Guest Post: Counting Cards

I (Grant) asked AJ in an email if he wanted to go into detail for his readers about his card counting exploits, and he responded:

I don't remember EXACTLY what we did since memory isn't my forte'.  (Spelling, Leeann...) But, if I quoted my accuracy, my astute friend, Grant, pointed out that I ONLY got 10 out of the displayed 12 cards correct.

If MY memory serves me right, and that's a big IF, several months ago I showed AJ five random playing cards all at once for about ten or fifteen seconds. I took them away and asked him to tell me what cards they were. He got all five correct. Then I remember stepping it up a little to seven or eight cards. Same idea. And AJ got five or six correct. If he remembers getting 10 out of 12 too, I totally believe him. I just don't remember it.
At the time, AJ's joke du jour was that we should take him to Vegas because he would be able to secretly count cards and therefore bankrupt a casino. ...Of course.

As a related aside, AJ astutely (to borrow a word) pointed out that in the movie The Hangover there is a direct "visual quote" (my term) from the movie Rain Man. When Allen––who intends to count cards in Vegas (and does successfully)––descends the escalator to the casino floor, the shot looks exactly like the shot from Rain Man. It's not really subtle, but for those unfamiliar with Rain Man, it's easy to miss.
Thank you, Mr. Movie Man.

See for yourself.