Card Counting IPhone

The biggest problem with this is that it may give casinos more reasons to search you.

to me, the fact that it's a felony is the BIGGEST problem! lol

A real card counter shouldn't need it, but its existence may give casinos cause for searching people suspected of counting.

and apparently they are on the look out for it. The sunday paper reports that the gaming contol board sent a memorandum to all casino operators warning of the device.

I doubt that having to press a button for every card will allow to keep up with a fast dealer. Besides, since there is no button for neutral cards, the program will not know how many cards have been played, so a correct TC-conversion is not possible.
I think the whole thing is ridiculous.

Francis Salmon

Besides, since there is no button for neutral cards, the program will not know how many cards have been played, so a correct TC-conversion is not possible.

It probably figures a deck has passed after 40 cards. Not a 100% accurate, but probably pretty close.

You would really prefer this method than using your own brain ?
Any player who needs an IPhone to count cards doesn't have enough brain to beat this game anyway.

...you have very nimble toes. If you want to risk pulling this off, you will have to develop a camo of having only one arm, like the one armed man in the old T.V. series "The Fugitive" starring David Janssen. Keep your "missing hand" in your pocket pressing keys. I suggest one gives the story that he lost his arm in Korea, Viet Nam or Iraq depending on your age, to gain sympathy from the floorpeople. In the meantime, the mechanics of counting are not that difficult. If I can do it, anyone can. On second thought, forget the whole idea.

Cobbson

THE ONE ARMED MAN FROM THE FUGITIVE T.V. SERIES

You would really prefer this method than using your own brain ? Any player who needs an IPhone to count cards doesn't have enough brain to beat this game anyway.

I am more worried about the casino's reaction to the gaming commission's warning.

Yes, for now the app requires people to press buttons with their fingers; apparently there is a "stealth mode" that they can enable if they know where the buttons are to turn off the screen so it's less obvious that they are using it.

However, the publicity on this thing is going to bring about much, much, much more superior applications.

For example, it would be very simple on the iPhone or any similarly-equipped cellphone platform to write a card counting app that employs a bluetooth (wireless) microphone and headset. While it could be used with the cheap $40 models you can buy at radio shack, this would be obvious and easy to ban from the tables. However, there are also very tiny bluetooth mics and headsets that can be mounted inside the mouth and inside the ear.

With a simple voice recognition algorithm, the player merely needs to subvocalize the cards as they come out of the shoe, and the application would tell him what to do and how much to bet for each play.

This is all possible with tech out there today. If I were an idiot or greedy, I could write it myself, probably inside of a week.

The publicity that's been generated as a result of this barely-useable app is simply going to cause others to generate much more difficult-to-detect apps, which WILL cause search & seizure to become a likelihood at the tables. As if the casinos need any more excuses to abuse their power.

Oh well.
-BB

You've made some good points. But, in any event, I don't see a card-counting application, however sophisticated, to be used by anyone but the most foolish. The risk of serious legal consequences from using one isn't worth the added income. If a card counter can make, say, $200/hr legally, or $250/hr illegally (25% gain being a very rough estimate), I think few would choose to accept the risk. If legality isn't a concern, there are probably easier ways to make $50/hr.

Regarding using illegal blackjack computers, Ken Uston said something along the lines of, "You may as well bring a gun and rob the casino, as the penalties are about the same." He, too, made a good point.

David

I agree with you 100%, but keep in mind that people who are A) ignorant enough not to know that this kind of thing is illegal and/or B) already considering various illegal means to make money don't tend to be logical enough to sit down and compare risk/reward.

I just hope the publicity dies down; it can't possibly have any good results for people playing blackjack without a damn iPhone. ;)