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In your answer to the question about Beat the Dealer and what books you recommend for the current blackjack scene, you wrote about the "cat and mouse game between the casinos and the card counters," "the adversity that comes with being a blackjack pro," and the "brutally honest perspective on the highs and lows of professional blackjack." I couldn't help but wonder, if card counting happens inside someone's head, do the casinos read their mind? In other words, how do the casinos know when someone is counting cards?
The casinos have various methods by which they can "pick off" card counters, then bar them from playing blackjack or ban them from entering the building altogether.
The most common are:
*Databases. It's become more common, as the first line of defense, for casinos to look up a player in a database (primarily SIN or OSN). If they see you winning, betting big, or fluctuating bets, a casino often asks for a players card or ID, so they can see if you're a known undesirable ... a.k.a. "not a sucker." They might do this before ever watching your playing decisions or anything else: "Let's just check the database to see if he's in there."
*If someone looks like he or she is counting cards. This is the classic case of a casino cutting off its nose to spite its face. Plenty of wannabe card counters or straight-up gamblers have been backed off, because the casino thinks they're a threat, even if they aren't. We've heard of more than one gambler with six figures worth of losses over several years of poor "card counting," but plenty of casinos had backed him off simply because the guy was trying to count. It might be that a guy is just winning too much and the casino panics.
*Analyzing your play in real time. If a casino suspects you of card counting, it may deploy a floorman or surveillance operator to watch you. If you play properly and change your bets along with the count (by counting along with you or running your play through counter-catcher software), they'll then determine if they want your play or not. Remember, if you can play with an advantage based on observable information, the casino can observe that same information to decide if you're playing with an advantage.
*Analyzing your play after the fact. Sometimes a casino reviews a player after he's left, especially if you hit them for a big score, for example, any player who wins over $5,000, $10,000, or $20,000. Plenty of players get out with a big win and without a backoff, only to be turned away on their next visit.
This is all part of the cat-and-mouse game. In his book The 21st Century Card Counter, author Colin Jones talks about forms of "costly" camouflage and "free" camouflage to try to avoid casino detection. But at the end of the day, casinos don't want winners, so dealing with backoffs just comes with being a profitable player.
How is Big Elvis doing and where is he performing now?