At no point in this clip did he explain card counting. In fact, he never explained anything.

Freaky or not Spacey is one hell of an actor

In-case you're curious, card counting works like this:

Every card has a value, an imaginary value. High cards like faces and 10s are worth negative points, while low cards like aces, 2s, and 3s are worth positive points. You don't know what cards are left in the deck, but you do know it has to be an equal distribution of cards when it is new. You sit down, and in your head you have the number 0. This is the deck's value - as it stands you don't have any idea what will come up next. Now, as you see each and every card, you add it's value to this running total.

What you are essentially doing is getting a feel for how 'hot' or 'cold' the deck is. Since you know there are only X amount of every card, you also know that every time you see one of those cards, the odds of a card like it being drawn again are lower. The running total goes up and down as you see more and more cards and play more and more hands. Eventually you will have a situation where the running total is very negative - you've seen a lot of face cards, not many aces or 2s. The deck is 'hot'. The odds of drawing a low value card are now much higher than normal. Or you will have the reverse situation, where the deck is cold because you've seen lots of low value cards.

Then you use this information to make somewhat informed choices about betting. Let's say you get dealt 15. Not great, anything more than a 6 is a bust, which normally puts you at around 50/50 odds. But you've been counting for a while. The deck is hot, because you've seen a lot of face cards compared to low scoring cards. Mathematically speaking, you would expect now to draw a lower value card more often than not, and not go bust. It's still a guess, but depending on what the value in your head is, it might be more like a 70/30 in your favour of drawing a 6 or lower. Then, like many betting games, it's just a question of time and patience. Playing the statistics. Play enough hands and you should win overall. Many pro card counters leave the casino on a day with a 6 figure loss, but it's ok, because they go every weekend, and over the course of the year they're up 7 figures. Even if the odds are only 51/49 in your favour, eventually you'd expect to make a profit - the only question is how long will that take, and that is mostly luck!

Edit: Since many seem to think what I've written is wrong - Card counting is an individual affair. The mechanics by which all counting systems work is identical. Whether or not you score the tens as positive and the low cards as negative or vice versa is just personal taste (unless working with a team).

Spacey is simply put, an astounding actor.  I can never get over how good he is in a role.

I guess I missed the part where Spacey explains card counting like a genius....

name of the movie?

Say what u will about kevin spaceys personal activities but damn hes an amazing actor.

For those wondering why it’s not 50/50.

The host ALWAYS picks a door with a goat. And the contestant ALWAYS gets a choice to switch.

The reason it’s 2/3 chance is because there are only 3 outcomes and in two of those outcomes you get the car if you always switch. Let’s say it’s setup like this:

Door 1: car
Door 2: goat
Door 3: goat

Scenario 1
You pick door 1. Host can pick either door 2 or 3 to reveal goat.
You switch, you get a goat and lose.

Scenario 2
You pick door 2. Host is forced to reveal door 3. You switch you win.

Scenario 3
You pick door 3. Host is forced to reveal door 2. You switch you win.

The entire probability becomes inverted because you are guaranteed to get the car if you didn’t pick it in the first place.

A basic explanation of why it makes sense to switch to door number 2 is this: you are much more likely to have picked a goat on your first guess (2/3) and if you had, then switching would guarantee a win. (Since the only other goat has now been eliminated). That's it. If you had picked the car on your first go then obviously you will lose by switching but that is the leas likely scenario since guessing right only carries the probability of 1/3.

"I like to take an interest in my students" was a total foreshadow, eh? Lol

His card counting explanation was so ingenious that it went right over everyones head, I guess.

This was question asked of Marilyn Vos Savant years ago and her response stirred the intellectual community.

Thank you for the explanation.

I now understand why Kevin Spacey’s character believed he found the next person on his team. It’s because he was influenced by math and not emotions. Which is exactly kind of attitude you need in order to gamble or trade.

Spacy also in Margin Call, great movie.

I just love watching students being heroic even when I have no idea what’s going on.

In my 30+ years as a high end gaming surveillance agent, I either caught them at the table or entering the casino! It was an honor to watch them play before calling down and getting them backed off !

Fun fact. Humans have been shown in these exact situations that they almost never choose number 2.
In some studies, door number 2 was only chosen 6% of the time.

"You've got to follow me now."
The fuck I do! lolol I would not get this opportunity just out of paranoia

Este video no solo no explica el conteo de cartas, si no que explican de forma erronea la teoria del "problema de Monty Hall". Busquen la explicación, es interesante.