used to gamble, it was small time. I define small time as bringing $250.00 of 'losable' money. I've lost that much in one night. I didn't like it, but I still ate that week. One pitfall you can easily fall into happens AFTER you lose. You scold yourself for losing money you could have done something productive with. "DAMN, I could have bought a 200 MB hard drive with that!#&!". You should think about these things BEFORE you play. Scared money is more in the mind than real. What I mean by that is even if you gamble with your last $10.00 in the world, it is important to play as though you have thousands of dollars in front of you. I don't mean piss the ten bucks away. I mean that there are certain plays you should make according to your chosen strategy which are the optimum mathematically. Don't make changes to it out of fear. Fear is not your friend. The "risk of ruin" is the percent chance that you will lose your entire bankroll. This percentage should not exceed 5% if you plan on playing multiple sessions to make money. The risk of ruin is dependent on the sizes of your bets during a session. The "Kelly Criterion" provides a zero percent risk of ruin. The system requires that you bet according to the percent advantage you have at any one time. For example, if you are counting cards and your advantage for a certain hand is 2% then you may bet 2% of your total bankroll. If your total is $1000. then you can bet $20. Note that if you won the hand your bankroll is now $1020 and if your advantage dropped to 1.5%, taking .015 times 1020 (which will determine your next bet size) in your head isn't all that easy. The literature provides more reasonable systems, but do yourself a favor and stay away from "betting progressions". See Reference [16] (available on the Internet) for more information regarding risk of ruin & optimal wagers. If you are gambling to make money, it is important to define how much cash you can lose before quitting. This number is called the "stop-loss limit". My stop-loss limit was my entire session bankroll which was $250 (50 betting units of $5.00 or 25 betting units of $10.00). This concept is especially important if you expect to play in the casinos for more than one session. Most books recommend that your session bankroll be about a fifth of your trip bankroll. Unfortunately, most people who have $500 in their wallet with a self imposed stop-loss limit is $200 will violate that limit should they lose the two hundred. Discipline is what separates the great players from the ordinary ones. Obviously you don't want to put a limit on how much you want to win. However, if you are keeping with a structured system there are certain limits to what your minimum and maximum bets should be. I am not going to go into that here though. In my gambling experience, there has been one non-scientific concept that has proven itself over and over again. NEVER BUCK A TREND! If you have just won three hands in a row, don't think that you are now 'due' for a loss and drastically scale back your bet. If you are winning go with it. A good friend of mine who was my 'gambling mentor' won $30,000 in a 24 hour period with a $200 beginning bankroll. This was not accomplished by scaling back bets. By the same token, if you see that the players at a certain table are losing consistently, don't sit down at that table. One problem that I've seen is when someone has won a lot and starts to lose. Mentally, they keep saying, "if I lose another $100 I will stop". They lose the hundred and say "no, really, the NEXT $100 I lose, I will stop", etc. When they go broke, that's when they stop. Live by the following graph typically designated as The Quitting Curve and you won't fall into that trap: | * <-+ | * * | Loss ^ | * * | Limit | | * * <----QUIT! <-+ | | * W | * i | * n | * n | * i | * n | * g | * | |_________________________________________ Time ----------------> Determine your loss limit and stay with it. Obviously the loss limit will change as you keep winning. Standard loss limits are 10 to 20 percent of the current bankroll. Note that this philosophy is also used in stock market speculation. Basic Strategy: --------------- If you only read one section of this file, and you don't already know what Basic Strategy is, then this is the section you should read. Knowing Basic Strategy is CRITICAL to you gaining an advantage over the house. The Basic Strategy for a particular set of rules was developed by intensive computer simulation which performed a complete combinatorial analysis. The computer "played" tens of thousands of hands for each BlackJack situation possible and statistically decided as to which play decision favored the player. The following 3 charts should be duplicated or cut out from a hardcopy of this file. You don't want to wave them around at a BlackJack table but its nice to have them on hand in case you fail to recall some plays, at which time you can run to the rest room to refresh your memory. I hope you don't think this is weird but I keep a copy of a certain Basic Strategy chart in my wallet at ALL times...just in case. Just in case of what you ask? Permit me to go off on a slight(?) tangent. The following story really happened. In 1984 I was visiting LOD BBS co-sysop, Paul Muad'dib up in New York City. After about a week we were very low on cash despite the Pay Phone windfall mentioned in my Phrack Pro-Phile ;->. I contacted a friend of mine who was working in New Jersey and he offered us a job for a couple of days. I spent just about the last of my cash on bus fair for me and Paul figuring that I would be getting more money soon. Some how, the destination was miscommunicated and we ended up in Atlantic City, which was not the location of the job. We were stuck. Our only recourse was to attempt to win some money to get us back on track. First we needed a little more capital. Paul, being known to physically impersonate phone company workers, and a Department of Motor Vehicles computer technician among others, decided to impersonate a casino employee so he could "look around". Look around he did, found a storage closet with a portable cooler and a case of warm soda, not exactly a gold mine but hey. He proceeded to walk that stuff right out of the casino. We commandeered some ice and walked around the beach for an hour selling sodas. It wasn't all that bad as scantily clad women seemed to be the ones buying them. To cut the story short, Paul knew ESS but he didn't know BlackJack. He lost and we resorted to calling up Sharp Razor, a fellow Legion member residing in NJ, who gave us (or is it lent?) the cash to continue our journey. For the record, I was fairly clueless about BlackJack at the time which really means that I thought I knew how to play but really didn't because I didn't even know Basic Strategy. The same goes for Paul. Had we had a chart on hand, we would at least have made the correct plays. Here are the charts, memorize the one that is appropriate: Las Vegas Single Deck Basic Strategy Table Dealer's Up-Card Your +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ Hand | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | A | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 8 | H | H | H | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 9 | D | D | D | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 10 | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 11 | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 12 | H | H | S | S | S | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 13 | S | S | S | S | S | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 14 | S | S | S | S | S | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 15 | S | S | S | S | S | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 16 | S | S | S | S | S | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 17 | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,2 | H | H | D | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,3 | H | H | D | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,4 | H | H | D | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,5 | H | H | D | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,6 | D | D | D | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,7 | S | D | D | D | D | S | S | H | H | S | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,8 | S | S | S | S | D | S | S | S | S | S | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,9 | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,A | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 2,2 | H | P | P | P | P | P | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 3,3 | H | H | P | P | P | P | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 4,4 | H | H | H | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 6,6 | P | P | P | P | P | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 7,7 | P | P | P | P | P | P | H | H | S | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 8,8 | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 9,9 | P | P | P | P | P | S | P | P | S | S | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ |10,10| S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ H = Hit S = Stand D = Double Down P = Split Las Vegas Multiple Deck Basic Strategy Table Dealer's Up-Card Your +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ Hand | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | A | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 8 | H | H | H | H | H | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 9 | H | D | D | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 10 | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 11 | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 12 | H | H | S | S | S | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 13 | S | S | S | S | S | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 14 | S | S | S | S | S | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 15 | S | S | S | S | S | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 16 | S | S | S | S | S | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 17 | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,2 | H | H | H | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,3 | H | H | H | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,4 | H | H | D | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,5 | H | H | D | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,6 | H | D | D | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,7 | S | D | D | D | D | S | S | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,8 | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,9 | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,A | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 2,2 | H | H | P | P | P | P | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 3,3 | H | H | P | P | P | P | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 4,4 | H | H | H | H | H | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 6,6 | H | P | P | P | P | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 7,7 | P | P | P | P | P | P | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 8,8 | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 9,9 | P | P | P | P | P | S | P | P | S | S | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ |10,10| S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ H = Hit S = Stand D = Double Down P = Split Atlantic City Multiple Deck Basic Strategy Table Dealer's Up-Card Your +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ Hand | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | A | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 8 | H | H | H | H | H | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 9 | H | D | D | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 10 | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 11 | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 12 | H | H | S | S | S | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 13 | S | S | S | S | S | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 14 | S | S | S | S | S | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 15 | S | S | S | S | S | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 16 | S | S | S | S | S | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 17 | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,2 | H | H | H | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,3 | H | H | H | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,4 | H | H | D | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,5 | H | H | D | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,6 | H | D | D | D | D | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,7 | S | D | D | D | D | S | S | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,8 | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,9 | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | A,A | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 2,2 | P | P | P | P | P | P | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 3,3 | P | P | P | P | P | P | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 4,4 | H | H | H | P | P | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 6,6 | P | P | P | P | P | H | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 7,7 | P | P | P | P | P | P | H | H | H | H | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 8,8 | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ | 9,9 | P | P | P | P | P | S | P | P | S | S | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ |10,10| S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | +-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+ H = Hit S = Stand D = Double Down P = Split End of "How To Hack BlackJack": File 1 of 2 ==Phrack Magazine== Volume Four, Issue Forty-Three, File 10 of 27 How to "Hack" BlackJack By Lex Luthor lex@mindvox.phantom.com Part 2 of 2 (50K) Card Counting: -------------- Card Counting? Don't you have to be some sort of mathematical genius or have a photographic memory to count cards? No, these are as mythical as that 415-BUG-1111 "trace detector" number posted on all those old hacker BBSes. Well, you may now say, what if the casino is using 4, 6, or even 8 decks? Surely you can't keep track of 300+ cards! Don't sweat these details. Probably the hardest part about learning to play successful BlackJack has already been accomplished in the previous section. That is: memorizing the appropriate basic strategy chart. All you really need to count cards is the ability to count up to plus or minus twelve or so...by ONES! Of course there are more complicated systems but that is all you need to do for the simplest ones. The first card counting systems were developed by our old friend Dr. Thorp. He determined through mathematical computation that the card that has the most influence on the deck being in a favorable condition (for the player) was the five. When the deck is low in fives, the player has a higher advantage than if it's sparse in any other card. Logic dictated that for a very simple card counting strategy, simply keep track of the abundance (or lack thereof) of fives. This is the basis of his "Five Count" system which was later improved to include tens and renamed the "Ten Count" system. Today, there are many different card counting systems. Typically, the more complex a system is, the better your advantage should you master it. However, the difference between card counting System X and System Y is usually so small that ease of using the system becomes more important than gaining an additional .15 % advantage or whatever it is. I am going to restrict the discussion to a single card counting system: the high/low (also called the plus/minus) point count. This strategy is very easy to master. Two other methods that I recommend if you're serious are the Advanced Plus/Minus and the "Hi-Opt I" systems. The former being similar to the high/low but assigns fractional values to certain cards as opposed to integer values which are easier to add in your head. The latter method is considered one of the most powerful yet reasonable (with respect to complexity) counting systems of all time and is detailed extensively on pages 213 to 277 of [7]. The quick and dirty reason why card counting works is this: The player gains an advantage when a deck has a SHORTAGE of cards valued 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. When a deck has a SHORTAGE of cards valued 9, 10, Ace; the player has a DISadvantage. If you can tell when the deck is rich in 9's, 10's, and Aces (ie, when you hold the advantage) you can do one of the following things: 1) Bet more money when the deck is favorable to you. 2) Alter your Basic Strategy play to account for the favorability thereby increasing the odds of winning a particular hand. 3) Combine 1 & 2 by betting more AND altering Basic Strategy. Now lets discuss the +/- Point Count. As you can see from the small chart below, a plus value is given to low cards, and a minus value is given to high cards. Notice that 7, 8, and 9 have a value of zero. This is because their overall effect is negligible as compared to the others. Some systems use a value of -2 for the Ace instead of -1 and give a value of +1 to the seven instead of zero. If you are using a BlackJack computer game for practice, check to see what card counting system(s) it uses. They should offer one of the above two variations. Learn that one, since it will allow you to prepare well for actual casino play. See the "Some Comments Regarding Computer BlackJack Programs for the PC" section for more on this. Now the chart: +-----------------------------------------+ | PLUS (+1) || MINUS (-1) | +-----------------------------------------+ | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 || 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | A | +-----------------------------------------+ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 || 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +-----------------------------------------+ As you may notice, this is a balanced system. There are 20 cards in a deck that are valued +1: two through six. There are 16 ten value cards and 4 Aces in a deck (20 total) that are valued -1. The remaining 12 cards (7, 8, 9) have a value of zero. At the end of a deck the count should be zero. A good drill to practice is to get a deck of cards, turn them over one by one, and keep track of the count. If you enter a game mid-way between the deck or shoe, flat bet until the cards are shuffled. Once the cards are shuffled commence counting from zero. Lets do a quick example using ten cards. The following ten cards are shown in the course of a hand: A, 4, 7, 10, 10, 9, 10, 2, 10, 5. Just so no one gets lost, we will do one card at a time and then keep the running total: the first value is -1 (the Ace) & the second is +1 (the 4) = 0 (the current total hand count). The next card is the 7 which is zero so disregard it. The next card is a ten so the total count is now -1. The next card is another ten, giving a total count of -2. The next card is a nine which has a value of zero so ignore it, total count is still at -2. Next is a ten, total count is at -3. Next is a two which adds +1 to the minus three yielding a total of -2. A quick look at the next two cards shows that the two will cancel each other out (-1+1=0). So at the end of a hand of ten cards dealt to 2 players and the dealer, the point count is minus two. This provides you with the knowledge that your are at a slight disadvantage. Your next bet should either be the same or a unit or two lower. From this example you see that it would be easier to count cards if you play in a "cards-up" game. That way you can see all the cards as they are dealt and count them as they go by. When the dealer deals fast, just count every two cards. You still count each card but you only add to your total count after every two cards since many times the two values will cancel each other out to give a net value of zero, which doesn't need to be added to your total. If you play in a cards-down game, you may want to consider playing at third base. The reason being is that in a cards-down game you only see the other players' cards: a) if you peek at their hand (not polite but it's not cheating like in poker) b) if a player busts c) when the dealer settles each players' hand. When there are other people at a table, all this happens rather quickly and you may miss a few cards here and there which essentially invalidates your count. You can't control how fast the dealer deals, but you can slow things down when the dealer prompts you for a play decision. I am not going to discuss changing basic strategy here. The chart you memorize in Basic Strategy section of this file will be fine for now. If you are already adept at the plus/minus count then find a book that has a complete system including the appropriate changes to Basic Strategy that reflect the current running and/or true count. For one deck, alter your wager according to the following table: BET UNITS +/- Running Count ----------------------------- 1 +1 or less 2 +2 or +3 3 +4 or +5 4 +6 or +7 5 +8 or more Example: After the first hand of a one deck game, the point count is plus four and you just bet a $5.00 chip. Before the next hand is dealt, wager $15.00 (three units of $5.00) as the above table mandates. What if there are four, six, or more decks instead of just one? I recommend that you perform a "true-count" rather than trying to remember different betting strategies for different number of deck games. By doing a true count, the above table can still be used. The True Count is found by the ensuing equation. I provide an example along with it for the case of having a running count of +9 with one and a half decks left unplayed. It doesn't matter how many decks are used, you just have to have a good eye at guesstimating the number of decks that are left in the shoe. I just measured the thickness of a deck of cards to be 5/8 (10/16) of an inch. Hence the thickness of a half deck is 5/16 of an inch. One and a half decks would be 10/16 + 10/16 + 5/16 = 25/16 or a little over an inch and a half. You probably see a relationship here. The number of decks is approximately equal to the height of the cards in inches. Easy. Running Count +9 True Count = ---------------------- = ----- = +6 # of Decks Remaining 1.5 Looking at the table of betting units above, the proper wager would be four units. If you have trouble keeping the count straight in your head, you can use your chips as a memory storage device. After every hand tally up the net count and update the running or true count by rearranging your chips. This is somewhat conspicuous however, and if done blatantly, may get you labeled a counter. If for some reason you despise the notion of counting cards, you may want to pick up Reference [11], "Winning Without Counting". The author writes about using kinesics (body language) to help determine what the dealers' hole card is after checking for a Natural. He claims that certain dealers have certain habits as far as body language is concerned, especially when they check to see if they have a BlackJack. The dealer will check the hole card if he/she has a ten value card or an Ace as the up-card. When the hand is over you will see what the hole card really was. You may be able to discern a certain characteristic about the dealer, such as a raising of the eyebrows whenever the hole card is a 2-9 or perhaps a slight frown, etc. There is some usefulness to this method but I wouldn't rely on it very much at all. I have only used it for one particular situation. That being when the dealer has a ten up card and checks to see if the hole card is an Ace. Note that many dealers check the hole card very quickly and turn up just the corner of the card so as to prevent any of the players from seeing the card. If the hole card is an Ace, the dealer will turn over the card and declare a BlackJack. However, if the hole card is a 4, many times the dealer will double check it. The reason for this double take is simply that a 4 looks like an Ace from the corner, get a deck of cards and see for yourself. A 4 really looks like an Ace and vice-versa when the corner is checked in a QUICK motion. So, if you see the dealer double check the hole card and NOT declare a BlackJack, you can be fairly sure the hold card is a four, giving the dealer a total of 14. You can now adjust your basic strategy play accordingly. This situation has only come up a few times in my case, but once was when I had a $50.00 bet riding on the hand and I won the hand by using that additional information. Dr. Julian Braun has previously calculated that the player has about a 10% advantage over the house should he/she know what the dealer's hole card is. This is quite substantial. Of course you have to memorize a specific Basic Strategy chart for the case of knowing what the dealers' total is in order to obtain the maximum benefit. I haven't bothered memorizing this chart simply because it is a rare occurrence to know what the dealers' hole card is. If you sit down at a table with an inexperienced dealer, you might catch a couple more than usual, but I don't think it is enough to warrant the extra work unless you want to turn pro. Another thing Winning Without Counting mentions is to pay attention to the arches and warps in the cards. Perhaps a lot of the ten value cards have a particular warp in them due to all those times the dealer checked for a BlackJack. The author claims that he has used this to his advantage. Maybe so, but I don't put much stock in this technique. I have enough things to worry about while playing. One last thing. There is no law or rule that says a dealer cannot count cards. A dealer may count cards because he or she is bored but more likely is that the casino may encourage counting. The reason being that if the deck is favorable to the player, the house can know this and "shuffle up". This is also called preferential shuffling (a game control measure) and it vaporizes your advantage. Shuffle Tracking: ----------------- Shuffle What? Shuffle Tracking. This is a fairly new (15 years +/-) technique that has not been publicized very much. One problem with many of the BlackJack books out there is that they are not hip to the current game. The obvious reason for this is that many are old or simply re-formulate strategies that were invented decades ago. It's just like reading "How to Hack the Primos Version 18 Operating System" today. The file may be interesting, many of the commands may be the same, but it doesn't detail how to take advantage of, and subvert the CURRENT version of the OS. The best definition I have seen is this one quoted from Reference [5]: "'Shuffle-tracking' is the science of following specific cards through the shuffling process for the purpose of either keeping them in play or cutting them out of play." The concept of Shuffle tracking appears to have resulted from bored mathematician's research and computer simulation of shuffling cards, a familiar theme to BlackJack you say. The main thing that I hope every reader gets from this section is that just because someone shuffles a deck (or decks) of cards does not in any way mean that the cards are "randomized". The methods mentioned in the two previous sections (Basic Strategy and Card Counting) ASSUME A RANDOM DISTRIBUTION OF CARDS! That is an important point. According to some authors, a single deck of cards must be shuffled twenty to thirty times to ensure a truly random dispersion. If a Casino is using a 6 deck shoe, that's 120 to 180 shuffles! Obviously they aren't going to shuffle anywhere near that many times. But don't despair, there are some types of shuffles which are good, and some that are bad. In fact, if the cards were always randomly disbursed, then you would not be reading this section due to it's lack of relevance. As in the Card Counting section, I am going to restrict the discussion to the basics of shuffle tracking as the combination of references listed at the end of this section provide a complete discourse of the topic. A beneficial (to the player) shuffle for a one deck game is executed by dividing the deck equally into 26 cards and shuffling them together a minimum of three times. This allows the cards to be sufficiently intermixed to yield a fairly random distribution. An adverse shuffle prevents the cards from mixing completely. The simplest example is the Unbalanced Shuffle. As its name implies, the dealer breaks the deck into two unequal stacks. As an example, lets say you are playing two hands head on with the dealer and the last 10 cards in the deck are dealt. The result of the hand was that both your hands lost to the dealer primarily due to the high percentage of low value cards in the clump. Note that if you were counting, you would have bet a single unit since the deck was unfavorable. The dealer is now ready to shuffle the deck, and separates the deck into 31 cards in one stack and 21 in the other stack. The dealer shuffles the two stacks. If the shuffle is done from the bottom of each stack on up, the top ten cards of the larger stack will remain intact without mixing with any of the other cards. Those ten cards can remain in the order they were just dealt throughout the shuffle if the process of bottom to top shuffling is not altered. You are now asked to cut the deck. If you don't cut the deck, the 10 cards that were dealt last hand will be dealt as your first two hands. The result will be the same as your last and you will lose the two hands. However, if you cut the deck exactly at the end of those ten cards, you have just altered the future to your benefit. Those cards will now be placed at the bottom of the deck. Should the dealer shuffle up early, you will avoid them altogether. In addition, if you were keeping count, you would know that the deck was favorable during the first 3-4 hands since there would be an abundance of tens in the portion of the deck that will be played. You would accordingly increase you bet size to maximize your winnings. Some dealers will unknowingly split the deck into unequal stacks. However, more often than not, they are REQUIRED to split the deck into unequal stacks. If they are required to do this, they are performing the House Shuffle. The casino has trained the dealer to shuffle a particular way...on purpose! Why? Because in the long run, the house will benefit from this because most players will not cut any bad clumps out of play. If you have played BlackJack in a casino, how much did you pay attention to the way they shuffled? Like most people you were probably oblivious to it, perhaps you figured that during the shuffle would be a good time to ask that hot waitress for another drink. Regardless, you now see that it may be a good idea to pay attention during the shuffle instead of that set of "big breastseses" as David Allen Grier says on the "In Living Color" TV show ;)-8-< There are a number of shuffle methods, some of which have been labeled as: the "Zone Shuffle", the "Strip Shuffle", and the "Stutter Shuffle". The Zone Shuffle is particular to shoe games (multiple deck games) and is probably one of the most common shuffle methods which is why I mention it here. It is accomplished by splitting the shoe into 4 to 8 piles depending on the number of decks in the shoe. Prescribed picks from each pile are made in a very exact way with intermittent shuffles of each pair of half deck sized stacks. The net effect is a simple regrouping of the cards pretty much in the same region of the shoe as they were before, thereby preventing clumps of cards from being randomly mixed. If the dealer won 40 hands and you won 20, this trend is likely to continue until you are broke or until the unfavorable bias is removed through many shuffles. What if the players are winning the 40 hands and the dealer only 20? If the dealer has been mentally keeping track of how many hands each side has won in the shoe, the dealer will probably do one of two things. One is to keep the shuffle the same, but 'strip' the deck. When a dealer strips a deck, he/she strips off one card at a time from the shoe letting them fall on top of one another onto the table. This action causes the order of the cards to be reversed. The main consequence is to dissipate any clumping advantages (a bunch of tens in a clump) that the players may have. The second thing the dealer may do is simply change the way they shuffle to help randomize the cards. I personally believe that casinos use certain shuffles on purpose for the sole reason that they gain some sort of advantage. A BlackJack dealer friend of mine disputes the whole theory of card clumping and shuffle tracking though. The mathematics and simulation prove the non-random nature of certain shuffles under controlled conditions. Perhaps in an actual casino environment the effect isn't as high. Regardless, next time you are playing in a casino and its time to shuffle a shoe, ask the dealer to CHANGE they WAY he/she shuffles. The answer will nearly always be NO. Try to appeal to the pit boss and he/she will probably mumble something about casino policy. Why are they afraid to change the shuffle? Relevant Reading: [4], [5] Chapters 5 and 6 pages 71 to 98, [14] pages 463 to 466, and [15] which is very detailed and accessible via Internet FTP. Casino Security and Surveillance: -------------------------------- I figured this section might get some people's attention. It is important to know what the casino is capable of as far as detecting cheating (by employees and customers) and spotting card counters. EYE IN THE SKY: A two way mirror in the ceiling of the casino. It's not hard to spot in older casinos as it usually is very long. Before 1973 or so, employees traversed catwalks in the ceiling and it was easy for dealers and players to hear when they were being watched. Sometimes dust from the ceiling would settle down onto a table when someone was above it. Newer casinos use those big dark plexiglass bubbles with video camera's which should be watched constantly. These cameras have awesome Z00M capabilities and according to Reference [9], the cameras can read the word "liberty" on a penny placed on a BlackJack table. I am sure the resolution is better than that for the latest equipment. The video images are also taped for use as evidence should anything that is suspect be detected. Just like computer security audit logs, if no one pays attention to them, they don't do much good. If you want a job monitoring gamblers and casino employees, you need to train for about 500 hours (about twenty 40 hour weeks) to learn all the tricks people try to pull on you. Pretty intensive program wouldn't you say? CASINO EMPLOYEES: Then there are the casino employees. The dealers watch the players, the floor men watch the dealers and the players, the pitbosses watch the dealers, the floormen, and the players, etc. There may be plain clothes detectives roaming about. In a casino, everyone is suspect. BLACK BOOK: A company that you will see mentioned in a lot of casino books is Griffin Investigations. They periodically update a book that casino's subscribe to that have pictures and related info on barred card counters and known casino cheats.....I suppose the "black book" as it is called, is analogous to the "Bell security hit-lists", that had (have?) files on known phreaks and hackers. Social Engineering the Casino: ------------------------------ If you are good at getting an ESS operator to enter NET-LINE on DN COE-XXXX, and at getting those "Engineering Resistant Hard Asses up at SNET (Southern New England Telephone)" [as The Marauder affectionately calls them] to give you the new CRSAB number; then this section will be a piece of cake for you to master. References [3], [7], and [8] have many stories regarding playing in casinos, getting barred, and various exploits. I am not going to repeat any of them here. In each of those books, the authors talk about their first experiences getting barred. In each case they were fairly bewildered as to why they were kicked out, at least until some casino employee or owner told them things like "you're just too good" and the ever diplomatic: "we know your kind, get the hell out!". As you probably have gathered thus far, card counters are as undesirable in a casino as a phone phreak is in a central office. There are a number of behavioral characteristics which have been attributed to the 'typical' card counter. Probably the most obvious act of a counter is a large increase in bet size. If you recall in the Card Counting section, when the deck is favorable, you bet more. When the deck is unfavorable, you bet less. Dr. Thorp's original system required a variation in bet size from one to ten units. When the deck is favorable the system may dictate that you go from a ten dollar bet to a hundred dollar bet. Kind of gets the attention of the dealer and the pit boss. However, this type of wild wagering is typical of big money hunch bettors. Hunch betters will just plop down a bunch of chips at random due to 'hunches'. Therefore, a large increase in bet size won't necessarily cause you to be pegged as a counter. Intense concentration, never taking your eyes off the cards, lack of emotion...ie, playing like a computer, is pretty much a give away that you are counting. Other things such as 'acting suspicious', meticulously stacking your chips, betting in discernable patterns, and a devout abstention from alcohol may also attract unwanted attention. Another criteria used for spotting counters is if there are two or more people playing in concert with one another. Ken Uston is famous for his BlackJack teams. They have literally won millions of dollars collectively. When the "Team-LOD" gets together to play, we have to pretend we don't know each other so as not to attract undue attention ;-) What I mean by Social Engineering the casino is to list ways that trick the casino into thinking you are just a dumb tourist who is throwing money away. Look around, smile, act unconcerned about your bet, don't be afraid to talk to the dealer, floorperson, or pit boss. Don't play 8 hours straight. Perhaps order a drink. Things of this nature will help deflect suspicion. I only recall attracting attention once. The casino wasn't very busy, there were 3 people at the table including myself. I only had about an hour to play so I bet aggressively. I started with $5 and $10 but made some $50.00 bets whenever I got a feeling that I was going to win the next hand (quite the scientific strategy I know). A woman next to me who seemed to be a fairly seasoned player made a comment that I was a little too aggressive. The pit boss hovered about the table. My hour was nearly up, I bet $10.00 for the dealer and $50.00 for myself. I lost the hand leaving me only $100.00 ahead, and left. The only thing I could think of besides the betting spread which really wasn't a big deal was that the casino was FREEZING inside. I was shivering like hell, it probably looked like I was shaking out of fear of being spotted as a counter or worse...a cheater. So what if a casino thinks you are counter? To be honest, there have probably been less than 1000 people who have been permanently barred from play (ie, they have their mugs in the black book). A far greater number have been asked to leave but were not prevented from returning in the future. Tipping the dealer may not necessarily get the casino off your back but certainly doesn't hurt. When you toke the dealer, place the chip in the corner of your betting box a few inches from your bet. You may want to say "we are in this one together" or some such to make sure they are aware of the tip. This approach is better than just giving them the chip because their 'fate' is tied in with yours. If your hand wins, 99 out of 100 times they will take the tip and the tip's winnings off the table. The 1 out of 100 that the dealer let the tip+win ride happened to me over and over again for the better part of a day. It was a week before I had to go back to college and I was broke, with no money to pay the deposits for rent and utilities. Basically, if I didn't come up with some money in 7 days, I was not going back to school. This was 4 years ago BTW. I took out $150 on my credit card (stupid but hey, I was desperate) and started playing and winning immediately. I pressed my bets time and time again and in an hour or two had $500 in front of me (+$350). I started losing a bit so I took a break for a short while. I went back to a different table with a different dealer. As soon as I sat down I started winning. I started to tip red chips ($5.00) for the dealer. The first couple of times he took the $10.00 right away. I kept winning steadily and continued to toke him. Then he started to let the $10.00 ride! I was amazed because I had never seen that before. That is when I knew I was HOT. If the dealer is betting on you to win, that says something. When I stopped playing I cashed in eight black chips. I left with eight one hundred dollar bills, a net profit of $650.00, just enough to cover everything. Whew! I probably tipped close to $100.00 that day, and the dealer must have made double to triple that due to him betting with me. There were a number of times when the pit boss wasn't close that the dealer would IGNORE my hit or stand signal. The first time he did this I repeated myself and he did what I asked but gave me a 'look'. Needless to say, I lost the hand. After that, if he 'thought' I said stand, I didn't argue. This occurred when he had a ten as the up-card so he knew his total from peeking at the hole card. I am not sure if this is considered cheating because I did not ask him to do this, nor did we conspire. It just happened a few times, usually when I had $25-$50 bets on the line which is when I made sure to throw in a red chip for him. Casino Cheating and Player Cheating: ------------------------------------ Cheating by the house is rare in the major casinos ie, those located in Nevada and Atlantic City. The Nevada Gaming Commission may revoke a casino's gambling license if a casino is caught cheating players. Granted, there may be a few employees (dealers, boxmen, whomever) that may cheat players, but it is extremely doubtful any casino in Nevada or Atlantic City does so on a casino-wide scale. You definitely should be wary of any casino that is not regulated such as those found on many cruise ships. Because a casino does not have to answer to any regulatory agency does not mean it is cheating players. The fact is that casino's make plenty of money legitimately with the built-in house advantages and don't really need to cheat players to survive. I provide some cheating methods here merely to make you aware of the scams. These techniques are still carried out in crooked underground casinos and private games. The single deck hand-held BlackJack game is quite a bit more susceptible to cheating by both the dealer and the player than games dealt from a shoe. The preferred method of dealer cheating is called the "second deal". As you may infer, this technique requires the card mechanic to pretend to deal the top card but instead deals the card that is immediately under the top card. Imagine if you could draw a low card when you need a low card, and a high card when you need a high card. You could win large sums of money in a very short period. Well, a dealer who has the ability to execute the demanding sleight of hand movements for second dealing can drain even the best BlackJack player's bankroll in short order. If someone is going to deal seconds, they must know what the second card is if he or she is to benefit. One way to determine the second card is by peeking. A mechanic will distract you by pointing or gesticulating with the hand that is holding the deck. "Look! There's Gail Thackeray!". While you are busy looking, the dealer is covertly peeking at the second card. A more risky method is pegging. A device called a pegger is used to put small indentations in the cards that the dealer can feel. Pegging all the ten value cards has obvious benefits. Another method is the "high-low pickup". I like this one because it's easy for a novice to do especially in a place where there are a lot of distractions for the players. After every hand, the dealer picks up the cards in a high-low alternating order. The mechanic then proceeds with the "false shuffle" in which the deck is thought to have been shuffled but in reality the cards remain in the same order as before the shuffle. As you well know by now, a high-low-high-low arrangement of the cards would be death to the BlackJack player. Get dealt a ten and then a 5, you have to hit, so get another ten. Busted. Since the dealer doesn't lose until he/she busts, all the players who bust before lose. Bottom dealing and switching hole cards are other techniques that may be used to cheat players. For shoe games, there is a device called a "holdout shoe" that essentially second deals for the dealer. Discreet mirrors and prisms may be contained in the holdout shoe which only allow the dealer to see what card is next. Shorting a regular shoe of ten cards will obviously have a detrimental effect on the BlackJack player. Player cheating isn't recommended. However, I'll quickly list some of the methods for awareness purposes. The old stand-by of going up to a table, grabbing some chips, and running like hell is still done but certainly lacks originality. Marking cards while you play is another popular method. "The Daub" technique is done by clandestinely applying a substance that leaves an almost invisible smudge on the card. High value cards like tens are usually the targets. One scam mentioned in one of the references was the use of a special paint that was only visible to specially made contact lenses. The "hold out" method requires the palming of a card and substituting a better one. This is usually done when there is big money bet on the hand. One of the risks to these methods is when the deck is changed since the pit boss always scrutinizes the decks after they are taken out of play. Other methods entail playing two hands and switching cards from one hand to the other, counterfeiting cards and/or casino chips, adding chips after a winning hand (I have seen this done twice, couldn't believe my eyes but certainly wasn't going to RAT the thieves out). Some dealers may be careless when looking at their hole card for a BlackJack. A person behind the dealer on the other side of the pit may be able to discern the card. The value is then signalled to a player at the table. Astute pit bosses may notice someone who is not playing that scratches their head too much though. Wireless signalling devices have been used for various purposes but some casinos have new electronic detection systems that monitor certain frequencies for activity. Some Comments Regarding Computer BlackJack Software for PC's: --------------------------------------------------------------- I strongly recommend that you practice using a BlackJack program of some kind before going out to play with real cash. The first program I used for 'training' some years ago was "Ken Uston's BlackJack" on my old Apple ][+. Later I acquired "Beat The House" for the same machine. I recently bought a program for my IBM and have been using it to refresh my memory regarding basic strategy, card counting, and money management techniques. I assume you will recognize the guy's name in the title now that you have read most of this article. I bought: "Dr. Thorp's Mini BlackJack" by Villa Crespo Software at a Wal-Mart of all places for a measly $7.88. This is an abridged version however. Villa Crespo charges $12.95 for it if you order via mail. They also offer an unabridged version for $29.95 via mail. Villa Crespo (don't ask me where they got that name) offers other programs for Craps, Video Poker, and 7-Card Stud in case you are interested in those games of chance. By the way, on the order form I also noticed "FAILSAFE Computer Guardian (Complete protection and security for your system)" for $59.95. For some reason any time a piece of paper has the word 'security' on it, my eyes zero in on it.... Some features that I liked about this scaled down version of their BlackJack program were the TUTOR, which advises you on whether to hit, stand, take insurance (no way), etc. as per Basic Strategy. The Tutor for the abridged version does NOT take into consideration the card count when making recommendations though. If you are counting the cards, the program keeps count also, so if you lose count you can check it by pressing a function key. The STATS option is neat since it keeps track of things such as how many hands were dealt, how many you won/lost, etc. and can be printed out so you can track your progress. The program allows you to save your current session in case you get the urge to dial up the Internet to check your email, something that should be done every hour on the hour.... One thing I did not like about the program was that it allowed you to bet over your bankroll. I accidentally pushed [F2] (standardized at $500.00 a bet instead of [F1] (standardized at $5.00 a bet) ---- a slight difference in wager I'd say. Having only $272.00 in my bankroll didn't stop the program from executing the command and in my opinion it should have prevented the overdraft. The first time I played Dr. Thorp's Mini BlackJack, it took me about 95 hands to double my money. I started with $200.00, bet from $5.00 to $25.00, never dropped below $180.00 which surprised me, and received 3 BlackJacks. I won 63 hands, and lost 32. I played head on against the dealer, although the program allows for up to 6 players. I consider that lucky since I had my fair share of going broke in later sessions. My advice when using a BlackJack computer program is: do not start with a bizzillion dollars or anything like that. Start with the amount that you truly plan to use when you sit down at an actual table. If you play in a crowded casino, all the low minimum bet tables (ie: $1.00 to $5.00) will most likely be filled to capacity and only $10.00 or $15.00 tables will have openings. Keep this in mind because when you make bets with the computer program, you should wager no less than whatever the minimum will be at the table you sit down at. If your bankroll is only $200.00 playing at anything more than a $5.00 minimum table is pushing it. Another thing to note is that playing at home is kind of like watching Jeopardy on TV while you are sitting on the couch. People who have been on the show always say it was much harder than when they blurted out answers during dinner with their mouths full (the Heimlich maneuver--a real lifesaver!). The same thing goes for BlackJack. When you are sitting at an actual table, your adrenaline is flowing, your heart starts to pump faster, you make irrational plays especially when you start losing, and odds are you will forget things that were memorized perfectly. There is no substitute for the real thing and real experience. Quick Comments on Other Casino Games: ------------------------------------- A few people suggested I briefly mention some of the other casino games so I added this section. I don't go into much detail at all as this file is too unwieldy already. Besides, if you want to know more, I am sure you'll pick up the appropriate reference. Hundreds of books have been published on gambling and they are available by contacting [2]. My aim here was to mention details that most people may not be aware of. BACCARAT: This is the game you see in movies a lot. See [12]'s FAQ for a good explanation of this game. CRAPS: Craps is probably the most complicated casino game as far as the different ways to bet things are concerned but its really not that hard to learn. I just want to throw one table at you adapted from Reference [13]. The table won't make much sense unless you are already familiar with craps. In case you have forgotten or didn't know, craps is 'that dice game'. The purpose of presenting it is to save you $$$$$ <-- Still love that dollar sign key! hehe Lamest Bets at the Craps Table BET PAYS SHOULD PAY YOUR ADVANTAGE ------------------------------------------------------- Any-7 4 to 1 5 to 1 -16.7 % 2 (or 12) 30 to 1 35 to 1 -13.9 % Hard 10 (or 4) 7 to 1 8 to 1 -11.1 % 3 (or 11) 15 to 1 17 to 1 -11.1 % Any Craps 37 to 1 8 to 1 -11.1 % Hard 6 (or 8) 9 to 1 10 to 1 -9.1 % SLOTS: Playing slots is a gamble. Obviously you say. No, I mean its a gamble to play them. House advantages are almost never displayed on a particular slot machine. Different machines and different locations may have different casino win percentages. When you go up to a slot machine, you have no idea if its' advantage over you is 5% or 25%. Unless you have been watching it, you don't know if it just paid off a big jackpot either. I don't play slots as a matter of principle. If you do play I think there are still some $.05 slots in Vegas. Play the nickel slots and keep your shirt, especially if its an LOD T-shirt. VIDEO POKER: Reference [13] gives the following advice regarding video poker: "...don't expect to win. Manage your money so that you limit your losses." I think its a bit negative but I can't argue with the logic. Also, as with slots, you may want to play at a machine that is networked with others which has a progressive payoff. This way at least you have a chance of making the big bucks in addition to those periodic small payoffs. VIDEO BLACKJACK: If you like to avoid people and like BlackJack, you may be thinking that this is a great way for you to "hack two systems with one password" and make a little money on the side. Before you start putting quarter or dollar tokens into video BlackJack machines there are a couple of things to know. First, you can't use card counting techniques because every hand is essentially dealt from a new deck. When the computer deals a hand it is just providing 'random' cards. Perhaps if you saw the source code, you may be able to determine some sort of bias but I suspect it would be minuscule at best. The rules vary from machine to machine and the maximum allowable bet varies also. As with the video poker and video slot machines, the owner of the machine may set the options to their taste (amount of profit). Selected Bibliography: ---------------------- The following are some references you may want to check out and some of my sources of information for this article. They are not in any particular order and the format is far from standard as opposed to my thesis bibliography :) [1] "BlackJack Forum Newsletter" by RGE Publishing in Oakland California. This is a quarterly publication which has the location and rule variations info (among other things) for casinos in the state of Nevada. [2] The Gamblers Book Club (its really a store) can sell you a sample of the BlackJack Forum Newsletter for $10.00. They have all kinds of new and out of print books, used magazines, etc. They are located in Vegas (630 S. 11th St.) so stop by in person or call 1-800-634-6243 which was valid as of 6/1/93 since I just gave them a ring...the guy I spoke to was very nice and helpful so I thought I'd give them a plug here. [3] "Beat The Dealer" by Dr. Edward O. Thorp. Make sure you get the SECOND edition (1966) since it has Dr. Julian Braun's additions to the original 1962 edition. [4] "Gambling Times Magazine" (now defunct), 'BlackJack Bias Part 1 and 2' July and August 1987 Issues by Mason Malmuth. This magazine was great because it kept you up to date on the latest in gambling systems and what casinos are up to. The article is about the author using his PC to perform simulations regarding the effects of non-random card distribution on BlackJack. [5] "Break The Dealer" by Jerry L. Patterson and Eddie Olsen, 1986 Perigee Books. Worth the money for the chapters on Shuffle Tracking alone. [6] "The Optimum Strategy in BlackJack" by Roger R. Baldwin, Wilbert E. Cantey, Herbert Maisel, James P. McDermott. Journal of the American Statistical Association, September 1956. Eight of ten pages are mathematics. [7] "The World's Greatest BlackJack Book" revised edition (1987) by Dr. Lance Humble and Dr. Carl Cooper, Doubleday. I am not sure it is THE world's greatest, but it is an excellent book. It is 400 pages and provides more details than you probably care to know about the Hi-Opt I counting system. [8] "Turning the Tables on Las Vegas" by Ian Anderson, 1978. This is an excellent book if you were interested in The Social Engineering the Casino section. The author shares a lot of interesting and funny stories that can keep you from getting barred. Note that 'Ian Anderson' is the authors' handle. [9] "Las Vegas, Behind the Tables" by Barney Vinson, 1986, Gollehon Press. Written by a casino executive, I found it to be quite illuminating. [10] "Gambling Scams" by Darwin Ortiz, 1990, Carrol Publishing. If you play in any private games, be sure to read this one to avoid getting screwed. It even has a section on crooked carnival games. [11] "Winning Without Counting" by Stanford Wong. This book has an interesting section on 'Dealer Tells' and how to exploit them. [12] "Rec.Gambling" Internet USENET Newsgroup. The rec.gambling newsgroup is an excellent free source of current information on BlackJack and other games. People who have just gotten back from various casinos post about their playing results and the treatment from casinos. One person just posted that he was barred from playing BlackJack (a casino employee told him he could play any game in the casino EXCEPT BlackJack) after he was ahead only $40.00. The reason apparently was due to his fairly mechanical play and betting. The rec.gambling FAQ was message #15912 when I read the newsgroup on 6/8/93. They plan on posting the FAQ every month or so. I found the FAQ to be very informative. There is an alt.gambling newsgroup but it is dead with 0 messages. [13] "The Winner's Guide to Casino Gambling", revised edition by Edwin Silberstang, 1989 Plume printing. This book covers a wide range of casino games and has a large list of gambling terms in the back. [14] "Gambling and Society" edited by William R. Eadington, 1976. This book provides plenty of information on the psychology of gambling. I found the section on 'Who Wants to be a Professional Gambler?' interesting as the study indicates the types of vocations that show high correlations with being a professional gambler. One of those vocations with an 'extremely high correlation' was being a Secret Service agent. Maybe Agent Foley will change jobs.....he can't do much worse, ahem. Chapter 24 by James N. Hanson is entitled "Nonlinear Programming Simulation and Gambling Theory Applied to BlackJack" which some of you programmers might be interested in. [15] "The BlackJack Shuffle-Tracking Treatise" by Michael R. Hall accessible via the Internet by anonymous FTP: soda.berkeley.edu in the pub/rec.gambling/blackjack directory. This is a very detailed 78K file that was well done. It provides plenty of the nitty-gritty details that I did not have the space to mention in this article. I highly recommend it. [16] "Risk of Ruin" by Michael R. Hall available from same source as [15] above. This paper provides some mathematical formulas for helping you determine the likelihood of losing portions of your starting bankroll. Although the equations look complicated, anyone with a $10. scientific calculator can use them. The author provides source code for a program written in C that calculates the risk formula. Also get his "Optimal Wagering" file which helps you determine your bet size. [17] The movie: "Fever Pitch" starring Ryan 'O Niel. This is the most realistic movie I have seen regarding the psychology of a gambler. If I recall correctly, it was made in 1985 and is in most video rental stores. Final Comments: --------------- Let me quickly thank those who took the hour to read my article, recommended corrections and offered their insightful comments: The Marauder, Mark Tabas, Professor Falken, Al Capone, Jester Sluggo, and Bruce Sterling. Also, I would like to thank JLE, my 'gambling mentor' mentioned earlier even though he doesn't know me as 'lex' and probably will never see this file. If anyone has comments, corrections, etc. feel free to email me. Kindly note that I have no interest in receiving flames from any self professed BlackJack experts out there as I do not claim to be an expert and due to size restrictions, I couldn't get all that complicated regarding counting techniques and such. Besides, anyone who wants to get serious will take the time to thoroughly read the references listed in the previous section. My main purpose was to familiarize you with the game of BlackJack and provide a resource which can point you in the right direction for more in-depth information. Thank you for your time and I hope you learned something from this article even if you don't put any of the information to use. If you have something really SEKRET to tell me, here is my PGP Public Key: -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.2 mQCNAiwEHN4AAAEEAMtDxWI2HYsAQO8QhDBYhHvmn3fzGpKFbimxl34XiQ5woU/K lqbD53ahfnB9ST22yxEvexXW0VGVVfSp9xiUl7d7RsTm7Uas3OaOOiSFIRCVvcG8 FnWARH0nmELBXYkXXjjvjm2BiCEkn45eFaZPX7KbCuIGVjCe3zltpJGBK2OvAAUR tCRMZXggTHV0aG9yIDxsZXhAbWluZHZveC5waGFudG9tLmNvbT4= =LOXY -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- End of "How To Hack BlackJack": File 2 of 2