How to Develop a Perfect Memory (23 page)

'taken care of by the manager. He had spotted a punter with potential.

Managers do this from time to time, to encourage you to gamble even more money.

I returned to my blackjack table, whereupon I not only recouped my losses but ended up showing a profit of £500. I tried to share my delight with the manager, celebrating my change of fortune and thanking him for the delicious dinner. The look on his face signalled the beginning of the end of a beautiful friendship. After two more similar visits, I was barred.

It is hard to describe the thrill of placing heavy bets in a casino, especially a glamorous one, knowing that you have a clear advantage over the bank. But there were downsides to my chosen career. It's exhausting having to look over your shoulder all the time, waiting for the manager's discreet words in your ear, 'Mr O'Brien, could you come with me please.' (It wasn't always that polite.)

After a while, I was no longer satisfied with my earnings. It was small

reward for a dangerous, itinerant lifestyle. I yearned for more and more profit and was soon taking home £1,000 per day. It was then that I became a marked man.

Word travels fast in the casino world. Scores of letters began to drop

through the letter box, terminating my membership of casinos nationwide.

'Dear Mr O'Brien,' read one from a club in Luton, 'it has been decided at an extraordinary meeting of the Election Committee that your membership be

withdrawn with immediate effect. This means that you will no longer be

allowed to visit the club either as a member or as a guest.'

Many people think it is unfair to bar a player who merely beats a casino at its own game, particularly when there is nothing more than mental skill

involved. I was doing nothing illegal. But I can understand the casino's point of view: they are in the business of making money, so why should they tolerate someone who reduces their profit margins? Besides, if I am barred, it is my own fault for making myself conspicuous in the first place.

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

I was convinced that I was being barred because of my betting strategy. Most of the time, I would stake the minimum permitted amount (usually £5). When I calculated a clear advantage, however, I would raise it to £25, £50, or £100.

Increasing it by a factor of twenty inevitably attracted the attention of the casino inspectors, but it was the only way I could capitalize on the odds. Or so I thought.

Back at the drawing board, I read all the best books on the game and managed to acquire a print-out from Las Vegas listing thousands of possible hands and what to do in each situation. Using a computer, I proved and disproved every existing theory I could lay my hands on. This time, however, I was able to deal millions of hands in a matter of hours, thanks to the computer.

I finally arrived at an optimum strategy for winning, which I plan to publish in its entirety in a separate book. It requires a trained memory, a cool nerve, and simple mental arithmetic.

I will, however, disclose a few details now, to give you an idea of how it works. It's one of life's little ironies that I am no longer able to use it myself, although I did test it out recently on a lucrative tour of France's casinos (where my face was unfamiliar), but more of that later.

THE MOMENT OF TRUTH

As I said earlier, the card-counter's skill is to predict which cards are left in the shoe. People do this in a variety of ways, some more subtle than others. My approach, a variation on existing methods, is to assign a very specific value to each card as it is dealt. A high card has a minus value, and a low card has a plus value. (They range from approximately -2 to+ 2.)

As the shoe progresses, I keep a running total of the overall value, which I divide by a figure (anything between 1 and 8) reflecting the number of cards still to be dealt. This gives me what is known as a 'true count'.

In blackjack, you are required to place your bet before the cards have been dealt. If, after the previous hand, the true count is greater than +.75, I will increase my bet for the next hand: the laws of probability tell me that the concentration of high cards still in the shoe has increased. If the true count drops below +.75, I know that there is a greater concentration of low cards still to be dealt. High cards, remember, give me an advantage. Low cards give the dealer an advantage.

Let me explain a little more about the number that I use to divide the overall value of the cards. In Britain, one shoe of cards consists of four decks. The dealer will place a blank card somewhere near the end of the shoe. This is known as the 'cut', and it is where the dealing stops. Card-counters prefer the cut to be as close to the natural end of the shoe as possible, for reasons that will become apparent.

At the beginning of the shoe, I divide the overall value by 8. Let's assume the game has just started and only five cards have been dealt. They are all low cards and the overall value is +6. It would be foolish to conclude from a mere five cards that a high card is likely to follow, which is why I divide the value by so much. The true count then becomes +.75 (8 divided by 6) and I don't increase my bet.

As the number of cards left in the shoe decreases, I divide by 7, then by 6, then by 5, and so on. In other words, the true count is calculated in proportion to the amount of cards remaining. (In France, where casinos play with six decks, I initially divide the pack by 12.)

Unless the croupier is inexperienced, you are unlikely to find yourself dividing by 1. The cut usually comes first. For the sake of example, though, let's assume that it is a very good cut and there are only a few cards left in the shoe.

A lot of low cards have been dealt, so many, in fact, that the overall value is

+12.

I would divide this figure by 1, still leaving me with a true count of +12 (an advantageous situation to be in). This means that there is a high concentration of court cards left in the few remaining cards still to be dealt. I increase my bet accordingly.

Using such a finely calibrated 'true count' allows me to adopt a more

inconspicuous betting strategy. All I need now is a good disguise.

TRACKING

My strategy incorporates many other technical features, most of which will not mean much to the uninitiated. 'Ace tracking', 'count tracking,' and 'sequence tracking', for example, can all be mastered with a trained memory.

Sometimes an inexperienced croupier won't shuffle a shoe thoroughly.

Imagine the advantage you would suddenly have if you had memorized

sequences of cards from the previous shoe (a technique you learnt in Chapter 16 when you memorized one deck of cards).

UNORTHODOX CALLS

There are times when knowledge of the true count can lead to some very

unusual calls. For example, let's suppose that my first two cards add up to 12, 13, 14, 15, or 16. The dealer's card, which is always face up, is a 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. I know that the true count is -6; in other words, there are a lot of low cards left in the shoe. It's not a good situation for me, and the dealer is likely to win.

Most players would stick.

Knowing that I am likely to be dealt a low card, however, I break with

tradition and ask for more cards. Supposing the dealer has a 6 and I am on 13.

I ask for another card, 5 say, and then stick on 18. The dealer takes a card, 6, and another, 5, making 17. I have won. If I had stayed on 13, however, the dealer would have drawn a 5, then a 6, making 17. I have lost.

It doesn't always work like this, of course, but it's a way of making the best of a bad situation. Whenever I make strange calls, it always amuses me to hear the accusatory comments and criticisms from other players at the table. 'You're obviously knew to this game, aren't you?' or 'Take my advice, if you want to win, never make a call like that.' Some people get quite upset and start claiming that my unorthodox calls are the cause of their ill-fortune.

STRATEGY NOT SYSTEM

I don't consider myself a gambler. I play to a strategy not a system. Over the last few years, the face of the compulsive gambler has become an all too familiar sight. I see them with their own 'winning' systems, some of which work for a while, but they never make money in the long term. That is why casinos love them - they are a bread-and-butter source of income. The strategy player is the complete antithesis. I may lose occasionally, but the underlying trend is always upwards.

The only chance I have had to demonstrate my revised strategy was in the Autumn of 1992, when
GQ
magazine arranged for me to play the casinos of northern France. The four-day trip was based on the assumption that I was an unknown quantity in France.

I played at seven casinos and won in six of them. Using my new strategy, I was able to bet more subtly, gradually increasing and decreasing my stake. In five memorable hours at the Grand Casino in Dieppe, I made £1,200, much to the annoyance of the management, who were beside themselves. Once again, they were kind enough to pay for my meal, after which I cashed in my chips and headed for the casino at Deauville.

It all ended dramatically in Enghien les Bains, a casino in the northern suburbs of Paris. It was my last day of the trip and I had turned my original float of £4,000 into £6,000. I had been playing for only twenty minutes, when the manager tapped me on the shoulder and uttered those immortal words. 'Mr

O'Brien? We must ask you to leave immediately.' It was not my method of play that betrayed me. They had calculated from my geographical movements that I was professional player. Why would someone staying at a hotel in Deauville travel to Paris to play blackjack?

THE ROLE OF MEMORY

It is not very easy to adopt my strategy without a trained memory. On a simple level, your overall concentration and powers of observation are so much

sharper if you have worked on improving your memory. They need to be: I am often sitting at the table for five or six hours without a break. And in today's casinos, you are being scrutinized from every possible angle. I have quite often found myself playing with three security cameras trained on my table, a

croupier watching my every move and an inspector looking over my shoulder!

Most card-counters are easy to spot. They give themselves away by covering their mouths with their hands, trying to conceal lip movements as they frantically struggle to keep count of the cards. They scan the cards with conspicuous head and eye movements, and their play is characterized by long pauses between cards.

I have trained my memory, concentration and observation to the point

where I can keep pace with the fastest of dealers, hold a conversation with the inspector and make spontaneous calculations at the same time. I once over-heard a croupier in Dieppe observe to a passing inspector
'Il est trop machine'.

This was an apt description, as I was working robotically.

Memory also plays a vital role when I have to refer back to a mental reference grid that I have compiled. Using location, I can access the print-out from Las Vegas, the books I have read, and my own statistical findings. It is a vast data base, equipping me for every possible hand.

For example, let's assume my first two cards total 12. I immediately refer to a location based around the Peacock Theatre in Woking. (12 = AB. My own

person for AB is Alan Bennett, the actor and playwright). The dealer's card is a 2, which tells me to locate the second stage along the journey: the box office. I have a mental image of bars across the ticket window and the man inside

wearing handcuffs, as if he was in a prison. Handcuffs gives me a coded true count of +3.

I now know not to draw any more cards if the true count equals or exceeds this level. They are likely to be high, and I could go bust. All guess-work has been completely eliminated from my game. I know there is an optimum

decision for every situation, enabling me to act like a robot rather than a gambler.

Next time you visit a casino, look at the man playing blackjack on his own.

Look closer still. It might be me!

25

HOW TO BEAT

QUIZ MACHINES

Soon after I had memorized 7,500
Trivial Pursuit
questions, it occured to me that there must be a way of learning the questions on quiz machines found in pubs and clubs. If there was, anyone with a trained memory could make

themselves some pocket money.

I looked into the subject and discovered a small group of professional players who tour the country, earning serious amounts of cash. One person, who leaves the initials F.E.Y. on machines, has recently bought a £75,000 house with his earnings. Did he have an exceptional memory?

I decided to meet some of these people to compare notes. Their itinerant lifestyle, moving discreetly from pub to pub, had many similarities with my life as a blackjack card-counter. And we had all spent time committing a large number of trivial questions and answers to memory.

I was encouraged by what I heard. Although the financial rewards aren't as great as blackjack, there is a good living to be had for anyone who has the time and dedication. With a little research, a small investment, and a trained memory, I reckon it is possible to make £200 cash a day, tax-free, after a few weeks. Needless to say, there is
nothing
illegal about playing quiz machines professionally.

SKILL WITH PRIZES

Quiz machines are known in the trade as SWPS, which stands for 'Skill with Prizes'. Fruit machines are known as AWPS, 'Amusement with Prizes'. Under the current gaming laws, you are allowed to win a maximum of £6 in tokens (£4.80 cash) on an AWP. On an SWP, you can win up to £20 in cash, hence

their attraction for professional players.

I have looked into the grey area of 'winning systems' for fruit machines. As far as I can tell, the only advantage to be had is knowing when a machine has recently paid out and satisfied its legal requirements. You can do this by checking the jackpot and bank displays. The recent celebrated case of two teenagers making their fortune on fruit machines owed more to an electronic, highly illegal device for notching up credits without putting in any money.