A card counter in a casino doesn't reduce anyone else's fun. He just reduces the profits of the casinos, which generally catch on long before they're seriously hurt.

A while back I read about an early Microsoft employee who, once a year, goes to Vegas and counts cards at high stakes until they throw him out. Generally it takes about an hour, he makes several multiples of $10K, and donates it to charity.

Any chance you have a link to the article about the charitable card counter? That sounds fascinating.

Sorry, it's been a while. I tried googling but no luck. Seems like it was someone fairly well known.

Do you mean this: http://floodyberry.com/carmack/johnc_plan_1998.html#d1998020...

I don't think so but that's pretty interesting.

Er, isn't blackjack usually against the house? I always thought of poker as the quintessential "fun with friends" game. Hang out, drink a couple beers, everyone pitches in $10 on the poker game to make it entertaining.

Blackjack isn't really a party game.

friendzis is contemplating playing with friends at a blackjack table at a casino (which can be super fun, second to a hot craps table, IMO), not playing in a home blackjack game (which is dreadfully boring).

The only time I've "won" anything in a casino is when I hit the "drink service" button to get a free drink...

That was my go-to move when friends would plan a trip to a casino. I don't have the patience to learn and practice the odds-shaving tricks out there and I don't have the disposable income to toss down a decent chunk on the slight chance that I'll win an amount proportional to the risk...

...but I do like hanging out with my friends and occasionally agreed to join up. In the end, I just hung out and played low-stakes games, getting "free" drinks the whole time. Ended up spending about as much as if we'd decided to hang out at a moderately pricey bar, got tipsy, and had a good time hanging out with my friends.

I just looked at it like any other night out spending a few bucks on drinks and maybe a few more playing Megatouch or feeding the jukebox. At no point did I hold any expectations of winning loads of money.

As a broke grad student, I did the same; except, I never really bet anything. I would put $20 in the slot machine, and promptly hit the "drink service" button. Once the drink came, I'd hit the "cash out" button, collect my $20 and move on. I know this sounds terrible, but (a) I didn't have the spare cash to throw away at the casino, and (b) I didn't have the skills to actually play any of the games where skills counted (like poker or blackjack).

That's interesting. I have memory issues, I have worked on it, nothing helps, but it made me good at documenting (mainly for my own sake but everybody gains from it). That's also why I tend not to play card games, because most of them seems to be based on recollecting where the cards are.

When it's my money on the table; jerkiness of the counter isn't the issue. When I have a $1000 bet and the dealer is showing a 6 and some moron betting the table minimum hits a 12, leading to the dealer drawing a 21 when they would have busted: that's real jerkiness. Playing to win is never being a jerk. I went to the Collision conference this year and raised more money at the blackjack table than I did from investors. If that's being a jerk, I'll take it. I made $25k in a few hours starting from $500: such a better use of my time than endless meetings begging for checks. Vegas equity is the best kind. Also, if a table gets hot, people don't drop out; it becomes a crowded party spot. A card counter helps everyone: piggyback on his strategy and do what he does and you'll win too.

What service do you provide for the moron betting the table minimum that entitles you to play his/her hand?