Praying Mantis: I had a 'Weird' Dream

Praying Mantis · 04-10-2005, 04:20 PM

The dream was interesting. I woke up thinking about it long and hard. Here's how it went.

I was sitting at 3rd base counting a DD game and won about $25,000 in the course of 5 hours of playing two hands of table max and varying my bets wildly, depending on the count. I couldn't believe I was receiving absolutely no "heat".

As I was coloring up I heard over the loudspeaker in the casino..."Ladies and Gentlemen, our casino would like to take this time to congratulate a $25,000 winner at our blackjack tables. Praying Mantis is a known card counter that has studied long and hard to get where he is and his hard work has paid off. We wish you the best, Mr. Mantis and look forward to your next visit to our casino."

Wow, I think.

Next, two burley security guards, along with the casino manager appear. The manager taps my shoulder and said, "Mr. Mantis, could you follow me?"

Now these guys were BIG, I mean, HUGE, what was I to do? They whisk me away and take my picture...not in the backroom, but beside the casino manager handing me a 4 x 6 foot $25,000 check. After the picture, (which was all smiles, of course) they placed it on the wall along with many pictures of other known counters. I saw an "old" one of Anthony Curtis. There was Kenny Uston receiving a half a million dollar check, along with 6 members of his team. Tommy Hyland and his team were celebrating their win, as well. I also saw a picture of Don Schlesinger holding his check, along with a copy of Blackjack Attack. It was evident that he was telling those looking at it, to read the "damn" thing if they ever want their picture taken. There were more, many more, as the whole wall was loaded with winners. Some weren't even counters!

After my picture, I drew a crowd wanting to know all about card counting and what they could do to match what I just did. I told them about AdvantagePlayer.com and other BJ sites and told them to get their books and start studying.

Afterwards I was leaving the casino and saw the casino manager, walked up to him and asked him. "Why are you embracing card counters in your casino? This is such an unusal occurance."

He looked at me and smiled and said..."Praying Mantis, do you realize how much money we make when we announce that another player or counter WON?"

I said, "But, sir, you can't be winning when counters take all your money"? To which he replied. "You see that wall where we just placed your picture"?

I acknowledged.

He said, "Well, for every one of you that we place up there we have thousands upon thousands of 'wannabe' counters that come in here and lose everything. Don't forget Mr. Mantis, counters don't always WIN, either."

"It's kind of like the same scenario when Dr. Thorp first released his book. After it scared the hell out of us, we realized we had nothing to be scared of. Afterall, the book generated so much interest we received many new players who started playing BJ and our tables were always full, just like now, so we went back to the old rules."

"When the casino announces a big winner at slots, BJ, or whatever, it allows others to believe that they can do that, too. They pour their money into the game, but who do you think gets the money in the end?...that's right, these big casinos weren't build by winners".

"HHHmmm, I said. Interesting. So by showing 'winners' at the game and embracing card counters, it generates MORE interest in the game, more people at the tables, and more money for the casino in the long run?"

Could this dream ever come true? I wonder.