Casino criminals in Vegas - Interesting article

Is there a similar black book for card counters then?

The official Nevada Black Book was established primarily to combat organized crime activities:
"Under state gaming law, anyone can be placed in the Black Book if he/she has a felonyconviction, committed a crime involving moral turpitude or violated gaming lawsin another state; failed to disclose an interest in a gaming establishment; willfullyevaded paying taxes or fees; or has a "notorious or unsavory" reputation establishedthrough state or federal government investigations."
Ref: nextshooter.com

Card counting is not illegal in the State of Nevada, . . . so there is no official Government Black Book.

However, casinos do not care for advantage players and would like to know who they are. In response Griffin Investigations Incorporated a private investigation firm specializing in the gaming industry, introduced the Griffin Book detailing "anyone perceived as a threat to the casino's profits, including those that use legal means such as card counters, and illegal means such as people who mark cards, those who try to cheat slot machines or anyone else considered a threat to a casino, . . like serial jackpot winners and professional gamblers using legal techniques to gain an advantage in casino games. The Griffin Book was provided to subscribing casinos for a fee.
On September 13, 2005, Griffin Investigations filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in light of legal costs and damages from a successful defamation lawsuit against the company. The lawsuit had been brought by two gamblers, Michael Russo and James Grosjean, claiming they had been improperly detained, labeled as cheaters and arrested, on the basis of information supplied by Griffin.

So, there has been a similar book which included card counters.

Nowadays casinos maintain records on advantage players and pr'bly exchanging such information among themselves, . . . DonDiego knows no more.

Just an aside:
In New Jersey based upon legal decisions card counting is not illegal and banning advantage players is illegal. As a result blackjack games in New Jersey all offer pretty-much standard rules under which the "advantage" to card-counting is lower.

In Nevada card counting is not illegal and barring advantage players is not illegal. A lawsuit brought against the Las Vegas Hilton by a blackjack player who had been banned for card-counting was dismissed on a technical matter pertaining to legal venue. So the legal issue(s) remain unresolved. It has been speculated that the counters are content to have a variety of games available to improve their odds and the casinos are content to tolerate some losses but maintain the authority to ban counters who abuse the privilege.

Ref: some wikipedia internets sites and poor old DonDiego's ever-deteriorating memories of a life ill-spent.

Ron Harris works for the Las Vegas Advisor.

QOD - 2 December 2013

Have you been asked to not play BJ anymore by the management,DD?
This forum has a lot of "advantage players".
Never had been banned,but bothered by the floor walker,just staring at my play.
We all watch the card as they are dealt.
It's the large bet variations that raise an eyebrow. Guilty.
I like to play 2 hands towards the end of the "shoe",if the count is in my favor.

It's easier if we have "team play" and combine our info for increasing our bets at BJ.
if 3 of us are playing,one does aces,another does FIVES and the expert does +,minus count.
The expert sits at 3rd.
We have brutalized a few small places. All double deck games.
The 3 dude team has done 6 decks,but not very often.
We three are known inside the Downtown places.
Hit and run is our motto.

One time, . . . at Caesars Lake Tahoe.
With few exceptions DonDiego is pretty much a low-roller. He enjoyed playing, especially at a friendly table with a good dealer and happy players. He was content to play for hours just to cover expenses on a trip, which he often did.
Up at Lake Tahoe, . . . maybe 15 years ago or so, . . . poor old DonDiego had played in the evening at a crowded happy $5 table for over 5-hours-straight and won steadily with no problem, easily covering expenses for the trip.
Early the next morning, . . . DonDiego is an early riser, . . . before breakfast he went into a casino occupied by the cleaning crew vacuuming and spiffing-up the joint and one open blackjack table backed up by a short pit crew and almost no one else. So he sat himself down at a $5 single-deck table.
And he was lucky, in an unlucky sorta way. He received all kinds of unusual hands like repeated aces-with a small card, and pairs, and he played them all as they should've been played and he won way more than the odds say he should've. He had more than one 6-card winners. And he varied his bets just like the book says.
And he just kept winning.
Until he got the tap on the shoulder, . . . when he was asked not to play blackjack anymore, and invited to play any other game in the casino. It was not at all unpleasant. DonDiego tried to play another hand and the boss just instructed the dealer not to deal to him.
MORAL: One should not win steadily in a casino in which one is the only player on the floor, and there is only one pit open, and the only other folks present are the cleaning crew.

One other time, . . . at Circus-Circus, Las Vegas . . . after winning fairly steadily for an hour-or-so he requested a grapefruit juice from the server. She delivered it 10 minutes later with a playboy-bunny-sorta-dip and scampered away before poor old DonDiego could tip her. It was a grapefruit juice containing lots of vodka. DonDiego played a few more hands, . . . smiled at the camera in the ceiling, . . . and left.

The last time poor old DonDiego left a blackjack table a few dollars ahead was at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville Casino & Restaurant in Biloxi, Mississippi. A few months later the casino closed.
DonDiego takes personal responsibility.

It makes me happy to see that DD got tapped on the shoulder and asked not to play BJ anymore.
Luck or skill and I'll say a bit of both in Ceasars ,Lake Tahoe.

B-4 my brother was 21,we KILLED the dealer at The Comstock in Reno,counting cards and doing wild bet variations.(David was his name).
After cashing out,we went across the street to do it again.

My brother noticed a Comstock employee,there. He must have followed us across the street to warn the floor walker of our tactics.
Barry was asked for his ID and couldn't produce it showing he was 21, and we had to leave.
IF he was 21,they would have used tactics against us,for sure.
Either short-cut the decks or put in a really fast dealer!

The grapefruit juice w/a LOT of Vodka is a tactic. Thanks for smiling at the camera,DD!

It was the wild bet variations that got us into trouble.

Hmm, . . . ddd228 is "happy" they wouldn't deal to poor old DonDiego ? No doubt he deserved it, but "happy"?

STRANGE DEALINGS

__Years ago, . . . because the building's not even there anymore, . . . DonDiego was playing single-deck at The New Frontier at a full table, . . . all guys, mostly older than DonDiego. It was slow but DonDiego was killing time until his next session in a blackjack tournament.
The dealer would deal twice before shuffling consistently. So after about 20 minutes on an initial deal a lot of little cards come out, . . . a lot! So DonDiego makes a larger bet, . . . his largest wager of the session. And the dealer picks up the discards and proceeds to shuffle them back into the deck. One old codger [today DonDiego would be the old codger] speaks up and says: "Hey you were dealing two hands out of each deck! That was only one"
And the dealer responded "Yeah, too many small cards came out on that deal."
SAY WHAT ! The dealer was card-counting. Dealers aren't supposed to be card counting !
So, . . . poor old DonDiego left his big bet out on the new deal anyway. And won. And immediately cashed out.

__DonDiego used to enjoy fast dealers one-on-one.
He was playing once at the Dunes, . . . the building of which collapsed on 27 October 1993 after sustaining cannon fire from the Treasure Island casino up the Strip. It has been replaced by Lake Bellagio.
Anyway he was in the little satellite casino in a round room right at the corner of Flamingo and The Strip, . . . maybe 4 blackjack tables, a craps layout and slots. DonDiego seated himself at the blackjack table across from an Oriental dealer. She took his money, put his chips in front of DonDiego, . . . and before DonDiego could get his wallet back in his pocket, the dealer was leaning forward tensely waiting for DonDiego's signal on the cards before him. She'd slap those cards down and complete the hand in a jiffy, . . . and was waiting for DonDiego's decision straining towards his cards at-the-ready as soon as the next bet was down. DonDiego had decent luck; the dealer was accurate and very, very fast.
Then a little old lady steps up to the table; she seems a mite befuddled. DonDiego suggests she might prefer another table, and she gives him a mean-old stare, . . . like "who made you boss !" Sure enough before she can close her purse, and after DonDiego's played his hand she's looking at the two cards before her wondering where they'd come from. She loses.
On the next hand she is again taken by surprise by the breakneck speed at which her hand appears. She loses again. And she mumbles something like: "This is too fast for me", and proceeds to cash out.

DonDiego lasted until his quick dealer took a break, about 45-minutes, and retired from the game wealthier and happier.

Those were the days.

I was just happy to see that you were BARRED from playing because you were good!
I used the wrong word. Proud is better,DD.
I would be proud to be barred,a badge that I would have enjoyed."You are too good for us,play somewhere else".
Yeah a little lucky,too.
I don't like really fast dealers at all.

That shuffle-over would have got my attention also!

I have seen dealers watch the cards as she shuffled,too.
She was just trying to stack the deck with a bunch of small cards to deal them out,first.

Oh, . . . poor old DonDiego left out the cutest part of the story.
Throughout the session at the Dunes with the quick Oriental dealer she very rarely spoke, . . . but at the conclusion of an especially fast shoe, during which DonDiego was barely able to keep up, she looked right at DonDiego and said: "You good !"
DonDiego was thrilled. He thanked her and commented that she was an excellent dealer.

It was sorta like Ali and Fraser recognizing each others' skills, . . . or a matador and a bull showing each other respect, . . . or Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in Rush Hour bridging the gap between two cultures.
Anyway, it was cool.