Casino Busting Blackjack High-Roller Talks Strategy After $15M Win
My Lucky Day
Mr. Don Johnson, who cleansed 3 Atlantic City casinos for $15 Million, has resurfaced for an in-depth blackjack strategy session.
Mr. Don Johnson, the Atlantic City Assassin who took three New Jersey casinos to the cleaners for a cool $15,000,000, has finally resurfaced. Don Johnson went off the radar shortly after news of his amazing accomplishment hit the world’s mainstream media.
Mr. Johnson, 49, who lives in Bucks County Pennsylvania, sat down with Pittsburg Tribune-Review, and thankfully revealed his version of events which transpired between December of 2010 and April of 2011. Lots of rumors and speculations were flying around precisely because the blackjack card games master wasn’t ready yet to set the record straight. He is now.
Records indicate that from December till April of 2011, Mr. Johnson drained the coffers of Caesars Atlantic City Casino for $4,230,000; he disemboweled Borgata Casino during the same time frame for $4,098,000; and then raped Atlantic City Tropicana Casino for $5,800,000 during a 12 hour blackjack marathon. Despite losing a few million in between the big wins, and paying untold millions in taxes, he still came out 7-9 million in front.
Prior to his 12 hour marathon session at the Tropicana, he negotiated with the casino to modify their blackjack rules and allow him to make supersized $100K bets. Tropicana Casino agreed to allow Mr. Johnson to play $100,000 per hand only if he buys in for $1,000,000 or more, and so he did.
The master blackjack player convinced the casino to allow for a few more blackjack rule variations. Tropicana agreed to the rule changes requested by Mr. Johnson and in addition agreed to forgive 20% of his losses if they totaled at least $500,000.
Mr. Don Johnson would not disclose which specific player-friendly rules he requested, but did mention that he chipped te house edge down to .253% (if every hand was played perfectly.)
We reverse-engineered the likely possibilities and we believe that the following are the rules that Tropicana agreed to use during the big blackjack cash game.
Agreed rules for $100,000 per hand blackjack game which resulted in a $5.8 million dollar win.
• Six deck shoe.
• Blackjack pays 3:2.
• Dealer must stand on Soft 17 (Ace + 6).
• Player can double on any first two cards.
• Player can double after a split.
• Player can re-split to 4 hands.
• Player can split and re-split Aces.
• Player can hit split Aces.
• 20% of losses forgiven if over $500K
Such a lovely player friendly set of rules is virtually impossible to find in any traditional and very few online casino blackjack games. When Don Johnson was told that the 20% discount on loses stands even with the new rules, he knew that this will be his lucky day.
By agreeing to this set of rules without first calculating the statistical probabilities, Tropicana gave away the casino’s edge. In essence, the roles were reversed from a statistical standpoint and Tropicana became the gambler while Don Johnson became ‘the casino’; and as the saying goes – the casino always wins at the end (over time because of the house edge).
“It’s like going to the horse races and betting an even-money shot and only having to spend 80 cents on the dollar to get that shot,” states Mr. Johnson. “It’s a huge edge. I just think somebody missed the math when they did the numbers on it.”
Mr. Johnson says he did not use any card counting system or track the deck shuffle. He says there was no need. He explains that – “the discount gives you a much bigger edge, so why waste your time counting?”
Towards the end of his 12 hour blackjack marathon, three of the biggest hands of the blackjack game took place. Mr. Johnson split a pair, and re-split again for a total of four hands of $100,000 each. He doubled three out of the four hands for a $700,000 total bet, which he won.
Two more hands occurred during the last hour which involved splitting, re-splitting and doubling, which he also won. This amazing run of good cards eventually pushed him far ahead and allowed him to walk away with $5,800,000 of the casino’s money.
Mr. Don Johnson still plays blackjack, although now he no longer receives the free comps and perks from most casinos
Mr. Johnson quipped – “To be honest, (the casino) gives you what? A free deluxe suite with a piano? Big deal. Just give me a blackjack game with the right rules and a discount on losses and for a comp give me a broken beach umbrella.”
On that note the interview ended, and we can be sure we will be seeing a lot more of Don Johnson, the Atlantic City Assassin in the near future.
2 Comments
Great article written on the casino and Mr. Don Johnson. He win so much many from casino. It is great thing that he won this much money from the 3 of the Atlantic city casino. I didn’t about this kind of the news. Thanks to this blog.
Great article written on the casino and Mr. Don Johnson. He win so much many from casino. It is great thing that he won this much money from the 3 of the Atlantic city casino. I didn’t about this kind of the news. Thanks to this blog.