MJ1 said:
This makes me rather despondent to say the least. Nice to see somebody tell it like it is rather than try and blow smoke up my a$$.
Face it guys, as Jeff Ma wrote in his essay at the end of BDTH, the Golden Era of card counting came to an end when him and his crew stopped playing in 2000. There is a reason why the MIT Teams no longer play the game or train new crews to attack the tables. Contemporary conditions make the game not worth the effort...the profitability just isn't what it used to be. Ask any of the former MIT players...they will tell you.
Back then, nearly all the 6D games in Vegas were S17, DA2, DAS, LS, RSA...ahh the good ole' days.
The Golden Age of BJ ended for the MIT teams around 2000 for several reason - and it wasn't rule related. There best players were becoming well known, their strategy - despite how smooth and well practiced it was - had been recognised and casinos were starting to pay far greater attention than they had in the past to their blackjack playing asian high rollers.
These factors all meant that the teams could no longer play at the stakes that they were used to playing at. Without the high bets, you lose the high profits. Counting is a small edge game - difficult to get away with big bets at a small advantage when they know how to detect counting and immediately run down someone betting $10k/hand (and a lot less). Without big profits it's not looking as worthwhile and certainly not a much of a draw for high flying students that had other avenues to make big money.
If big money's what you want to make, finding a stronger edge and using a lower bet size can still get the money without drawing the immediate heat.
But I'm just guessing - if you really want to know why JM felt the Golden Age of BJ was over in 2000 ask one of his associates. We've had one of the MIT players openly state their presence on the board in the last couple of month. Ask him.
Personally i don't really think there have ever been that many people making serious money solo counting. There are a few, but if you're going to count professionally, you're going to spend enough time at the tables to find other opportunites that will likely be more lucrative. I consider counting more of a gateway drug than a class A.
RJT.