In card counting, the cat-and-mouse game works both ways. Take the following example of casino infiltration into a card-counting school outside of Atlantic City.

Rich Tesler is the casino manager at Foxwoods, the world's largest casino. A casino floorman at the time, Rich and a colleague named Bob were dispatched to a local school to learn what they could about a new blackjack system. The four-week course cost $400 per person and consisted of two weeks of school study followed by two weeks of training in local casinos.

Bob arrived first in flashy garb, followed later by Rich dressed in a T-shirt and khaki pants. Their money was accepted. Soon the time came for all prospective students to introduce themselves. Bob volunteered that he was a professional player who preferred playing in the Bahamas, and was there to explore recent developments in blackjack. Rich was one of the last to speak, "I'm a carpenter who goes to Atlantic City once a week. I'm not a card counter, and I'm tired of getting my brains bashed in."

A short time later, Bob was invited into a back room and sent packing with his $400. His giveaway was the preference for Bahamian blackjack; no pro would try to buck this inferior game. The instructor, now on his guard, asked, "Are there any other new students?"
His wife replied, "The only new starter is Rich, but he's okay." How did she know? She'd noticed that Rich's money was wet. Rich had taken the time to pass his bills under running water before coming to class, reasoning that, "If I worked outside all day, then the bills in my pocket ought to be damp." It worked; Rich was allowed to stay.

able the pit personel will be having you play their game. Internally though, you must maintain a coldly logical approach.

Unfortunately, losses do occur-even while counting. Just as you aren't sure to lose every session while playing a negative-expectation game like roulette, you aren't sure to will every session of blackjack, despite your positive expectation. We can cite countless examples of isolated incidents in which the results seem to defy all reason.

One expert player tells of an occasion on which he bought in for 20 units. On the next 20 hands, he lost 19 outright and split once-losing one of the split hands and pushing the other. Ouch! All the while an elderly lady at the table stood on all hard 14s, 15s, and 16s and was winning. Short-run fluctuations are inevitable; you simply can't read too much into the results from any particular session.