The Art of the Con (35 page)

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A professional cheater and expert in sleight of hand.

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That is, too much attention or suspicion from other players.

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I'm deliberately being vague about how this information is captured or received, but if you stop to think how much technology is already at the table in the shape of smartphones, you might be able to piece together the system.

I
could barely breathe. Panic was trying to take over as the sweat ran down my back to the electronic device secretly taped to my skin. Everyone at the table was looking at me expectantly, waiting for an answer. I waved my hand to signal “no more cards,” the dealer moved on, and the game continued while I surveyed the room. Everyone on my team was leaving, picking up their chips and cashing out. In a matter of minutes I would be alone in the casino with a hidden computer on my back and a keypad strapped to my leg.

It was my first night working at the tables in a live game. After weeks of perfecting how to enter every card dealt into a computer using binary code, this was my audition for the team who hoped to profit from lax shuffling procedures that were endemic in the UK at that time. We were spread across several tables, recording cards from each round of play and then telling the computer whether or not the dealer employed a weak or a strong shuffle. When the shuffle was weak, we could predict the next round of play with incredible accuracy; but even when it was strong, the odds were still on our side.

As the players would track each round of cards, occasionally rotating to take breaks or keep things moving, a “Big Player” would walk from table to table, seemingly at random but actually guided by his crew. When the odds were in our favor, the computer told me via a tiny earpiece and I would make a signal to bring the Big Player in. Once at the table, the Big Player's earpiece would pick up the signal from my computer and start following its advice. A voice synthesizer would reveal where the aces were most likely to hit and the Big Player would bet more money on those spots, before moving to the next table, where another member of the team was tracking that game.

It was a simple system that required a great deal of work and preparation to execute. No one, it seemed, would believe that five people might be working the tables with complex electronics under their pants. Nevertheless, we had strict rules on how to behave in the event that staff might become suspicious. The most important thing was to never try to make a run for it. Security would hit first and ask questions later. Running was as good as admitting guilt before any questions were even asked.

Just as we had a system for beating the games, there was a strict method for making an exit in the event of heat from the house. First, there was the signal: an open hand running fingers through the hair from front to back. Once this was seen, players would begin taking their chips to the cage and cash out before leaving. We would then meet at the hotel suite rented by our Big Player, who also ran the crew.

I had missed the signal and had no idea when or why it was given. Focused on the game, I had no idea how long we had been in danger and only noticed there was a problem when the Big Player caught my eye from across the room and glanced toward the last member of our team as he left the cashier. Once he had my attention, the Big Player walked to the door and shook hands with the manager as he left. Suddenly, I was alone.

My shirt was soaking wet by the time I stepped off the stool and collected my chips. Each breath I took was a conscious effort to remain calm while the cashier counted out my money; as I walked to the door, my imagination was on fire, terrified that I'd feel a hand on my shoulder just as I was about to reach freedom. Nothing happened. I walked to the curb, hailed a taxi, and told the driver to take me to our hotel.

As I entered the suite, the room fell silent. Everyone turned to stare at me as I walked in, fully expecting to be reprimanded for not spotting the signal. No one spoke.

“What happened?” I asked.

The Big Player stood up. “You don't know?”

I shook my head. “I didn't see anything.”

“Nothing?”

“I didn't see a thing. Who gave the signal?”

“You did.”

There was an uncomfortable pause as everyone began to realize what had just happened. It turns out that, when under pressure, I had a nervous, unconscious habit of running my fingers through my hair, from front to back. The room erupted in laughter and I felt like a complete idiot. Within the week we were all back at the tables, with a brand new “get out” signal and a powerful, probably legal, advantage against the house.

A talent for deception and an eye for opportunity are not limited to those of a purely crooked disposition. In the world of casino gaming, there is a fascinating middle ground that remains mostly on the right side of the law. Advantage players seek out weaknesses in game procedures, looking for opportunities to gain an edge against the house. Their methods can shift the balance of odds dramatically, but despite being technically legal, the casino industry spends millions of dollars to identify and prevent these strategies.

Employing an advantage is a negative proposition for the house, so it's understandable that they don't take kindly to players who have an edge over them. Las Vegas was built on tiny percentages that keep the odds firmly in favor of the enormous casino resorts that created a thriving city in the middle of the Nevada desert. As Penn and Teller used to point out in their show, the entire city depends on bad math, and major casinos advertise 98 percent return on their slot machines as if this was a good thing.

In all aspects of life, it is possible to find yourself taken advantage of, or to have an advantage hidden or denied to you. To a con artist, life is just a game where rules are for suckers. It's all a matter of who's the player and who's being played.

By far, the most well-known Blackjack system is card counting. Many people think this is an illegal strategy that somehow breaks the rules, but it is completely above board. Counting cards is about observing the outcome of previous rounds of play and using that information to determine the quality of cards that remain to be dealt. Since some cards are more beneficial to players than others, if we can track how many of those cards have been removed from the deck then we can easily gauge how many remain. The number of good cards compared to the size of the deck that is still to be played tells us how attractive the game is at that moment in terms of positive or negative expectation.

Even though this is a simple concept, it can be difficult to understand because most people just don't think this way. Most casual players approach a casino table to gamble until their stake is gone or fortune smiles upon them. Many do not even employ the optimum strategy for each hand, and those who do are sometimes berated or harassed by fellow gamblers who believe purely in luck. How you choose to play is up to you, but with any transaction, if you really want to win, luck alone rarely does it—and a deeper understanding of the game is essential.

As a useful example of how to regard any game, let's put ourselves in the role of a blackjack player and figure out the best way to invest our money at the table.

First, we need to know the basic strategy for every hand we might be dealt. There is a mathematically proven way to play that we need to memorize long before we approach the table. The casino depends on players to either ignore this strategy or play it so poorly that it becomes irrelevant.

Basic strategy in blackjack does not require any information other than the cards you're dealt and the dealer's “up card,” but it can improve your odds significantly. Despite this, many players simply don't take the time, or do the work required to learn it. Perhaps this is because they're just hoping to have a good time, and if they're prepared to lose every penny then I have no problem with that. However, if that money is not disposable, then why on earth would someone ignore their best chances of winning?

Returning to the blackjack table, let's assume that we have memorized and mastered basic strategy (found in countless books and websites) so that we are always making the best decisions at the table. How else can we improve our chances?

For each round, the cards are dealt face up and played, then placed aside into a small plastic tray to the dealer's right. This continues until the dealer decides to shuffle all of the cards, which is usually determined by a plastic “cut card” inserted into the deck after the shuffle. Up until this point, we have been shown every card that was dealt, so if we were willing to do some more work, we could track these cards to determine what is left in the balance of the deck. Basic card counting simply monitors the overall quality of the deck and whether it contains more or less valuable, potentially profitable cards for the player. Knowing this can help us to adjust basic strategy and increase our bets when the quality of the deck is higher. Put simply, we know when the cards are in our favor and bet accordingly.

This all requires a high level of concentration on the player's part, but for some of us, this was always part of the attraction to this game. The very fact that we can mentally improve our chances of winning is fascinating, but for the casinos, it turns a profitable game into a losing one, especially when dealing with effective card counters. When players become better organized, develop more sophisticated systems, and play with deeper pockets, their slight mathematical edge could possibly dig a serious hole in the house margin. Fortunately, there are far fewer expert players out there than the casinos like to think. Most players who take a shot at card counting are ill prepared or poorly trained and have probably more than compensated over time for some of the losses made to professional teams. The majority of 21 players simply haven't the dedication or determination necessary to employ this kind of system, but since most people are only playing the game intermittently, hopefully as entertainment, learning pages of odds just isn't worthwhile. If a player is determined enough to turn their game into a profitable endeavor, they can and should go to any legal lengths available to them.