I love the game of blackjack. I always have, ever since I was able to play the game with my father and siblings at home as a child to being able to play in the casinos for real money. I have never won any real money at blackjack, though. It was always my "entertainment" when I went to Vegas. I set a limit at what I could lose without hurting too much, and would then usually proceed to do exactly that, lose my limit. I eventually got good enough without any real training to play some limited basic strategy and I could extend my playing (losing) time over a longer period of time. But, I was a ploppy, I would eventually lose. So, I've finally decided to get serious about the game I love. I'm learning how to count cards. I don't know if I will ever get good enough at it to actually use it to finally win some money at BJ, but I'm having fun learning.
So, why do the casinos hate it so much that I want to count cards? I'm not cheating. If I were cheating, I would somehow be physically manipulating the cards to stack the deck in my favor, or I would be manipulating my bet in an illegal way to gain an advantage. I'm doing none of these things. I am playing by the casino's rules of the game. I am only increasing my chances that I can make a correct guess at what cards might be coming out to me, but there is still the chance that I won't get what I need. I am not cheating!
Why should the casinos care that some of us count cards? Counting cards is not easy. It's freakin' hard. You must spend an incredible amount of time learning how to do it. It takes hours upon hours upon more hours of practice. And there is still no "guarantee" that you will win all of the time. In fact, you most likely will not win all of the time. Only just enough of the time that in the long haul you will come out ahead. Therefore, it is extemely unlikely that any significant number of the people who play blackjack will ever want to count cards. The casinos will always make their blackjack money off people who don't count cards. There will never be enough people who count cards, or even enough people who even want to learn to count cards to ever be a real threat to the casinos' income. So why do they hate us so much?
I watched a program on the Travel Channel about which games in Vegas give the player the best odds of winning (blackjack, craps and baccarat) or at least have the smallest house advantage. The person talking about this made the comment that the casinos actually like to have some winners. It's good for business. If people hear that so and so won big at this casino, more people will come to play than if they hear that no one ever wins at that casino. But when it comes to blackjack, it's not good business to have winners it seems. Even if only a very few people can consistently win at blackjack, these few are hounded and threatened incessantly, for doing something that is only playing by the rules and not doing anything illegal. Card counters will never be a threat to the casinos because there are really so few people (relatively speaking, comparing all who play the game) who can or will do it.
So, why do the casinos care that some of us count cards? Why do they hate us so much? These are really rhetorical questions. I already know the answers. I am sure you all have heard these arguments umpteen million times. I plead innocence because I am new at this. But, I just wanted to vent to some hopefully sympathetic ears.
Thanks for listening - or reading. :)
