Paul Bernhardt writes:
>True, but card counters abound. Last month's (April, 00) Discover
>Magazine had an article on gambling and mentioned a newly developed card
>counting strategy that you don't need to be a genius to execute
>effectively. I have a buddy who has placed in a Vegas Blackjack
>tournament. He counts cards, using his foot position to keep track of the
>aces (very important, as they are needed for Blackjacks). There are no
>casino cameras to monitor your foot position (yet) so that you can get
>away with it.
I have a friend who is a professional black jack player, and from what I
understand it is a bit more complicated than that. You have to change your
betting behavior substantially when the deck is loaded with aces and face
cards. If you don't change your betting behavior on the basis of the card
count, how could you gain any advantage? You can walk away from a table when
the deck has very few aces and face cards, but that doesn't help you as much
as increasing your bets when the deck is in your favor.
It is this change in betting behavior that tips off the casinos.
I have a running joke here at the hospital about how we need to put some
money in the budget for these research grant proposals for some applied
probability research at Vegas.
Steve Simon, [EMAIL PROTECTED], Standard Disclaimer.
STATS - Steve's Attempt to Teach Statistics: http://www.cmh.edu/stats
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