The Two Companies Most HATED by Blackjack Players

Advantaged blackjack players have a love-hate relationship with casinos. They love using techniques like card counting and optimal strategy to create an edge and take money from the house, but they hate the extraordinary measures that many casinos go to in order to prevent people from using legal methods of beating the game.

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The result is an epic cat-and-mouse game that pits players against casinos. Players dress up in elaborate disguises, travel around to different casinos, and do everything they can to “avoid the heat.”

At the same time, casinos use every tool at their disposal to stop the advantaged players from siphoning too much off their bottom line. These are two companies that provide those tools.

The Griffin “Black Book”

Griffin Investigations has been a thorn in the side of advantaged players since the 1960s. They specialize in investigating and reporting on people who they suspect of either cheating or advantaged play at casinos.

They report those findings in their infamous “black book” that includes pictures, locations, and other details. Casinos can subscribe to this service to get a heads-up on potential threats before it's too late.

While the Griffin Book used to be published in physical hard copies, today’s book is published as an online database. This makes it even more difficult for advantaged players to avoid the heat.

However, being included in the “black book” isn’t a death sentence for every advantaged player. With cunning and craft, it’s possible to continue to extract maximum value by playing blackjack without drawing too much attention.

Biometrica Facial Recognition

Getting away with advantaged play becomes even more difficult when casinos utilize next-gen tech like facial recognition artificial intelligence (AI) systems. This technology uses real-time video surveillance to match facial biometric patterns with those of known advantaged players, such as those found in the Griffin Book.

Biometrica, with their VisualCasino product that just does that, is a main provider of this technology for casinos. While smaller casinos, such as those found on America’s back roads and on tribal land, cannot always afford this technology, many high-end casinos seek to protect themselves from advantaged players by installing facial recognition.

The difficult challenge with avoiding facial recognition is that it is able to identify advantaged players even if they put on disguises. Even the combination of a wig and sunglasses isn’t enough to fool the system.