His name is Ben Campbell. He’s a young guy in his early twenties – sharp, handsome, and endowed with a brilliant mind, as evidenced by his stellar academic performance as a mathematics major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Later, he joined Harvard Medical School to study health sciences. However, the $300,000 tuition required is a huge pitfall, threatening to derail his dreams. That’s before he discovers that he has a unique scheme he could employ to make money, enabling him to cover his tuition and enjoy a luxurious, high-roller lifestyle. A blackjack card counting scheme. Ben starts slowly and cautiously, pocketing a few thousand dollars at small casinos on weekends. Soon, however, his appetite for the doe grows, and the adrenaline rush seems to draw him in like a moth to a dangerously hot flame. Soon, Ben rakes in hundreds of thousands of dollars every other night. That’s until casino authorities get suspicious, and Ben ends up on a wanted list… Wait, is this a real story or the plot from a movie?
Card Counting Is Very Real
Yes, card counting in blackjack is a real-life concept. The short tale above is a plot from the famous movie “21” starring Jim Sturgess (as Ben Campbell) and Laurence Fishburne (as Cole Williams) and directed by Robert Luketic. However, you might need to learn that the movie is based on a true story. A group of six MIT students used their math skills to run a blackjack card-counting operation on the Las Vegas strip, taking away millions of dollars. The group was nicknamed MIT Blackjack Team and is the inspiration behind movies like “21” and several best-selling books like “Bringing Down the House.”
But How Does Card Counting Work?
For starters, one needs an understanding of blackjack and how to win it. The game is nicknamed 21 (the reason for the movie’s title?) because the ultimate objective is to acquire a set of cards whose total value is equal to… 21. If the player gets a 21 total, they’ve “hit the blackjack” and are automatic winners. The payout for a blackjack is three times the bet. If they can’t hit a blackjack, they can still double their stake by having a total as high as possible, which doesn’t exceed 21. Card counters have sharper-than-average minds, that’s for sure. But beyond that, the concept they use for their craft is not rocket science. It’s simple arithmetics and keeping a good memory. Low cards like 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are “bad” in a card counter’s world because they don’t get you close to 21.
On the other hand, high cards, especially picture cards J, K, Q, and Aces, are “good cards” because they quickly get the player to 21 or close. By keeping track of cards revealed since the last shuffle, these guys always have a good idea of the probability of getting a “good” or “bad” card. They apply this knowledge to their betting decisions, betting more when they sense an advantage and playing it cool when they think the dealer has the upper hand.
And Is It Legal Or Illegal?
Card counting is absolutely legal. It does not contravene any casino regulation or any state or federal law. Movies like “21”, which show card counters being treated like criminals, would suggest otherwise, but many things in film are fictional to boost the entertainment value of the motion picture. Card counters are simply humans who have been blessed with good brains, which they can employ to their advantage. Still, these people must work exceptionally hard because it takes work keeping track of so many cards and their values takes work. However, when card counters join up with others to work against casinos, things get really murky from a legal perspective. For instance, a punter who teams up with others to assist them by giving signals around the table definitely has an unfair advantage. WeWin recommends that you put your card-counting skills to work as an individual. Otherwise, stick with WeWin for other profitable and less controversial blackjack strategies.
