- Can casinos really throw you out
just for being a card counter?
If you end up learning card counting,
are you just gonna end up chained
in the basement of a casino getting pistol whipped
by security officers?
In this video, I'm gonna share everything you need to know
about backoffs as a card counter.
(gentle music)
Maybe you've "21" the movie, or "Rain Man",
or even my backoff video here on YouTube
and I'm sure you have some questions,
not the least of which is, is counting even legal?
Yes, card counting is perfectly legal.
We card counters are simply using our brains
to play blackjack to the best of our abilities.
Fortunately for us, using our brains is perfectly legal
and that's all that we're doing as card counters.
So then the next question is, well, what the heck,
casinos can just throw people out for using their brains,
isn't that illegal?
The reality is that a casino is a private business
and so they can refuse service to whoever they want as long
as they aren't violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
That means that privately owned businesses are not allowed
to discriminate based on race, color, religion,
or national origin,
but you know the sign, no shirt, no shoes, no service?
That's because the grocery store can refuse service
if you don't wear a shirt or you don't wear shoes
'cause it doesn't have anything
to do with the Civil Rights Act.
Casinos operate in that same way
where they say you're using your brain,
you're not welcome here.
So for those who don't know me, I've been a card counter
for a long time, over 15 years.
I've won over $600,000.
I've run teams and our teams have won close to $4 million
and I've trained multiple six
and even seven figure card counters
through Blackjack Apprenticeship
to beat casinos at card counting.
We're not doing anything illegal and casinos are allowed
to tell us they don't want us playing there.
So that's what we do.
It's the cat and mouse game of being a card counter.
We go into a casino, we play the game they offer,
we play to the best of our abilities,
we play in a way that we have the advantage
and when they say, hey, we don't want winners here,
you need to move on, we move on to the next casino.
In my experience, it doesn't do you any good
to argue about it or to tell them they're wrong
or to say, how do you know I'm a card counter?
They can say, we don't want you here
just because they don't like the clothes you're wearing
or they don't like the way that you play,
and you're not gonna do anything to convince them otherwise.
Well, then what exactly does a backoff look like?
There are generally three tiers of backoffs,
and I'm gonna explain to you each of them.
The first kind of backoff looks something like this.
Mr. Jones, your game's too good for us,
you're welcome to play any other games in the casino,
but no more blackjack.
And you can say, what do you mean?
And they say, you're just too good,
we don't want to book your action here
or something along those lines.
And it's pretty cordial, simple enough,
you move on to the next casino.
The second tier of backoff looks something like this.
You're done here, you need to cash out and leave.
And that's a little bit more intimidating.
They're saying they don't want you playing any games
in the casino, they want you out of here
and the reality is they can ask you to leave.
They can ask you to cash out and leave and you do,
you cash out and you leave.
They have to cash you out, they can't confiscate your chips.
They might say something like we need to see your ID,
in which case you could say, no, I just wanna leave,
come back cash out later or whatever, but it's not that bad.
Then there's the third kind of backoff,
it's the most harsh, though still I take it
with a grain of salt, it's happened to me dozens of times,
and that's called the Trespass Act
where they read something like this,
we're informing you that we have a right to arrest you
for trespassing if you come back on our property.
And they say, if you come back,
we can arrest you for trespassing.
A lot of card counters take it with a grain of salt.
When I get read the Trespass Act, I respect it,
I don't go back to that casino,
but they're really just trying to intimidate you
and make you feel scared.
And remember, you're not doing anything wrong
as a card counter, you're simply using your brain
to play the game well.
You're saying I don't wanna be a sucker
like all the gamblers, I want to play with the advantage.
And if they wanna try to make you feel like a bad guy
for that, that's on them.
I don't feel like a bad guy, I feel like a superhero.
Being trespassed is the least common of these.
Again, I take it with a huge grain of salt.
They're just trying to intimidate you
because casinos don't want winners,
they only want losers at the casino.
At that point, I respect it, I move on,
I don't go back to that casino
because clearly they don't want a winner there.
All right, let's talk about what you should do
if you get backed off from a casino.
The first thing I would say is, don't argue with them,
it's not gonna help.
Probably their emotions are high in that moment
because they have to kick someone out of the casino
and someone told them they have to do it
and they don't wanna do it
and they feel like they're the righteous one
and you're the bad guy,
don't do anything to escalate it.
I like to do something that diffuses the situation
and say, oh, I'm sorry, was I doing anything wrong?
What are they gonna say?
They know that I wasn't doing anything wrong,
I was using my brain to play blackjack well.
And usually that deescalates the situation
and they say, well, you're just too good for us,
you know what you were doing and whatever, move on.
I always like to think that they're more scared
of me than I am scared of them
and I don't wanna pick a fight,
I just wanna use my brain to make money,
if they don't want me to do that, that's great,
that's their prerogative, I'll move on to the next casino,
but don't escalate the situation.
The final thing I would say is when you get backed off,
take it as validation that your playing well,
if your game is on point,
if you're a perfect card counter
and be careful 'cause there are bad card counters
that still get backed off from casinos
'cause casinos aren't that smart.
They can't tell the difference between a good
and a bad card counter,
but if you are a good card counter and you get backed off,
just say, hey, my skills were validated,
there are a lot of other casinos.
It sucks when you lose a casino close to home
that you like playing at, that you can generate EV at,
but that's the game.
You wanna play a winning game?
Casinos don't want winners.
So you just gotta take it, roll with the punches
and move onto the next casino.
If someone claims that they have this secret way
that they've beat and have never been backed off,
don't trust them.
All of us successful card counters have experienced backoffs
as well as other forms of advantage play.
You might last longer,
but you're gonna get backed off eventually
and don't let it scare you.
We're there to take the casino's money,
it's their job to try to stop us,
don't let backoffs intimidate you.
I've been backed off nearly 100 times,
but in that process, I've won over $600,000.
My teams have experienced hundreds and hundreds of backoffs
between all the players.
In that process,
we took casinos for millions and millions of dollars,
and it's worth getting asked to leave some casinos.
If you can take their money along the way,
move on to the next place, take their money,
if they don't want your action, move on to the next place.
That's how we beat casinos for large amounts of money.
If you wanna learn more about how we beat casinos
with cards counting, you can subscribe below.
And if you wanna find out
why I actually think it's a good thing
that casinos have a right to back us off,
you can watch that video and find out what I have to say.