I used to count cards at blackjack. And when I did it in Reno, at a certain stage a new dealer would be brought to the table (outside the normal shift schedule). And from that point on, I would lose money. If I watched closely, I could see them dealing seconds.
This seems like quite an irrational strategy on the casino’s part, and a bad case of loss aversion.
Suppose the casino calculates that it can afford to cheat one customer in twenty without getting caught (or any other proportion if 1⁄20 is unrealistic). Of all the people they could use this ability on, is the card-counter really the optimal choice? He may not have come in with very much money, and is likely to catch on reasonably fast at which point he will probably just leave. It seems much better to wait for someone who is at least slightly drunk and has come in with a lot of money to gamble, he probably won’t notice and will just keep making and losing large bets. If I recall correctly the margins in card-counting are quite small and they may be able to take many times as much money from the second guy as the card-counter can take from them.
Although you obviously have much more experience in this area than me, so please correct me if I’m wrong.
One of my friends made a living for a while by card-counting, but iirc, eventually he was banned from the casinos in Atlantic City. That seems like a cleaner way of handling things than bringing in a cheating dealer.
This seems like quite an irrational strategy on the casino’s part.
Hmmm. Does it also seem irrational of them to break the leg of someone who borrows a lot of money and can’t pay it back? Wouldn’t it be more rational for them to break legs of random drunks who are less likely to recognize their assailants?
I hope my flip response doesn’t seem too hostile. Of course the casinos that cheated me weren’t doing it to make a few extra bucks. They were doing it to punish me. Of course, for blackjack card counters, simply banning the player is also a viable strategy. And it happened to me in more than one casino. But banning doesn’t work so well with online malefactors.
Not a very effective punishment, since you could just get up and leave. If they really wanted to punish you they could have taken a photo of you and distributed it to every other casino in the country.
This seems like quite an irrational strategy on the casino’s part, and a bad case of loss aversion.
Suppose the casino calculates that it can afford to cheat one customer in twenty without getting caught (or any other proportion if 1⁄20 is unrealistic). Of all the people they could use this ability on, is the card-counter really the optimal choice? He may not have come in with very much money, and is likely to catch on reasonably fast at which point he will probably just leave. It seems much better to wait for someone who is at least slightly drunk and has come in with a lot of money to gamble, he probably won’t notice and will just keep making and losing large bets. If I recall correctly the margins in card-counting are quite small and they may be able to take many times as much money from the second guy as the card-counter can take from them.
Although you obviously have much more experience in this area than me, so please correct me if I’m wrong.
One of my friends made a living for a while by card-counting, but iirc, eventually he was banned from the casinos in Atlantic City. That seems like a cleaner way of handling things than bringing in a cheating dealer.
What are the rules on video recording in casinos?
Hmmm. Does it also seem irrational of them to break the leg of someone who borrows a lot of money and can’t pay it back? Wouldn’t it be more rational for them to break legs of random drunks who are less likely to recognize their assailants?
I hope my flip response doesn’t seem too hostile. Of course the casinos that cheated me weren’t doing it to make a few extra bucks. They were doing it to punish me. Of course, for blackjack card counters, simply banning the player is also a viable strategy. And it happened to me in more than one casino. But banning doesn’t work so well with online malefactors.
Not a very effective punishment, since you could just get up and leave. If they really wanted to punish you they could have taken a photo of you and distributed it to every other casino in the country.