BLACKJACK INACCURACIES IN THE MOVIE 21
Let’s Set the Record Straight
By Henry Tamburin
If you’ve seen the new movie “21,” raise your hand. I thought so ... many of you have, since the movie has been a big draw at the box office. But even if you haven’t, you might find my comments on some of the awful blackjack blunders that appeared in the movie enlightening.
As you can gather, I finally got around to seeing the movie,
and I took a lot of notes. The movie is about the adventures of an MIT
blackjack card-counting team that won millions of dollars in
I don’t intend to make this a movie review. Instead, I’m going to focus on some of the blackjack blunders that showed up in the movie. Be forewarned: my list is long.
“Splitting eights
against tens and Aces is for suckers.”
That’s what one MIT team member said to another. You’ve got to be kidding me! Someone should have given the movie writers a book on blackjack before they wrote the script, because splitting a pair of eights against a dealer’s ten and Ace is NOT a sucker play. On the contrary, it’s the CORRECT play. Here’s why in a nutshell. If you hit 16 against the 10, you will lose $54 per $100 wagered, but only $48 if you split. Either way, 16 against a 10 is a losing hand, but you’ll save $6 when you split. Sure, sometimes you’re going to lose both split hands against the dealer’s ten (and Ace), and then second guess yourself for splitting. But get over it, because at the end of the day, you’ll have six bucks more in your pocket. The numbers for splitting against an Ace are less compelling, but still favor splitting. Shame shame on the movie gurus for mentioning an incorrect playing strategy to millions of
moviegoers.
“The object of blackjack is to get as close to 21 as possible without going over.”
Listen up, Hollywood: The objective of blackjack is to beat the dealer by either, 1) having the total of your hand exceed the dealer’s total without going over 21, or 2) having a total of 21 or less when the dealer busts. That is the objective of this game.
The movie depicts
card counters as geniuses.
We are told that the major character, Ben Campbell, has a 1590 SAT score (impressive), and one scene, where he works part-time in a men’s clothing store, shows him rapidly calculating the total amount of merchandise purchased by a customer in his head, almost as fast as a calculator (very impressive). Give me a break. Now it’s your turn to listen up, dear readers, because I’m going to say this only once: You do NOT have to be a genius to become a card counter. Anyone with average intelligence, and the desire to become an advantage player, can learn card counting. This is not rocket science, so please don’t be brainwashed into thinking you have to be a math whiz to become a card counter, because it’s simply not true.
The card counter is brought to a boiler room and beaten up.
I’ll agree that in the old days, some card counters were detained and roughed up by casinos. But nowadays, card counters don’t get beaten up. Why? Because the courts have ruled in favor of card counters when casinos have abused the rights of players. For example, advantage player James Grosjean recently received about a half million dollars from a Las Vegas casino for being falsely accused of cheating (for more details, read Joe Pane’s article, “What The Las Vegas Casinos Don’t Want You to Know,” in the May issue of the Blackjack Insider newsletter at www.bjinsider.com/100).
The spotter signals the big player to the table when the running count is very positive, uses a code-word to signal what the running count is to the BP (Big Player), and then stays and plays with the BP to alert him when the count goes south to leave.
Nope, that’s NOT how team play works. Once a spotter (whose job is to keep the count and bet small) signals a BP to the table, and tells him using a code-word what the running count is, he will either, 1) continue to play and signal the running count to the BP so he can act oblivious to what’s going on while he bets big, or 2) the spotter signals the running count to the BP and then leaves. There is no reason for the spotter to stay and play along with a BP, as shown in the movie, when the BP can keep the running count himself. In addition, by staying and playing, the spotter will be consuming some of the valuable cards that the big-betting BP wants to get. They screwed up this key playing strategy big-time in the movie.
The MIT Team seemed
to be winning all the time.
That’s not how card counting really works. Card counters win about half the time, but the total amount that they win in their winning sessions exceeds the total amount that they lose in their losing sessions. Counters do NOT win every session, or even every trip. In fact, sometimes they lose weeks on end, because their edge is small. In the short run anything can happen, but in the long run counters will get the money.
The MIT Team walks
into the casino together.
No, I don’t think so. Blackjack card counting team members do not want to give the appearance that they know one another. The last thing any card counting team would do is to walk into, or out of a casino, together.
The counters were
tipping like crazy.
Card counters rarely tip. The reason is because their edge is very small, and if they tip a lot, it would wipe out their advantage. I’m not saying they never tip, but certainly not as much, or as frequently, as shown in the movie.
There’s more on my list but I’ve run out of space. Here’s a quick rundown of the other bloopers that I saw in the movie: the rather short period of practice time for the BP (it actually takes many months); facial recognition myth that this technology will doom card counters (not so); allowing casino security to escort you to a “back room” for questioning (assuming you are not cheating, and card counting is not cheating, you can refuse to go); two BPs playing at the same table (this is a no-no); BP getting the high sign to join a table only on super high counts (not so); spotters always using the same code-word (they often change code-words); the exaggerated amount won by the team and the BP; giving strippers thousands in winning casino chips to cash out (are you kidding me?); portraying card counters as a greedy bunch with no scruples (I took offense to this); and lastly, although not blackjack related, showing the Bellagio Fountains from a hotel room at the Hard Rock (this is quite impossible, since the Hard Rock is physically located blocks away from the Bellagio Fountains).
Maybe I shouldn’t be so harsh because, after all, this was a