Originally Posted by Half Smoke View Post
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In Stanford Wong's classic "Professional Blackjack" he claimed he could pick up a count on a nearby table by looking at the reflection on the mirrored ceilings that covered up the EITS.

I took a look when I was playing aggressively. I'm not claiming I did it or could do it but I could see how it could be done. I don't doubt that a person with greater skills than I had could do it or that he could do it.

I think he was trying to find a table on the first or 2nd round that showed a running count of maybe +5. Then he would move over to that table and see if in the next couple rounds more low cards came out.

And then if the TC was high enough to give him an advantage he "wonged" in.
Are you sure you read that in wongs book half smoke?

I have relayed a very similar story from my days back in Atlantic City. The old Sands had fairly low mirrored ceilings and it was rather easy to look up and see the cards from the table directly across the pit. The trick was to be reading the pips and paint rather than actual numbers.

Interestingly after I have recounted that experience there have been 2 other long time counters that shared that they also had done so at times at that same location. So it would not surprise me if Wong had done so, I just don't remember reading that.

He is the one that convinced me that picking up the count at ANY point had value.