/ Editor / 28 November 2007 / Leave a comment

WHAT happens when card counters Michael Aponte and Dave Irvine meet casino executives?

America's Channel 8 Eyewitness News filmed two members of the MIT blackjack team which used a card counting scheme addressing a room full of suits at the Global Gaming Expo, Las Vegas.

What happens? The casino executives listen.

As reported, over a seven year period, the MIT team won $10 million from casinos in Las Vegas and across the US.

"We had no idea what to expect. Then right off the bat we just started winning tons of money. It was crazy," says Aponte, former MIT blackjack team leader.

Says Irvine: "The most we ever made in a weekend was about $500,000. We would routinely make $100,000 on a weekend - no trouble...We would literally have our pockets bulging out three inches stuffed with $10,000 bricks."

Eventually, the casinos caught on. It took seven years.

Why so long? Douglas Florence, a Vegas security expert, says: "Within our own city, we had some difficulties having properties talk with properties and sister properties talk with sister properties."

So the casinos don't always talk to each other. But now thanks to face recognition software the card counters can be put on a database.

But what is wrong with card counting? The player is taking on the casino. So long as the player uses his wits and no devices or machines, what is the harm?

If you can count in your head and keep track of the cards, surely that is just your good fortune...

Discuss...

Tags: Card counting, Las Vegas, MIT