Card Counters: They Aren’t So Bad After All
By Jeff Murphy
During my entire casino career, which dates back almost 15 years now (still fledgling by most accounts, but continuing to grow), I’ve developed and transitioned; yet never as much as during the past five years. With this transition has come much reflection and reevaluation, hopefully leading to greater gaming maturity and an overall heightened value toward my worth in the gaming business. Personal growth is extremely important especially for casino leaders, so I always welcome transitions toward development. Not only do I want to be my best; I also want my staff to grow properly without misdirection. In essence my interpretations become extremely important because they can affect larger groups of tomorrow's leaders, a responsibility that should never be taken lightly by any casino professional.
Who amongst us hasn’t been influenced by our predecessors? Think back to the beginning of your career. There have most definitely been influences that have assisted the creation of your beliefs and management style. This is common and happens within every aspect of life. We try to take the best from those we respect and build upon the basics we’ve acquired. But what happens when a realization surfaces that our predecessors may have been wrong?
I’ve come to realize I’ve made a mistake; in fact the entire casino industry has made a mistake. The main topic of our mistake concerns card counting. My thoughts on card counting were stapled firmly in place at a gaming conference during a presentation by Dr. Edward Thorp. As the “Father of Card Counting,” Dr. Thorp indirectly created my career as well as a few other gaming professionals to be sure. I entered the business at a time when massive professional card counting teams were dominating the casino asset protection scene. Casino reactions or over reactions were standard protocol.
I’ll be the first to admit, card counting proved an extremely exciting time within the casino industry. For me personally, card counting was influential, as recognizing and catching card counters was a strong suit, instrumental toward my success. Over the years, as I’ve grown and become more advanced as a professional card counter so have my thoughts regarding the matter. Where the overall glitz of card counting created an enormous excitement previously, it steadily and rightfully has transitioned toward making informed business decisions in the best interest of gaming. This leads to the proposed question: What’s the big, hairy deal with card counting?
We shouldn’t be thinking the same way we did 40, 20, 10 or even five years ago, or we’ll miss golden opportunities. Opportunities we may have been missing for a prolonged period of time with each year’s passing simply grow larger. It’s time to stop the madness and let card counters into our casinos with open arms!
I imagine some readers are probably thinking I have a severe drinking problem, but let me explain. I’m not stating I believe the reactions provided toward card counting were totally mistakes in the day. Restrictive or reactionary rules may have had there value at a time when our industry was in need of some quick catch up work while becoming knowledgeable regarding the subject of card counting. Every casino manager wants to protect his casino without splattering egg all over his face. This is understandable. The problem is casinos haven’t grown much over this elongated time period regarding the topic. Dr. Thorp’s book Beat the Dealer was published in 1962, more than 47 years ago. Today, casinos still don’t have a firm grasp on how to properly handle card counting. What’s the debate? What’s the problem? For Pete’s sake, how much time does it take to figure these things out?
I’m not belittling card counting; in fact it’s more important than ever casinos really understand it. Card counting should be a corner stone; you must have skill to effectively monitor blackjack. If an advanced team infiltrates a gaming pit to consummate a potentially large advantage it is completely within a casino’s best interest to take intelligent action. Decisions of this magnitude can only be successfully made utilizing a full and total understanding of the topic of card counting. Where casinos still make errors today is treating the overall topic of card counting in a black and white manner without fully understanding its complexity and the necessary resolve toward handling card counting in a flexible assessing fashion. It is long past overdo. Casinos must understand card counting completely. It’s easy to state you know card counting, but to understand its detractions as well as its benefits is a completely different story. In that realm, most of us have failed miserably for decades.
In the past, I have written about asset creation as opposed to asset protection, as there is strong merit toward a quality review of our casinos’ past thought processes with progressive recreations or eliminations of rules that hinder current gaming operations in favor of creating rules structured toward promoting our current gaming genre. Although I’ve lightly touched on the fact that card counting views have needed altering in the past, it wasn’t until recently that I was able to properly elaborate upon my views. Dr. Thorp secured my overall thoughts perfectly by stating (in concept) that the casino industry made card counting a problematic issue rather than a positive marketing opportunity. I couldn’t agree more. Dr. Thorp’s one simplistic statement wrapped up five years of my torment regarding how to state this equally simplistic thought.
Rules should not be in place to ward off potential card counters from today’s blackjack tables, as the percentage of true professional caliber card counters are few. There are tens of thousands of players that think they are card counters, but they lack top level skills and pose no threat to casinos. We honestly shouldn’t bat an eyelash toward these players in a reactionary sense. Realistically, a vast majority of players know the general rules and understand there are systems of advantage play out there, yet they still just want to play. here are also countless other players that don’t even know the game’s basic principles. Why would any casino implement “counter” action techniques if the threat of potential risks from card counting are significantly low from the start?
Large cuts, no mid shoe entries, strict rules, early shuffles, over-reactions, back-offs, barring, mishandlings of situations, lawsuits--who do they hurt? They hurt the casino. My current casino operation is at the lower end of mid-sized with a yearly guest head count of about 1.5 million. Over a three year period, we’ve had roughly 5 million guests enter our doors. Over that same period, we’ve had extended observation of 44 players, business issue with 24 players and about half of those were assessed as true professional caliber card counters. Five million guests minus 12 potential threats equal 4,999,988. That’s .00024 percent of our overall guests. Sure larger casino venues may see a higher volume of card counters, but at that same time, it would stand to reason their headcounts are much larger to boot. Is there any casino in the country or world that would let .00024 percent of its players dictate the way a casino operation is run? (As of this moment if folks reflected honestly, the answer would probably be yes.) After an asset creation review on the matter is completed though, I would hope casinos would reevaluate blackjack rules and standards and gear them toward the dominating 99.99976 percent of the casino’s guest population.
Is card counting an issue? Has it ever been? Maybe, but not nearly to the degree it’s been stated. Card counting certainly isn’t the devil reincarnated as the casino industry has suggested.
The evil lies within how we’ve utilized the information and our knowledge. Casinos are in dire need of strong card counting training programs instituted for all staff members making decisions regarding a player’s fate and/or for those staff members actually handling situations with card counters. Poor decisions regarding stringent rules, backing off and improper handling of players not only hurt and affect the players, they kill the casino. Card counting is not a problem, but how we choose to handle card counting can be very problematic.
Occasionally we hear about a player bringing suit against a casino regarding the issue of card counting. Most often, this involves the manner the situation was handled. Card counters are not a security liability and should never be approached by security forces. For the few players that actually possess card counting skills of the highest level, a respectful business conversation, an agreement of understanding and a hand shake will most often ward off the potential problems. Recognizing card counting alone creates enough distraction for the player to end the action or alter play enough to throw the advantage. Both sides can part respectfully, with no harm, no foul for either the player or the casino.
Card counting is essentially a cat and mouse game, but in more of a cartoon “Tom and Jerry” fashion. Casinos and card counters will play, avoid, scurry and sometimes catch, waving to each other until parting. We’d never want to eat the mouse; that would be awful! Simply put we need each other, the thought of beating the casino creates more players. Card counters provide the stimulus toward creating more play simply by demonstrating some success and sharing it with others.
Be smart, train well, don’t “count” your chickens before they hatch, stop over-reacting and create opportunities for casinos by reevaluating the true threat of card counters. In other words, cultivate instead of procrastinate while accepting card counting’s larger influence as an opportunity.
Card counting is not criminal. It’s not even a significant problem. Let’s take our hats off to the true artists of card counting who don’t delve into any actions that could be deemed criminal. Your efforts and talents are valued and respected by casinos everywhere.
Are you thinking this is outside the box and might be too extreme or progressive a thought? After more than 40 years, progress seems difficult to swallow. Evaluate your casino operations, look at the numbers and compare the actual problem of card counting to your casino’s perception and reaction to card counting.
A year from now, who knows--all of us may see the first billboard reading, "Card Counters Welcome."
Jeff Murphy is the Director of Table Games & Poker Services at Seven Feathers Casino Resort. He is also a former surveillance director and can be reached at (541) 839-1171 or at jmurphy@sevenfeathers.com.