the Termite

There is a type of gambler known as a "whale". This is someone who tosses around black chips without a second thought. Someone who bets like this and knows how to count can be a serious threat to the casino's bottom line. But there is another kind of threat from a totally different type of player.
The way we play can be best described as "termite" play. Scraping along at $5 a hand until you can shake a good count out of them, pushing some extra chips in the circle when this happens, but playing a perfect decision matrix and grinding out a steady and consistant (but small) profit. $36 here, $8 there, grind grind grind. Not many "spectacular" wins but no $700 "shoes from hell" either. The same way a termite can chew away at a house for years and years with no one noticing and one day they wake up and the whole house falls down from the damage. 1000 termites and all of a sudden the casino has a serious infestation.
You might say "big deal you win a few bucks". We always seem to win at least enough to pay for our vacations, and merely the act of transferring money from the casino sector of the economy to other sectors (food, gas, lodging, other goods and services) is gratifying. Casinos are a 3 card monte industry which will allow one to get drunk and lose all their money, but harasses those who gain enough skill to make a profit. And there is also the time factor with money; if you can start a trip with say $1000, do all your eating and stuff, and end the trip with that same $1000, you've lived for free during those days, which is something most people can't say. A termite can start with a $1000 to $5000 bankroll and just play very carefully, only playing the games with the best rules, including wonging and/or walking in their strategy, and never overbetting the big positive counts... and chew away at them forever. Any matchplays, lucky bucks, and/or other casino promotions must also be utilized to the max. You won't get rich, but you won't end up in the toilet with the other 99.9% of the gamblers either.

I like your comparison of counters with termites and I agree that it takes some time for a casino to become aware of their effects. In my home casino (a big one),it was only after more than a year of many long sessions that they noticed I had taken them 50k.They still didn't bother to take countermeasures until this figure rose to 100k.
A single termite cannot be a threat to a house.It would take a whole army and proficient counters will never get so numerous.

I don't quite agree with your definition of a whale. It's a term used by casinos for high rolling ploppies. It is the exact contrary of a threat. You could say a whale weighs out thousands of termites.
And then there are all the small fishes.

Francis Salmon

"There is a type of gambler known as a "whale". This is someone who tosses around black chips without a second thought."

You were only talking about when they toke, right? Black play is nearly everywhere all the time, and low black hardly gets RFB at some places unless you put in a lot of hours. A lot of us toss black around without a 2nd thought and are not even in sight of whale status.

There are only a hand full of whales in the whole world and they bet in colors most have never heard of, much less seen. These are the people a casino doesn't just pick up airfare, they send a private Lear jet to pick up. They come in for a weekend and bring millions in BR.

As an example, last year Packer lost $17 million in one day, and $25 million over the 3 day weekend. Some smaller places will not even let him play and it's not because he's an advantage player, it's because they fear standard deviation on that large of action. A short run fluctuation the wrong way for the casino could substantially affect their bottom line if not break them.

The most important factor for a card counter in planning a strategy is the size of his bankroll. Most counters you ask will tell you that at least ten thousand dollars is required to avoid the risk of ruin and generate a profit (and even that much is no guarantee of avoiding bankruptcy). That is probably true for someone with a large spread; the larger the spread, the larger the required starting bankroll. Even in positive counts, large negative swings can occur.
But not everyone wants to devote such a large sum of money. It's easy for a book writer to tell someone to bet 50 bucks a hand when the count goes positive, it's quite another to be the guy with the 50 bucks out there and getting dealt an 11 vs a 10... putting the extra 50 in (knowing it's the right move) and getting dealt a 3. Someone who wants to start with even a thousand dollars (although I would recommend 5 mini-bankrolls of 1,000 each) can employ a strategy of playing as carefully as possible and surviving at the tables while grinding a small but consistant profit. The first priority is to reduce the house edge to as close to zero as possible. If you had to choose between a slot machine that pays back either 99.5% or 99.7%, which one would you choose? After getting a game that is as close to even as you can get it, then you can think about betting more chips when the count is positive. One will raise his bet according to his own bankroll constraints, willingness to suffer a ruin, and win goals.

Suth'n Gent... you made some great comments regarding the "whale". They are few and far between and most would need to bring seven figures to a session to be considered one. I'll through out another perspective regarding why most casinos would not even allow this type of play.

As everyone knows... the majority of the casinos in the US are owned by publicly traded companies. With this, there is a large onus on management to be fiscally responsible to their shareholders, board of directors, etc. Imagine that the casinos are "grinding" away at all the forecasted ploppies that attend their facility, making budget and so on.... then the "whale" show ups, such as Packer, and removes $20 - 30 million from the casino. What do you think happens? They remove what the casino just worked month(s) too gain and you read it about it on the day they release there financial results... and shortly there after you read about a new CEO for said property.

"Whales" make management sweat due to their BR and ability to initiate involuntary "management turnover", not their skillset.

That my $0.02.

GreenDawg