4c. Re: using strategy sheets in a casino
Date: Sat Jan 31, 2009 2:08 pm ((PST))Some one should take this issue to court and point out the violation of the law
from the casino side. If a casino wants to bar a player they should have to do
it using only their human brain just as it has been ruled that a person can use
his but no other devices. Would be an amusing trial!
Be my guest - first of all, the statute is undoubtedly written to apply only to the patron, not the casino; secondly, I've heard the courts in NV are casino-friendly (not universally so, like the legislature, but still they understand their state's economy), and so nothing is likely to change. The lawyers will be the only people making money.
There was, at one time, a market for dealers who could count cards (who were then instructed to shuffle up before reaching the shuffle card when the deck became favorable to the player), and most pit bosses understand the principle - but can't do it in real time. Sometimes you'll see a pit boss examine the discards -- and while sometimes this is to see if a card is damaged or otherwise needs replacement, other times it's to see what the count was when a player made an unusual bet or play.
Card-counting dealers were also instructed to alert pit bosses if they suspected a player, and the pit boss could then have tapes made (if they weren't already) and reviewed to determine if a player should be barred.
Knowledgeable players learned that if a pit boss was talking to a dealer with his back to the players so they couldn't pick up the conversation, and then walked over to a telephone, to be alert to the possibility that the heat was on -- and perhaps to leave play and cash out before the evidence could be collected, or at least before a barring could occur.
Dealers and pit bosses can have a remarkable memory for a suspect player - I still remember that the dealer when I was first barred was a pit boss when I returned to the same casino two years later, with no intervening play, and when I bought my chips and the dealer called it out to the pit boss (routine practice), he looked over and then did a double-take looking back at me! I knew he'd recognized me, and got out in a hurry.
Thankfully, VP does not get as much scrutiny - in part because it is unusual for the player to be able to get a 0.5 to 1% edge, or more, which the best card counters can in fact do (and, while with a lot of variance, nevertheless much less variance than in VP).
In some states, e.g., NJ, the casino can't bar a player for card counting. Those identified as card counters can, however, be assigned new table limits, often with a min/max bet that makes it impossible to get an edge, and can have the shuffle point moved to again negate their advantage. The casinos change the rules to make the game less favorable -- and that's what a lot of the VP players here are fearful of if the casinos become inappropriately concerned about skilled players.
Your attitude, that somebody should do something and that there should be a level playing field with the same rules applicable to all sides, is one that the public sympathizes with, but it won't play in Nevada.
--BG
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