Hello:

About 10 years ago when I first started counting cards, I was playing down in Vicksburg, where I intended to play for only 3 or 4 days. I made the mistake of lobbying for a comped room. The pit boss started to pay closer attention to my play and finally in the middle of one of my hands he said to me,"Is the deck rich?"

I made the mistake of saying, "I hope so because if it isn't, I won't make any money will I?" I thought by using the word hope, that it would appear as if I didn't know how to count. If I had it to do over again, I would have said, "As long as I get rich, I don't really care about the economic condition of the deck."

Others have said that I should have just shugged my shoulders and said -- UH! I think that response wouldn't work either. I'm sure if the Pit Boss says something like this to you, he already has concluded that you are counting cards.