Mark Bowden on the guy who took Atlantic City for $15M in blackjack

I don't know what Switch is, but it was not single-deck.

http://www.blackjackchoice.com/blackjack-games/21-plus-3-blackjack

 

When I was in law school, I read about and then played enough blackjack in AC that I knew the rules perfectly.

To be honest, after that, the game bored me. I had zero control and the game existed in a vacuum.

 

If you're in a casino and itching to play craps and the regular craps table is too crowded, you could always simply "place" the 6 and/or 8 on the craps-less table. A straight place bet (of $6) on either would pay 7-to-6, and would still have a manageable house edge of only about 1.5%. If they've jacked the table minimum up to $10, of course, your place bet would have to be $12 per number (place bets must be made in multiples of six).

 

Everyone wants to give edges to folks who have money and put the screws to folks who don't.

 

When I was in college, I was a statistics major AND I dealt blackjack at a local casino. Can count cards up to an 8-deck shoe. When I dealt, I would keep te count in my head to pass the time. If you tipped me well, I would quietly tell you the count and when to double down or not

Biggest advice from me. Bring enough money and don't get scared. If you bring $1,000 in cash, there is no reason you shouldn't leave with $1,200.

If you don't want to count cards, be a sports guy and count your wins and losses in your head. Play $25 with a goal to win 4 units ($100) for the session. Once up $100, end the session.

Let's say you start out cold. You are, say, 3-9 (down 6 units). Then you double up to $50 hands. You won't likely get back to .500 on your W-L but you want more money on the table when the winning streak hits you.

Double down on all 11 and every 10 except for ace.

 

That's the thing. This dude bucked every odd. He was playing a finite number of hands.

He said he once got dealt six consecutive aces. He used three hands to rack up $1.2 million. That is incredible.

 

No wasted strokes in that story.

 

It was only after I got several grafs in that I realized we were linked to the second page. So I kind of got out of the flow of it from the start.

 

One routine mistake I see in articles about blackjack that irks me is the assertion that card counting is illegal and/or considered cheating. This is such a common mistake! It's wrong! The casinos can refuse your business, but it is not illegal

 

I think you mean counting cards. It's only considered cheating in NV. In other states, technically there are no games of skill, only games of chance. In those states, counting can't be illegal because, by the law, there aren't any games in which skill would matter.

 

Sorry, you're correct. I meant to say card counting. Also, card counting is NOT illegal in Nevada. A casino can ask you to leave and refuse your business, but it is not illegal and there are no laws against it.