A Vegas Card Counter Fears His Days Are Numbered

A 24-year-old Canadian who goes by the name of Quattro makes his living in unusual fashion: He's a card counter who visits casinos in Vegas and elsewhere playing blackjack. Or at least playing until a suspicious dealer or pit boss gives him the boot, which happens quite a bit. Quattro documents his visits on a YouTube channel, and he offers a first-person look at his job via an essay at Slate. Some highlights:

• "Card counting at blackjack is more straightforward than you might think," he writes. "You don't need to be a Rain Man–esque super-genius to pull it off." It involves tracking how many smaller cards, 2s through 6s, are dealt, which can give a player incrementally better odds as play progresses. Quattro says he messed up a lot early in his career, but now it's "second nature."

• His advice to newbies is to not look obvious at the table—yuk it up with fellow players and the dealer. But card counters eventually have a telltale giveaway: They make huge increases in their bet sizes. The trick is to stay undetected until that's possible.
• Alas, Quattro says "continuous shuffling machines" might eventually put him out of work. A CSM "randomizes all of the cards as they're being dealt," which effectively makes counting impossible, and more casinos around the world are adopting them. Still, "I intend to hold onto my edge over the house until they take it from me for good." (Read the full essay.)