Leveraging Live Dealers For Blackjack
Since the dawn of civilization, humans have sought ways to do things more efficiently. From the creation of the wheel to the discovery of electricity, man has continually sought ways to evolve in order to improve our everyday lives. When it comes to gambling, the motivations have been absolutely no different, and players around the world have developed countless strategies in order to make their ventures within casinos more profitable.
Of course, this is where the double standard comes in at. Up until the launch of Live dealers at Sportsbook.com, players have had little in the means of options when it came to strategy once they were inside casinos. Sure, there are gamblers out there who can memorize entire decks of cards or detect even the slightest defect within the casino’s gaming packages, but acting on those insights often led to the player being banned by the casino. In extreme cases these gamblers have even had their profits seized or were subject to physical attacks, and the Supreme Court has ruled in the favor of the player many times when it comes to differentiating skilled plays and cheating.
For example, take the story of mathematician Edward Thorp in the 1960′s. He knew very little about gambling in general, but after watching a few hands of blackjack he determined that it was solely a game of statistical numbers. Using the university’s computer system where he taught, Thorp simulated millions of hands to see how removing certain cards from the deck affected the player’s overall chances of winning; and what he found was truly surprising.
It appeared that the house had a much larger overall chance of winning when lower cards (2′s through 6′s) were predominantly inside the deck but the player had a distinct advantage when it was mostly high cards (8′s through aces). Also, the most influential cards inside any particular deck appeared to be aces and fives, so he kept side counts on them as well as calculating the overall strength of weakness of the remaining deck. This method of card counting is genuinely simple; every time an 8-A is revealed the player subtracts one from his running total, and every time a 2-6 is revealed he adds one. Any time the overall count is positive the deck favors the player; when it is negative it favors the house. The true benefit comes later in each shoe when the count reaches double digits; and this is where card counters normally start to wager much higher overall bets. Thorpe applied these simple principles to live dealer gaming in Vegas and won an astronomical amount of money.
Since the casinos had absolutely no idea of what card counting was at the time, they could not determine how Thorp was consistently defeating the odds. On some weekends he would clear well over $20,000 in profits (remember, this was in the late 60′s) and even though the casino would study his every move there was no indication of cheating. Regardless of his seemingly innocent actions, most of the casinos banned him for life to prevent future losses. Nevertheless, it is estimated that he walked away with several million dollars in total profits before he was eventually banned from casinos worldwide.
The principle of card counting and other skill-based strategies have been argued within courtrooms several dozens of times within the United States, and each time the judge ruled in favor of the player as long as there was not any form of blatant cheating involved. However, the casinos ultimately won because even though the players walked away with the favorable verdict, it was also stated that businesses within the US have the rights to ask any patron to leave at any time; including casinos. This ultimately means that players on large winning streaks (by means of luck or skill) can be asked to leave at any time and for any reason.
Sportsbook.com shatter this trend because the action takes place through cyberspace. Since the player is not physically seated at a table with cameras and security watching their every move, they are free to implement any betting method that grants them an advantage; as long as it coheres with federal and international laws. Card counters no longer have to secretly hide their talent for fear of being discovered too intelligent; in fact, live dealer gaming over the internet allows those same betters to strengthen their systems even further since they can take notes or the use a laptop to help keep up with the more statistical computations.
While it is important to note that any blatant form of cheating will result in appropriate legal action, Sportsbook.com gladly welcome skilled players to their casinos. The overall advantage gained by these types of gamblers are far from a certainty of victory, and in many cases the edge is so minimal that it will not even be noticed. As long as is complies with laws regarding fair gaming, then players are encouraged to try their skill at any of the available tables; which is literally an industry first for the past fifty years. No other casinos, traditional or otherwise, will make such a statement.
It is no wonder why thousands of new players have created accounts within the past few days alone, so if you’re a skilled gambler then feel free to try out your latest betting strategy against live dealers from the comfort of your own living room. Good luck and have fun!
