It's 1995 and a 39-year-old mastermind stands in . the courthouse Gallery three of his friends are in the dock opposite them is a casino boss and his . lawyer it's a fight the casinos have dominated for decades nobody thinks they can be beat it was , a high-profile case all of the world's casinos were watching because potentially there were . millions of dollars at stake case number eight however this young nerd has been planning this , moment for years and he wants Justice did they really beat the casinos in court it's a true story that changed the course of history but to understand how it happened we must start from , the beginning 15 years earlier the year is 1978 and in New Jersey a bright youngster is in his . senior year he's got little interest in further education well not of the academic kind anyway you . see he's a Rebel Without a Cause in his spare time he's been indulging in what is at the time a taboo , hobby gambling is frowned upon by many and banned in many states Across America for this reason only his closest friend Neil is aware between playing pool and hanging out at the local bar they've . been betting on casino games in private so when he's in a bookstore one day looking for study . resources a different kind of book stands out with bold yellow letters and Black backing it's . hard to ignore playing Blackjack is a business this fellow Lawrence Revere he simplified the , game intrigued he buys a copy to show Neil it's a moment that will change Casino history forever , because what follows is profound after reading it cover to cover the book claims the reader armed . with two simple strategies can turn the casino game of blackjack into a sustainable business it's , exactly what he wants to hear now the probability of winning at Blackjack changes depending on which cards remain in the deck so in essence past hands affect future play if low cards are removed High cards remain and therefore the player has a better chance of winning the first technique in the book , highights what's known as basic strategy now it's not perfect but with the rules and combinations , set out on one simple card it helps our man Tommy to understand how he could increase his chances , of winning the second strategy is derived from the first by a guy called Ed Thorp it's called card counting now neither of these strategies guarantee Tommy a win in the short term however , they do guarantee him a foolproof way of tracking his cards potential whilst playing it's a massive Advantage because when he has a good hand he can drastically increas his bets similarly when he's , got a bad hand he can then bet the minimum it's all based on math so as a nerd fanatical about . gambling he loves it almost instantly he's completely and utterly obsessed as a result he gathers everything and anything related to basic strategy encountered a Neil follow suit as poor , students living on a shoe string it presents the financial relief that they crave so badly not , only is this about big money it's a chance to escape the status quo they'll be their own bosses . choosing when and where they work and so they're all in within a month of practice they think . they're ready to hit the house a newly open Casino in Atlantic City is their target by tracking the , cards in play both Tommy and Neil work together on their first visit they've memorized the values , assigned to each card High cards are minus one whilst low cards are plus one mid-range cards . are zero armed with just $100 each the duo queue outside waiting for the casino to open their Ed . is small but nervously after a few rounds of play they begin to Edge ahead it's a real grind . and mistakes are made but working together consistently Whispering back and forth they . play until closing time albeit for small money it's a roaring success by the end of summer break . they've turned their $200 investment into a $2,000 profit that's equal to more than $9,000 today the , following 3 months they double their money again and by the end of their first year they've banked a call $25,000 Tommy Highland is found his calling and now he's dropped College all together but , there is a problem the casinos don't like losing and now they're responding to card counters in the . most aggressive manner they brand card counters as cheats and in some instances there are stories of . players being assaulted in the casino's back room by security staff we'll be sharing some of them on the channel in future so please remember to subscribe however unbeknown to Tommy the storm . is brewing that will change everything he knows and believes in and if you have your bets going . up and down just as quickly as the advantage is going up and down you are going to stick out but , Tommy Highland doesn't care he's too busy thinking about how he can scale up this operation he wants , to make more a lot more and as he sees it there's only one way to do it by recruiting a team of . players who can systematically beat the casino for millions and millions of dollars each year he's , thinking well ahead of his time with 20 players operating in different casinos at the same time . it will work in their favor mathematically too you see by playing as many hands as possible as quick as possible with Stakes coming out of one massive betting pole variance and risk will be drastically , reduced and thanks to the casinos he's already got the massive Bank rle he just needs the team but where and how will he create this team players need to be smart reliable and trustworthy being a . kid in the 1980s he can only think of one place to look back home Tommy hits up one of his oldest and , most trusted friends Chris without people he can trust it will never work he explains everything to , Chris from how counting Works to where he got all this money from the proposition is simple learn to , play as part of the team use the bankroll provided and report your winnings honestly profits will be . shared out periodically it's a great proposition with little risk and maximum upside so Chris , accepts a couple of months later Tommy rents a small house just outside of Atlantic City inside ,

his group of Misfits start to form it's one of the world's first Blackjack Mastermind groups only the most enthusiastic hit card count as attend with a 1.5% Advantage they're going to flip the . casino's game on his head at scale now one or two of the team members are anxious the casinos aren't going to like this and some of them have publicly said it's cheating some casinos do in fact think of the card counter as the a criminal a bad guy this is a statement that frustrates Tommy how can , it be cheating their advantage works just like the casinos but they don't call that cheating . plus who are they to take an ethical position they groom addict fill players with drinks and , incentivize them to lose every dollar they have the Injustice of their claims only motivate him . to hit them even harder it's his will against theirs as a casino we're a privileged private business and we don't have to allow customers to play if we choose not to accept their play the casino is starting to increase surveillance and intimidate patrons more and more it works like this a casino manager sits at the top of the pyramid below him there are shift managers , over seeing the Pit Bosses in charge of their own individual pits reporting back to them of . floor managers working alongside surveillance staff watching the cameras at the bottom You've , Got Each game's individual dealer if just one of them should identify Tommy or his team members , playing with an advantage they'll be ejected from the casino not to mention the potential physical consequences Savvy dealers are starting to shuffle up more regularly too quickly Tommy realizes this , Golden Era for card counters isn't going to last forever so the defiant nerd respond responds by doubling down on team training tucked away in their secret house they spend hours counting under , immense pressure he's not willing to take a risk if a team member can't count down a deck in less , than 30 seconds or count without staring at the cards they're not good enough Casino dealers will , spot them a mof it's a ruthless environment where only the best will last and eventually they're , ready for the real thing the only question is how much money will they actually make the team is . charged up and ready to take on the casinos Tommy has bankr their initial attack for $25,000 but , he won't be playing Tommy will enter the casino and watch the newly formed team from a distance . because for him at least this isn't about some short-term profit it's about scaling up the only way he can really hurt the casino on the leadup to Thanksgiving that year the team hit the casino . for a trial run Richard their lead player is playing a perfect game he's accurately tracking the count and staking accordingly but there's a problem he's hemorrhaging money it's an extremely . unlucky situation a bad run of short-term luck is putting him on edge and now according to the strategy it's time to increase his wages with shaky hands he tries to compose himself in what feels like a crazy move he doubles his Stakes the dealer busts frustration flips to illation he's . gone from several thousand loss to a net profit for the first time and it doesn't stop there , by the end of the first evening the team have successfully banked more than $116,000 adjusted . for inflation that's $61,000 in today's money back at the house Tommy eagly runs the numbers if . they continue at a similar rate they'll be making more than $100,000 per week before the month is out quickly a schedule is formulated they'll play for an 8 Hour window each day with concentration , breaks planned in advance later into the evening they'll regroup and refine their processes before , a few drinks to celebrate then they'll have a solid 10hour window to sleep to ensure they're fresh for when the casino opens again and it works like a dream for months although unknown to . them their play is Raising eyebrows Cino staff is starting to pay more and more attention especially , when they're losing $400,000 a month and unlike Tommy and his friends they have no intention of , playing Fair One Night in 1982 Tommy's identified by Casino security it leads to an explosive bust , up in front of other players it's a battle that he can't win eventually he's thrown out and B for life after all of his hard work he's fuming as he sees it he's done nothing wrong he's been , playing well within the casino's roles this new reality presents him at a distinct Crossroads quit while he's ahead or fight back even harder the Injustice is overwhelming and the rebel within will only allow one thing option two the following year A New Jersey Court reaches a decision in a similar case as long as a player is conducting themselves in a reasonable way the casinos have no right to ban a a player for skilled play the casinos however have a different opinion if we . can identify them we have no doubt that they're card counters and if we have the um the the power to borrow him I think you should borrow him immediately he sees it as an open invite . he returns to the casino once more but this time his strategy is to get thrown out he figures that by getting thrown out repeatedly and having it documented officially he has an opportunity to . get some justice if they don't let him play he'll take them to court the way he sees it there's . only one outcome here there's no way a judge would declare card counting as illegal and so . the casino throws him out naturally he responds by following the relevant legal paperwork full of bullish anticipation he arrives at the courthouse only to find the judge has looked through the day's cases and stated that he won't be heing any card counting cases failure once more but . Tommy is having none of it so he files a lawsuit in the superior court of New Jersey the claim , wrongful arrest but again it doesn't get as far as Court the casino's legal team offers him an out . ofc Court settlement for $110,000 a significant sum suddenly he and the team have a new strategy to make easy money that year they file around 10 different civil cases in the Superior Court each

and every time a case never reaches trial it's later reported that the casinos were paying . up to $115,000 for each settlement now this is great money more than he's willing to ignore . but Tommy is Never Satisfied in pursuit of with even bigger money and bigger waves he regroups the team 2534 mil away Tommy's team touches down in Las Vegas they're going to hit Sin City hard . and fast with a $200,000 pot to play with they can play big and ensure there's minimal risk multiple . players playing multiple hands means less variance in results within one month they're already over , $100,000 in profit in 2 months they're at $200,000 beat in Vegas is harder than Atlantic City but . Highland's team is on fire at this rate they can only fly under the radar for so long Tommy is . the first to get found out and it doesn't end well treated like a common cheat he's dragged into , the back room they take his photo beat him up and roll him down a set of stairs out the back of . the casino in Vegas they've started to collect the photos of anyone they consider a threat the photos are kept in an active catalog created by Griffin investigations once you're in it the only way out . is through death it's a massive problem because Vegas casinos pay Griffin for access to this book , so effectively being in it means Tommy is banned from every Casino in town he and the team are left with no option but to wear disguises and keep a low profile all the time Vegas surveillance is growing and with violent episodes it's becoming too risky once more it's time to lay low Target , smaller casinos reorganize and come up with a new creative way to seriously hurt the Big Boys by , the fall of 1990 Tommy's atted a newly improved plan knowing that the casinos identify a team through their betting patterns they've come up with an ingenious way to deceive dealers and , security the team's grown considerably too now they have two female players on their side in a male-dominated environment where women are rarely suspected of Advantage play it's a smart move the new approach works like this team members will sit at the table but they will now be accompanied by one of the women posing as their partner whilst Tommy's team member is keeping track of the running count their partner will be using a different technique known as Ace tracking past . experiences taught them that casinos identify card counters through their betting patterns so by , adding an additional element to their strategy it mixes up the betting patterns and enhances their , bottom line when the women want to identify an advantage within a fluctuating deck they'll nudge the counter around the table if it's an extreme Advantage they'll do it twice it's two strategies rolled into one and it leaves the casinos confused for three whole years they beat the casinos in multiple locations with this strategy and come 1994 more and more casinos are opening up but as we know these opportunities rarely last forever something is about to go horribly wrong over the years the team have come to learn a new casino is a ripe opportunity for management is Tough , Enough on launch week card counters are low on their priority list for this reason Tomy and his friends deliberately Target them and in Ontario a new casino is about to open its doors for the first time when it does they enter sitting at a brand new blackjack table they ramp up the stakes . they've done this thousands of times now Richard receives a double nudge to his right knee maximum . Stakes they're raking it in and then it happens he looks to his left hey Richard I think we're all . done at this table now aren't we his blood runs cold the man has a familiar face the new casino . has hired one of Vegas's most experienced floor managers They Know Each Other Well worse still , he's been watching those nudges under the table an hour later Richard and several others are in . jail they stand accused of illegally cheating the casino with the bail set at $220,000 back in Vegas Tommy receives the news how many times can this happen with his friends on the line and an opportunity to make a point a very public Point there's only one option he tells Richard over the phone we'll see this in court and when the day in court comes it's a very public Affair more public . than even they had anticipated the casinos want card counting to be officially branded as cheating they call experts to the stand one after another my take as an expert witness on the thing was . to say that yes they were indeed card counting Shuffle tracking Ace locating here's how they did , it the judge says in awe after all what's wrong with that next the casino Pit Boss in charge , on that night they were arrested is called forward in front of everyone he's asked multiple , questions questions about if players are allowed to make signals to each other and interact at the , table questions about how players are allowed to engage with the game they're allowed to keep track . of the cards that are being played right the judge asks there's only one answer yes that's all very . normal the verdict is crystal clear no crime has been committed card counting is not illegal and . these people never should have been arrested in the first place they were just playing cards for , the first time an official standard has been set although as ever casinos around the world respond with their own foul play the industry they changed the rules rules that made the games much less attractive they introduce multiple decks frequent shuffling apply table limits and rotate dealers to , make counting incredibly hard as a business they are allowed to choose who they do business with so additionally they increase digital surveillance and use technology to track counters quicker . than ever before and then they refuse them a chance to play they choose to play The Players , not the game as for Tommy Highland and his team is believed that they never gave up even with . a declining Edge one of them was prose uted in 2013 for failing to declare all of their winnings . thanks for watching please remember to subscribe.

The Nerd Who Beat Vegas Casinos And Sued Them