Sid Patil shares some great advices with fellow blackjack players on card counting as he talks about Twitter’s current situation.

• Sid Patil explained the connection between analytics and card counting
• He talked about his experience with a MIT Blackjack Team and its benefits
• He traced the correlation between his casino experiences and Twitter

What is the connection between analytics, blackjack strategies and Twitter? The answer is provided by the online social networking site’s head of data science, Sid Patil. In his recent interview with VentureBeat.com, Patil talks about his days at the West Coast Blackjack Club of the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). As blackjack enthusiasts we’re all familiar with this legendary name and card counting team, inspiring movies and books such as ‘21’.

From a MIT Blackjack Team to Twitter

Filled with interesting and easily comprehensible explanations the interview is pure gold not only for players or card counters but for anybody who’s at least slightly interested in the world of numbers. “When you work out the variables, find out what is significant, understand the chances, and push through, you can win in the long run,” comments Patil on strategies that promise winning at blackjack.

According to Patil, his years in the MIT Blackjack Team are tightly interweaved with his current responsibilities at Twitter. Basically, both blackjack card counting and data science are about “understanding what has happened in order to understand the probability what might happen next, with varying amounts of certainty.” Put as that, the point of this multi-talented man is undeniably valid.

Card counting problems and new gadgets

Patil draws a clear line from the changes in blackjack rules towards the problems emerging with our multi-device habits. “When automatic shufflers came into play […] we had to be a lot more selective about where and when we played, and I feel that is very much what is happening with mobile and cross-device attribution right now,” he says in connection to Twitter and new media environments.