Blackjack Card-Counting Christians...Please!!

I didn't go to church to find this but did pray that it isn't so!

Bryan Storkel’s Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians focuses on the Church Team, an organized crew of predominantly Christian blackjack card counters. Ben Crawford and Colin Jones’s crew are bankrolled by independent investors, and they head out into the casinos to turn a profit through their card counting skills.

As the documentary unfolds, we get a good luck at the ups-and-downs of card counting, as the crew faces streaks of both good and bad endeavors. At the same time, casinos aware of these “advantage” players are ever-vigilant, “backing off” players from the blackjack table, and sometimes the casinos; if the casino refuses to allow them to play, their card counting skills become far less effective. And considering the card counting technique can require hours spent at a table losing before the deck turns and the player can start winning, a proper “back off” can out-cheat the cheaters.

Additionally, just because the crew is known as the Church Team, and many share the same Christian beliefs, the same problems that occur in any group, and any group involved with the pursuit of cash, rears their ugly heads. Are all the players doing the work correctly? Is anyone stealing from the group? Do personalities gel?

If you’re looking for a documentary about a bunch of devout Christians who entirely justify their card counting behavior via their religion, you’re going to be disappointed. While the Christian aspect is an important one (it is in the title after all), this is more about a group of card counters who just so happen to be Christian too. Substitute the “Christians” in the title with “golfers” or “spelunkers” (or other types of people) and you’ll get an idea of what I mean; it’s a common trait of this particular crew, but it is not the defining characteristic of this film. This isn’t a case of a bunch of Christians seeking card counters, but card counters who realized that they share the same faith, so why not group together?

And you’re probably not going to watch this and suddenly understand card counting and go out and make thousands upon thousands of dollars. While it makes the technique somewhat more understandable (and takes it out of the realm of otherworldly and superhuman to something you can learn if you dedicate time and money to it), you’re going to need to do much more outside research and practice. Plus, after seeing how much goes into it, is it really worth it at all?

Between the casinos backing off players to the sheer amount of time and money flow required to make a huge payoff, it’s like cheating… as a job. I mean, as far as get rich quick schemes go, card counting is more like a longtime study group that may or may not pay off huge dividends. Given enough time, and the right moves, sure, you run a probable chance of coming out on top… but everything has to be done just right. Meanwhile, if it even looks like you might have an advantage, all it takes is a casino employee with a hunch that you may be a card counter to disrupt your dreams.

Holy Rollers looks slick for a documentary, and despite utilizing the talking heads-style approach, it does so with an eye for interesting composition; Ben’s interview segments are set up primarily with him sitting at a table covered with children’s toys while he smokes a cigar, for example. The editing flows well, and the film remains entertaining throughout, even when the crew hits its rough patches.

While there are definitely informative aspects to this film, Holy Rollers is mainly the journey of the Church Team, warts and all. It’s an entertaining film that presents everything as upfront and objective as one can, and while some of the more dramatic aspects of the story beg for a bit more information or investigation, you can understand if those involved didn’t want to directly address certain things. So an ambiguity remains, but that works with the film because the entire affair is questionable; is cheating, regardless of the justification, or where the money eventually ends up, the most Christian of activities? You could argue in circles if you wanted to, and the best part of this documentary is its ability to keep things that open, without turning into propaganda for the Church Team.

My take: Jesus Christ! The count was "plus heaven!"

Barry Greenstein Talks About Cheating In CardPlayer Interview!

In an interview with Cardplayer Magazine, noted poker pro Barry Greenstein talks about cheating.

Interview:

Despite successfully surviving into day two of the 2008 World Series of Poker main event, Barry Greenstein has been nursing a short stack since the day's official "shuffle up and deal" announcement. However, Greenstein's long career of tournament experience is bound to weigh heavily in his favor when evaluating his chances of navigating his way through short-stack play.

Card Player caught up with Greenstein during the dinner break of day 2A to discuss his strategy for avoiding elimination.

Alex Porter: Last time we talked your circumstances were quite different. It was during event No. 39, $1,500 no limit hold'em, and you were among the chip leaders. During our conversation you gave me a sort of Greenstein primer to large stack tournament approach. At this point of the main event, your situation is almost the complete opposite. How does Barry Greenstein play a short stack?

Barry Greenstein: Well, I've been staying out of the way. I've had 10 times the big blind basically the entire day, which is short-stacked. Everyone at my table currently has 100,000 or more. I'm actually at my high point for the day, 22,000, so I've luckily gotten up to 20 times the big blind. It's still not breathing room because if anyone raises in I'm still in a move-in-or-fold mode. I don't have to open for all my chips if I am the initial raiser.

I'm trying not to play pots where there's no fold equity. I just made a questionable fold in the big blind with ace-queen. There were two strong European players to my right. One raised and the other reraised. They both had a lot of chips, so I gave them credit and laid down ace-queen. Instead of playing that pot, I raised on the button when no one else came into the pot and I also raised one to the right of the button.

So mostly what I've done the whole day is pick up the blinds when I'm in late position. I've just survived. I haven't really had many good hands. I got lucky the one time where I was all in with an ace-seven against a king-jack. By staying out of people's way, I haven't been able to play hands like small pairs, mid-range suited connectors, and suited aces in early position. I consider those drawing hands. I'm hoping to get ace-kings, ace-queens, and big pairs, but I've only gotten a couple of those the whole day.

AP: I did notice that there were occasions when you still open for a standard raise despite your short stack where a lot of inexperienced players may have elected to shove it all it. What were your thought processes with that play?

BG: I'm not sure if you noticed, but it's been a function of how much I have in front of me. When I'm 10-times the big blind or less, that's usually the barometer I use. I have been putting in my whole stack, but the times I've only been making a normal raise are because I've had a little more than that. I've been fortunate to have pretty passive players to my left the whole day who have let me get away with picking up their blinds. That's allowed me to survive.

AP: I did notice a span of three consecutive hands where you raised a standard amount and received a call from a player in a blind who check-folded to a single bet of yours on the flop.

BG: I've just been lucky in those situations. A couple of times I was unlucky earlier, and that was how I got short. This last time I was lucky that I raised in and they called and blanked on the flop. Frankly I didn't have much of anything either, but betting will give you a shot to win the pot if nobody hits anything.

AP: Right now you're seated at a table in the edge of the Amazon Room's green section, making you right up against the rail. I've noticed that several of the pros sometimes consider the crowds they attract to be a distraction. Do you agree?

BG: The spectators don't bother me because frankly they're always nice to me. However, one of the problems as I've gotten older is the way I have to hold my cards to see them. I'm nearsighted, so I can see them up close. So people on the rail can often see my cards. Although I've never had any reason to suspect anyone of cheating or anything like that, if I have a flush draw and hit it someone behind me might raise their hands and cheer! Most of the people on the rail are actually rooting for me because spectators tend to root for the players they know.

AP: But so far no messy situations?

BG: No. It's not like there's ever been anyone on the rail who has been mean to me. They're always friendly. It's more that generally you want to be the only one seeing your cards. I have no reason to suspect that anything's ever happened against me.

There is one exception that could easily happen. There are other players at the table and I'm sure they often have their friends watching. If they have one of their friends behind me I don't anticipate that they're going to cheat, but maybe at the break they'll say, "Barry had such-and-such a hand." It might help them out where they would otherwise not know what I was doing.

AP: Like the ace-queen fold you mentioned earlier.

BG: Yeah, exactly. Someone might see that and then say, "Hey, you can push him around still. He's not going to commit his chips unless he really has the goods." With the stack I have, I'm generally not going to be a caller. I'm going to be the one with the lead either moving in or as the initial raiser.

June Scam Of The Month Is Posted!

The scam of the month for June is Card Swapping at brick and mortar poker tables. This is a devious scam pulled off by two cheating partners at the poker table who leave no cards unswapped! To read it, go to my Scam of the Month page.

Casino Money Laundering Rampant in Canadian Casinos!

According to the Peace Arch News, criminals and cheats are using Canada´s casinos to wash their ill-gotten gains. Money laundering is nothing new to casinos, especially in Las Vegas and Macau, but this is the first time I´m hearing of major money-laundering operations going on in Canada.

VICTORIA – The provincial and federal governments are checking into reports that B.C. casinos are being used to launder large amounts of money by people posing as high-rolling gamblers.

CBC News reported last week that its reporters were able to go into casinos, feed thousands of dollars in cash into slot machines, then exchange the credits for a casino cheque after little or no actual gambling.

Provincial and federal laws require that suspicious transactions be reported to provincial gaming enforcement officials and the federal agency responsible for policing financial transactions. Documents released under freedom of information legislation showed that suspicious incidents were reported by casino staff, but many of those did not end up being reported to Ottawa as the law requires.

In question period at the B.C. legislature Thursday, NDP critics grilled Public Safety Minister John van Dongen on the issue. Delta North MLA Guy Gentner asked why Ontario casinos reported suspicious transactions totalling more than $15 million in 2006, while B.C. reports the same year totalled only $60,000.

In the legislature and speaking to reporters outside, van Dongen would only say he has asked for a meeting with the B.C. Lottery Corp. board, and spoken to federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day about verifying the lottery corporation’s responsibilities under federal law.

He promised to take appropriate action and report to the legislature on his findings.

“The fact of the matter is there are very extensive reporting requirements on casino facilities,” van Dongen said.

“These reports go to the (B.C.) Gaming Policy Enforcement Branch, they review the reports, they work with enforcement agencies.”

Branch records show that in B.C. there were 48 money laundering investigations in 2004-05, 43 in 2005-06 and 51 in 2006-07. Only one case led to a criminal charge during that time.

The Gaming Policy Enforcement Branch deals with many more reports of crime related to casinos, including more than 1,000 cases a year of suspected counterfeit.

In 2006-07 the branch dealt with 570 complaints of theft, 193 of fraud, 118 of loan sharking, 344 of assault or threats and 43 complaints of cheating at gambling games.

NDP attorney-general critic Leonard Krog said the money laundering problem is similar to last year’s report by B.C. Ombudsman Kim Carter about inadequate controls on potential lottery ticket fraud by retailers.