Gina Fiore has netted a total of $15 million in her professional gambling career by spotting tiny mistakes that most people miss at the blackjack table, the LADbible reports. While many gamblers stick to poker because it feels like a game of skill, Fiore carved out a path in blackjack that relies on a very specific, rare observation.
She does not use traditional card counting, which involves tracking the values of cards as they leave the deck. Instead, she looks for dealers who accidentally reveal a portion of a face-down card, a technique she calls hole carding.
Fiore reportedly spent up to 16 hours a day watching dealers to find the ones who made this mistake. She estimates that only one in 300 dealers inadvertently shows a part of that hidden card. Once she identifies those individuals, she sends in teams of what she calls advantage players to beat the casinos.
She has warned others against trying to follow in her footsteps
Her background played a huge role in her ability to pull this off. Fiore moved to Las Vegas when she was 14 years old, and her mother worked as a dealer. Growing up in that environment gave her an insider perspective, and she eventually became a dealer herself.
Her career shift happened when a coworker decided to quit the job to count cards for a living. Fiore recalled, “A couple of years after that, somebody at my job was quitting to count cards for a living, and it was a light bulb moment for me, because my mom had told me about card counting when I was a teenager.”
After she put in the time to study, she mastered the art of hole carding and sorting cards. This skill allowed her to leave her job and pursue gambling full time. She eventually wrote a book about her experiences titled Advantage Player: A Memoir of Blackjack, Backrooms, and Beginnings. Her story is now headed to the screen as well, with an HBO series in development. Riley Keough is set to play Fiore in the project.
Despite the millions she has earned, Fiore is quick to warn others against trying to follow in her footsteps. She views this path as a difficult way to earn a paycheck and notes that the advantage player community is very small. She often feels like she had no other choice but to do this.
When speaking to Review Journal, she clarified the difference between her work and basic card counting. “Card counting is a very simple thing to do,” she said. “There’s a card counter, which they obviously play with an advantage, but anything above that you’re an AP. There’s an advantage player community, and it’s very, very small.”
She also noted that the opportunity to win remains present in the current environment. “In 2026, you can absolutely still make money as a gambler playing with an edge,” she said. “But it’s definitely hard to have a normal life. I had no social life for a very long time. It’s very isolating.”
Published: Oct 30, 2026 10:45 am