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“Attacking on several fronts: This requires team play and a healthy bankroll, but it’s effective and can be lethal.”
DV Cellini,
The Card Counter’s Guide to Casino Surveillance
I was on my way home from the office when my cell phone lit up in neon green from the center console of my car. I could tell from the caller ID that it was Mike. We spoke every few weeks and as our mentor, he became a great sounding board for our ideas and strategies. We kept him in the loop to some degree, but we were careful to protect the nuances of our team.
I would update him on the general successes that D.A. and I were having and he would share the latest developments with his website and training program. For the most part, I enjoyed our conversations. Mike was a blackjack genius and he never failed to deliver when I asked him for clarification on a strategy, a statistic, or an example of how he’d handled hurdles we were now facing. He was a wealth of information and an asset to the development of our team. I respected him tremendously.
“Hey Mike,” I answered. “It’s been a couple of weeks. How are things?”
“Pretty good. We have a lot of things in the works, from cable specials to some upcoming training programs. It’s pretty cool.” Mike enjoyed talking about the game and his demeanor was so unassuming and disarming that I would hardly notice our conversations sometimes lasted for hours. “How are things going with you guys?” he asked.
“Things are going great. We just had a good weekend in Vegas and next month we’re heading to upstate New York. The Patriots are playing the Bills and we’re going to get some sessions in at Turning Stone in Verona—it’s a grind joint.”
“Oh, that’s great. Listen, I wanted to talk to you. I’m thinking about getting back in the game,” he said.
“But you’re burned out everywhere,” I replied.
“Yeah, that’s why I want to form a team and manage it. With the training I do I come across a lot of potential players so I have a chance to put together a pretty good group nationwide. But I want to start with you and D.A. And I’ve got some guys from New York that have been playing on their own and are interested in a private session. They might be a good fit. Are you interested?”
“Of course I am, Mike. Definitely. And I think I can speak for D.A. that he would be, too.”
As excited as I was about the prospect of playing on a bigger team that was managed by Mike, and presumably with a bigger bankroll, I was also a bit torn. The idea of playing on a team run by one of the most prolific card counters ever would’ve been a dream come true a year earlier, but D.A. and I had developed a two-man system that was running smoothly. We were disciplined. We’d been advancing by plucking the very best ideas that we could find from many of the greatest blackjack minds preceding us. We were on the verge of something special and a new endeavor with Mike would mean that our two-man venture would have to wait. Ultimately, an opportunity to experience a team run by the ex-MIT great was not only too good to pass up, but we felt an obligation to our mentor to give back to him for all the knowledge and skill he’d bestowed upon us.
“Great. I need you to do me two favors,” he said.
“Anything.”
“First, I need you to call this guy Teddy from that New York crew I just mentioned. He and his guys are thinking about hiring me for training and he wants a reference.”
“Of course. What’s the other favor?”
“Well, as I start to put this together, there’s a girl in Boston—Meena. She’s interested in learning the game. She can’t afford my training but maybe you guys could give her a call and see if she wants to learn from you and D.A. You could maybe even use her for your own trips to Connecticut until my team is up and running.”
“No problem, that’s easy.”
“Hey, whatever happened to that guy you and D.A. used to practice with, Domenic? Does he have any potential?”
“Oh, right, Domenic.”
I had gotten so caught up in our two-man team that I had all but forgotten about him, but maybe there was something there. If we could get Domenic good enough to count even one table and then add Meena, we could have six tables being back-counted at once giving us more opportunities for hot shoes. The price would be minimal compared to the profit potential we’d have by expanding.
“Haven’t talked to him lately. Maybe I’ll drop him a line. What’s the number for this guy Teddy and for Meena?”