Our guest this week is a former surveillance operator named Junior. For the last 15 years Junior has worked in surveillance rooms on the Las Vegas Strip. We will be having Junior on again soon, so if you have more questions for him, send them to us at [email protected].
Show Notes
[00:00] Introduction of former surveillance employee, Junior
[00:17] Junior’s gambling experience outside of surveillance
[00:57] Getting into surveillance
[03:23] How much attention do casinos pay to slot and video poker players?
[04:59] Hustlers
[06:35] Multi-carding
[07:47] Facial recognition
[13:26] What information is shared across company properties and with competitors
[14:31] Ted Whiting
[15:49] Techniques used to identify card counters
[18:09] Methods used to identify other forms of advantage play
[23:21] Surveillance-room culture
[25:57] How much time is spent monitoring casino employees?
[29:05] Cheating and theft by employees
[34:22] South Point Casino July Promotions – Free Play with a Kicker starts July 5th
[35:08] BlackjackApprenticeship.com – card counting training site with software, tools, and members-only forum
[35:41] VideoPoker.com/gwae – Gold Membership offers correction on most games, free Pro Membership trial for GWAE listeners
[36:41] False positives
[39:50] Playing uncarded
[41:29] Is wearing a hat a red flag?
[41:55] Other plays
[43:19] Phil Ivey and Kelly Sun
[46:36] Famous players
[51:57] Did Junior ever contact a player who was generating heat?
[53:02] Age, race, and gender stereotypes
[57:30] Recommended: No Stupid Questions podcast, The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson
Sponsored Links:
SouthPointCasino.com
VideoPoker.com/gwae
BlackjackApprenticeship.com
Recommended:
Freakonomics.com/nsq
The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson https://amzn.to/3dyzqdM
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Why did Junior leave surveillance and what does he do now?
First of all, both of you guys are great and I enjoy every episode immensely. That being said, this week’s episode has to be one of my all time favorites. I hope you have Junior back for another show soon. Keep up the great work!
Not the original Junior who was 1 of the ORIGINAL counters from the 50’s/60’s and 1 of the EXPERT Black Jack Player’s who’s in 1 of the original counting books for some of his INFAMOUS Casino stunts….he died years ago…
How Junior died is even a a story in itself….maybe 1 day….
The original Junior is supposed to have 1 of his wild stories in 1 of the original books on counting (Thorp?), not sure if it’s under his own name or handle…you’ll know it when you see it…
Only Junior would have tried to pull that….he pulled a lot of other stuff…
Just FYI
It’s funny how paranoid casinos have become if somebody who looks serious suddenly is winning a little bit at black jack. The myth of beating the game of black jack by counting cards is probably one of the most discussed topics in the world of professional gambling. Sad fact is that the idea of worsening the rules and paying only 6:5 for the natural and other crazy ideas has actually ruined the game within itself. The permanent creation of new side bets with terrible odds is slowing down the game and is making it something for the fun seeker (or shall I say, the “adrenalin junkie”?) but not something a “professional gambler” would like.
Europe is a little different in this regards. Some casinos are still offering very liberal rules , including surrender and all the other loose rules, but most casinos are dealing off the shuffler. However, some casinos can be found in Europe with very good rules plus the fact that the dealer is shuffling the decks and sticks the cards into a regular shoe.
Bottom line is this: Which would you prefer: A mere 99.45% game with good rules and no heat or the permanent threat that somebody might approach you and show you the red flag and keep you from playing on? After all, the Golden Times of good gambling seem to come to an end slowly. Covid has done its job and helped the casinos to tighten up its strategy to speed up raking in the cash and make every casino visit less enjoyable for us patrons. I am surprised that even the idea to eliminate the buffets from the casinos is in fact a given decision. Hard to imagine how these casinos managers plan to fill the floors with thousands of slots with customers that can’t even go to dinner when they are hungry. Do they really believe that they can eliminate the buffets and replace these eateries with some other restaurants or perhaps a super size foodcourt? This ain’t the same and it will probably not work out. I take it the Southpoint buffet has long waiting lines until other casinos understand that the buffets belong to the culture of these mega casinos. If they don’t , the patrons will vote accordingly….
From Switzerland
Boris
We are taping a second show with him tomorrow (7/5) so there is still time to send questions to [email protected].
Junior, you got off topic during the question, “Cheating and theft by employees.” We wanted to hear about cheating and theft by casino employees. Not cheating by the player bending aces in Ultimate Texas Hold’em so he can cut to them. What a way to flip the question around and put it back on the players. Typical casino stiff!
I have a question Junior. Do casinos fear dealers colluding with players in table games worse than Covid-19?
100% on point, B! That UTH story sounded sketchy, but he’s probably been using it as a talking point for years.