Blackjack Card Counting Masters Reveal Their Secrets – Part 1

Rick Blaine tells his personal story about the blackjack card counting phenomena.

Several strategies and techniques are said to be common to all high class players of the Blackjack family, but one has a special place among them: blackjack card counting. Through card counting it becomes easier for the player to determine whether the next card will give advantage to the dealer or to the player.

• Blaine is a card counting champion
• A team is necessary for beating a casino
• Low bets do the trick

Some even name this strategy a card reading, gambling news report. Card counters are not the most welcome guests in the casinos. Although the practice of card counting is not illegal in many jurisdictions, many gambling centers restrict players from their establishments if they get caught in the act. The practice of banning the players to approach the casinos is not uncommon either.

The strategy of Rick Blaine: a blackjack card counting master

Rick Blaine is considered according to many to be the greatest player in the Blackjack Ball competition, a tournament of the best card counters in Las Vegas that is organized once a year. He is a 58-year-old former finance executive and also the a real master of the blackjack card counting. When asked about the strategy of card counting he is practicing, he has on several occasions noted that he prefers the one developed in the 1950s by the U.S. Army engineers. The strategy is simple, note gambling websites online. An observant player just notices carefully the cards that are dealt in a blackjack game, calculates the odds of what is still in the deck and makes simple predictions. But although, card counting is not illegal, Blaine, as a famous card counter must constantly use fake names or be disguised in order to pass the radars at the casinos. This life might have been challenging for a young card counter, but not anymore for Blaine, whose reputation in the gambling circle is at the highest possible level.

The life of the people like Blaine, has been portrayed not only in books full of the adventures of the high-stake gamblers but also in Robet Luketic movie from 2008, called “21”, report online gambling sites in the US. In this celebrated movie, a true story about the MIT students who beat the casinos was revealed, which provoked immense interest in the public about the blackjack card counting phenomena. However, in reality a lot of practice and discipline is needed, as well as some more realistic outfit. As Blaine comments, “you get these MIT guys in 21, they look like rocket scientists. You’re wearing a fake watch, Kmart shoes, and betting thousand dollar chips. What I do best is I sell it. I sell myself as a player who’s a fun-loving gambler and has money to spend, so I fit in wherever I’m playing.”

The team is crucial for a successful blackjack card counting

As it is the case in “21” Blaine also works in a team a team which incudes in some occasion even up to 30 card counters with million dollar bankrolls. “If someone tells me there’s a good game here, I call some cohorts, and say, ‘I want to do something together, how much do we throw in?’ And then we hit ’em.” reports Blaine. There are times when the members of the team are paid by hour. In the end they fill a 1099 tax form and report their earnings. In order to be sure that the members of his team are honest and to avoid cheaters he even puts them on a polygraph test.

The tables where he is competing are picked by a very careful analysis. Here everything counts. He starts from noticing the number of decks that are being played, the variations of blackjack rules, as well as the number of decks until a shuffle. As online casinos in the US stress, it is important that every factor precisely analyzed with the lowest probability for a mistake. Until he turns the game in his favor, Blaine bets always low in order not to draw any attention. Drawing attention with a huge winning in the beginning might easily throw you out of the casino. And in the end it is definitely a wrong strategy if one wants to beat a casino.