{"id":108636,"date":"2019-03-05T09:58:14","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T17:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?p=108636"},"modified":"2019-03-05T09:58:14","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T17:58:14","slug":"twenty-third-annual-blackjack-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/twenty-third-annual-blackjack-ball\/","title":{"rendered":"The Twenty-Third Annual Blackjack Ball"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Blackjack Ball is an annual institution where about 100 of the world\u2019s best gamblers meet up, socialize, drink too much, and compete against each other. The 2019 version occurred a few weeks ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first order of business after two hours of drinking and socializing was to vote for the newest member of the Blackjack Hall of Fame. Six worthy candidates were nominated, and each professional player got one vote — with Hall of Fame members votes counting triple.<\/span><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s winner was Rob Reitzen. This is the way Rob was listed on the ballot.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are few, if any, players that have won more money in the history of Blackjack than Rob Reitzen. From simple card counting to shuffle tracking\/sequencing to bottom steering to advanced computer play, Rob has beaten games in more innovative ways than most professional blackjack players even know to exist.<\/span><\/p>\n

The founding partner of CORE, which went on to become the largest and most profitable player-<\/span>banking operation in history, Rob was featured in an Esquire Magazine article in which the<\/span>reporter followed him and watched him beat Caesars Palace in Las Vegas out of more than\u00a0$500,000 while using a sequencing technique he dubbed \u201cThe Hammer\u201d on a single weekend!<\/span><\/p>\n

Rob\u2019s acceptance speech was somewhat lengthy. Host Max Rubin quipped afterwards that Rob must have thought he had a chance to win so he wrote \u201cWar and Peace\u201d to read just in case.<\/span><\/p>\n

The highlight of the ball is the test of 21 Questions. The five top scores get invited into the skills contest. Of these five, one player is eliminated quickly. <\/span><\/p>\n

There were three people there who were ineligible to play: James Grosjean, Richard Munchkin, and myself — albeit it for different reasons. James and Richard have each won three times and have been determined to be \u201ctoo good.\u201d The first-place winner gets the Grosjean trophy, and the second-place winner gets the Munchkin cup.<\/span><\/p>\n

The winner also gets an engraved Nebuchadnezzar (15 liters) of Luc Belaire Champagne, donated by Hall of Fame member Don Johnson who is an ambassador for that company. <\/span><\/p>\n

I got included on this list for an entirely different reason as my blackjack career was short and uneventful. Although I did get to the final table at the Blackjack Ball once, I blew out immediately and didn\u2019t end up in the money. <\/span><\/p>\n

My contribution is that I submit a LOT of test questions. I submitted about 30 questions this year and they actually used seven or eight of my questions, depending on how you count. Since host Max Rubin has been a bit under the weather, he doesn\u2019t have the time and energy to create as many questions as he used to and he\u2019s grateful to me for supplying some. And, since taking a test where I had submitted a third of the questions would hardly be fair to the others, I\u2019m not eligible to play. That\u2019s cool. I get a kick out of composing questions that stump some of the smartest gamblers in the world — while other such gamblers get the questions correct. <\/span><\/p>\n

Before the competition, we have a Calcutta auction. Host Max Rubin is a very charming auctioneer. He groups each of the 100 or so contestants into about 20 categories and we bid on who is going to win. Max teases, cajoles, insults, and praises various people in the audience in order to get them to bid. About $20,000 is raised and this goes to whomever owns the players who end up in the top four positions. Each player is allowed to buy up to 50% of himself back after the Calcutta and before the test is given.<\/span><\/p>\n

The test is difficult — and questions can be about anything and everything. Some of the more interesting ones were:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. You are betting $100 on the pass line and place maximum odds at the Bellagio where 3-4-5 odds are allowed. On winning bets, what is the typical payout for the combination of pass line bet plus the odds? \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Answer: $700 — $100 for the pass line and $600 for the odds<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Donald Trump is the 45<\/span>th<\/span> American president. Express the number forty-five in roman numerals. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Answer: \u00a0XLV — this is not trivial. Many will say VL, which is incorrect<\/span><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

        \n
      1. In a National Basketball Association game, with 0.2 seconds left, the ball is out-of-bounds in possession of the team trailing by 2 points. The inbounding player throws the ball directly at the basket — and the ball would indeed have gone in except one of the inbounder\u2019s teammates gently touches the ball when it is directly above the basket, 12 inches from going in. The teammate guides the ball into the basket. What happens?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

         <\/p>\n

          \n
        1. The inbounding team scores three points and wins the game<\/span><\/li>\n
        2. The inbounding team scores two points and sends the game into overtime<\/span><\/li>\n
        3. The inbounding team is guilty of offensive goal-tending, which causes them to lose possession and the game<\/span><\/li>\n
        4. 0.2 seconds is not enough time for any of this to happen, so time runs out before any points are scored or there\u2019s a change in possession<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

           <\/p>\n

          (Answer b: offensive goal-tending only occurs when the shot originated within the field of play. Since this \u201cshot\u201d originated from out-of-bounds, offensive goal tending could not happen. <\/span><\/p>\n

          Although the play originally began beyond the 3-point-line, the fact that the ball was touched directly above the basket turns this into a 2-point play.<\/span><\/p>\n

          The clock doesn\u2019t start until the ball is touched by a player within the field of play — which in this case happened when the ball was one foot above the basket headed downward. 0.2 seconds is plenty of time for the basket to be made before the clock runs out.)<\/span><\/p>\n

          Those questions were three of the ones submitted by me, so naturally I think they are some of the most interesting. Here is one submitted by James Grosjean.<\/span><\/p>\n

            \n
          1. \u00a0 Playing six deck blackjack where the dealer stands on soft 17, which of the following starting positions has the highest EV. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
              \n
            1. You have a hard 20 against a dealer ace before he checks for blackjack.<\/span><\/li>\n
            2. You have an 11 versus a dealer 5<\/span><\/li>\n
            3. You have a pair of aces against a dealer 4.<\/span><\/li>\n
            4. You have a ten and a nine against a dealer 8<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              (Answer: \u00a0the exact numbers were given at the Ball, but the correct answer is a.) <\/span><\/p>\n

              One of the professional players only got four out of 21 questions correct. He was invited forward to receive a small \u201cWorld\u2019s Worst Blackjack Player.\u201d The teasing was good natured, but he definitely got razzed.<\/span><\/p>\n

              The player with the most correct, 14, was Andy Bloch, former member of the MIT blackjack team and also an accomplished poker professional. Two players got 13 correct: Gemlo and Big Player. Since they want to be identified by their pseudonyms, I won\u2019t identify them any further.<\/span><\/p>\n

              Coming in at 12 correct were four players: Arnold Snyder, John Brahms, Tony S, and attorney Bob Nersesian. Since only five players advance to the final game, we had to eliminate two of these four players. The way this was done was each of these four people had to name a casino that was formerly in Clark County but is here no more. Giving an incorrect answer, or a duplicate, eliminated you. There were probably fifty casinos named (e.g. Stardust, Riviera, Dunes, Landmark, Las Vegas Club, etc., etc. and finally Arnold Snyder and John Brahms gave incorrect answers and were eliminated.<\/span><\/p>\n

              On to the skills competition, which is held at a blackjack table. There was a stack of cards in the discard tray. Each of the five contestants needed to estimate the number of cards there. Worst guesser was eliminated — which happened to be Big Player. We were then down to four players.<\/span><\/p>\n

              Next test was a card-cutting competition. The 6\u2663 was placed at the bottom of the deck. Each player got to cut the cards. Munchkin then burned a card and dealt any number of hands that player named (from 1 to 7), with the object being to place the 6\u2663 face down in the dealer\u2019s hand, e.g. as the dealer\u2019s hole card.<\/span><\/p>\n

              The players all chose to deal six hands. Unfortunately, Andy Bloch cut the card four spaces away and was eliminated.<\/span><\/p>\n

              The third test was very unusual and was designed by James Grosjean. JG cut approximately one-inch squares out of the center of all twelve picture cards. Players had 90 seconds to figure out the rank and suits of each of the squares. Positive points were awarded for being accurate. Negative scores were awarded for inaccuracy. The mean score was negative! Gemlo did the worst and was eliminated.<\/span><\/p>\n

              It was now down to Tony S and Bob Nersesian and the contest was counting down a double deck. Richard Munchkin, who was running the final contest, removed three cards from each of the two deck stacks. The players had to determine what those cards were, using any card counting system they wanted.<\/span><\/p>\n

              Unfortunately, Bob Nersesian has never counted cards, whereas Tony S was a highly skilled professional for a number of years. Bob\u2019s only chance was a wild guess. As soon as the clock started, he should have slammed his cards down and predicted his three cards would have a count of zero in HiLo. \u00a0He would win if there were three neutral cards, or one high, one low, and one neutral. He had a reasonable chance for success, whereas if he actually tried to count the double deck, he had basically no chance. There are actually better counts to use if you\u2019re just going to guess, but Bob wouldn\u2019t know about this.<\/span><\/p>\n

              Bob chose the wrong way to go about it. He tried to count the cards and ended up almost a minute behind Tony. Tony was accurate in his count, of course, and it was over. Although it didn\u2019t matter, we asked Bob what he thought the count was in his deck. He said +6, which is an impossible number with only three cards using HiLo. Bob is a hell of an attorney but has never counted cards.<\/span><\/p>\n

              Congratulations to all our winners. We hope to have Rob Reitzen, Tony S, and Max Rubin on our podcast soon celebrating the twenty-third Blackjack Ball.<\/span><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              The Blackjack Ball is an annual institution where about 100 of the world\u2019s best gamblers meet up, socialize, drink too much, and compete against each other. The 2019 version occurred a few weeks ago. The first order of business after two hours of drinking and socializing was to vote for the newest member of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[29,2],"tags":[54,282,428],"yoast_head":"\nThe Twenty-Third Annual Blackjack Ball<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Blackjack Ball is an annual institution where about 100 of the world\u2019s best gamblers meet up, socialize, drink too much, and compete against each other.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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