Casinos and card counting
Card counting profits

Card counters are what worries casino managers the most. These clever and quick gurus can rake in millions of dollars during a span of just several hours.

While blackjack card counting is legal in most places (unless electronic devices are used), the casinos fight any signs of it. The story of MIT students who made millions at casinos by counting cards is well known.

So are other stories of master blackjack players. Card counting is a hard thing, which requires lots of practice. The general rule is to bet more when there are many high cards (10 and up) left, an outcome during which a casino is at a disadvantage.

Land-based casinos use surveillance cameras and staff to watch out for card counters. There is also a database of card counters, Griffin Investigations, to which many casinos subscribe. It provides the casino managers with information about the names of blacklisted blackjack players, their photos, the groups they bring to work as a gang, and other details.

Using this system, the casinos can send pictures of suspected players as they gamble, and have them checked in minutes, if not seconds.

Another way to beat card counters is through more frequent reshuffling, but this tends to turn off the players. The casinos that offer online blackjack actually reshuffle the cards frequently, thus the game isn’t the same as at land-based casinos. However, to attract players, online casinos started offering live blackjack dealing to get close to real casino experience.

On the other hand, the poker players get plenty of opportunities to practice their tricks. Poker tournaments are more heard-of and money-wise attractive than blackjack competitions.