A blackjack player at El Cortez in Las Vegas used a betting system that raised stakes during winning streaks and minimized losses during cold runs. The casino's general manager called it unbeatable and banned him from playing blackjack, even though he wasn't counting cards.
There's a publication called BJ21.com. It gives you the odds of every blackjack table in North America. There's a casino in Vegas called the El Cortez. The house edge is 0.18%. Blackjack occasionally has streaks. You may win 6 or 7 or 8 hands in a row, or you may lose 6, 7, or 8 hands in a row. What I did in the betting was that usually when I was losing, it was always the minimum bet. And when I was winning, the bets were increasing. With the variance of that, what happened is I was able to overcome. Did they ever figure it out? What happened is I'm playing blackjack. The general manager, who was very friendly to me, comes and sits down next to me and tells the dealer, stop dealing. Then he tells me, Mr. Pabrai, you have a system that we cannot beat. So I said, you know, I'm not counting cards. We know you're not counting cards, and we know you'll beat us. You can come to this casino anytime you want, but you cannot sit down at a blackjack table.
