Atlantic City Press News Story
September 2,1991
By MICHAEL PRITCHARD, Staff Writer
ATLANTIC CITY -- The minute David Morse walks into a casino, phones ring, security guards mobilize, floor people gather in little groups and dealers wish they never got out of bed.
Morse is a card counter, and for the casino floor employees, he is their worst nightmare.
Which only seems fair since Morse says the casinos have become his biggest nemesis.
"They have insulted me, accosted me and treated me like dirt," he said. "They'll do anything they can to disrupt me and keep me from playing."
"They cheat me and they cheat other gamblers. They all advertise 'Come to our casino and be a winner.' But if you know how to play and might actually win, they'll do anything to keep you out."
Morse is one of a number of skilled blackjack players in the city who play a constant cat-and-mouse game with casino personnel.
Morse moved to the city three years ago to make a living at blackjack. He maintains a modest condominium in a resort high-rise, where he lives with his fiancee.
When I first started, I really didn't know as much as I thought I did," Morse said. "I've learned a lot since then. I'm making a living. I can't say how much, but I expect to make a lot more."
Most of all, Morse said that he learned that casinos treat counters only slightly better than they would treat a roach in their kitchens.
Card counters claim casinos will do everything from simply refusing to serve them drinks to trumping up charges to throw them out.
For their part, casinos claim the counters are disruptive and often abrasive to dealers and other players, elevating the game from simple fun to serious business where the novice is in the way.
They argue they have every right to use whatever means at their disposal to discourage them from playing.
Keeping count
Counters ply their trade by keeping a running tab of the cards coming out of the card shoe.
When counters determine the decks are rich in 10-value cards and aces, the elements of a blackjack, counters increase their bets.
The state Supreme Court has ruled that casinos cannot bar counters, so casinos resort to other tactics to discourage them.
Though most of the tactics are not violations of the Casino Control Act, according to Richard Farnz, director of compliance for the Casino Control Commission, Morse and other counters say that the casinos not only hurt them, they hurt all players.
On a recent trip to three city casinos, Morse proved that he indeed is on the casino industry's undesirable list.
In several instances, Morse was verbally abused by casino floor people. In two of the three casinos a floor person was specifically assigned to follow Morse and his partner William Subin through the casino. Only one casino allowed Morse and Subin to play without a hassle.
The most dramatic reaction came when Morse and Subin entered the Sands Casino Hotel.
They were spotted by floor people almost immediately.
Admittedly, the two headed for a section of the casino where they knew floor people would recognize them
The mood of the casino changed quickly. Two floor people kept tabs on every move the counters made, even following them through the casino though Morse jumped frequently from table to table.
At one point a floor person openly yelled at Morse as he was placing the cut card, which usually tells the dealer when to shuffle, into the card shoe.
"Do it right or get the hell out of here," he said.
Morse has a habit of sawing the card into the deck instead of quickly placing it in.
The two had a slightly heated exchange until Morse placed the cut card into the deck to the floor person's satisfaction.
The floor person also yelled at Subin for attempting to play two hands at the table, a courtesy usually extended to players.
"I told you, you play one hand or none at all."
Even a bystander watching the exchange wasn't safe as the same floor person rudely told him he'd have to step back form the table if he wasn't going to place a bet.
After the bystander moved back 12 inches into the aisle, the floor person positioned himself to block the table from the bystander's view.
Jim Wise, a spokesman for the Sands, said Morse's visit was recorded int the casino's day-to-day logs.
"I'm not going to dispute whether anyone actually yelled at anyone," said Wise. "I would just say that many of our personnel are completely frustrated with dealing with the counters. They are the ones who get abusive. They are far from our regular customer. They sit there and threaten to sue and claim they are being cheated and that people will lose their jobs. It's not easy to just sit there and take it."
Wise said floor personnel may have asked the bystander to move from the table since counters often employ a third person using a mechanical device, such as a small computer, to assist in the counting. Such devices are illegal in casinos, Wise said.
Morse said such behavior is typical of all the casinos, but said the Sands is especially nasty.
"Did I do anything to provoke that treatment? I just sat down to play blackjack. I did nothing that gives them the right to treat me like that."
According to Farnz, the Casino Control Act has no rules against rudeness topatrons.
"If we were operating a store, the consequences would be that the customer wouldn't come back," said Wise. "If the price of all this is that counters don't come in, believe me, we can deal with it.
"What's important is that this is in no way how we treat our regular customers," he said. "We have people who win hundreds of thousands of dollars and never get treated like that. The counters largely bring it on themselves."
The shuffle
For Morse and other counters, the worst thing a casino can do is shuffle the cards.
Usually, the cut card is placed in the rear of the deck to signal when to reshuffle the cards.
But under casino rules, the house can shuffle the cards at its discretion, a move that delays the game and irritates others at the table, counters say.
"When they shuffle the deck quickly because they know the (cards) are getting advantageous to the players, they cheat everyone at the table," said Thomas Doughty, another card counter.
"They will actually put a floor person on the deck to count it with you. When it gets good they shuffle. They’re certainly aren’t going to shuffle a bad deck," Thomas said.
On a recent trip to the Claridge Casino Hotel, Morse and Subin ran head-on into the shuffling strategy.
Immediately after Subin sat down at a table and cashed in for $1,000, the deck was shuffled. Several other players became annoyed, and were told shuffling was done at the casino’s discretion.
But Morse said casinos, though not specifically the Claridge, will sometimes blame the counter when they decide to shuffle, Morse said.
"I actually got punched once," Morse said. "They shuffled after U sat down and a guy at the table got really upset. He says ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ and the floor person points right at me and says it’s my fault because I’m a counter. The guy ends up hitting me. All I did was sit down at the table."
Officials for the Claridge, acknowledge that they are acutely aware of counters in their casino and will exercise whatever options they have to limit a counter’s action.
"I don’t think that we are an especially card-counter-paranoid house," said Glenn Lillie, vice president for public affairs for the Claridge. "But at the same time we are not here to provide a living for a few skilled players.
"Nobody here would champion abuse of counters, (Dealing with them) is part of the job. But we aren’t going to just sit here and let the house get beat up over and over."
Closely watched
The Claridge has a special team designed to watch counters, Lillie said, and since only a handful work the city, they are largely known to the casino.
Morse was obviously known. At one point, as he tried to open a table with a betting range of $25 to $1000, the casino floor person changed the sign to a range of $25 to $100.
Casinos are also allowed to waive the limit for specific players at the table. Counters say casinos regularly lower the limit, and them let everyone but the counter bet over the limit.
Lillie said the moves are designed to limit the counter’s winnings.
"It’s very hard to determine just how to deal with counters and still be fair," he said "We can’t just give away our house advantage. But at the same time we have to be fair. It’s a difficult line."
Counters say that often, casinos cross the line."
Morse has filed several complaints with the Casino Control Commission over what he says are dealing and betting violations.
Other counters charge that at times they have been physically assaulted, illegally detained and abused.
"The more they do things like that, the more I’m determined to come back," said Frank Peterson, a colleague of Morse. "It’s like a challenge."
It’s a living
Counters say they are able to earn a good living, though most refuse to put a dollar figure on their earnings.
Morse, 38, said he gambles every day and regularly sees the same group of counters in casinos.
"There really are only a handful of people who regularly work the casinos," Morse said. "Somehow the casinos have become paranoid that we will break them."
When Morse is allowed to play without obstruction, it’s easy to see how he manages to pay his bills.
At the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, Subin and Morse were allowed to count a complete shoe.
Subin sat down at the table playing $10 bets while Morse stood behind him counting the cards.
After several hands, Morse determined the deck was ripe and players had an edge.
He then entered the game and started betting $100 chips. Subin then increased his bets to $100.
They both managed to win three to four hands, doubling down on at least one win.
It doesn’t always work that way. Morse is bringing several lawsuits against casinos for the way he has been treated.
His lawyer, William Bromley, said he will try to prove that casinos regularly deny Morse his rights and operate together to fight the counters. Bromley also charged that the commission does almost nothing to ensure that counters are treated fairly.
The Commission has responded to most of Morse’s complaints with a simple form letter stating that the matter was a dispute between Morse and the casino, Morse said.
On two occasions, his complaints resulted in citations being issued to casinos for failing to pay him the full amount wagered.
Morse knows that complaints and lawsuits are not likely to relax the pressure being put in him by the casinos. But to him his livelihood is at stake.
"To me gambling is a sickness," Morse said. "I’m not gambling. Blackjack is a game of skill. And I should be allowed to play like anyone else."