STYLE: Cautious, placing little bets with modest wins that slowly add up over the year. As if up against a Trojan horse, the casino loses a small fortune before realising the enemy is already in the house.

He may have resembled the TV character played by actor Warren Mitchell (hence my nickname for him), but this lookalike was so quiet, well camouflaged and seemed like such a low roller that no dealer, inspector, pit boss nor manager ever bothered to find out what his real name was. He came to our club for as long as I worked there, and took it for anything from £100-£200 a night, every night of the year. Not a lot, you might think, but the difference between him and so many other players is that he almost always walked away a winner, doing it in such a manner that, unlike innumerable card-counters we spotted, he never got marked out as a dangerous player and so never risked being barred.

This much tax-free winnings a night for a couple of hours' play isn't a bad way to supplement a low-income pension if you're retired. Sure, you need to be canny enough to unfailingly beat the casino to the tune of £100-£200 night in, night out, but the real winning characteristic is the seemingly simple act of walking out.

A seasoned inspector told me when I first started in the business: 'Everyone is up at some point in the night. If everyone walked out as soon as they were up - even if it was only by a pound - there wouldn't be a single casino still in business. It's only because people keep on playing and don't know when to quit that the casino makes so much money. But that's greed for you; that's human nature.'

That was 20 years ago, and I can count on one hand how many players I've known who had the willpower to quit when they were ahead. Alf bleedin' Garnett was one of 'em. The way he played was actually quite simple, but over five years, by my calculations, he was one of the biggest winners overall the club had ever had. I didn't have the heart to grass him up to the management. I hope he's still there, and good luck to him!