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Optical Recognition System To Foil Card Counting?
Adair writes "Wired is running this article about a new Optical Recognition System by MindPlay being evaluated by some casinos to keep constant track of table game play in order to identify card counters by their patterns of play. The software, using 14 digital cameras around the table, can keep track of every card played, amounts bet, and even tell the difference between your drink, napkin, cards, chips, and ashtrays."
are, if I recall, and I may not, people who pay a whole lot ofattention to the game rihgt? I mean,. it's not like they are using loaded dice or subistuting in the ace thats hidden int he their sock. They are jsut palying intelegent. Damn them!!!! We mustn't allow that!!
In Soviet Russia you dant have to put up with these crappy jokes
Why should I make stupid bets at the table when I know better?!?!
So the house is allowed to use a marked deck!! Surely that can't be allowed, and even if it is how long before someone else works out how to read the cards.
Even the *simplest* system (assigning -1, 0 and +1 to certain cards) is hard enough to keep track of when you practice. Doing so at the casino is incredibly difficult. I can't imagine that the casino would frown upon one guy that can do it walking out with $1,000, when watching his winning streak will inspire 50 people to lose $100 each at the table.
It just doesn't make sense to kick an individual out. Any pit boss will see a table running up using card counting, and can (by casino rules) ask them to leave.
The emperor is naked.
What about the false positives? I don't think casinos care about a winning visitor who is mistakenly seen as a card counter. They should be worried more about the false negatives, those who can trick the computer system into thinking he's not card counting.
--- Sigmentation Fault - Comments Dumped
what we need is some glasses that can read the special ink and then we can win everytime.
-- Karma Karma Karma Karma, Karma Chameleon - Boy George
"The chances of a gambler actually winning the jackpot on our slot machines is almost nil. They may get some minor wins, but when they strike a jackpot, there's no chance that it's just luck"
Seriously, why do casinos allow games (like blackjack) that can be cheated by counting the cards and knowing some laws of probability? It's like running software that has a known exploit and just hunting down crackers that know how use it instead of fixing the software.
They're going to use a card counting system to defeat card counters. Oh the irony.
From the article:
"We've been telling the casinos not to use the computer to count the cards," says Nevada Gaming Control Board member Scott Scherer. "If players aren't allowed to use a computer to count, then the casino shouldn't be allowed to."
I think the key word there is shouldn't. I don't doubt the casino will use every advantage they can get.
So the question is why they don't use a single deck and shuffle every hand?
The answer is that play is then too slow and they don't make as much money. Also, it's easier to card count - yes, you can apply it to a single hand if there are enough players at the table and you can see their face up cards, or if you are seated so as to go last you can see all the cards played.
So they use mulitple decks and only shuffle when they are getting low.
But card counting in your head shouldn't be illegal, it's part of the game. Even if you're bad at it, you should be able to think to yourself "gee, a lot of face cards have been played already, it's doubtful I'll get another one", or "gee, hardly any face cards have been played, maybe I should split my nines because the dealer's only got an 8 showing".
The only difference between "casual" play like that and counting is how sure you are of how many and which cards have played.
It shouldn't be illegal if you can do it in your head - that's like thought police or something. They shouldn't be able to kick you out, either, but I guess it's a privately owned business. Still, when news gets out that a casino is regularly kicking out winners (who haven't been cheating - just winning) then it can be a huge loss for the casino.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
There is a similar case going on in the States, I'm not sure what it's status is. In this case though, it's alleged that after the player asked to be banned, the casino agreed but continued to send him coupons and promotions to entice him back.
That being said, suits like that should be thrown out. People need to start taking some responsibility for their own actions rather than blaming others. There is help available for compulsive gamblers should they really want to stop.
The casino chooses to do business with people who go with the stochastic flow, since they are destined to give money to the casino. They choose to not do business with people who are there to make profit at the casino's expense, so if they can detect someone doing that, they'll ask them to leave. All this story is about, is that the casinos are trying to become more informed about who is who, so they can best exercise what little power they have.
This power is perfectly balanced. A player can choose to go with the random flow, and they will lose money but maybe have an enjoyable time. Or they can choose to try to make money, and either they will make errors and lose anyway, or the casino will stop consenting to do business with them ("please leave, sir"), or maybe, just maybe, they will outsmart the casino, though that's quite unlikely.
That sounds pretty bad and unbalanced, but that's because I left out the one final factor that makes the casino an impotent ant next to the player's awesome, almost God-like power: the player can choose to not visit the casino, and do something productive with their time instead of wasting it at a casino like an idiot. ;-)
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