[1335] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Wired Magazine : Hacking Las Vegas
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jimmy Wu)
Thu Aug 15 18:50:11 2002
Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 18:07:07 -0400
From: Jimmy Wu <jimmbswu@alum.mit.edu>
To: MIT-Talk@MIT.EDU
From Wired Magazine, available online at:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.09/vegas.html?pg=1&topic=&topic_set=
Hacking Las Vegas
THE INSIDE STORY OF THE MIT BLACKJACK TEAM'S CONQUEST OF THE CASINOS.
By Ben Mezrich
The Back-Spotter
The Back-Spotter can count cards without even being seated at the
blackjack table. When the count gets hot --- meaning the house is
at a statistical disadvantage --- this player will signal for the
team's bettors to swoop in.
The Spotter
The Spotter counts cards while playing at the table. Casinos screen
for counters by watching for dramatic rises or drops in bets --- uery-ra
sure sign that a deck has gone hot or cold. A Spotter avoids detection
by resolutely sticking to the minimum bet on each hand. When it's time
to start betting big to take advantage of a favorable deck, he tips
off his teammates.
The Gorilla
The Gorilla doesn't count at all: He just bets big, all the time.
Typically, he adopts the pose of a drunken millionaire who has green
to burn. The Spotters ensure the Gorilla's ``luck'' by steering him to
tables where he's got greater than even odds of winning against the
house.
The Big Player
The Big Player appears to be a type well known to the casinos: the
high-rolling recreational gambler who's content to slowly bleed his
money away through hours of competent play. In reality, he's a Spotter
with a Gorilla's bankroll. He's not only counting cards, he's tracking
the shuffle for the high cards that rob the house of its advantage. A
BP always plays a good deck, so he never has to lower his bets by
much.
Fifty thousand dollars strapped to each thigh. A hundred thousand
dollars, in 10 bricks of hundreds, taped across my upper back. Fifty
thousand more Velcroed to my chest.
F. Scott Schafer From left: The back-spotter (standing); the spotter
(in yellow); the gorilla(center); the big player (far right).
Copyright (C) 1993-99 The Conde Nast Publications Inc. All rights reserved.
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