Playing For Free

From Stanford Wong:

They did not let us buy in or cash out. :-( (nt) (31) -- Stanford Wong -- 1 September 01, 4:47 p.m.

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Myself

What is to be learned from the above information and from the attitude of the Casino's in general?

First of all, they don't want to let someone like Stanford Wong play because card counting can beat them...But, if they wanted to thwart Stanfords efforts and dissuade others from counting, all they had to do was cut 3 decks of cards out of a 6 deck shoe...Even cutting 2 decks out, would prevent anyone from beating them at counting.

Then why didn't they do that???

Because they know that 90% of card counters will only learn part of the necessary disciplines and knowledge base that is required to be successful...For those who do achieve the level necessary to be successful, they can do as I stated above and cut too many cards out of play, or just bar them if they want to.

The Casino's make a bundle off of the other counters who do not realize that they do not possess the necessary skills to be successful...So their whole motivation for having Stanford Wong there, was to draw in as many people as they possibly can who fit into the "partial knowledge" card counter group and supplement their earnings accordingly.

There is two schools of thought fighting against each other in the Casino world of management...One is represented by the ideas expressed above and the other is represented by those who favor total use of CSM's and to hell with card counters...They believe that the general public will still flood the blackjack tables---just for the fun of it...With a built in advantage for the Casino which is guaranteed to make you a loser in the long run, as Winston Churchill might say----Some choice---Some "fun".

Posted By: Stephen Adams <stephenadams17@hotmail.com> on 2 September 01, 8:03 a.m.:

The Casino's make a bundle off of the other counters who do not realize that they do not possess the necessary skills to be successful...So their whole motivation for having Stanford Wong there, was to draw in as many people as they possibly can who fit into the "partial knowledge" card counter group and supplement their earnings accordingly.

So what? Any casino's motivation for being is to make money and it is no surprise that a couple of casinos made the marketing decision that the potential benefit to be gained outweighed any potential detriment to their bottom line by participating in a relatively shallow documentary on card counting.

Posted By: Stanford Wong <stanfwong@bj21.com> on 1 September 01, 4:46 p.m. in response to: Yes,there is a big difference! (Mott):

Anytime a TV show is filmed, hours of time in front of the camera are edited down to minutes in the final product. The editor keeps what he thinks his audience wants, and discards the rest. I'm thankful that he kept the shot of BJ21.com.

SW's pleasure in publicizing BJ21.com shows that his participation was motivated by the same desire to make money as that of the casino. So what? He obviously made the marketing decision that the potential benefit to his bottom line at BJ21.com outweighed the potential detriment to his (or other counters') bottom line as advantage players. This should be no big surprise either.

What I think is much more significant are the conclusions that one can draw about the current state of advantage BJ play within the context of what is the first "co-operative" presentation by casinos and well known advantage BJ players at a time when some of the biggest names in the BJ world (Arnold, Wong and Schelesinger) are turning their considerable talents and efforts to sports betting.

It tells me that they've raised the white flag as to advantage BJ for the big time professional player and the casinos have won the war. Advantage BJ is now most beneficial for the part-time low roller (like me) who are mostly interested in having cheap entertainment, cheap vacations and playing a near even or slight advantage game. Obviously the leaders in the BJ world no longer feel the necessity of keeping the "BJ secrets" of advantage play to themselves and the casinos have nothing to fear (and something to gain) from the low roller "advantage player".

So the new arena for big time advantage play is sports and advantage play in BJ is now for the low roller. That's what the powers-that-be on both sides of the table are telling us by their actions. And that's fine with me.

Buick

So, the casinos have figured out that widespread interest in card counting will in all likelihood improve their bottom line, and certainly won't hurt it.

Gee, it's only taken them 40 years to figure this out. I cannot understand why some people think casino management types are stupid.

People who are in a position to know (such as DD') have been predicting the demise of high stakes advantage play for some time now.

"So the new arena for big time advantage play is sports and advantage play in BJ is now for the low roller. That's what the powers-that-be on both sides of the table are telling us by their actions. And that's fine with me."

Works for me!

Excellent post.