A Brief History of Blackjack Cheats.

As in the game of roulette, blackjack has always been a game that has been studied in order to find weaknesses to exploit in order to con casinos and other gamblers out of their money. Whereas card counting has never been considered cheating, using a computer or teams of people most certainly is.

The 1970's: A computer for counting cards.

In 1977, Ken Uston installed 5 hand held computerised devices in the shoes of his accomplices, and via a method of counting, won hundreds and thousands of dollars within the space of a couple of weeks until the point when one of the casinos ceased one of the shoes. The FBI concluded that the computer functioned by using public information and this, therefore, disqualified the accusation of cheating- because the information they were working from was in the public domain. Nevertheless, the Uston's team was blacklisted with 7 different casinos in Las Vegas.

Refusing to accept his place on the blacklist, given that nothing he did was illegal, he pursued a court case against these casinos for infringements on his civil liberties. His body was found in a Paris apartment in 1987, no reason was discovered for his untimely death...

The computer, that was affectionately called George, functioned by way of vibrations and pulses in the same fashion as the Morse code: the principle of card counting was simplistic, add or subtract a unit for each card drawn.

The 1990's: Team players imitating the MIT students.

Another method of cheating in blackjack is to play in a team, in the same fashion as the famous MIT students; the film ‘21' was based on their exploits. Click here for a link to the full story about the MIT students and how they managed to make thousands of dollars

The year 2008: Card counting from your iPhone.

And yes, the iPhone can be used for everything! An application, costing $299, was developed under the name ‘Blackjack Card Counter'. In particular, this software allows the person using it to follow the count of the deck by tapping on the touchscreen of the phone, on + or -, this software is definitely classified as cheating and being caught using it can land you a prison sentence. Nonetheless, certain individuals advance the idea that you can play in teams with another person who is acting as an accomplice.

The software has another positive advantage though, even if it is illegal to use it in a casino, the technology allows people to learn how to count cards and about the blackjack basic strategy.