What is card counting?
Blackjack players use the card-counting system when they want to
tip the balance off odds in their favour. The card counters run a count of the
score and keep it in their heads. They attach a zero, negative or a positive
value to each card as it is dealt out by the dealer.
How does the technique
work?
The high cards, which are tens through aces work in favour of
the player and alternatively the low cards other than the ones mentioned,
favour the dealer. When the players count the cards mentally, they are able to
keep a track if there are more high cards or low cards left in the deck with
the dealer. If there are more high cards left in the deck, the deck is now
statistically more favourable to the player. Now, the players can increase the
bet size because of a ‘hot’ deck. With the use of this system, a player is able
to gain advantage of a minimum of 1% over the house.
What is the origin of the
card counting technique?
An American mathematician by the name of Edward O. Thorpe wrote
a book titled, “Beat the Dealer” in 1962. In this book, he first made this
technique public. The book immediately caught on and had hordes of budding card
counters rush to Vegas and hot tail the book with variable degrees of success.
Is card counting legal?
Card counting is not illegal, but a casino would do everything
in its power to prevent the players from employing this technique to their
advantage. If they suspect anyone of doing so, they would ban the player from
the casino. But the casino cannot confiscate players’ chips or detain players
on basis of this as there has been no crime committed.
How does the card counting
detection works?
There are two forms of card counting devices. Let us look at
both of them:
1.1. Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID): in this mechanism, radio tags are embedded in the casino
chips, which allows the casino’s tracking system to track the chips’ movements.
Thus the casino can exactly track the amount a blackjack player is betting for
each particular hand, it can track the amount cashed out by a player at the
gate and how much of chips are outside the custody of the casino. It is
possible to tag these chips to individual players and through this mechanism; a
casino is able to identify the card counters who are trying to hold out their
chips in between the card-counting.
2. Computer Vision System:
this is the other card counting detection device, which uses the computer
vision system with facial recognition software. The principle behind this
mechanism was identifying the card counters as these players enter the casino
and move through it. Or alternatively they can also be spotted by the methods
of their play at the tables. To spot a suspecting method, an overhead stereo
camera is used which can identify the value of cards along with the chips of
the players. This stereo camera makes the use of contour analysis along with
template matching and a scale –invariant feature transform algorithm.
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