Putting the fun
back in to Blackjack!

Technically Cheating

I’m not what you’d call a tech-savvy individual. I’m hopeless with new gadgets and I still watch films on my old VHS player. My knowledge of computers is limited and while I have a laptop, I only use it for work and the occasional game of online blackjack. Like many people my age, if something goes wrong with anything electrical, I politely ask my teenage children to fix it.

So, I didn’t quite understand the ramifications of this blackjack story. According to reports, players can now use their iPhone or iTouch to card count during a blackjack game. Blackjack gamers with these devices can download a particular program which allows them to keep track of the running order. My teenage daughter has an iPhone and under her watchful guidance, I downloaded the game. Having dealt out a blackjack game in my study, I was interested to see how this new program would hold up when compared to my own card counting skills.

I quickly began to see how these devices could be used to swing a blackjack game. While human brains (mine included) can sometimes miscalculate, this new tool didn’t miss a beat. I simply pressed one of two buttons depending on the deal .The program did the sums accordingly. The phone even vibrated once the deal reached a true count of 6.0.

This program is an affront to the blackjack players who have taken the time and effort to learn how to card count. Being able to count cards is a technique used by millions of blackjack players. Men and women have spent large proportions of their adult lives researching this field. Using this program not only cheapens the skill of professional card counters but also brings the game of blackjack into disrepute.

If alpo players want to become better blackjack players they should invest their own time and money into their game. While casinos have not yet reported a case of these tools being used to card count in blackjack, surely it can only be a matter of time before someone is stupid enough to use this technique during a game. Indeed, the iPhone application also has a ‘stealth mode’; enabling players to input the count without having to turn their phone screen on. Theoretically, someone could be card counting electronically on the seat next to you. We shall all have to wait and see what the consequences of this might be.