Thanks for sharingbobalski wrote: ↑Mon May 12, 2025 3:33 amCard counters are well down the totem pole as far as casino risk factors are concerned, certainly in Asia anyway. Unless a punter is betting 5K a box across 7 boxes, they'd barely raise an eyebrow.
With differentials set at 600K a hand on Baccarat, it poses much more of a risk of skullduggery than a BJ player turning a 0.58 house edge to a similar figure in his favour.
There was a guy touring Asia and Oz casinos who was able to beat the continuous shuffler by sitting in Box 1 and listening to the shuffler as it placed the discards into the slots inside the shuffler. He was colloquially known as the 'shuffle whisperer' and slowly had restrictions placed on him in most jurisdictions. The main way advantage players beat the continuous shufflers was by having Aces and picture cards marked and sitting in Box 1 waiting for an Ace or picture to appear in the slot. Given cards are recycled on these games, they stay in play for long periods of time giving multiple opportunities. It's slow and laborious work but was nullified when casinos started placing brushes in their shoes so the next card out could not be seen.
The biggest BJ 'scam' ever was in Atlantic City by a guy named Don Johnson. Lots of really interesting articles out there which can be googled. He played perfect basic strategy, but never counted cards. He gained his significant edge by negotiating favourable rebates and programs with marketing staff. When he kept winning surveillance teams would count down all the shoes he played and would find he at no stage adjusted his play according to the count, therefore he was allowed to continue playing because the house edge would wear him down in the long run.
The reasons casinos have been victims of multi million dollar scams in EVERY case is by collusion with staff. Sometimes staff are groomed unwittingly to assist the scam by being coerced to break procedure (such as in 'the cutters scam'). Sometimes the staff are 100% in on the scam and as I said, when you can bet up to 600K a hand, it is very lucrative and often greed is the contributing factor in bringing the scam to light.
By way of background, I spent the last 25 years of my working life in casinos and the last 20 years in surveillance. My last job before retiring was as Director of Surveillance at a Singapore casino which was inside the top 10 in GGR in the world. Things move quickly and I've no doubt other scams have come to light in the 3 years since i retired, but I can safely say I've seen or heard pretty much everything that can happen in a casino from a dodgy viewpoint.
Beating a casino
Yes, another fine example of a casino bending over backwards to appease a large players strange requests to their detriment.
Of course Ivey's accomplice Kelly Sun, aka 'Queen of Sorts' was the mastermind behind setting up and sorting the deck and actual scam, but Ivey's high profile ensured that they could get away with it because casinos are terrified of losing a player to the casino next door or bad publicity by refusing guests seemingly harmless requests.
I saw a few after timers on the 19-36 at very busy tables after the ball had landed. Quick as a flash. Also saw an after timer try and force a pony onto a high number after it had landed. He got spotted by the second dude that was scanning two tables for dodgy fun and games. He called him out and he legged it out of the casino. Makes you wonder how much he has made up to that point though.