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HOW AND WHERE IT BEGAN:
"DO CASINOS CHEAT?"
by Ralph "Silver Fox" Stricker
Ralph Stricker has been a successful professional blackjack player for many years. He is the developer of the Silver Fox Card Counting system and author of "Silver Fox Blackjack System
—You Can Count On It." Note: This is the system that BJI contributing writer Barfarkel uses and mentions in his BJI trip reports. In his articles for the BJI, Stricker describes his blackjack career, specifically how and where he started playing, teaching, and managing blackjack teams, as well some personal experiences that affected him along the way. He is one of the blackjack legends described in the book, "Legends of Blackjack."Note: This is a continuing story of Ralph Stricker’s life as a successful blackjack player and teacher. See prior BJI issues for the previous articles in this series.
The question is "Do Casinos Cheat?" I will let you, dear readers, decide for yourself based on the facts presented in this article.
In late 1979 and the early 80’s, I was always looking for a good single-deck game in Las Vegas. I was on a trip with one of my ex-students, letting him watch me play and learn how to detect a good game, and how to read favorable floor people who did not "hawk" the action. To say this was difficult, would not really give justice to the meaning of the word.
Coincidentally, I had not been to the Dunes Casino very often and decided to just wander in and look over the situation. Close to the main entrance, I found two single-deck games that were separated by two tables with shoe games. The minimum betting limits in the morning were $5.00 but in the afternoon, they increased it to $25.00. I watched and noticed that the dealer’s were giving good deck penetration, dealing sometimes four rounds to three players, which amounted to almost 36 cards out of a 52 card deck played before the shuffle. Of course, I was watching the players as they played and nobody was a threat to the casino. I just watched the game for about 30 minutes and then I left.
I went back after a shift change and just kept watching to see if I could take advantage of this situation. A floor person observed me watching the game and said to me, "Why not try your luck and play?" I said, "The only luck I ever had in a casino was bad." He laughed and introduced himself to me, and gave me his business card. His business card stated: Wayne C. He told me that if I ever decided to play, I should play on his shift. I thanked him for his invitation and left the casino.
The next day I decided to play on Wayne’s shift so I went to the pit where he had been the previous day. To my pleasant surprise, the table had not changed the minimum bet from $5.00 to $25.00. There were two people playing and after the shuffle up, I entered the game. I decided to play for very low stakes just to see how far the casino, and particularly Wayne, would tolerate my play. I spread from 1-2-4 units ($5, 10, 20) and was not winning very much when they changed the table limit to $25.00 minimum. However, I was allowed to bet at the $5.00 minimum level because I had been playing before they minimum was changed.
I was ahead a couple of hundred dollars after about an hour of play. Wayne said to me...
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