Is Card Counting a Way into the High Life?

Ever since the beginning of time, people have been thinking of ways to beat the casinos out of their money. Around 1962, A mathematics professor by the name of Edward Thorp proved that you could beat the game of Blackjack with a method called card counting.He was right, any his new discovery was a nightmare for the casino industry. Now, when it comes to “card counting”, there are three misconceptions. One being that it is illegal. Well it isn’t. Card counting is using you mind to beat the game and won’t be illegal until thinking is illegal, (which I doubt). The next misconception is that you need to be a mathematical genius to count cards. If anybody has seen the movie “21” or “Rainman”, they make it seem like card counting is something for geniuses. Anybody can count cards, but like anything else, it requires devoted time. The final misconception is that card counters always win. Well this is deceitful. In fact,on average, card counters win about forty-four percent of the time. What makes them winners is how much they bet over their winning period.

Although card counting is completely legal, casinos have the right to ban you from ever coming back because of it. Back when the casino industry was ran by the mob, they would even beat you up for card counting. One of the most famous card counters, Ken Uston, won millions of dollars from card counting, and one day, he was kicked out of a casino in Atlantic City. He went on to take legal action against New Jersey because he thought the casinos should not ban someone because they are talented in any game. He ended up winning the court battle and now, New Jersey can not ban people from casinos because they are talented at a game. Uston also tried to do the same for Las Vegas casinos, but he ended up unsuccessful. He later died in his Paris apartment in 1989.

The casino industry has made this game a lot harder to beat then it used to be, but with some patience, anyone could master the art of card counting. I believe that card counting is one of the only things in life where you use your brain, get money, and attract women with your bankroll. So being smart does have it’s perks!!! This is shown numerous times in the book “Bringing Down The House”. One of the characters, Kevin, was just a guy studying engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and when he gets into the card counting world, he starts dating a cheerleader from the NFL and gots into nightclubs every weekend. Obviously, if he never took up card counting, he would never be part of the fast life. What a life!


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