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How a magician-mathematician revealed a casino loophole
BBC ^ | 19 Oct 2022 | Shane Keating

Posted on 10/21/2022 6:29:09 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT

When a gang of gambling cheats sussed out how to beat the house, they inadvertently highlighted a loophole from a shuffled deck. It took a magician-turned-mathematician to reveal how.

Their company manufactured precision card-shuffling machines for casinos. Thousands of their mechanical shufflers were in operation in Las Vegas and around the world. The rental fees brought in millions of dollars each year, and the company was listed on the New Stock Exchange.

However, the executives had recently discovered that one of their machines had been hacked by a gang of hustlers. The gang used a hidden video camera to record the workings of the card shuffler through a glass window. The images, transmitted to an accomplice outside in the casino parking lot, were played back in slow motion to figure out the sequence of cards in the deck, which was then communicated back to the gamblers inside. The casino lost millions of dollars before the gang were finally caught.

... they needed to be sure that their machine properly shuffled the deck. They needed Persi Diaconis.

Diaconis, a magician-turned-mathematician at Stanford University, is regarded as the world's foremost expert on the mathematics of card shuffling. Throughout the surprisingly large scholarly literature on the topic, his name keeps popping up like the ace of spades in a magician's sleight-of-hand tric

...Diaconis doesn't care for gambling much himself – he says there are better and more interesting ways to make a living. But he doesn't begrudge players who try to get an edge by using their brains.

"Thinking isn't cheating," he says. "Thinking is thinking."

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Hobbies
KEYWORDS: casino; gambling; math; shuffling
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To: DUMBGRUNT

21 posted on 10/21/2022 7:51:57 PM PDT by fso301
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To: DUMBGRUNT

> A friend prefers the track. <

I can relate. I love horse racing. It’s one of my favorite pastimes. But I am under no illusions. The money I spend on track bets is for entertainment purposes only. I do not expect to come out ahead at the end of the day. And when I do (rarely), it’s always a pleasant surprise.

Now here’s the interesting thing. When I’m sitting at trackside, strangers will often approach me, and ask for tips. I guess I look like some kind of handicapping expert. I tell them what I tell myself: I really don’t know anything.


22 posted on 10/21/2022 7:58:15 PM PDT by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Machines have to randomize the shuffle. Ultra precision presents a problem . . . Eight perfect shuffles returns the deck to the original order.


23 posted on 10/21/2022 8:00:49 PM PDT by Sgt_Schultze (When your business model depends on slave labor, you're always going to need more slaves)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

My brother was a card counter. He was also an engineer an oddly dyslexic. He was good with numbers. Perhaps this is what made him good at card counting. He explained to me he could only do it for about an hour as it was mentally taxing in the extreme. He would take a break and then go back.

Once in Vegas his buddy was following his bets and thus, they realized he was a card counter. This was in the old days before multiple decks from a shoe. Some “very polite” gentlemen firmly suggested he play anything he wanted to play except black jack. They gave him tickets for food, shows, etc. then firmly suggested, “enjoy our casino, games of chance and food and shows, but Mr. Smyth do not play Black Jack.” He got the message.


24 posted on 10/21/2022 8:09:00 PM PDT by cpdiii (cane cutter-deckhand-roughneck-oil field trash- drilling fluid tech-geologist-pilot- pharmacist)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

My brother was a card counter. He was also an engineer an oddly dyslexic. He was good with numbers. Perhaps this is what made him good at card counting. He explained to me he could only do it for about an hour as it was mentally taxing in the extreme. He would take a break and then go back.

Once in Vegas his buddy was following his bets and thus, they realized he was a card counter. This was in the old days before multiple decks from a shoe. Some “very polite” gentlemen firmly suggested he play anything he wanted to play except black jack. They gave him tickets for food, shows, etc. then firmly suggested, “enjoy our casino, games of chance and food and shows, but Mr. Smyth do not play Black Jack.” He got the message.


25 posted on 10/21/2022 8:17:40 PM PDT by cpdiii (cane cutter-deckhand-roughneck-oil field trash- drilling fluid tech-geologist-pilot- pharmacist)
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To: cpdiii

I remember reading of Ken Uston being asked to leave most casinos he ever entered.

“In a 1983 Blackjack Forum interview,[6] Uston related that he became fascinated by blackjack and its inherent strategies after meeting professional gambler Al Francesco in a poker game. Francesco had recently launched the first “big player” type of blackjack card counting team, and he recruited Uston to be one of his main team players.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Ustonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Uston


26 posted on 10/21/2022 9:02:53 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT ( "The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last messa)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Used “a hidden video camera to record the workings of the card shuffler through a glass window.” Clever. Mezrich’s 2003 book Bringing Down the House is very interesting and true. The pro gamblers made $60K on a good night and were kicked out of every casino in America. So they wore disguises and continued scoring big time in major casinos.


27 posted on 10/21/2022 10:00:01 PM PDT by Falconspeed ("Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others." Robert Louis Stevenson.)
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To: Stosh

There’s a guy who trains people to throw dice in such a way that they throw what they want more often than chance.


28 posted on 10/21/2022 10:00:27 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear (This is not a tagline.)
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To: cpdiii
I read the original couple of books on card counting. There are simple systems where you just add or subtract one depending on whether or not the card is a 10.

Then there are systems where each card has a separate plus or minus value. If you can remember all that and keep count despite all the casino distractions, then you can break even without modifying your bets, but just knowing when to double down, split pairs and make insurance bets.

A whole lot of work just to play for hours, not get caught, and end up where you started.

29 posted on 10/21/2022 10:04:39 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear (This is not a tagline.)
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To: Magnum44

Was that the hole card?


30 posted on 10/21/2022 10:13:50 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: who_would_fardels_bear

“A whole lot of work just to play for hours, not get caught, and end up where you started. “

It might have been Roald Dahl, but I remember reading a short story about a kid whose uncle shows up, and tells the kid he makes his money betting horses. The kid thought it was free and easy money. The uncle showed him his technique, which involved a whole lot of research, and it turned out to be no better paying per hour than a typical middle class job.


31 posted on 10/21/2022 10:15:56 PM PDT by Flash Bazbeaux
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To: Leaning Right

Always


32 posted on 10/21/2022 11:20:11 PM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: texas booster
Can tell that it is NOT written by American journalists.

You mean: Because it is coherent and informative?

Or did the non-U.S. spelling give it away?

[...] the word rematerialises on the side [...]

Regards,

33 posted on 10/21/2022 11:28:27 PM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Yeah but, when you’re bored it’s a way to pass time

I prefer to hustle my friends in their dining room table but, the mathematics of a six deck shuffle ate fun.

I only hate idiots who take a card they shouldn’t


34 posted on 10/21/2022 11:49:41 PM PDT by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me https://youtu.be/wH-pk2vZG2M)
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To: Magnum44

Yowsuh!


35 posted on 10/21/2022 11:50:47 PM PDT by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me https://youtu.be/wH-pk2vZG2M)
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To: cpdiii

20 years ago I too was asked if I was counting cards cards

I replied if I had been counting cards I would certainly have more than $3800 my friend would not have lost $80000

They let it go and I had a fun time and gave my other friend 3000 of my winnings for fun

I gave her the majority of my winnings because he had Paid for our hotel rooms at the Four Seasons And the private plane

I started with $500 figured $300 take home for having a lot of fun and watching that moron booze 80 grand grand was totally worth the fun


36 posted on 10/22/2022 12:04:32 AM PDT by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me https://youtu.be/wH-pk2vZG2M)
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To: texas booster

Bumping the perfect shuffle


37 posted on 10/22/2022 12:48:05 AM PDT by thinden (buckle up....)
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To: Vendome

“booze 80 grand”

I ‘boozed’ away the 10 grand I was ahead one time long ago. Free drinks. Whooo-hoo. Last time I played black jack.


38 posted on 10/22/2022 2:55:21 AM PDT by dynachrome (“We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the US economy.” Rand Paul)
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To: alexander_busek
You mean: Because it is coherent and informative?

C'mon, ya know, and LOL have not infected the Beeb.

Yet.

Enjoy your weekend!

39 posted on 10/22/2022 5:21:13 AM PDT by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120) Cure Alzheimer's!)
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To: DUMBGRUNT
A good book on the subject is Beat the Dealer, by Edward O. Thorp.
40 posted on 10/22/2022 6:05:28 AM PDT by sima_yi ( Reporting live from the far North)
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