Eliot Jacobson Ph.D.

For about 8 years, I lived the life of an undisciplined low limit card counter.  I had all the usual issues that keep guys like me from the big time. I struggled to make the large wagers when the count was high. I played too long. I chatted with management, drawing attention to myself. I didn’t hide my skills by using cover plays.

The opportunity to see a hole-card is one of the most advantageous situations an AP can find. Because blackjack is so abundant, it is usually the first game that is considered when an AP scouts a casino. In blackjack, the edge can get over 10% by hole-carding. But that's a small edge by comparison with the edge obtainable by seeing the hole-card in some proprietary games.

In June of 2005, I was busy playing Three Card Poker in a downtown Las Vegas casino as a member of a “team.” By no means were we a serious group of APs.  Our team consisted of a friend who traveled with two others from Florida for

I often receive E-mail from readers asking me to explain the mathematics that I present in the posts in this blog. This material can be very challenging for someone with little background in probability theory or statistics. With that in mind, I wrote a small booklet on gaming mathematics. If you want to better understand the material presented here, I offer you:

One of the largest leaps a young advantage player (AP) makes early in his career is the realization that ordinary blackjack card counting is an essentially worthless pursuit.  Seeing his first hole-card opens a panorama of potential income never before considered.

I am hesitant to address a company by name, but I have something very good to say about Galaxy Gaming, so I doubt they will mind. Back in August, 2003, when I published my article on Lucky Ladies in the e-zine "Blackjack Insider" (see this post), I was still an advantage player.