Actor, writer and director Ben Affleck (R) testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington February 26, 2014. REUTERS/Gary Cameron

By Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Ben Affleck was banned from playing blackjack at a Las Vegas casino because he was "too good," a source close to the Oscar-winner said on Friday.

Affleck, 41, was stopped earlier this week by security guards at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas while playing blackjack because "you are too good," the source said. He was told he could play other games at the casino.

Affleck, who won Oscars for co-writing 1997's "Good Will Hunting" and producing 2012's "Argo," recently starred in last year's crime thriller "Runner Runner," where he played an online gambling tycoon.

The actor was on a short break in Las Vegas with his wife Jennifer Garner before he left to shoot Zack Snyder's upcoming "Man of Steel" sequel where he will play Batman opposite Henry Cavill's Superman.

An earlier story by celebrity news outlet TMZ.com said Affleck had been banned for life from the casino for counting cards, a method of using probability to predict the next hand.

A representative for the Hard Rock Hotel did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

(Editing by Eric Kelsey, Ronald Grover and Lisa Shumaker)