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Thread: Casinos, poker, & blackjack card counting. My early years

  1. #1
    This is my blog posted on Druff's Poker Fraud Alert Forums last month about my blackjack card counting career

    In 1978-1980, I was a craps dealer in Reno, Lake Tahoe, and Las Vegas before getting a legit job at the USPS. Before becoming a dealer, I loved playing poker with my Greek-American friends once a week before turning 21. Also sneaked into casinos and played poker before coming of age. One time I drove 6 hours from a Sons of Pericles and Maids of Athena lake party (a Greek-American fraternity and sorority & Junior Order of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association or AHEPA) at Millerton Lake near Fresno to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

    With the poker experience provided by the weekly home game with my Greek-American friends, I was ready to compete against Vegas's poker players. Seven card stud was the game offered at Caesars Palace in 1975. One hand stood out and here is how it played out. I had pocket threes and connected one three from my open cards. When I received the last card down and dirty, it was a three! I had quads and a poker face that did not give a tell. I raised and re-raised and several hundred dollars were eventually in the pot. When I showed my cards, the Caesars players were amazed that I had four of a kind without showing emotion. That was my baptism to Nevada gambling.

    Frequently I played seven card stud at Sahara Tahoe leaving San Francisco by Greyhound bus at 6:30 pm after delivering groceries at Chicos Market on Nob Hill, my Saturday job. After work at 6:15 pm, I'd run down the hill from Leavenworth/Sacramento street to the bus terminal (at least a mile) at Seventh Street near Market Street, buy my ticket, and off to South Shore Lake Tahoe casinos.

    Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, five card Lowball was offered in California card rooms in those days. The Casino Royale in San Bruno on El Camino Real Blvd. is where I played. The casino collected its money on a time basis instead of collecting it out of the pots. The players were the dealers. The regulars were not fun to compete against, so I gave up playing poker until the '90s.

    My sister's boyfriend at the time (James Stratigos) gave me books on blackjack card counting by Stanley Roberts and Edward O. Thorp's "Beat The Dealer" (1966 2nd edition) in 1977. I wondered, why the get rich quick scheme for the masses? Being a sceptic, I observed these card counting systems while dealing blackjack at casinos in Nevada. A dealer friend of mine tried playing Thorp's Hi-Lo Count while I was dealing $1 blackjack at Harolds Club in Reno all-night long heads up (one on one). He lost $100, and we were both disappointed with the results. I also dealt to the "legendary" card counting king Ken Uston and cleaned him out along with hundreds of delusional card counters. With the hundreds of thousands of blackjack hands I dealt in casinos, I thought card counting was bunk and a scam.

    However in 1991, I created the JSTAT Count that used actual mathematics based on the perfect probability of blackjacks and the utilization of perfect insurance. I won a good amount of money as a single deck blackjack counter from 1991-1997. Reno and Lake Tahoe casinos were ATM's in those years. In 1997, I got cocky and played six deck games in Las Vegas and was barred from playing blackjack in Nevada. So I applied a hit and run strategy without giving my name to nosy pit bosses after receiving the bum's rush from Nevada's gambling casinos. That's what you get for betting with your head instead of over it.

    While working at the post office, I dreamed of writing a book about casinos and its games. The Internet came along and I was concerned about others stealing my material, so that was shelved. But if any blackjack expert wants to debate about the validity of my count, bring it on! I tried to share my card counting method on Internet message boards and YouTube, but was shouted down by "agents" of the casino industry! What are they scared of? I can prove that blackjack books by "recognized" experts were not accurate as promised. One day I hope my card counting method will make mainstream media and truth will prevail.

    JSTAT on casinos, poker, and blackjack/baccarat card counting without charge. Saying what needs to said at https://twitter.com/Casino_Examiner

  2. #2
    JSTAT: A few things that come to mind. I'm just talking. No offense meant. 1.) You don't get to take a bathroom break after 2 rounds in a double deck. 2.) You got thrown out of the entire state? Did the words Casino Tolerance ever cross your mind? Great system. Can't play it. 3.) You shuffled at +10. I would like to have seen how you increased your bet and played that round.


    With all due respect. It appears to me all you did in the video was bash HiLO. Where are you going with this? Can you reveal your count?

  3. #3
    There must be some angle for his worthless self promotion. Google the guy. Most of his claims about blackjack and baccarat have been proven to be false.

  4. #4
    Originally Posted by jbjb View Post
    There must be some angle for his worthless self promotion. Google the guy. Most of his claims about blackjack and baccarat have been proven to be false.
    Been there. Done that, jbjb. But always had unanswered questions in my mind. So I figure now is the time to ask.

  5. #5
    Originally Posted by Moses View Post
    JSTAT: A few things that come to mind. I'm just talking. No offense meant. 1.) You don't get to take a bathroom break after 2 rounds in a double deck. 2.) You got thrown out of the entire state? Did the words Casino Tolerance ever cross your mind? Great system. Can't play it. 3.) You shuffled at +10. I would like to have seen how you increased your bet and played that round.


    With all due respect. It appears to me all you did in the video was bash HiLO. Where are you going with this? Can you reveal your count?
    I was telling the viewers that an abundance of aces are good on plus JSTAT Counts and the shortage of them bring disaster. So why not have a bad bladder when aces are lacking?

    After I was put in SIN (Surveillance Information Network) in 1997, every surveillance room with them was aware of my blackjack card counting ability. Even in Reno after the Las Vegas banning, the casino manager dealt to me after tapping out the dealer to send a message.

    My single deck play was so good it fooled the pits in Reno and Lake Tahoe. Spreading $5-$100 and betting the minimum at 50% penetration did the trick for 6 years. Never feared "casino tolerance" since I was one of them. Vegas was different and didn't expect heat at 6 deck after winning only $4,000.00 at the New York-New York spreading $25-$300. The "blackjack experts" claimed this is a safe spread. Boy they were wrong! Again!!

    Had a meltdown when Julian Braun made an error in "Beat the Dealer" and felt the public needed to know that the Hi-Lo Count was flawed in my 2009 YouTube video. Been trolled on the Internet ever since. If I got truth on my side, who can be against me? Still want to debate Richard Munchkin, Anthony Curtis, Colin Jones of BJA, Norman Wattenberger, Eliot Jacobson, Don Schlesinger, and more. But as usual, CRICKETS!

    I wanted revenge for the blackjack banning, so why not go after their cash cow, baccarat? It took many years of hard work, study, and practice to defeat the casinos. I am now dominating EZ Baccarat's Dragon 7 side bet and winning a good amount of money. A $1000.00 Dragon 7 payout from a $25 bet is nice when the pit doesn't blink. At blackjack, at four figure payouts, it's DEFCON 1 for casino personnel.

    Here is the JSTAT Count with a side count of 8/9's for your blackjack and baccarat pleasure

    JSTAT on casinos, poker, and blackjack/baccarat card counting without charge. Saying what needs to said at https://twitter.com/Casino_Examiner

  6. #6
    I'd like to see you post the OP on blackjack specific AP sites and see what reaction it gets.

  7. #7
    Originally Posted by jbjb View Post
    I'd like to see you post the OP on blackjack specific AP sites and see what reaction it gets.
    Hmmm. Let's go with Endearing Young Charms for $2500 Alex



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