The best blackjack tacktics

How Atlantic City became top gambling destination

admin — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:34:15 +0000

In 1978, Resorts International opened in Atlantic City, the first legal East Coast casino in the twentieth century. Their four- and six-deck blackjack games offered a new form of surrender, dubbed by card counters as “early surrender,” since the casino allowed players to surrender half a bet even when the dealer showed an ace or 10 up, and before the dealer checked for a blackjack. This rule gave basic strategy players a small edge over the house right off the top, without any card counting whatsoever! And the advantage to card counters was even greater. From opening day, card counters had a field day at Resorts’ tables.

A New Jersey college student named Tommy Hyland, who had just turned twenty-one, started going to Atlantic City in 1978 when he heard about the favorable black-jack game at Resorts. Within a year, he had organized about twenty of his college and golfing buddies into a team of blackjack players. Hyland’s team continues to this day as one of the most successful casino gambling operations in history.

It was also in 1978 that the first MIT blackjack team was started. This team actually consisted of students from MIT, Harvard, and other East Coast colleges. Johnny C.j now a legendary player who joined the team in 1981, plays high-stakes blackjack to this day and continues organizing teams of professional players. The Czechs, the Hyland teams, and the MIT teams would be the scourge of the casino industry for decades to come. Many believe these teams owe their existence to the Resorts’ game with its early surrender rule that made the game so easy to beat. College kids found that they could pool their money, play blackjack with a modicum of intelligence, and get rich quick.

A team of professional blackjack tables players whose founders were from Czechoslovakia that had been playing in Las Vegas flew all of their members to Atlantic City to take advantage of this new surrender rule. This team, which later became known in the casino industry as simply the Czech Team, found the Resorts’ game to their liking and stayed for months.

In fact, it was a combination of that easy-to-beat early surrender game and Ken Uston’s The Big Player that had just been published in 1977 that worked together to create an environment where new teams of smart young kids could make millions playing blackjack.

Online Casino Games are Easier to Catch than Fish!

admin — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:34:49 +0000

We see how people walk away as losers and winners and trust me when I say that there is a big difference! Casinos online have been sweeping the country and changing the way we view entertainment. While some play these casino games online for fun, other treat it as pure business and who can blame them? You have to decide for yourself if casino games are for you. Here’s how you can decide: do you like to win? If being a winner of casino games, whether they are online casino games or any other casino game online, you can be sure that you will find the right game. You can pick and choose how you spend your time and your budget. Do you enjoy the feeling of learning a skill and getting better at it? Do you enjoy cash? If you answered yes to these questions, chances are you are not that guy who likes to fish on the weekends! Let this be the best part of being an adult! The only problem you get now is that you have to decide which game to play first. With thousands of ways to play some of the best loved casino games around, you might need to map out how you go about playing! Good luck!

The Online Casino Turtle and the Hare are Racing Again!

admin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:47:51 +0000

I have tried this often enough with my new gaming software and have since given up. The great thing is that you don’t have to be a genius at computer technology in order to enjoy good old fashion, new technology, when it comes to casino games.

Online casinos have a knack for providing fun for those who are interested in getting better at the casino game of their choosing. But why else would someone dedicate their free time to playing casino games? It’s not a greedy thing or even a needy thing. Playing for money helps encourage a healthy competitive nature in an individual. Winning at casino games can also boost self-esteem in someone. If you are ready to win at progressive slots or other popular online casinos, you should start today. Within moments you could feel better than before.

While sites compete with each to be the best in offering casino games online, you can bet that you have a large pool of options to choose from. If you like the slow and easy style of playing slots online, you can find them as well as so many other types of games on the better sites. But don’t forget: you are playing to win, right? Why else would you play and improve? Well, fun goes without saying.

Warning: Terrible Casino Game Sites Create Terrible Experiences

admin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:23:55 +0000

To relax from the comfort of your own home and play an online game of blackjack or poker is a greatest thing the humanity invented. You’d want the best in the activity, right? So often, people try to get online to play a great game of online poker and find themselves lost in the great big universe known as the world wide web, looking for the right game for them. When they do find one, they are stuck between a quality site that offers nice virtual games but feigned customer service.
Before you begin playing any online casino gambling, you should know who you’re dealing with. Top online casinos offer you the best in online blackjack, slots online and more in addition to the safety, security, and familiarity of playing on a safe site. All this waiting around and you could have been in a car to the gambling place in the desert, right? Be clever when you go to the online casino of your choice and you’ll walk away more of a winner than you could have dreamed. The casino online site that you choose should also have a variety of casino games to play. You can find yourself playing within minutes, not hours, waiting for a page to load or waiting for software to download.

No one likes losers! Win at Slots today.

admin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:52:14 +0000

My very first time I stepped into a casino, I had no clue on what to do or where to go. The action was happening all around me. It wasn’t until I was attracted to the slots machines that I understood where I had to be. I was suppressed by the noise crowd produced. Slots were the games to play. In my first few moments, I racked up bonuses like you wouldn’t believe. I always bet max bet because I had heard from a friend that that was the way to go when looking for a larger payout. Finally I started to win! When I play slots, I see the amount of variety offered. The slots bonuses are always amazing and I feel as if right now, I am ready to begin playing slots tournaments. I can’t wait no longer! There are so many different themes available and it is always nice to watch other players win money from playing free slots. I can tell these players practice from their own slots online games. To any man who likes playing slots in house or online slots, I say go for it. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain from being an everyday person just like me who likes to play slots!

Learn how Playing Online Casino Games like Slots can improve your Smile!

admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:36:29 +0000

Being busy shouldn’t stop you from enjoying your life. With the stresses of modern day life, juggling family and work, maintaining personal time as well as sustaining a relationship with friends in a social setting, life can get hectic. But what about the days when we were kids saying, “I’m bored. I need something to do.” No more of that, eh? But you can find that “something to do” easily when you begin to play casino games. Don’t sit around a table with some friends quietly playing bridge or some other mild card game. An hour later, everyone leaves and you’ve got nothing to talk about on Monday at work! Invest in your happiness! You deserve it. Play online casino games and watch as your personality shines in the glow of victory. Watch as you are able to say, “Dinner is on me tonight!” How can you do this? By joining the millions of people who have already developed a keen sense of casino online games, is how! You can soon find yourself winning at game that you could have never imagined yourself playing. Slots is just naming one. There are progressive slots, jackpot bonuses, themes galore, and so much more to the seemingly easy game of Slots. Slots online will lead you into the casino online world quickly and safely. So go there. Go join the others and end your days of boredom right now!

How Twenty-One Became Blackjack

admin — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 19:19:22 +0000

One regarded scientist included a Simple Point Count in this new edition of his book, but at the time that strategy seemed way too simple to most players to gain much of an edge, or to be taken seriously by players who wanted to beat the game. Later, the power of Thorp’s simpler method of adjusting the running count, without keeping a separate count of the exact number of cards played, would be shown.

According to Richard Epstein (Academic Press, 1977), blackjack was popular during World War I, and was called by this name from the practice of paying a bonus to a player who held an ace of spades with a jack of spades or clubs. John Scarne, (New Complete Guide to Gambling, 1961, Simon & Schuster), puts the year when this curious rule first appeared at 1912, when twenty-one tables appeared in horse-betting parlors in Evanston, Illinois. I believe Epstein’s information is taken from Scarne, and Scarne states that he discovered the origins of blackjack in America as a result of his private discussions with old-time gamblers, not from any published texts that can be looked up today.

I am skeptical of much of what Scarne has written about blackjack, so I’ll quote from Mickey MacDougall’s MacDougall on Dice and Cards (Coward-McCann, 1944, NY), which was published prior to any of Scarne’s books: “Many professionals dress up the game by giving prizes for certain hands. A favorite stunt is to offer ten times the size of the wager to anyone holding a natural twenty-one with a black jack. This adds interest to the game, but it also tempts a player to increase his stakes.”

In an honestly dealt single-deck game, this gimmick bonus would give the player a substantial edge over the house, assuming the player knew basic strategy (an unlikely assumption). I would also assume that a gambling house that offered this bonus would be using any number of illegitimate methods to assure the house a healthy edge.

And still there is no reason for casinos to fear. The Complete Point Count was easier to use than the ten-count, but it was not a lot easier. It required players to keep two separate counts. In addition to the running count of the cards’ point total, the player had to keep a count of the exact number of cards remaining to be played. And in order to play his hand, he had to memorize a chart of 158 different strategy changes to be made according to the count.

video poker talks

admin — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:28:58 +0000

Jack and me were shooting the breeze at the bar when the young fellah called. He asked how big a bankroll someone’d need to turn video poker professional. Laugh? I coulda died. You’re just playing the pro game in your heads when you read these articles. Ain’t nothing gonna come of it. Anyways, let’s keep the dream going a while longer. That Mr. Ferguson fellah calculates you’d need $10,000 if you wanna turn pro and play the quarter video poker machines. Multiply that by four if ya wanna play the dollar machines. But I reckon that’s a tad optimistic. I’ve seen people burn that and never hit a jackpot. The Math God don’t care nothing for you. If you hit a run of cold machines, ain’t nothing you can do ‘cept play through the patch until you come out the other side. Now’s the time to use that grey matter you hide away in your head. Jack could loan me a pen and we’d do the best math you ever seen on the back of these here fancy coasters. You’ve got the proper video poker strategy nailed. All the most probable outcomes are in play. That kinda calculation would make Mr. Ferguson’s number look a smart bet. But ya gotta ask yourself, what kinda assumptions are we making? Are we assuming you’ve got an infinite amount of cash - that you’re gonna play video poker until all the probabilities work out like the book says they should? And you’ve never gotta take a restroom break or sleep some? You can keep playing until you’re on the right side? And then how we gonna exclude the chance that some other player’s gonna hit the jackpot? Don’t matter whether you’re playing a flat top or a progressive. If it’s a flat top, ya take a break and the next player on “your” video poker machine takes the pot. Playing the progressive, that jackpot can always go somewhere else no matter how fast and well ya play. So how much’re ya gonna drop before ya give up? Ten grand might be enough to give ya that cushion. But ya might need the kinda eye-poppin’ wad some whale tosses on the table like it’s loose change before ya break even. Are you ready to lose all that? And don’t you never forget. Once you’re tapped out, you’re outa the video poker game until you get the front money together again. Still reading, are ya? Jack here’s got an expression like he’s sucking on a lemon. He thinks I’m being too hard on ya all. I should make like an angel now I’ve crossed over to your side of the casino. OK. So think of this like video poker boot camp. I’m the ex-marine gonna kick ya round and give ya the tough love ya been missing all these years. You’ll be all the better for it. Well, that’s me done again. Catch ya ’round.

Anyone wanna buy a system?

admin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:05:20 +0000

So I got me a little snifter here. Jack’s been working his way through some freebies - a new supplier’s trying to break into supplying the casino. Reckons he needs to make sure all the right people get their taste of the good stuff and we’re both of us out to oblige him. Damn, but some of this stuff is good! Makes me wanna give up the poker and the slot machines, and settle down with a bottle or two to enjoy my retirement. Anyways, the young fellah just called. Caught me in a mellow mood for once. He thinks - well, we can suspend judgement on that for so long as he keeps paying me - he thinks I should explain myself. In one piece I’m saying there’s, “a proper mathematical playing strategy for video poker.” In the next, I’m saying there’s a gambler’s fallacy and you can’t predict the cards. He thinks they doesn’t fit right together. So here’s a few words to make it all crystal. Did you ever see Ocean’s 11 - don’t matter whether it was the original Rat Pack version or the new ones with George Clooney and his pals? Did you notice how they always robbed the casinos. There was never a hint of walking through the door with a system for winning at the tables or on the slot machines. Hollywood got it right for once. The only way you guarantee a big score at a casino is as a thief - and you’ve to be lucky to enjoy your “takings” and avoid the hail of bullets if you get caught by wrong people. Look around online. You’ll see a small army of people touting their systems for beating all casino games with a house advantage. Play slot machines, win big. Win at blackjack without counting. When I was growing up, my mother used to play 78s all the time. She loved the musicals of the 1920s. She’d never been on the chorus line, but she’d a hankering for it. Her parents disapproved of theatrical folk and that was an end of that. Anyways, one of my favorites was Banana Oil - kinda like snake oil but always applied to lounge-lizard lines. “When he tells you, ‘I adore you,’ that’s banana oil.” In other words, everything he said to get his mark into bed was bullshit. Well, the same goes for all these salesmen pushing betting systems for slot machines. They’re trying to scam you outa your money. Take it from me. There ain’t no system around that even dents the House edge on games where the probabilities are set in the House’s favor. Math is math. Mind you. It’s not my money - you wanna fool yourself you can shade the odds in your favor on video poker, then feel free. So, how do these systems work? You’re supposed to base your bets on the most recent outcomes. Take roulette as an example. Wait for a run of blacks, then bet on red - the longer the run, the bigger the bets on red. If you see a pattern emerging, you’re supposed to think that the probabilities of the game itself have changed. When I worked for casinos, we always nodded wisely when someone cautiously asked if they could play a system. Another little chicken ripe for the plucking. My father was counting deaths by the million over decades for the life companies. Probabilities and statistics only make sense in the long view. Short-term, you’ll find anomalies in all slot machines but, over time, the basic patterns are set in stone and in the House’s favor. You’ll see lucky streaks that look like they’re never going to end. But, so long as the House keeps its nerve, the winner will lose it all back again. It’s the same with the so-called systems. They aim to build up the small wins to offset the big losses. If you’ve the bankroll, you can often win over a session. But you’re obsessional kind, ain’t ya? You’ve invested that money in a system. You’re not going to quit while you’re ahead, are you? Which means that any small winnings you picked up on the good days will all get given back to the casinos on the bad days. It’s just the way the House edge works. Like I say, you can’t beat the math. Which leaves me with my strategy, which I’ll get back to when I’m good and ready.

Finding a table: Strategic seating

admin — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:33:20 +0000

Blackjack begins by selecting a seat at the table (or no deposit casino in the web). Typically, a blackjack table allows for five to seven players. Whenever you see an empty seat at a blackjack table, you may assume it’s for your taking (unless chips or a coat are holding the spot for a player who just stepped away for a moment or unless some player is playing two hands). In most cases, joining a game in progress is okay, although some tables have a No-Midshoe Entry policy (usually marked by a sign at the table), which means you have to wait until the shuffle before playing.
For your first trip to the tables, you’re better off finding a nearly full table. Although the number of players at the table hardly affects the odds on your hands, the game is much quicker with fewer players. A fuller table gives you more time to think about each hand without being rushed or pressured.
The following sections provide a few more pointers to keep in mind when looking for a seat. Ideally, you want to search for a table with fewer decks and favorable rules.