Casino games history or how people have learnt to count cards Part5.

Heroes of our Time.

What is the present situation in the sphere of war between the counters and players? Are there people to follow nowadays? Fortunately, despite great changes in the game itself and in the counteraction of casinos-players, blackjack is till alive and very popular. Thanks once again to Edward Thorp.
Now we are living in Internet era. If Uston at his time was able to stand apart from the crowd only due to his self-spin off and publicity, now everyone can easily communicate with blackjack stars.

Peter Griffin – is a great mathematician, blackjack theory developer, now the deceased. No expert of black jack would utter a word without referring to Griffin. Arnold Snider is a prominent player, strategy developer, the author of many books. A man of an excellent soul with a perfect sense of humor, always contradictory. Stanford Wong as always a little reserved and a bit of introvert, but extremely scrupulous and always fighting against the casino. Don Schlesinger was able to explain the most intricate detail of blackjack in simple and clear language.

Internet abounds in many resources where you can meet the greatest world players and ask them any question you like. There are still so many questions left unsolved.

A lot of unique books were published; new systems and game techniques are being developed. Every day gambling forums answer and ask thousands of questions. The players are getting more educated, intelligent and well-prepared.  In spite of evident worsening of the rules, blackjack still can be won.

Casino is more and more paranoiac to “Advantageous” players. Attempts to worsen rules and terms of the game even to the prejudice of  their own reputation and profits, mass blacklists, efforts to legalize beneficial for them laws – all these are not only American. During half-century of the struggle, the casinos did not understand that they are cutting their own throat. The fact that you can win at blackjack attracts so much money. More than 1% of world players are hardly of any risk to casinos.  However aiming to save every single dollar, the casinos are spending millions of dollars on the most advanced computer technologies, programs for personality identification, computer databases, they are creating new devices for fighting the counters.  Moral ethical norms are often violated and the legal limits are abused.

Happy end.

What future holds for an ordinary counter? There are only two opposite opinions so far.

The gloomy one:

Technologies will kill the game. The casinos will develop some electronic dirty trick that will not allow a professional competent player gain an advantage. Blackjack will die away turning into another slot-machine. The casinos will poke on all the players, all the blacklists will be united into a common one and the game on advantage will cease to exist.

The optimistic one:

“What one person has built, the other can easily dismantle”. Blackjack just can’t get away from it!

First, the players will always continue to invent something new responding to the changes in the game. There is no such thing created by a person, that can’t be overdone by another person. Second, casinos finally should realize that major part of their profits is due to the theory that blackjack can be won. Transformation of this intellectual game into fighting with stupid slot-machine will deprive casinos of the money.

Personally I hope that human intellect will win. Let the war between the casinos and players continue for ever. Let both parties rack their brains how to beat each other. Let this struggle be vehement, but honest and respectful to the rival.
Intellect will always win.

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