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typical card counter can be spotted easily because they tend to make large bets
for no apparent reason, but these counters had four individuals spread out making
them as a group much harder to detect. They used a back-spotter that would stand
and count cards,
but not play. A spotter, who would make small bets at the table and relay messages
to the Gorilla. The Gorilla would move around from table to table placing huge
bets when the spotter and back-spotter indicated that there might be an advantage
at a table. And finally, you had the Big Player, who would play large hands and
count the cards.
Casinos fastidiously keep track on card counters by employing
agencies that seek out, and monitor suspected card counters. They were caught
when someone from their own inner circle sold their names to an agency in Las
Vegas. After that, anytime they entered a casino; they were shown the door. It
is an interesting story, yes, but hardly new. Ken Uston described the same sophisticated
of team collaboration and mathematical mastery two decades earlier in his book,
The Big Player: How a Team of Blackjack Players Made a Million Dollars. But, Doug,
if you want to read more about this group of counters, check out Ben Mezrich¹s
book, Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students who Took Vegas
for Millions.
 Good
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