Now let's say the count stays at +3 and we want to maintain the four-unit bet at $400, and at the same time dispel the appearance of card counting for our second player, who had just bet $150. This time he cuts that bet in half to $75. Now player number-one who had just dropped his bet to $50 steps it back up to $125, and players three and four remain at $100. So again we've bet our four units, but now player two is dismissed as a card counter, at least as far as anyone in the casino or surveillance counting down the deck along with us is concerned. Players three and four are the only ones who have not yet decreased their bets. So then on the next round if the count stays favorable enough to maintain the same bet, we have those two players drop back to $75, while the $50 difference is picked up by either player one or two. The key is to juggle the betting between us so that anyone counting the deck down for the casino would conclude that all four of us are not betting in card counting patterns. In order to catch on to us, they would have to combine all four of our bets for each hand and compare them with the true count. That would be hard for them to figure out, as they first have to identify all four of us as being together. If we're at a $25 minimum table and everyone is playing above the minimum in green or black chips, we will not stand out as long as we avoid the purple chips. We could, however, use the purples on $100 minimum tables or on $25 tables with black and purple action. And whenever the count skyrockets, we increase our betting accordingly, hopefully with the cover of a hot table where the other players not with us are winning too. In that case, our increased bets will look like normal hot-streak play. We can always stay a bit lower with the betting if needed to maintain cover."
All this sounded great to his ex-partners. One of them asked about the negative betting progression when the count turned downward. "We just do the same thing," Curtis explained. "We vary the decreases between the four players So, what do you guys think?" Their collective answer was that they were back in business a week later. The New Wave Card-Counting Team hit Vegas with a hard right-hand at the blackjack tables. They alternated between seating three, four and all five of their members at the tables, depending on available seats and varying playing conditions. They were able to maintain their one-to¬sixteen-unit bet spread most of the time. When they couldn't they still maintained an edge over the game, and they stayed underneath casino radar. The New Wave team has been at it for over a year now and other teams have also adopted this strategy, the numbers of which I'm uncertain. But this is definitely the new wave of card counting. The best thing about it is that it renders casinos' current card-counting detection software useless. Surely casinos will develop detection software that incorporates this new feature of team play, but detection will never be as easy for them as it is with the old team-play concept of using big players signalled into games by table and back counters. 4