I communicate privately with Eliot on occasion. I think I can say with some certainty that he isn't going to come here and post. He really is retired and seems to be done with forums.

As Per 6:5 BJ, there was a guy, that went by Automatic Monkey that was on the blackjack forums when I started on them about 17 years ago. AM was a pretty smart guy. I don't believe card counting was his full time gig, but he did well for a long time. When 6:5 came to Atlantic City and no card counters would play, but he would. Just like you said, except on a smaller scale he would use a huge bet spread. The variance was huge, but if you are going to put in enough time, you don't have to be afraid of variance. And the big plus, was just as you said, casinos and casino personnel were so sure it couldn't be beaten that they just didn't care, even with a huge spread. AM played unmolested day after day for a number of years and kicked ass. I guess eventually someone got around to running a simulation and figured it out.

Casinos and casino personel are a funny group. They get something in their head and they stick to it without really even bothering to look into it. It works the other way too. Like I have seen casinos back off a card counter spreading 1-4 at an 8 deck game (average pen). The player isn't even playing a break even game, let alone a +EV game. But somebody gets it in their head that he is spreading 1-4 and a card counter and doesn't even bother to check and see if it is +EV.