Ben Affleck Caught Counting Cards, Banned from Blackjack at Hard Rock Casino
Sometimes them Cambridge boys can be too smart for their own good.
TMZ reported Friday that Ben Affleck was banned from the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas this week after he was caught counting cards while playing blackjack at the high rollers’ table. Security told Affleck he’d been considered a “high advantage player” and was told he had to kiss the blackjack table goodbye.
Card counting is a strategy used in games like blackjack wherein players use probability to determine how to proceed in the game. The method is a thoughtful approach to what is otherwise quite the game of chance. The practice is frowned upon by the casino business for obvious reasons. Supposedly Affleck and wife Jennifer Garner were in Las Vegas on vacation before Affleck had to head to Detroit to start shooting Batman vs. Superman.
Here, a few takeaways, questions, and musings in response to Affleck’s ban from the Hard Rock:
• Wait, Ben Affleck can count cards? (Shoutout to his alma mater, Cambridge Rindge and Latin School!)
• Wait, Ben Affleck is a gambler? (Yes, he’s even taken part in many a star-studded poker tournament. Hey Don Cheadle, buy Ben’s bluff?)
• Wait, is counting cards legal or not? Answer: Card counting in your mind is legal, while using an external device such as a smartphone is illegal, but casinos can still kick you out simply for being too wicked smart. (See: Laurence Fishburne beatdown in the movie 21.)
• Was it when Affleck tried to get rid of a joker that gave him away? (Because he’s Batman!)
• Maybe the actor should have played the math genius Will in Good Will Hunting instead of Chuckie?
• Maybe Matt Damon and George Clooney were testing the newest member of Ocean’s Fourteen?
• Amy Poehler, yah think yah smahter than him?
• This seems like a good time to remind everyone that Affleck acted in the 2013 film Runner Runner with Justin Timberlake—Affleck’s character runs a dirty online gambling website. Talk about relevant… but you still couldn’t pay us to watch that flop again, so moving on…
• Do you think he muttered “Argo f— yourself” on the way out of the Hard Rock?
And finally…
• WWBWD—what would Bruce Wayne do?
