They’d play that table, and if the stars aligned, that dealer might unintentionally reveal the hole card.Īnother example: In a game of blackjack, dealers would peek at the hole card if a high card was showing, to check if it was blackjack. “Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of advantage players are genuinely trying to stay on the right side of the law,” said Jason England, a friend of Forte’s and a gaming consultant.įorte assembled a team who’d scout the casino floor, hoping to find a dealer handling cards a certain way. But most casinos can kick you out without cause. There’s nothing illegal about mentally tracking high cards over many rounds of blackjack - card counting. If a blackjack dealer accidentally flashes his card, the gambler has every right to use that information. He coupled that knowledge with what’s called advantage play: exploiting biases in gameplay that nudge the odds back toward the player’s favor.Īlthough advantage play is legal, the line between it and cheating can appear blurry. Forte played nearly every day for seven years, and had the mathematical formulas - when to play, when to fold - down cold.

Off work, Forte was a gambler himself, preferring blackjack and low-limit seven-card stud. When a casino veteran discovered Forte never attended blackjack school, the veteran was astounded: “You cradle that deck like a mother cradles her baby.” His bosses recognized a talent that belied Forte’s age. Two hours after turning 21, he dealt his first game. “I don’t even know what a union is, sir,” Forte responded. “How do you feel about unions?” asked one job interviewer. Las Vegas in the late 1970s was a city where the mob had outsized influence. At 20, Forte left school, packed everything he owned into a ‘74 Camaro and drove west. The kid was a natural.Įven after accepting a junior college scholarship to play basketball, the glitz and flashing lights of casinos beckoned. He was hired at his local American Legion hall and dealt cards during charity casino nights. Teenage Steve visited the library and checked out the seminal books on gambling at the time: Edward Thorp’s “Beat the Dealer” and John Scarne’s “Guide to Casino Gambling.” He never returned the books. But he understood something those hoping to luck their way to a better life did not you could improve your odds.

In time Forte realized these games his father played weren’t pure games of chance - the more you’d play, the more likely you’d lose. The old-timer not only exerted perfect control over the cards, he did it so suavely.Īn obsession took hold. The old-timer flashed the top card of the deck.

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