E-Mail sent to Wizard of Odds, regarding Mindplay 21

This is text copied from a letter I sent to Michael Shackleford, a.k.a. The Wizard Of Odds. If he finds it of interest and does a full analysis of it, that could be the sword used by a lawyer to attack the company responsible for this scum. At the very least, if it makes his Q&A section, it would cast negative publicity in the minds of gamblers who frequent his site.

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In many card-counting forums, there is discussion of a device called Mindplay 21 and that this device may be used by casinos to determine the outcome of the game, which would be illegal under NV law. Many counters are worried that recognition of bets relating to the count may be more rapidly observed. The legal question raised is that the machine would be able to count the cards as well and to use that count to vary the shuffle point. It may be within the machine's capability to determine that a deck has lost the house edge and should be shuffled or that the deck has an increased house edge and should be played further. Of course this could hurt the counter, but I believe this could hurt the player because the house edge is never constant, but constantly changing and the player could be playing at a greater disadvantage than he may be aware if the casino abuses the Mindplay machine. What is your opinion on the Mindplay machine? Do you feel that it may be possible for the machine to be abused in such a way as to affect the outcome of the game (cheating with a computer device)? I believe it is possible, and if the NGC is not aware of it, then casinos may begin to cheat players. Thank you for your time, your knowledge has helped me improve my game.

***** *****
Las Vegas

PS: Here is an excerpt from the mindplay 21 site at: http://mindplay.biz/products/blackjack.shtml

"
Card and Chip Recognition. MindPlay� has created the world's most sophisticated image recognition technology for use in the gaming industry. Optically based, the system captures every object on the table. Totally covert and completely non-intrusive to the play of the game, Chips and Cards are recognized and reported to the game tracking logic of MP21�. No special chips are needed. Playing Cards are provided by our partner, the United States Playing Card Company, using patented WinMark� technology by MindPlay�. "

Isn't this an admission that the machine can track cards? In other words, they are using a device to do what a player, if caught doing, would go to jail for. Furthermore, they are stating that the cards are marked. Nothing about this device sounds honest.

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Anybody know how to get their hands on a WinMark card. I wonder if Hilton is stupid enough to re-sell these at the gift shop. If a device can recognize these marks, I'm sure there is a way for us to. That would stop it real quick, us counters fudging the Hilton by exploiting those marks.

"Personally I would doubt they are preferentially shuffling. A smaller casino might but Park Place I don't think would stoop this low. However if you want to test I would get solid counters to note the penetration point and count at each shuffle. If you see they are always shuffling on strong counts then you know they are guilty. For purposes of the test I think the counter should be flat betting. At each shuffle I would have the counter walk away from the table and write down his observations.

No, I wouldn't play at a Mindplay table."

There was more stated in his response, but I thought it should not be included for reasons similar to protecting our identities on the board. His reason for not playing a Mindplay table was not related to any adverse opinions regarding potential abuses of the machine.

So far, it seems the Mindplay has only penetrated Vegas so far as the Hilton. I will be submitting relevant information in a complaint to local Vegas television news stations. Perhaps bad press will kill this Hilton demo real quick and stop Mindplay in it's tracks. No doubt other area casinos are waiting to see if Park Place adopts the Mindplay before they consider it. Bad press and the like are needed to prevent Mindplay from spreading. I will go to Hilton to test for preferential shuffling, I would suggest other counters here in Vegas do the same. If I find something that I don't like, I will be on the sidewalk in front of Hilton to protest. If you do test the MP tables at the Hilton, post your results on this board.

As a Vegas resident, I want this game dead before it spreads to other properties. Marked cards, and OCR devices are clearly cheating devices under NV law.