{"id":122417,"date":"2022-02-15T09:34:34","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T17:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?page_id=122417"},"modified":"2024-01-25T11:55:37","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T19:55:37","slug":"system-smitty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/system-smitty\/","title":{"rendered":"System Smitty"},"content":{"rendered":"

System Smitty and the Blindfolded Monkeys<\/h2>\n

By Arnold Snyder<\/h5>\n

(From Blackjack Forum<\/em>, March 1987)
\n\u00a9 1987 Blackjack Forum<\/p>\n

Take the case of Benjamin F. \u201cSystem Smitty\u201d Smith. You may recall System Smitty\u2019s name from Ed Thorp\u2019s 1962 classic, Beat the Dealer<\/em>. According to Thorp, Smitty was a Las Vegas character he heard about in the late 1950\u2019s, who had personally devised a near perfect basic strategy for casino blackjack, years prior to the publication of any such strategy. Smitty had also devised a valid card counting system \u2014 his own variation of a \u201cten count\u201d \u2014 based on 100,000 self-dealt hands.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, Julian Braun, the IBM computer whiz who did the programming for the 1966 edition of Thorp\u2019s book, told me some stories about System Smitty, whom he’d known personally in the early 1960s.<\/p>\n

Smitty made his living as a professional gambler. But, although Ed Thorp credits Smitty for developing one of the first valid card counting systems, Smitty did not limit his play to the blackjack tables. He could often be found playing craps, roulette, or any other game that the casinos offered. His nickname came from the fact that he had systems for every game and every situation.<\/p>\n

Smitty\u2019s advice was sought out by many out-of-town high rollers who came to play with big money. Smitty charged them nothing for his services if they lost. If they won, he took a percentage of the win.<\/p>\n

Because Smitty used many traditional types of gambling systems \u2014 progression systems, parlay systems, cancellation systems, etc. \u2014 Smitty did win for his clients most of the time. In fact, on negative expectation games like craps and roulette, Smitty’s clients lost more money overall than they won, but Smitty would bet wildly toward the end of a client’s play if the desired win result had not yet been achieved, and he often pulled out a lucky win. It made no difference to Smitty whether his client lost a small amount or tapped out his entire trip bank, since Smitty only got paid when his client won.<\/p>\n

Traditional gambling systems like these may not have a long run advantage, but most of them have healthy short run positive expectations. This is why such systems have always appealed to gamblers. Smitty made lots of short-run money, and when one of those horrendous occasional losing situations occurred, where Smitty\u2019s client tapped out, Smitty didn\u2019t lose a cent. He simply failed to collect his percentage of the win.<\/p>\n

Smitty had lots of repeat customers and word-of-mouth advertising from satisfied clients, who always remembered the preponderance of wins. These customers, like Smitty himself, tended to forget the losing sessions, choosing to remember the more common winning sessions. The losses could be chalked up to extraordinarily \u201cbad\u201d cards, or \u201ccold\u201d dice, or the \u201cwrong\u201d system at the wrong time, or any other typical gambler\u2019s excuse. Smitty never lied to his clients, never cheated them or stole from them. He did his best to increase his clients’ bankrolls, since that was the only way he could get paid. He didn\u2019t want to work all weekend for nothing. Most of the time, he won.<\/p>\n

Smitty was not, while working for a client, a professional gambler. He usually didn\u2019t have a long run edge over the house. He was, in a sense, a system seller.<\/p>\n

This is not to say that Smitty didn’t believe in all of his systems. Often when one of his many clients left town after a big score, leaving Smitty with a handsome \u201cconsulting fee,\u201d Smitty would hit the tables again with one of his systems. Although he experienced many of those \u201cinfrequent\u201d wipe out sessions throughout his life, it never bothered him. There was always another client around the corner.<\/p>\n

A lot of players are tempted by \u201cshort-run\u201d systems. But unless, like Smitty, you\u2019re playing with other people\u2019s money, essentially making your percentage by \u201cselling\u201d these systems to tourists, you\u2019re going to be a long-run loser.  \u2660<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

System Smitty and the Blindfolded Monkeys By Arnold Snyder (From Blackjack Forum, March 1987) \u00a9 1987 Blackjack Forum Take the case of Benjamin F. \u201cSystem Smitty\u201d Smith. You may recall System Smitty\u2019s name from Ed Thorp\u2019s 1962 classic, Beat the Dealer. According to Thorp, Smitty was a Las Vegas character he heard about in the late 1950\u2019s, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nSystem Smitty - Gambling With An Edge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/system-smitty\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"System Smitty - Gambling With An Edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"System Smitty and the Blindfolded Monkeys By Arnold Snyder (From Blackjack Forum, March 1987) \u00a9 1987 Blackjack Forum Take the case of Benjamin F. \u201cSystem Smitty\u201d Smith. 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