Reddit mentions of Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions

Well, if reading Bringing Down the House taught me anything ... Strippers.

Counting only works if it's applied to betting. In order to get the best odds you have to play minimums until the count is high enough to justify an increased betting amount.

This pattern is very easy to pick up on so that is why most card counters work in teams. The "counter" just sits and plays for hours on end, never really varying their bet amount. When the count gets high enough they signal to another player who's appearance is that of a high roller so their increased bet amounts don't look strange/stand out.

Most casinos have lowered the number of decks used and shuffle more often. These changes have effectively made counting useless as you can't keep a running count long enough to make it statistically advantageous to make it worthwhile.

I am personally too slow to keep count, but back when they still used eight decks, I could pick up on patterns of lots of smaller cards coming out at the beginning of the deck, enough to realize I should up my bet.

If you are still interested in this topic please read this book , it's a really entertaining read.

http://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Down-House-Students-Millions/dp/0743225708