Pay it forward

From “A Strategy Up Their Sleeves” in this week’s Times:

Inspired by Ben Mezrich’s best seller, “Bringing Down the House,” a 2002 chronicle of a group of M.I.T. math whizzes who collectively won millions in Las Vegas in the 1990s, the team began visiting casinos in June, joining many others who came to card counting through the same route. The card-counters’ ranks will likely swell even more this spring with the release of “21,” a film based on Mr. Mezrich’s book.

This is exciting news, that people actually use these books, especially given that – and this may have come up before – we have our own, releasing this Spring. When the time comes, it’ll be fun hearing what people take away from it. This article is like a long version of that: “We liked your book and this is what we’re doing…”

...One trick employed by Mr. S and Mr. T is to give the impression that they are degenerate gamblers. They’ll lose $1,000 on a hand — and then dig into their pockets for more chips, rather than sit behind a small mountain of chips. “That makes us look like losers rather than winners,” Mr. T said ... For Mr. S, the role of a “pompous jerk” — Mr. T’s term — can be effective. When the team made its maiden voyage as card counters, Mr. S got the signal that a deck was rich with tens. He ignored a player who told him to wait. When she declined to slide over a seat so that he could play two hands at once, he barked, “I’m betting real money here.” The pit boss, part of whose job is to pamper high rollers, ordered her to scoot over ... But anyone suspected of counting is shown the door. “Our position is that card counters disrupt the fun and excitement of other people playing the game,” said John A. O’Brien, the president of Foxwoods...

If you weren’t already rooting for the card-counters, that last part from O'Brien will do the trick. Sounds like these casino guys want it both ways: pamper the high rollers, but throw these same people out if they have a perfectly legal system that might give them an edge. And who buys that part about disrupting the fun and excitement of others? The only thing that disrupts the fun and excitement of anyone we know is when they’re losing. That’s pretty much it.