The Bloomberg Channel

[Tedlark]

  You're right fatz. The show also goes on to say that Johnson had negotiated the rules of play with the casino prior to his beginning play. Before agreeing with the rules that he laid out, they reviewed his play and determined that he was a small to medium player but when he showed up to play he greatly increased the size of his bets. He also reviewed the rules with the dealers and if they made a mistake because they got confused then this also worked to his advantage. He spoke of how dealers get into a rhythm because they play the same way all of the time but he was able to throw them off their normal rhythm.
 
  Apparently this strategy was so successful in Atlantic City because he may have been viewed as a larger player (betting about $5,000.00 per hand) there but if he were in Las Vegas and tried to get the casino to agree to the same rules, they might not be so apt to do so because his play (again based on $5,000.00 per hand) would have not been such a big deal to them.
 
  It's interesting how Minn. Fatz said that the show had some good insights.

[Tedlark]

This is interesting, one person says this is a great show and is planning to watch it again when it repeats a few hours later, while Anuenue says it is not very worthwhile save the female reporter (I assume it is a female reporter....????)
 
  DaBurglar I reviewed ALL of the posts in this thread but I couldn't find who the poster was that said it was a great show, can you please direct me to it?

[DaBurglar]

Caught it this afternoon on a repeat. I thought it had some good insights into the state of casinos in general and of AC casinos in particular after the start of the Great Recession.

What I gathered about Johnson's coup was that he enlisted the help of some blackjack math whizzes after being offered some nice terms from his regular casinos but before going to play there. With the help of this team he then negotiated higher table limits, better rules and other "perks" that, along with some angle shooting, turned the advantage his way. It didn't hurt that he had been labeled a mediocre player, which he was before he got smart. He managed to score so big because he had a lot in play. I'd guess there was some small but nonzero probability that he would've busted out anyway.

Like the man says, before you attempt to beat the odds, make sure you can survive the odds beating you.

I didn't quite follow what he meant by "free bets" he said he got when the dealer made a mistake tho.
  Now I am interested in seeing this after this input, especially the part you mention about insight into the state of casinos SINCE the great recession.....i wonder what this is exactly? But more importantly, just what were the advantageous rules this guy "negotiated" with the casino, and what did the math whizzes help him do to win so much money?    I am perplexed because, unless this guy was actually counting the whole time, the only other explanation for such massive success is pure luck..... So was he counting or not?  and if so why and how did the casinos not see this and stop him????

[Tedlark]

  I guess if you invested the 60 minutes into watching the show then maybe the questions you posed here might be answered.

  To help you out, Bloomberg is re-airing the show at 7:00 am, 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Sunday January 26, 2013 and all times I listed are Central Time.

 
  P.S. Can you.... please tell me who.... the poster was, that.... you said; the show was great? I looked again and STILL.... couldn't find it. Thank you.

[BillyJoe]

BlackJack is now unable to be routinely beat (without some form of cheating) since most casinos are adopting a "single deck-one shuffle" concept. You get one deal (after you make your bets) from a freshly shuffled deck. The next hand is dealt with a new, freshly shuffled deck. This virtually eliminates card counting as a form of varying your bets.

[JIMDUECE`SWILD]

I saw the show Saturday morning before I left for AC for the weekend. I thought some people would enjoy watching it.The only thing I can say about AC this weekend is, Playing VP " I couldn't buy a card unless I went to the gift shop and bought the whole deck " ..   So I drove home this morning 

[Anuenue]

[QUOTE=Anuenue]Nothing much to this show, other than the good looking reporter.

  lol   thanks for the heads up Anuenue and your opinion......who was the reporter I might ask???  This is interesting, one person says this is a great show and is planning to watch it again when it repeats a few hours later, while Anuenue says it is not very worthwhile save the female reporter (I assume it is a female reporter....????) maybe now I will wait and see what jimdeuces and/or billyjoe, or any other poster, says  about the program before I invest the 60 minutes in watching..... Just shows to go ya, how opinions and perspectives are like dna, everyone's is unique and has something to share, good or bad, with the rest of the world![/QUOTE]