We're all nerds?

My mum knows that I am interested in BJ and saved an article for me from "The Mail on Sunday" a national newspaper in the UK. It's written by Sandra Newman who answered a job ad for a professional gambler's assistant. She ended up in a team of 4 young women recruited by the pro who spent a year travelling the world counting.
The following paragraph made me chuckle.

"The boss turned out to be a far cry from my stereotype of a gambler - a Canadian former civil engineer, Dick Foster was 5ft 4in, 63 years old and achingly nerdy. His shoe-polish-black dyed hair had outgrown its cut: it looked like a dying bouffant . He wore a shapeless sports jacket bought in 1985. As it turned out, compared to the average blackjack player, Dick was the height of glamour. Since the game calls for no social skills, players come from backgrounds in computer science or chess. They can make scintillating conversation about cards, cards....and cards."

Anyway after throwing away my copies of Ian Andersen's books, I'm off to buy a sports jacket and get my hair died :)

I guess it's the tape on my glasses that attracts the pit bosses LOL!

It is quite obvious that Ms. Newman has never been to a Green Chip party. :-)

Typical of today's journalism. They can't describe what
they see, so they fall back on tired generalizations and
comparisons.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's in very good shape, can
carry a conversation about something other than computers or
Star Trek, and wears decent clothes.

Decided to find the story - thank you Google...

Very entertaining story, and interesting sidebar on ace tracking.
Since I've never seen this strategy discussed on the board before does anyone have any thoughts? Is it only viable in a shoe, or could it be used in DD?

Jay

I think the Guardian is pretty left wing. I doubt any of the
editors have been close to a casino. Except to picket outside.

and the tape on my glasses looks quite stylish, as it matches the white pen-holder in the pocket of my short-sleeve yellowish white shirt. Not to mention that the black ink stains on all of the above match my thin black tie!

AB

include her mention of advantage play as "international crime," stating that a BJ player's day "starts at noon"(??), episodes of drinking gin and then going back to playing, and badly misstating the "objective" of the game; i.e., "getting as close to 21 as possible" if I remember the quote accurately.

This was a funny read, but I wonder if the whole thing was fiction.

Why play in Atlantic City, but no mention of Nevada?

At the top they were called 'grifters'.

Hard to believe that a guy running a serious team would
encourage/allow drinking. Or that he would consider
AC a good place to run the team. Or that they'd play at
the same table and be very open about knowing each other
and kneeing each other when it was time to bet big.

The Travel Channel just had a show about the Hotel Highland
and the casino in Genting. It is spectacular.

At the bottom it mentions she has a book coming out. If
it's about these exploits, I'll pass.

There is probably a very good reason it is not discussed on this page...

After attending my first GC party, I have to say I have never met a more articulate, curteous, and obviously inteligent group of people in my life.
Of course everyone did meet the stereotypical image of the advantage player all the PC's are trained to be on the lookout for......22-24 yrs old male, college student majoring in math, good looking, athletic....;)

I guess I can drop the 75 year old Hungarian grandmother act and get my pocket protector and glasses out of the closet. These girdles are killing me.

I find more to be middle-aged. The background that seems to be most common is law. I know more card counting lawyers than anything else.

Those guys could give card counting a bad name!

computer programmers, CPAs, college professors of all types, and a few medical doctors. That is what is typical among blackchip card counters. Mostly well educated professionals, not professional card counters. The young college guys are more typical of those hired by the pros as temporary team players.

Annual income of 150K from either current job or investments... average age 50+. Ability to withstand a 50K loss without change in lifestyle.

"The young college guys are more typical of those hired by the pros as temporary team players."
-I am surprised to hear that. I thought most team organizers tended to really shy away from those guys, for numerous reasons, but mostly stereotyping by the pit.
As always, thanks for sharing your knowledgable insight.
Take care,
@^)
Cyclops

I never tell the dealer / critter I'm a lawyer - besides, they always want free legal advice for some reason or want to tell me their bad legal experiences while I'm trying to be entertained by the count