GOLDBERG

One of the few counters who have remained undetected by the casinos is "Goldberg."


If you were to sit next to Goldberg at casino, you would think he was just an ordinary player. Short, skinny, balding, and middle-aged, Goldberg appears to casino bosses like a businessman in for a few days to playa little golf, sit in the sun, and gamble a few hundred dollars. He often wears a gold hat with the name of the club where he is playing. In fact, Goldberg is a Southern California businessman who bought the business, a wholesale liquor distributorship operated by his brother, with the winnings from counting against Nevada clubs.

I know Goldberg very well. I spotted his moves several years ago in a Las Vegas club where I was working. He doesn't play where I work but always stops in to say hello. For the past five years, Goldberg has been winning an average of $1,000 a week playing the count against a single deck. He also plays the count against the shoe, but he prefers the single deck. Goldberg bas even established credit in several clubs and uses the credit occasionally to make it look as if he is an ordinary player. His rounds include clubs from Reno to Las Vegas and occasionally abroad. He may play in one club and not return for a month or so. He knows exactly which clubs are soft and which are tough to beat. Goldberg has a routine he follows automatically. After playing the "circuit" (as he calls it) for a month or so, Goldberg returns to California for a few weeks' rest and relaxation with his family. He's said to me that his wife knows he is a counter, because in the early days she would go with him, but his two teen-age sons think he is a traveling liquor salesman.