It is awful. I only did it seriously when I was dirt-poor and broke living in PA/NYC, taking the bus down [free $20!] or carpooling with friends. I quit after a session where my last 6 hands were 20/21s and I won exactly zero of them.

I mean, once you can do it well you always at least sort of pay attention if you happen to be sitting at a table playing with friends, or tracking the Aces/5s or trying to cut an Ace to your seat.

But doing it professionally is more work than a real job with way more variance. I can't imagine doing it now where you double your bet and the pit boss comes over.

At the time there was no limit at Binions, and more than a few plied their trade there. From what I was told (first hand from 2 of my math professors + second hand) their forceful exists were frequently not pain free. Rumor has it 2 dealers who were teaming with players met their demise, not sure how many counters ended up that way. But by the mid-80s Binions was well-known to be off-limits to counters.

Benny Binion was twice convicted of murder and was rumored to be involved in others.

I understand a movie is to be made about Benny Binion, so I guess you can catch up with his life and decide if it is "fake".

to the degree that they were doing it to card counters in particular i would say it's definitely fake

The 'no-limit' was limited to the size of your first bet if you wanted more than the typical max of a high-roller table.

Thus preventing ultra-high card-counting action in the way you suggest. Higher limits doesn't mean you have idiotic risk procedures for everyone to take shots at. It just meant if you want to bet $777,777 on the pass line, they'd let you.

Back then all the games were pitch, and not a table limit sign anywhere.

Bets were limited at the discretion of pit managers.

On paper it was by far the most attractive place for counting. Yet, not many counters played there. I wonder why.

So, I walk up and bet $25k when the deck is rich, then continue the session that allows me to play from zero to $25k?

I guess that explains why MIT targeted Binions with high roller whales when mid entry was allowed.

I don’t doubt some people got roughed up before. But I seriously doubt anyone has ever been killed for card counting

Of course card counters never try to push their luck into more nefarious tactics that are borderline illegal.

do you have any primary source for any of this or are you just saying things you imagine to be true

I posted it above

i don't think an interview snip on high roller radio tv explains why "MIT targeted Binions with high roller whales when mid entry was allowed."

Yeah, wrong post.

Think of it this way:
1. How many counters were present in LV in the 70s and 80s?
2. How many were 86d?
3. How many were "dealt with"?
4. How many were dealt with more severely than others?

I have no first hand evidence of any card counters/APs getting killed, I already stated that.

You missed the point re MIT.

BetOnline/SportBetting.ag is currently down... think it's really a cyber attack, or should we fear the worst? Just don't remember this happening to them in the past...

"Valued customers, we are offline due to an aggressive cyber attack. We're taking every measure to resolve this issue and we will be fully operational again as soon as possible. We appreciate your continued patience and we look forward to restoring the products and services that you have enjoyed and trusted for more than 20 years."

old school off shore bettors remember when every site was DDOS'd every NFL sunday

it happens occasionally. wouldn't worry. someones probably trying to extort money from them and they have a shitty IT team

do you have any first hand evidence to back up any of those data points is what i'm asking

There is a movie with Kevin Spacey about this.

can you imagine how benny binion would deal with getting DDOS'd?

Nope, I doubt anybody does beyond WAGs.

Perhaps we can bring in Mason Malmouth into the discussion. He was active in Blackjack AP back in the day, he developed some advanced strategies which became popular in the BJ community, so I'm sure he knows more than a little about which casinos were marked for avoidance.

Mason certainly adds more substance to the conversation than I do. I only have my own experience and stories from 2 math profs.

so did ur mom

I didn't say anything about table limits posted nor about mid-shoe entry, you're basically Grandpa Simpson arguing with a cloud.

Mid-shoe entry was quite prevalent back then as Ken Uston wrote about in The Big Player in the late 70s and then Million Dollar Blackjack in 1981. Also known as 'Wonging in' after Stanford Wong.

i am friends with many of the old school pros and none of them have told stories that have anything to do with this. and they do have actual experience. also i have no idea what you're talking about with mason malmuth and advanced strategies.

it seems to me that you're just making wild assumptions and passing yourself off as some sort of expert on the matter.

Man Betonline still being closed on a high action Saturday this attack must have been really serious. Has Betonline experienced this before?

Guram -275 favorite mid 2nd after he connected in that 2nd round

I know you didn't, I did. You were most likely not aware there were no table limits posted there.

Yeah, we're not talking about shoes. Binion's almost exclusively dealt pitch games.

The important point about md-entry is that this supposed firewall with the "first bet limit" you seem to think prevented big players from making big scores is actually not an obstacle at all. I explained it to you as simply as possible. Even if mid-entry were not allowed whales could give up the $100 house edge for the first bet and rape the game after that.

I would not take it so hard, it appears you're "arguing" about something you seem to know nothing about.
And in other breaking news the sun rises from the east.