Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians (2011) Movie Script

1
I really like
the church team.
I really especially like how we
got the name "the church team".
One of our friends... who does not
have anything to do with church... said...
"What are you guys...
Like, the fucking church team?"
How it looked from outside
must've been that it had more
to do with church than Blackjack.
So, uh, the label
just kind of stuck.
The label "church team"
is one of the reasons
that actually
swayed me to join.
I knew that there were
good, godly people
who cared about Jesus,
who cared about integrity,
and cared about me.
That's one of the main
reasons that I joined.
It's a Blackjack team that
is called "the church team".
Those two things going
together never gets old.
The idea of Blackjack, um...
Started with me,
with just the idea
that you can beat the casino,
that you can learn a system
that consistently works
where you knew
that you had the edge
and had the odds
against this giant thing
that seemed so big
and unconquerable.
My first real encounter
with beating it...
Or how to beat it
mathematically...
Was through a book
called...
How to make $100,000
a year gambling.
And I read a chapter
about how to beat Blackjack.
It took me about
five minutes to read,
and I said,
"hey, I could do that."
Is this Blackjack?
Blackjack.
Let's do it.
There's two things with Blackjack
that make it interesting for me.
One is being self-employed,
and the second is
that it's Blackjack.
I think naturally
my personality is...
I don't mind
getting in trouble,
and I love
out-of-the-box thinking.
And card-counting
is exactly that.
You're getting in trouble,
and it's out-of-the-box.
We just want to play
some Blackjack.
When I first started
playing Blackjack,
I had no dreams
or thoughts
about it ever
going big at all.
I thought it would
just be me,
and I thought it would be
a fun summer possibly.
I never, ever imagined
Blackjack becoming a business,
or becoming a company,
or me actually
making money off of it.
He told me he'd been
reading a book on it,
and, of course, I'd just
graduated with a math degree,
so it sounded
really cool
from an academic
standpoint.
Ben was at a place
where he was willing
to put his money
together with me,
and we started our first
bankroll together.
A guy that I had taught how
to play Blackjack previously
came to us and said, "do
you mind if I play for you?"
And we said, "sure."
I flew out to Vegas
one day.
He met me there,
and we drove back to
the casino in a limousine,
and I was, like, "what
the heck is going on?"
Before he knew it,
he told another guy,
and those two guys
each told another person.
We have friends
that tell friends,
friends that tell bosses,
friends that tell their pastors.
I met Colin Jones through the
worship pastor at my church.
The pastor said that I
should meet his bassist...
Colin Jones.
I was stoked.
I couldn't believe that there
was a team of Blackjack players
that was
all christians.
It just seemed like
god at work.
There was actually a church
planting conference in our town.
They told my husband
and some of the other pastors
about what they were doing,
and my husband literally
had to stop them
and call me on the phone
because he knew this was something
that I would be
super-excited about.
We were at a community
group from our church,
and he and his wife
had to skip out early,
and I was, like,
"where you guys going?"
And they both looked at
each other, and finally he said,
"well, we're kind of taking
some Blackjack lessons."
And I was just, like,
"what?! What?!"
My friend Mike foster...
Who I knew through
church planting...
Told me that he was a
professional Blackjack player...
Which, of course,
my initial reaction
was that he was
most likely on crack.
It's so far
into left field
to think that someone would be
a professional Blackjack player,
let alone have
a whole team.
And the fact that
everyone we knew
was in ministry of some
sort was just awesome.
If it hadn't been
named "church team"
and it wasn't
a bunch of christians
and people serving in
their church, helping people
and caring about the community,
I probably wouldn't have done it.
These people that play
Blackjack for us...
Before being our employees,
they're our friends.
We have people on this team
that are held together
by a much bigger thing
than Blackjack.
Welcome to the team meeting.
We're gonna eat, we're
gonna talk. That's pretty much it.
All right, let's, uh...
Let's pray.
God, thank you
for the food.
Uh, lord, we thank you for
the team, our people on it.
God, it's a good thing
that you give us, uh,
ways to provide
for our families
and to, um, just meet
these awesome people.
So, uh, amen.
The church team is
amazing in a lot of ways.
I love the people
on our team.
I love working with them,
I enjoy hanging out with them,
living life with them
and talking about far deeper
things than Blackjack.
One of the crazy things
is how many people on our team
actually are pastors
and church planters.
To be involved in ministry usually
takes a large amount of time,
and if you have
this opportunity
to fly to Vegas
for two or three days
and make as much
as you need
to live off of
for a month in three days,
then you can spend
the rest of the month
shepherding the people
that are a part of your church.
Ameliorate. Ameliorate.
Ameliorate.
I have to say
this word.
Ameliorate.
Ameliorate.
Ameliorate.
"To make
or become better."
This gospel ameliorates
distressing symptoms.
Ameliorate.
I pastor a church
called seven hills.
I'm trying to start
a bunch of churches
here in
Cincinnati, Ohio.
The best way to tell people
how big your church is...
If someone asks,
you just tell them,
"we're running
under 500 right now."
It happens to be true
if you have 15 people.
I was in a transition,
trying to find a way
to have enough time and
enough income to start a church,
and looking for a job
that would do that.
And I couldn't
find anything.
Then my friend told me
about this Blackjack thing
and that,
through his pastor,
they were gonna learn how to
play Blackjack professionally.
So, Blackjack became
an option suddenly.
People are attracted
to controversy.
That's one reason I avoid
talking about what I do or a living,
and I play on a Blackjack
team, as most of you know.
And, naturally,
that raises a lot of questions.
First off, how could
a Christian play Blackjack?
All the more,
how could a pastor do that?
You shouldn't have secrets
about what you do,
especially as a pastor, but
as a Christian on the whole.
So, it's been hard
to talk to people about
because it's a long
conversation.
You talk to someone
for an hour,
you think they're with you, and
they have a bunch of new ideas
that crop up in your head
that you already deal with.
It's irritating to have to keep explaining
the same thing over and over again.
So, my temptation to not talk
about it is more for that reason
than for someone looking
down on me or whatever.
The reason the camera crew is
here is they want to do a documentary
about our Blackjack team.
One thing that makes
our team very different
is that we're mainly, almost
entirely, made up of christians,
and our motivation
for what we do
is that we'd see
the kingdom go forth.
And the way
we try to work
is in a way
that glorifies god.
What I'm hoping
will come of this
is that people will see
that the gospel absolutely,
positively
changes everything,
and that redemption
can creep
into the most
unexpected places.
Come on in, guys.
My name is Ken Reed.
I'm director of table games
at fantasy Springs
in California.
Grew up in Atlantic city...
That's where I started.
And, uh, 28 years later,
I'm still doing it,
so I do enjoy it,
and business
has been good to me.
And I've met a lot of
interesting people,
a lot of
interesting customers.
Hey, Sheldon.
What's up? Smile.
The best part
about you is,
you'll be here
tomorrow, too.
I've been actually
very fortunate.
From Caesar's to golden
nugget to foxwoods...
I've worked in three of the biggest
places in the world at that time.
I think I've seen it all,
but I say that,
and then next week I see something
else and I say, "oh, my god."
So...
I don't even know
if I should get into it.
To be a good card-counter,
you've got to be patient.
Let's just put it that way.
All it takes
is a lot of practice.
You can't do it overnight.
It's definitely something
we're on the alert for 24/7
in any casino.
And, of course,
if I catch you counting cards
or surveillance,
we just ask you to leave.
I mean, hell, we've got a whole
book of card-counters in the office
from all over the country.
Bottom line is,
cheaters are everywhere,
in any casino in the world.
It's the nature of our
business. We got the money.
And if you got the money,
somebody's going to try to take it.
Cool, guys.
Welcome to the,
uh, meeting.
Two years ago, from
basically this month,
we had our first
meeting here.
And we sat here
up front,
and there was
nine people,
and we were,
like, "holy crap.
That's a lot
of people."
Just to let you know
where we're coming from,
this is, like,
really awesome
for us to be
a part of this.
We've got firefighters, nurses,
people planting churches,
pastoring churches,
watching kids, mothers,
fathers, whatever...
All people that are
a part of this team.
Who'd ever think
that's even possible?
And it's, like, I'm
working my dream job,
and it's because of,
like, you guys here.
It's been another
good quarter.
Any guess on how much
we took from casinos in 2007?
900,000.
900,000, 1.2, a million,
something like that.
Boom!
$1.58 million taken
out of casinos this year.
I'm excited, um, to take more
money from casino next year.
For those of you that hate
casinos, we're doing our part.
Everybody hates casinos
on our Blackjack team,
but I hate casinos.
It's a black hole.
They just suck goodness
out of the world.
I hate 'em.
...On the loose
with some bait
and a noose
to trap the rat
who stole his loot...
I've never played any type
of cards or Blackjack...
Gambling... I've never done
anything like that before this.
Originally, I came from a very
conservative Christian background.
I was told, "don't cuss,
don't have sex,
"don't gamble,
like, don't shoot somebody,
and, like, you'll be
a good person."
I haven't shot anybody.
My first day of training
is the first time
I ever stepped into
a casino in my life.
I was painting houses
at the time,
and wanted to shoot myself.
I was desperate.
My old roommate Ford...
He walked in one day
into our apartment
and said, "Mark,
I'm gonna play Blackjack."
And I said,
"Ford, you're an idiot."
And I turned around
and walked out of the room.
And I was, like,
"this guy's so stupid.
Like, what a dumb
thing to do."
And now, a year later,
here I am.
Probably the biggest
misconceptions about what we do
would be that you have to be
a rocket scientist to do it
or a math whiz.
This idea that you have to be a
genius to be a card-counter is foolish.
It has a lot to do with practice
and repetition and mastering it
than it has to do with just
having an incredible ability
to understand
these complex concepts.
So, the game of Blackjack
is actually pretty simple.
You have a dealer,
and you have players,
and the player wins by
beating the dealer, or the house.
So, the goal of the game is
for the total sum of your cards
to be as close to 21
as possible
without actually going over.
So, if your total is higher
than the dealer's,
you win your bet.
But if your total
is lower than the dealer's,
you lose your bet.
So, you play
round after round,
and most people end up
losing all their money
out of their wallets,
and people can actually
just go broke,
losing their entire
bank accounts
because the house
will always win...
Unless you can turn the house
advantage into your advantage
by counting cards.
How you do that is
really just use your brain.
While playing, you have
to keep a running tally
of the cards
that have been played
by assigning them a value
of +1, -1, or 0.
So, for every 10 or face
card, you subtract one,
for every card numbered
2 through 6, you would add one,
and the middle cards...
7, 8 and 9... are neutral,
so you don't have to do anything.
And when the count is high,
you know there's more face
cards that are left in the deck,
and that's when the odds
are actually in your favor,
so you would bet high,
because you're more likely
to get a Blackjack
or two face cards
than anything else.
And it's actually
really that simple,
but there's kind of a lot
of other smaller things
that I didn't really mention,
like you have to memorize
two or three different charts,
determine the number of decks
left in the discard tray,
you have to know exactly
what to bet based on the count,
and you have to do all this
kind of in your head
while not losing track of the
count or making any other mistake.
I think what
convinced me to join
was really just my strong
sense of adventure.
Like, I just want to do something
different than the average person.
Hopefully,
at some stage...
Like when my boys
are all teenagers,
they'll look back
and think it's cool,
maybe listen to dad
a little bit more
'cause he's not just
some dry, boring guy.
It really fulfills just my
urge to get out there
and do something
different from the norm.
I started playing
earlier in the year,
and I played for about a
four- or five-month period,
and then slowed down
dramatically
so I could work
on an online business.
We do a couple of
other businesses.
Um, I actually sell a nutritional
product called the feast.
I've picked up a lot
of maternity jeans.
These have the brand-new tag on
them that says $68. I got them for 12.
I decided to hop on the
Internet and look up "nose filters"
and see if there was
such a thing.
And lo and behold,
I found these.
The problem is, if you cut it,
you'll lose them back in your nose,
and that's not a good thing.
We do a little bit
of everything,
but I like it like that.
We have flexible schedules,
we get to spend a lot of time
with each other, with our kids.
Okay,
come over here.
Put some money
in there.
I am a pastor.
That's not to say I have a
completely clear conscience about it.
There are times when I think, "I
wonder if I really should be doing this."
But I feel like
I'm okay with it,
and I feel like god's
okay with it.
And if I ever felt like god
wasn't okay with it, I'd stop.
I love this picture.
He has a lot of
good pictures.
This is Ben.
He's very persistent.
Whatever he does,
he never gives up.
He goes 100%.
Here you go... it's him.
Here. Oh, my goodness.
He wanted to go for
possible medical field.
Nurse first,
and then maybe doctor.
He majored in that.
And then this Blackjack.
After that, I don't...
I've never heard
anything anymore.
My mom... hmm.
She doesn't understand it.
Well, he keep telling me
that it's not...
What do you call
those things?
Gambling?
Gambling.
That's what he said.
And I tried
to understand.
Maybe it's
not gambling.
It's work?
I don't know exactly
what words you would use.
I feel like,
in the Christian community,
and just the community
at large, for the most part,
gambling is not necessarily
viewed as a positive thing.
Family members or friends
just can't get over the hurdle
that it's casinos,
and casinos are dirty places,
and christians should have
no associations with casinos.
I've seen so many people
wrestle and actually say,
like, I am sending
people to hell.
Christians like to make
extra rules
to try to help us,
to safeguard us.
But it ends up just being
lots of rules
and looking like we're
all uptight, which we are.
One of the first things
my mom told me
when I told her
what I was doing
was that she'd rather have
me sell cocaine for a living
than play Blackjack.
I just heard that
he was playing Blackjack,
and I thought, "oh, man."
My father-in-law called
asked what I did
on days that I wasn't
substitute-teaching,
and I said,
"well, actually,
I've been doing some
short-term investing."
And I said, "what do
you mean, investing?"
And that kind of
got into it,
and finally he admitted
to playing Blackjack,
and he said, "it's not
gambling, it's not gambling."
I said, "yes, it is."
I argued from,
you know,
just the laziness
of it...
"You're just not,
you know..."
Just... I argued
from the spiritual...
I brought the Bible
into it.
The biggest misconception
is people think
that you're walking down
a route that is really dark
and really dangerous.
You think of
gambling addiction,
you think of all
the really bad stuff
that kind of
goes with it,
from just being
in a bad environment.
Explaining what we do
to someone to the full extent
can take anywhere from
a couple of hours to weeks,
'cause people come back
with more questions.
"Aren't you worried that you'll
be tempted to start gambling,
"and you'll just
get addicted?
What about
the sleeze factor?"
And I'll say,
"75-year-old women
never turn on to me."
And that's pretty much
all I play with.
"So, isn't that illegal?"
Everybody,
for some reason,
thinks addition and
division is illegal
when you go into a
casino. I don't get it.
But it's just ignorance
on their part.
I don't mean that
in a bad way,
but they literally
just don't understand
how the team is set up,
who it's run by,
who its members are,
and how the math works.
So,
how does it all work?
There's three different
categories of people.
There's the players,
the managers,
and then you have
the investors.
And how it works is, the
investors give all their money
to the managers.
At times, we've had amounts
totaling up to $1.5 million,
and we call this
the team bankroll.
And it's the managers' job...
They take this money
and they distribute it to the
Blackjack players that they've trained.
Then the players take
this money to the casinos,
and this is where
they count the cards,
and hopefully they win
lots of money.
But here's the deal... the players
don't get to keep the money
because the money
belongs to the team,
and they get paid
an hourly wage,
and it doesn't matter
if they win or lose.
They get the same
kind of pay rate.
Whenever the team wins
a total of $100,000,
as far as profit,
we call it
"closing a bankroll".
So, the main goal
of the team
is to close as many
bankrolls as possible,
and when they do close one,
the profits are split up
among the managers,
the players and the investors,
and everyone's happy.
So, in a lot of ways,
it's structured just like
any other business,
but, then again,
it's kind of not.
I believe in the team, I believe
in the money that it makes,
I believe in the system,
and, because of that,
we have virtually
all of our liquid assets
tied up in
the Blackjack team.
We've taken out
a hefty sum
on a 0% interest
credit card,
and, uh, popped it
in the bankroll.
We cashed out all
of our I.R.A.'S
and all of our 401k
plans from old jobs,
and consolidated
everything,
and, yeah,
full-tilt...
Get every cent
in there you can.
In the end, I ended up
taking out a home equity loan
just to put
more money into it.
I think it's such
a sure thing.
Once you see the math and
understand how everything works,
it's just... I think it's
dumb to not invest.
At first, my thought
of being lazy and...
And just having fun...
Realized that, hey,
they're working hard.
And so, then,
just kind of slowly,
Colin and Ben both...
Just their hard work
kind of won us over
over a period of time.
Initially, we invested,
like, $5,000.
I had to win her over
at that point.
I said, "hey,
we're pretty strapped.
"We own this place here, and
we don't have a lot of money
left over at
the end of the month."
So, we took out
a home equity loan.
We invested, I think,
150 at one point.
We're up to 200,000.
It slowly grew on us,
so we're...
She's still thinking
that it's wrong.
And she's... you know, we've
been married 31 years, so...
Hello?
Hey, man. It's me.
Hey, Ben.
What's up?
Ah, pretty good.
So, have you
heard the news
about the bankroll
ending?
Yeah.
Whoooo!
Yeah, I suppose
it kind of is, huh?
When we close a bankroll, it means
we've reached our goal of $100,000.
When that happens,
investors get paid out,
managers get paid out,
players get paid out.
We celebrate. We go out to
dinner. It's the biggest event we have,
when we close a bankroll.
We all get paid,
we all enjoy kind of, like...
Hey, high-five.
We did this together.
It's just a huge rush.
It's like winning the lottery.
Colin called me up, and he's,
like, "so, where are you at?"
And I was, like,
"uh, I'm up about 50 grand."
"What?! You're up 50 grand?"
I was, like, "yeah."
"Oh, my gosh! I think we just
closed two bankrolls in a week."
Hey, uh, I was calling with
some good news for you.
Yeah, the bankroll
closed.
It did.
It is the most
exciting thing
when you close a bankroll
because there's this
energy and adrenaline
when you realize that
you made all this extra money.
It's gonna be
a nice, fat check.
I am serious.
Yep.
Thanks, everybody, for coming
and for celebrating with us.
And go, bankroll 12
through 27 in 2008.
Right!
Originally, I kept my cash in
that bookshelf, behind the books.
I had my bibles and
commentaries on a lower section
so that, uh, you know, it'd be behind
the books that nobody ever read.
But, uh, yeah,
not so secure.
I got a safe since then
from my church.
So, uh, this is
my inner sanctum.
This is where, uh,
I keep my money.
Shh, don't tell anybody.
Here's all my money.
Uh... yeah.
40, 60, 70, 80.
80 grand there.
That's 5.
And that's, um, 2.
It's pretty much
just money.
Carrying large amounts of
cash is just part of what we do.
I'll never forget the first time
I went to a casino with $800,
and I thought the entire
world was staring at me.
I knew that I had $800
in my pocket.
I thought
everyone else knew it.
You walk through the parking
lot, looking behind your back,
and it was a rush.
One year later, we're taking
$80,000 in our pocket,
and you don't even notice.
At first, it's, like,
"somebody's gonna mug me."
But then...
I look at, like,
what I'm wearing.
My shoes have
holes in them.
Nobody looks at me and
says, "that guy's got money."
Nobody's gonna
mug me, you know?
It's really weird
having money in your freezer
or, you know,
tucked under your mattress.
This is a company
completely built on trust.
They put thousands,
hundreds of thousands...
Millions of dollars
pass through my hands.
I could've stole
a lot of money.
Maybe I did. Maybe
I have, I don't know.
Maybe it's invested somewhere.
They'll never know, though.
Transporting and carrying
the money, though,
is a very big issue that
we deal with on our team.
It's difficult to carry. If you
just think of pocket space,
it ends up being quite an issue...
just getting through airports.
You kind of have to
sneak the money through.
I have these
leg strap things.
They just kind of
go around your calf,
and you can basically
get whatever...
Something like
40,000 to 50,000...
If you've got baggy pants
on... strapped in there.
There's almost this impression
that it's illegal.
I've been stopped
three times at the airport
and told, "what's in your
pockets? Empty your pockets."
The impression is if you have
money, you're a drug dealer.
This is from the
Pennsylvania state police.
They stopped me because
they think I deal drugs.
I don't.
I usually carry it
in my bag when I leave home,
check in to
the ticket counter,
and then I make
a stop in the bathroom
and transfer it all
into my waistline.
Or, if it's summertime and I've got
cargo shorts on, I'll load those up.
Then I just head through security
there, and I don't get stopped.
We're dealing
with betting hands
and winning or losing
hundreds of thousands of dollars.
You're thinking about the fact
that you have, sitting in front of you,
two or three times the amount that a
normal person makes in an entire year.
You're putting that on
the line kind of at the table.
The thought of losing $40,000
in an hour and a half...
It's, like, "oh, my gosh. That's
my schoolteacher's salary."
You have to divorce yourself from
what it really is, or else you'll go crazy.
I love that there is
$111,000 in here...
And a bunch of sand.
It's crazy to say this, but
I have lost all of my, like...
I stopped looking at that
as money.
When I see $100 bills,
sometimes I forget
that I could actually
buy something with them.
I just look
at a $100 bill,
and think, "oh, that's one
of those Blackjack things."
It's really weird, but it's
like monopoly money.
I used to think
about money differently.
Money was a big deal
at one time.
And now money is just money.
Do me a favor. Put 119
on my screen, please.
Will do.
Thank you.
The first time I went
into a casino,
I won $500, and, boy,
that sets the hook.
I swear I see that
more often than not.
Sometimes stupidity
is a beautiful thing,
'cause I didn't know what
I was doing, not at all.
They remember that first time
all the time.
And I see that a lot.
It's almost uncanny, like.
And then I see them
ten times after that,
and they've got
long faces sometimes.
I think all casinos
are wrong
in the fact that
they mislead people
and they give people the hope
that they're gonna be able to win,
and, obviously,
that's not the case.
The casino knows that they
have the statistical advantage,
which basically sounds to me like they're
taking advantage of the disadvantage.
And what I love about Blackjack is
that we get to turn that on its head
and say, statistically, if I play
long enough, I'm going to win.
I'm going to actually take
from this casino's profits.
And I get a strange amount of
pride out of being able to do that.
It doesn't seem like one of the most
noble things a person can do in the world,
but at least we can liberate
the money from the clutches
of those who would use it
for ill purposes.
I mean, that's a start.
I think what makes me angry about
casinos is that they're hypocrites.
They give the impression
through all of their advertising
that it's a place
for fun and for winning.
But then you go inside,
and anyone that has
a chance of winning
they'll remove
from their property.
You get kicked out. It's
their job to kick you out,
and they don't think twice about... that
there's anything bankrupt about that.
They have all these signs, like,
"come and win. Play Blackjack.
Win big.
Get rich instantly."
So, I'll show up and start
getting rich instantly,
and they're, like, "you're
not welcome here anymore.
If you come back,
we'll arrest you."
It's, like, "why? I'm just
getting rich instantly.
"You advertised
to get rich instantly.
Why are you, like,
kicking me out of here?"
Did you get the
money back? Not yet.
Keep working at it.
I'm Greg means.
I'm the casino manager
for pj pockets casino.
You can do a lot of damage
as a card-counter
to a small card room
like this,
and so we're actually
very vigilant that...
You know, keeping an eye
on those things.
If I get a new player
that comes in,
and I've never seen
this player before,
and they start playing,
you know, decent money,
or they buy in for
a decent amount of money,
we're probably gonna take
a look at 'em automatically.
Nothing happens here
for very long
that we don't
figure it out.
Whenever I go into a casino,
there's the anticipation.
I know I'm doing something
that's frowned upon,
and they're gonna find out.
I just see the black domes
on the ceiling.
It's, like, yeah,
somebody can see me.
If they're not looking,
they should be.
I'm totally certain
there are people watching me,
and it's one of those things
that I try to get used to,
and sometimes I just
have to tell myself,
"no, there's no way
they're onto me yet."
Surveillance.
Okay, thank you.
Gotcha.
Card-counters tend to play
really big amounts of money
when the shoes are good,
and so you end up with someone
who can win thousands of dollars,
and it makes it a lot harder
to offset that money
with the smaller play
in the room.
We've been really diligent
at making sure
that we don't play games
with those kind of people.
We tell them, "look, I don't
want your Blackjack action.
You can play whatever
else you want to play."
We're polite about it
and stuff like that,
but you're gonna
get caught.
Getting kicked out
of casinos is...
Just part of the job.
You get used to it.
It can be friendly,
it can be not so friendly.
I have been kicked out
of a lot of casinos.
I think I've been backed off
of every casino I've been to.
I don't know... hundreds. I've
been kicked out of the Boyd casinos
around 30 times.
The first time I got backed
off, it was really easy.
I just walked in, and she
walked up to me, smiling,
and said, "hi, Mark." I was,
like, "hi, whatever your name is."
She's, like,
"you can't play Blackjack."
And I was, like, "really?"
She's, like, "yeah.
You're a card-counter."
I was, like...
"Yes, I am. Okay.
See you later."
I approach casinos
with the thought in mind
like I'm here
to get kicked out.
And if they don't, then,
hey, that's cool for me.
My philosophy
when I got into Blackjack
was just playing
till they kick you out.
I walk in and play as
hard and as fast as I can
until it's over.
I'm convinced.
I've seen enough.
Yeah, he's gonna get
backed off tonight.
Typically, getting
thrown out of a casino
is not like you see
in the movies...
Unless you end up getting
arrested and thrown in jail.
But that's only happened
to me once.
Back-offs are usually
a lot more mild
than most people think
going into this whole thing.
I've been watching you
play a little bit. Yeah?
Yeah. We decided we don't want to
take your Blackjack action anymore.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
But, every once in a while,
you'll get people
that are taking extra pride
in their job,
at finding out that
you're a card-counter.
If we have concerns, then we'll
either have surveillance watch,
or do what we gotta do.
They'll threaten
to back-room you.
They'll try
to intimidate you.
The better you are at it,
the word kind of
gets out that...
Look, fantasy Springs
know what they're doing.
So, stay away.
They've got their own little
network... trust me on this.
We just say,
"please leave."
And there's...
They know. They know.
I've never had an argument
with a card-counter yet.
Not one.
I've never seen anybody
go in the back room yet,
and I'm sure
I never will.
There are all sorts
of stories we have
of dressing up in costumes
and playing...
All to play in a casino without
them figuring out who I really am.
I've dressed up as an Indian
with a turban,
a suit and a beard
down to here,
and Colin dressing up
as a cowboy.
I was... as the ultimate
mockery of all casinos...
Dressed up as
an m.I.T. Professor,
which is where card-counting
originated from.
And Colin was dressed up
as a gangster.
That's just
part of the game.
So, we're heading
to snoqualmie casino.
It's opening night, so there's
gonna be tons of chaos.
So, we're gonna play some Blackjack,
meet up with some other team members,
and they'll have no idea
what's going on tonight.
I think I realize the
difference between Ben and I...
When I dress up
for a casino,
my goal
is to blend in.
When Ben dresses up for a
casino, his goal is to stick out.
There's gonna be lots of
people dressed like this...
I guarantee it.
Hey.
I think they've been
the most creative team.
Um, before,
we've had some teams in...
It's just been standard
play. It's been no disguises.
It's just the team spreading
apart on the casino floor
where you put the pieces together
and find out who all is there with them.
So, as far as the changing
of appearance
and the extra effort,
as far as the theatrics,
I think that's
a Ben-exclusive trait.
He can pull off
the drunk young rich kid.
He can pull off whatever
you need to pull off.
And I think he can go undetected
for a bit of time at most places.
I know they travel, so I don't know
if they've hit every casino or not,
but once you hit a place,
each time you hit it again,
you're more and more quickly
identified because they're used to you.
And, even though you're changing
appearance, there's still things about you.
If you look like the guy
we think you are,
we start checking for tattoos,
we'll watch the play,
and we're all over it.
I walked in and started
looking for players.
It was just packed.
I saw David drury first.
It was pretty funny.
He looks like
he's 60 years old.
David had the full
republican garb...
A sweater vest,
a white hat
that had the republican
elephant on it.
It explains why
I have a lot of money,
and it explains why I'm
really bad at tipping.
And people don't want
to talk to me, either,
so it's kind of
an added bonus.
Colin's was okay.
I think he pulled it off.
One of the things
with the costume is...
You want people to either
just not recognize you
or kind of write you off.
They don't even think of you
as a card-counter
'cause they see you
as a janitor
or, you know,
whatever I am.
I walked right past people
that had met me
at other casinos,
and they had no idea.
So, I mean, I think
my outfit did the job,
in that it was, like,
so extreme.
Yeah, get this guy.
He's got the grime
on the hands.
So, what are
the results?
I won 1,000.
Good, you made up
for my loss. Thanks.
You lost 1,000?
It was a good night.
It was fun.
But, you know, not what
we expected, that's for sure.
But that's the thing with casinos... you
never know what to expect.
Like, they backed off
and 86'd, like, three people,
escorted them
off the parking lot.
They spotted people
from nowhere,
then let me play
the whole time.
They let Colin play
the whole time.
We run the team. They don't
even know who we are.
It was worth it.
But it just... it could've
been a lot better.
Most of
the card-counters...
They all think they
can beat the casino.
But even the best card-counter
at days will get beat.
Losing at Blackjack
is something most players
never, ever get used to.
You lose about 45% of the
time that you walk into a casino,
and then you win
the other 55% of the time.
You can walk in and have a
string of wins or a string of losses,
and the important thing is,
over time,
that averages out to be
still a net positive.
Because there is so much
variance in the game,
there's these
huge fluctuations.
There was one time
in Minnesota...
I think I was up 100,000,
and gave most of it back
before the end of the session.
The most I ever lost
in a session
was at hard rock hotel
and casino in Las Vegas,
and I lost about $86,000
in three hours.
I'll never forget
the sinking feeling you get
from doing what you know is the
right thing to do mathematically,
and just not seeing it work.
When I start to lose,
I'm, like, "Ohh."
But I'm, like, math... I have
to praise the champion math,
'cause I know this is
mathematics and not myself.
I'd never experienced
a loss like that,
and I just kept having
all this doubt about myself.
Like, am I doing
something wrong?
Am I sure I'm on
with my count?
I'll go review
my strategy charts
to make sure I wasn't
making any errors there.
When you lose
at Blackjack,
it shows you how
emotional you are.
You question whether
you're doing it right.
You question why
you're not winning,
uh, because
you expect to win.
Obviously, you're
an advantage player,
so you should have
the advantage,
and sometimes it doesn't seem
that way. So, it can be tough.
You've got to be
confident in yourself
and confident in your playing
abilities and the training you have.
Risk and playing well
and playing right
is going
to involve losses,
and you just have to be
able to calculate that risk
and be able
to deal with it.
There is genuinely
something, like...
Not up to par
about the team.
That doesn't mean it's
not a winning team,
and that doesn't mean that
we think people are stealing.
It just means
it's not up to par.
Maybe things got lax,
we grew too fast,
whatever. I don't know.
As we started
to realize this,
we realized there are
people on this team
who we cannot incentivize
because they are not on this
team for the purpose of this team.
Hence, there is a question
that comes down to incentive...
"Are you doing what's best for
the team?" That's the question.
And I think everyone can say
that they're not 100%.
So, our goal is to make it a
higher percentage in the future.
We want someone
to want the team to win,
not to do something that
just incentivizes himself.
So, unfortunately, there's people
that are on the team in this circle now,
and we're kind of
making the circle smaller,
and hopefully everyone
can shuffle in.
And we want to see everyone
be able to make that transition.
That is, like,
the best-case scenario.
What happened was,
our manager told me,
"you know what? You haven't
played for a little bit now,
"and before we can
let you play again,
you'll have to
come out and retest."
That's what I've
been preparing for
over the last few weeks,
and this weekend,
I'll be retesting
and be fully back
on the team.
I'm planning on playing
a whole lot.
Running count?
18.19.
It was, uh, 22 when
the round started,
and it went to 21, 20.
Then it went back to 21.
Jeez.
I never did feel really
super-comfortable
through the process.
I always felt like, is there
something I'm falling short on?
Is there something I don't
have as well as I should?
But, I don't know...
sometimes I guess I question...
If I'm this anxious
about it,
I wonder how other
team members are.
They're either
way smarter than I am,
you know, and therefore
more calm about it,
or they're just not letting on
that they're making mistakes.
Uh, what count does 13
hit against a 3?
Sorry.
So, what's
the running count?
Ten.
9, 10, 11.
Yeah, should be...
Should be 11.
It's frustrating
because...
I've said the same thing
to him probably six times
in the last three
or four days,
and, uh...
It doesn't seem
like there's any progress.
It's, like,
the same mistakes.
Hey.
Hey.
So, more of the same?
Oh, man.
That's... Annoying.
Do you know
where he is now?
He's not here.
I can't really
even imagine
any news being good
at this point.
I feel like it's
game over, basically.
What do you think?
Oh. It's weird.
Yesterday I was more
aggravated than I am today.
I think it's because
yesterday I told Colin...
I was, like, you know, "I
talked to god about this."
And I'm, like,
"all right...
Maybe you have something
else planned for me."
But I know my stuff,
I know the numbers,
I know the charts, I
know the correct decisions
and how to
figure everything.
But I keep having basic
mess-ups. And they are.
I just... man, it's
so confusing to me.
I don't know what to
make of it, as far as...
I know you've
put work into it,
and that's what's
hard from our end.
It's, like, we'd
love nothing more
than to be able
to pass you, but...
And for some reason,
there's some basic...
Something that's
just missing
every time I sit down
with you guys,
which, apparently, means
probably every time I'm in a casino,
I'm missing stuff.
I don't know what to tell
you, as far as improvement.
I don't know what
it would take for you
to test out
at this point.
I think the best
thing for us to do
is, like, on the record,
put you on inactive.
Off the record...
You're basically, like,
done being a player.
My instinct right now is, I
can't see it swinging back.
You know? How do you
feel like it's gonna be
with, you know,
the wife and stuff?
We've been married
12 1/2 years,
and we just know
if something...
This isn't the first...
Anything we've been through.
So, it might just very simply be
something I'm not supposed to do.
I mean,
it's not my thing.
Yeah, kind of
a strange week,
and a strange way
to end it, but...
I guess that's that,
you know?
That's that.
Well,
that's done with.
Why?
Jason's gone.
What?
Jason left.
I don't think
he's coming back.
Why?
I wish I could just say, "oh,
well, we've been having bad luck."
But it's been
discouraging for me
to come to the point
and saying,
"no, we've kind of
got ourselves into a hole
because we've created kind of
a poorly-trained Blackjack team."
They say, like, one of
the most dangerous things
for a new business,
or for a young business,
is to grow too quickly.
From last January
through may,
we won, like, $800,000
in five months,
and so we're, like, "oh, this
team's awesome. It's unstoppable."
And then it took ten months
of us just thinking,
"oh, we're just having
a bad run at things."
And now, ten months later,
it's, like,
"no, it's definitely not
a bad run of things."
If the team goes on this way
for very long,
it's inevitable
that we'll go bankrupt.
Well, the team's status
has been pretty poor.
We've underperformed
immensely.
I didn't think we were gonna
make it through this bankroll.
I thought we were
gonna shut the door.
And, for my own
personal investment,
I wanted us
to shut the door.
You were
scared for it?
Well, yeah.
That's all
the money we have,
is in this stupid
Blackjack team.
We can trust
people's integrity.
I don't think people
are stealing.
But something's
not working,
'cause our team
isn't working.
The plan is belterra,
grand Vic,
up to Chicago.
I'm very eager to try
to perfect this thing
as quickly as possible.
Ideally, I would like
to get a minimum
of ten hours in.
That's gonna be
pretty tough.
Chicago's not a very
card-counter-friendly city.
My mentality is,
when I get into a casino,
I'm gonna burn it down.
I always have goal.
Like, for an hour,
I want to make $10,000.
Ready for the next casino.
When I go to those casinos,
I expect to get no more
than half an hour in.
It's not really
worth a drive
unless you're able
to stick it out.
This could potentially
be a disaster.
But I guess we'll find out.
We need some hours
in here...
Um... pretty bad.
So, I'm getting
a players' card made up for me
with somebody else's
name on it.
I've never
done that before.
This is kind of
experimenting.
I've had an incredible
winning streak.
We just need, like,
another 380,000,
and we'll close up
the bankroll.
If I could play
till 3:00 in the morning,
that'd be awesome.
If I could play
to 4:00 in the morning,
even cooler.
Last time we came here, I
got backed off pretty severely.
They wanted
to back-room me,
and I caused a big scene,
and I faked a phone call
to my attorney.
Heh. And I was, like,
"my attorney says
"to put my arm up in the air
and wave at the camera
"and then put them
straight by my side
and walk to
the first exit."
Oh, man.
That's my last place to go.
So, anyways,
congratulations, guys,
for bankroll...
Whatever number this was.
Two bankrolls,
two months... not bad.
As a team, in three weeks,
we took $140,800
from casinos.
Mr. Dusty wisniew
made $3,076.
We got Mr. Brad currah,
who made $4,801.
We got Mr. Drury,
who made $5,893
in three weeks.
And we've got
Mr. Benjamin ady,
who made $7,421
in the state of Washington
in three weeks.
All right.
I think,
after six months of losing,
positive variance
has kind of kicked back in.
Now that there's some
serious player incentive...
Like, every time we come to
one of these bankroll dinners,
we don't just get a free meal. I
just got a check for two grand.
So, like, doubled my pay,
effectively.
That's pretty sweet.
So, 4,800 bucks
in three weeks...
I think I worked
20-some hours,
or maybe 30 hours.
Not even that much.
It's pretty weird. Whenever
you're closing bankrolls,
it's hard to remember that there was a
time when you weren't closing bankrolls.
When the bankroll
closes fast,
and, like,
it goes over,
it's nothing but,
like, you know...
Ching! Ching! Ching!
We have money flowing
out of our ears in those times.
Then, of course, when you're
not closing bankrolls,
it's, like, totally lame.
I'm convinced we're
gonna close more bankrolls.
It makes me feel
better about...
The whole idea
of the team.
I definitely feel like there's a
huge mental shift that's happened.
There's a lot more
incentive
to play efficiently
and win.
It's just so good.
There's a potential
of a greater chance
of something going
wrong because of it.
It's, like,
it's too good.
I think that, like, on a
communication level, it's healthier.
And, in a lot of ways, we
have really quality people.
And, uh,
that's really cool.
I think that it is
a little bit odd...
Just a couple
of new guys
that none of us
really know.
Man,
I'm paranoid now.
I really feel uncomfortable
having an unbeliever on the team.
It's nothing
against him at all.
I really like
the guy a lot.
But I think that makes the
whole, like, thing volatile to me.
It's just
kind of freaky.
There's a sense
of trust
that is almost
impossible to have
with people in general
that you know well.
But it's kind of easy to read
people who are, like, believers.
Like, you kind of get
a feel for who they are.
Um, I think it's tough
with unbelievers.
It's really hard.
I wish it could
just be, like...
The same old people
all the time.
I just don't know if it's
the smartest, like, move,
for, like...
Like, this is a good
idea, let's do this.
You know?
You know, the whole
church team thing...
Like, you guys are in our
homes, you're around our kids,
we make intimate business
decisions with you.
Our goal... like,
just so you guys know...
Like, isn't to
just create, like,
a white, anglo-Saxon,
Christian team.
Like, that was never
our purpose.
But those happen to be,
in a lot of ways,
the types of people
who we shared values with,
who we shared, like,
commonality and relationships with,
and who we trusted.
It is a huge part
of our life
and, like,
what we are about.
And the business...
Like, there's no line for us.
It's not, like, here is
christianity and here is business.
So, for us, it's kind of
like one and the same.
So, for that matter, we've found
that, like, the best partners for us
have been people that share
a lot of our values.
So, that was
a lot of the people
that we decided to travel
along this Blackjack road with.
The primary thing
that holds our team together
is relationships,
not Blackjack.
The people that play for us
plays for us because
we know about them
and we're friends with them,
and we care about them
and they care about us.
They've prayed over me,
I've prayed over them
and their families and the
things going on in their ministries.
That's life. Like, that's
relationships to us...
It's, like, just seeing the ministries
that these people are doing
and feeling like I have
some part in it.
I know that,
as a Christian,
like, people in the faith
are considered family,
and I really
take that seriously.
They challenge me
in my faith,
and they challenge me
in living life well
and not playing by the rules
that somebody else set up.
We do have that
kind of commonality
with other christians
on the team.
We realize we have souls.
And, ultimately, we work.
And do what we do because of
the state of our soul,
not to build an empire
and not just buy more stuff.
Blackjack makes people
reassess what christianity is,
and in a good way.
My wife and I always say
that we want to live in the gray...
Because in the gray, you've
got to question who you are
and what you're doing.
I hate the thought
of being to a point
where I just get
slapped on this label...
"Oh, yeah,
that's a Christian.
"He's a good guy,
he reads his Bible
and, like, whatever...
Goes to soup kitchens."
It's much deeper. It's about
who you really are inside.
I've learned a lot from
different people on the team,
different perspectives
that they have on things.
And I think that...
That makes us what we are.
I don't think that we
would be able to do this
without...
Without who we have.
Running count.
Nine.
So, tonight we're going
to the emerald queen,
and that's where
we're doing a retest
of all the players
on the team.
It'll be the same
as always.
We'll request a count by giving
a signal. You guys gotta pass it.
When the team was small, people
used to come alongside of us,
they'd play with us, and we'd
be able to watch their game,
see them improve.
After we got ten people,
we'd just teach them
how to play,
then send them off
on their own...
Assume they know and
learn things, but they don't.
So, we see these tests...
The craziest things...
We're, like, "oh, my gosh.
How did they not learn that?"
Well, they weren't
hanging out with us, you know?
'Cause there's
too many of them.
We can't just pay you
a lot of money,
and you run around casinos
like a high-roller.
You need to understand
every aspect of the game
and take your job
as seriously as any other job.
The layout of emerald queen is,
there's two main pits...
Which you guys can play
both of those.
The more you guys
pass the count,
the more
we won't ask for it.
I don't think
anyone will fail.
That would be really bad
if we saw people
playing that bad.
Then there'd be
a lot of problems.
Now people realize...
Hey, first things first.
If this business is gonna work, people
need to play perfect Blackjack, period.
Or else the whole thing
falls apart.
Holy crap. It's so weird
how bad they played.
They must've been just
freaking out or something.
I mean, what the heck?
Oh, man,
this is gonna be fun.
Jeez, there's a lot
of people here.
There was a lot of things
we noticed that need improving.
And, for that matter,
I think almost everyone...
What we realized universally is
that we're not doing the big bet spread
until we solve a lot of kinks
in everyone's game.
I think people... they have the
confidence of a card-counter, of course,
and they're just used to being
able to feel their way through things.
We came up with a lot of people
who, if they were to actually do the math,
I think would've made
different decisions.
But the worst-case scenario
is when you rush through it,
you don't do the math, and therefore
you don't make the correct decision.
Really, like, the best thing
would be to go home right now
and send us an email...
Kind of, like, your action plan
for what you need to do to make
whatever we observed disappear
and better for the next time.
The process we're going through
now... there will be more test-outs.
We're gonna be doing
a monthly test-out
required for each person...
Not in Seattle.
But there is gonna be
more accountability for that,
which is much needed for us
and way overdue.
So, these things...
In the past,
we've been really bad at letting
things slip through the cracks.
That is gonna be
a thing of the past now.
There's good news
and bad news about it.
The bad news is
our team is so...
For the last year,
has been so bad
that we're performing beyond
what you could expect
from a Blackjack team.
The good news is,
if we fix it,
we should never have to worry
about a year as bad as this last year.
I know you don't want
to hear any data.
But, more importantly than the
fact that we're still in the negative,
is that,
with that many hours,
it's statistically
impossible
to have that happen
with legitimate
card-counting.
So, then the question is, like,
how the hell did that happen?
So, I tried, like,
running a sim
of, like, ten bet
mistakes per hour
and four playing
mistakes per hour,
um, and the team... instead
of playing 100 rounds an hour,
like, 60...
And playing all the way
to a true -5.
That brings it to, like...
You know, like, a 15% chance
of such poor performance.
And it's, like, cost us,
you know, $4 million,
theoretically,
in the last year and a half.
Those numbers
are so crazy.
Based upon your
calculations,
what happened is,
like, literally impossible.
The fact that we can't
explain the data still...
No, we can't. I feel
like we can't explain it.
You changed everything to
the most ridiculous proportions,
and, even then, it was,
like, a 15% possibility.
It still doesn't
make sense to me.
Like, something's off
somewhere.
We're allowed to talk about
anything we want, right? Ha!
I just know that,
like, we were down.
You've probably already
talked to Ben and Colin
about how far down we were.
But the last I heard,
we were down 450,000.
And...
For the first time,
I was really glad that they...
That my investment
wasn't in the bankroll.
Holy cow.
It just seems
a little crazy
to be down $450,000...
In a money-making venture...
Where you play games.
Colin sent out
this big, long email...
Like, "hey, we're gonna
have to have some changes.
"There's some lack of
health on the team.
"There's a 1-in-10,000 chance that we are
where we are right now, what's going on.
We need to, like, figure out
what's going down."
And I just emailed back, saying,
"you think someone might be stealing?"
Why don't you go show
them where your bed is?
Okay.
First of all,
our team is getting killed.
One of the good things about it was it
made us examine our business model
and think through...
What are the weaknesses?
And, of course, the first
thing we think through is...
You know, is someone
stealing from the team?
The way our business is
currently,
they actually could
get away with it.
That's one of the flaws.
But at the same time,
it is one of
our strengths as well,
'cause people know
that we trust them.
And I think,
for all of our players,
that's a powerful thing.
I realize that trust
is a very big issue
when you're handling
this kind of money.
And I've been through seasons
of not trusting people on the team,
to be quite frank
with you.
It just doesn't make sense.
How could people trust
each other to that extent?
I recognized
the gravity of...
Oh, my gosh. Anyone
can fudge these numbers.
Anyone can make up
the numbers.
They can say that they
played for four hours
when they played
for one,
that they lost ten grand
when they lost nothing,
and just take money.
The way that the team grew...
Through close friendships...
I think it's about the only way that
the team could've grown to this point
and really feel like
it's secure.
There are times
when me and Colin sit around
and we say, "all right,
who do you think
is most likely
to steal from us?"
It's easy to think, yeah,
someone could be stealing.
But whenever I run down the
individual players one at a time,
I have very little doubt.
If we were to find out
someone was stealing,
I think the biggest factor
that would come into play
is not the fact
that they stole money,
but it'd be the compromise in
the relationship that took place.
Really, I have to trust
other team members.
I suppose if I didn't, it would
probably drive me kind of crazy.
I feel like trusting friends
is just a part of life,
and I feel like, in a lot of
ways, it's not that difficult.
We've put everything we
have on the line in this game.
We've borrowed to
invest in this team,
and I totally trust
what they're doing.
Can something happen?
Absolutely.
I mean, people sin.
It's gonna happen.
But I trust the people
on our team.
You want a strawberry.
Can I have
a strawberry?
Hey, listen... you guys can
have one strawberry each.
So, pretty much,
what happens is...
Brad currah calls me up,
and he's, like,
hemming and hawing.
He's, like, "there's a thing
I feel I should tell you.
But I feel pretty stupid
saying it."
I'm, like,
"dude, just say it."
After he said it, I wish
he wouldn't have said it.
So, uh, two different
people came to me
and said,
"Benjamin is stealing."
They were certain
that he was stealing money.
It's not really my idea.
They just told me
because they were concerned.
And how did
they know?
Um... I don't know
if I should say.
Benjamin was saying
that Brad currah
had accused him
of, apparently,
stealing money
from the team,
and, when asked
for an explanation
or a justification
for that view,
Brad currah replied,
"I can't tell you."
So... I'd be
interested to know...
From Brad currah's
point of view...
What justified
that accusation.
I gotta think about this.
Is it okay to say this?
I had two people come to me
and tell me that they were
certain that he was stealing money.
And I said,
"how do you know that?"
And they said,
"the holy spirit told me.
Sometimes, when I pray,
the holy spirit tells me things."
I've worked with Brad a lot
outside of the Blackjack team,
and, at first, like,
he weirded me out,
because, you know,
he'd say these things, like...
"Oh, um... God told me
to play that slot machine.
So I did, and then I won,
like, $5,000."
Brad has a spiritual
relationship with god
that I don't have
or understand.
Or he's crazy.
And, in this case,
here's the thing...
Like, I wasn't willing
to write him off.
I totally trust Brad, and
I have good reason to.
So, I believe that he
believes whatever he says.
Do you have reason not to trust
that he would be hearing from god?
Uh... I don't...
I don't really hear
from god... In that way.
God has told me all kinds of
things. You know what I mean?
He's told me
a lot of things.
Um... he's had me do things
that I would never do,
and, like,
it turns out amazing.
If you ask somebody to go into
the true essence of what we say...
I mean, yeah,
I believe I hear from god.
I believe the lord
speaks to me.
But if you put that on camera,
people are, like...
It's just, like, tough
how deep you go into that.
It was really weird.
Not only is he not a Christian,
he's, like, one of the most
strongest opponents against it.
It's funny, because how do you tell
somebody who doesn't believe in god
that god told you
that they're stealing?
It makes it more difficult
that he's not a Christian
'cause it makes it sound like we're singling
him out 'cause he's not a Christian.
If I had to, like,
make a bet,
I would say yeah,
probably.
So, yeah.
I would say that he was.
You know, Benjamin ady's an
interesting guy, to say the least.
Obviously, his kind of,
like, spiritual, um,
mental, political... um,
just a lot of his stances...
And this is what I told
him... are very unique.
In a team atmosphere,
where, like, a lot
of unity and trust
and other things are,
like, high values,
it can, like...
And I think it did...
Really, like,
compromise it.
It made it so that
there was less trust,
there was less
feelings of unity,
there was less pride in wanting
the entire team to succeed.
I don't know if we made
the right decision.
But the reason why
Benjamin ady was fired
wasn't because
he was stealing.
Um, ultimately,
it was because...
He didn't fit
the profile of our team.
I don't even... I don't even know
if that's the right way of saying it.
Anytime that I've had
to explain to somebody
how our team works...
Like, when I've
been arrested...
Basically, law enforcement...
the first thing they ask is,
"how does your employer know
you're not stealing from him blind?
How do they know you report
your wins and losses accurately?"
And I've always answered,
"we're all christians."
And that can be
really shallow.
But, at the same time,
people always go...
"Oh, that makes sense."
The problem is, what
happened with Brad currah
and Benjamin ady...
It's not measurable.
We can't prove it.
If we could prove it,
then we would say
what took place is true.
But we can't.
You know, we all want to
be nice and love each other,
but the truth hurts sometimes,
and that's just the way it is.
So, to some people, Brad
currah's, like, a lunatic.
He's a psycho-Christian
fundamentalist
who thinks
he hears from god.
Uh, and he might be that.
At the same time,
Brad might...
He might be legit.
And even logically,
in my mind...
Let alone theologically...
It makes sense that Brad
could hear from god,
and god could say, "hey,
this thing... which is of value... ".
The church team,
our team...
"It's being compromised
by a person.
Here's who,
and here's how."
That's, in short,
what took place.
Are you... are you good?
Yeah, I'm great.
I'm excited.
Today we're gonna
baptize Lisa.
Everybody say,
"hi, Lisa."
Lisa will explain a little
bit more about her story.
But in February, Lisa decided
to follow Christ as lord of her life.
So, today we're following
up with that via baptism.
In the family of god,
that's what we do.
- Is that cool.
- Yeah.
Lisa, you've been
baptized in Christ.
And now you're raised
in new life.
It started to weigh on me...
Like, different worlds,
'cause they're so far apart.
You know what I mean?
My life is spent
with people I love
and people who I think
care about something
that I believe is greater
than ourselves.
And then I go to a casino,
where it's, like...
The complete opposite.
Yeah, it just sucks.
That transition gets old.
Going to baptize someone,
and then go gamble?
Poetic justice.
It's our pleasure to
welcome you to Las Vegas...
The biggest issue I ran into
in the last year,
regarding the nature
of what Blackjack is,
is, as a Christian, I think that
whatever we put our hands to
should bring out more value
in the community.
It should be left better
than when I found it.
And my problem
with Blackjack is...
It, in itself, doesn't
actually do anything.
What I've wrestled is...
I have a conviction.
I really believe that strongly.
So, there's two points
of conflict.
One... do I apply
my conviction
to everybody else
on the team?
And then two...
Am I even right?
Maybe it's fine to help
create a business
and sustain a business where guys
can just go do whatever they feel like.
But I never came in here thinking
this was the way I want to live.
I wouldn't say
I've lived like that,
but I've endorsed a company
that affords that lifestyle
to a lot of people.
It's been a point
of wrestling
that I really can't
come to grips with.
I don't really like
Las Vegas very much.
It's too self-aware.
Not quite Kentucky.
I know for sure, for myself,
I cannot live on Blackjack
and say that what I'm doing
is a worthy pursuit,
a righteous
or a full pursuit.
I think man was meant
to experience something way...
Way more tangible
and simple
than just robbing casinos
and making a bunch of money
and getting awesome comps.
I thought
I was gonna be...
Brushing off cobwebs,
figuratively.
But there's cobwebs there.
We're gonna have
to play Blackjack
because we haven't closed
a bankroll in a while.
So, it's, uh, time to make
some money to pay the bills.
So, this is kind of
a new experience for us,
even though we used to
do it all the time.
But that's the way
we earn our money...
Is, uh,
at the Blackjack table.
We just haven't gone
in a while.
But we're gonna probably
play a lot of Blackjack
and not get much sleep.
I always try and bring these
because I'm a new person.
You won't even recognize me.
It's like I'm sophisticated.
50.1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
All right, there it is...
$50,000.
When I come out, I'll have
a stack of envelopes that high.
We'll see what happens.
I lost $11,200.
I got backed off
in just about an hour.
So, we're on to
the next place.
I'm down about 24,000,
and I've only been able
to play about two hours
between the two casinos.
And I wanted you
to make it
the camera's standing by
so I could capture
half the rapture
and I saved up
all my money
with a grand engraving,
silver plating
so that if you
ever fear...
Uh, we're down...
I don't even know...
Like, 50,000.
If the bottom ever drops
or your tied up
with the cops
don't be scared,
beware
the things
that never mattered
I might even cry if,
uh, I walk in
and they back me off.
And I wanted you
to make it
with the camera standing by
I'm not that surprised
by tonight.
It definitely went bad.
I mean, not as bad
as it can go,
but definitely on
the worst side of things.
One of the worst-case scenarios
is you spend this whole weekend,
and you lose money.
It's, like, you know you're
supposed to win, you should win.
If you make enough trips,
you will.
But then a lot of you
is wondering,
well, what if I just wouldn't
have gone on the trip?
Like...
Uh, maybe it would've been
better if just stayed home.
I would've spent time
with my family
and got a bunch
of stuff done,
and had more fun.
Instead, I went on this trip,
and I lost the team money.
So, I think your expectations
going into this...
It's really important
not to, like...
Just put all your hopes
and dreams
on winning money or...
Everything working out.
There is definitely
not a conflict
between my faith
and my occupation.
If anything,
my occupation...
Serves as a tool of god
to strengthen my faith.
I have nowhere else to turn
but to god
when, you know,
a trip is falling apart.
And that's a month's wages
going down the tubes.
God knows all of my needs,
and he knows exactly what
order the cards are in the shoe.
I mean, he's created
order in the universe
so that card-counting
is even possible.
I believe every hand
is determined by god,
in the same way that,
if a sparrow falls,
he takes notice.
He knows
every minute detail.
He knows when I'm gonna hit
and when I'm gonna stand.
I actually wrote down
a memory verse.
I was kind of
freaking out in Reno.
I was, like, "oh, no.
What am I gonna do?
'Cause I'm not getting
very many hours in."
And I wrote down
a verse in my iPhone.
Deuteronomy 8:17-18.
"You may say to yourself,
"my power and the strength
of my hands
"have produced
this wealth for me.
"But remember
the lord your god,
"for it is he who gives you
the ability to produce wealth
"and so confirms
his covenant
which he swore to your
forefathers, as it is today."
Um, and I read that in a hotel
room out of the Gideon Bible.
I was just kind
of freaked out
about how my trip
was going,
and, uh, came across
that verse.
I was just, like,
"god is so good."
He's provided this for me,
and it's strengthened me.
There's definitely
no conflict in my mind
or my heart
or my conscience.
I know for a fact
that this is what I was
supposed to be doing right now.
This is, like, my calling.
In the big picture, Blackjack
has changed everything for me.
When I got into Blackjack, I
never thought it would last very long.
I was, like, "this is
probably the last year."
And I've said that now
for a long time...
"This is the last year,
this is the last year."
And right now I feel like
this is the last year.
I got to experience what
the other Blackjack players
have been dealing with
the last few years.
It's kind of crazy
out there.
I guess it's just one of those
things... we're getting old.
As far as professional
Blackjack players,
I guess we probably
are old.
I think, for me, mentally,
I've been done with Blackjack
for a while.
When I first got into it,
I was excited about it.
I loved the idea,
I loved learning it.
For me, I think now,
I'm coming to a place
where I am less
passionate about it.
I'm looking for something else.
I always am.
It was an identity, you know?
As much as we don't want it to be,
it's cool to be
a Blackjack player.
You talk to people, and people drop
everything at a party to talk to you.
I think the network we've
established with Blackjack...
Like, Blackjack,
I think,
will come and go
for all of us.
The most valuable
thing for me
is, like, I hope the
people that have come in
leave better
when they go out.
I just want to thank
you guys for the ride.
I don't know if I'll have
a better story in this life,
of, like,
that time period.
It's incredible.
I look back,
and I tell people... some
people go to business school.
I ran
a Blackjack team.
So, this Vegas trip
is different,
because the main reason
why we came
wasn't to play Blackjack.
We came to actually train
other players.
We offered boot camps
so players can come to Vegas
and pay us $1,000, and we'll
hang out with them for one day.
I think this is
a natural progression
of where we've come from.
We started off just playing.
Then we kind of moved
towards managing.
Now we're definitely looking for
different ways of making money.
Some sort of Blackjack
training, or using our knowledge
and what we've learned to market a
product... that's where we're headed.
Really, like,
the most important thing...
I mean, counting.
Like, if you guys can't
keep a count at a table,
you can't play.
In one sense, you're a
superhero to these guys.
When I first learned, and I hung
out with a guy who'd been doing this,
and you see they're on a team,
and they have money,
and they've been
kicked out of casinos,
and you're just, like,
"oh, my god, this is crazy."
And it's weird that
we're that now
to this, you know,
small group of ten people.
Nice meeting you guys.
I don't know what's next.
We have a couple of
Internet business ideas.
I can do a lot, or I can do
absolutely nothing.
I have, like,
no college degree.
I have, like, no professional
experience, you know?
I'm not really willing
to work a 9-to-5 anymore.
So, I'm not too worried
about it, in that sense.
A lot of times, I don't really know
what's... what's around the corner.
And I don't really care.
Maybe christians
shouldn't play Blackjack.