This is a continuation article. To revisit Part 1, click here
The winner of the blackjack skills competition wins the Grosjean Cup, named after three-time winner James Grosjean. Runner-up gets the smaller Munchkin Award, named after my co-host, who also won three times but took longer to do so and is also a bit shorter.
Continue reading 18th Annual Blackjack Ball — Part 2 of 2
The Blackjack Ball is one of my favorite events of the year. Blackjack professionals, whether still practicing or not, come together at an undisclosed location in Las Vegas to share information, swap lies, and compare skills with one another. Hosted by wit and raconteur Max Rubin, the entry fee is a chilled bottle of premium champagne — preferably comped.
In addition to blackjack professionals, certain others are invited as well — including several attorneys and one radio co-host. Each invited guest may bring along another guest Continue reading 18th Annual Blackjack Ball — Part 1 of 2
I recently attended the 18th Annual Blackjack Ball — which I’ll write about at length in next week’s column. Briefly, this is a gathering of about 80 of the best blackjack players in the world (some currently out there playing — some retired), and perhaps 20 other gambling professionals of various sorts. Being a video poker expert is not sufficient to get invited, but co-hosting a radio show along with a Blackjack Hall of Famer apparently is. Among this crowd, Gambling with an Edge is “must listen” radio and so I was more of a celebrity with this group than I expected I’d be.
Continue reading A New Realization
I was helping Bonnie learn an advanced square dancing move called “Cast a Shadow.” (I know this is my hobby and not yours, but bear with me. We’ll get to video poker very shortly.) This is a move that starts out with two parallel lines composed of four dancers in each line.
Without describing the move in detail, I was asking her in which direction the dancers on the ends of the lines turned first. First she guessed “right,” (which I told her was wrong), and so then she guessed “left” (which I told her was also wrong.) This frustrated her. She (correctly) knew the only ways to turn were left and right and now I was telling her neither was correct. Continue reading It Depends
In last week’s column, I addressed hands which contained both a Q of one suit and JT7, J97, or J87 of another suit — where the correct play depended on the fifth card in the hand. In today’s column, I will discuss some additional hands in that same game.
Consider a K of one suit and a JT7, J97, or a J87 of another. We know that KJ is considerably less valuable than QJ (because of the number of potential straights), so after last week’s exercise it shouldn’t surprise us that we usually prefer the J-high 3-card straight flush to the KJ. Continue reading Some More Fine Points of 8/5 Bonus Poker
A woman recently hired me to teach her the idiosyncrasies of 8/5 Bonus Poker. She knew 9/6 Jacks or Better cold and wanted to know how the games differed — down to the smallest degree. I quoted her two prices — the lesser one was if I could write an article or two about what I was teaching her; the more expensive one was if I couldn’t. Cheaper won out.
There are a lot of players who use 9/6 JoB strategy for 8/5 Bonus. This isn’t a terrible approach. It takes a 99.166% game and reduces it to 99.158%. If you play for dollars at 800 hands per hour (i.e. $4,000 coin-in), the difference between using 9/6 JoB strategy and perfect 8/5 Bonus strategy is 32¢ each and every hour. Some players argue that life is too short to worry about earning an extra 32¢ an hour in exchange for additional study. Continue reading An Interesting Hand in Bonus Poker
I recently read aloud to Bonnie my Million Dollar Video Poker autobiography. As many of you know, it’s the story of how Shirley and I netted $1 million playing video poker during a six month period only seven years after beginning with a $6,000 bankroll.
Continue reading Endurance
Several years ago, I wrote an article which stated that successful video poker playing required a juggling act of sorts. Pretend that one ball is getting the right pay schedule; another ball is knowing how to play each hand; another ball is understanding the slot club and promotions in effect and not playing unless the combination is high enough; another ball is playing while rested and sober enough so that you’re at your best; etc. Continue reading One Ball Hits the Ground
Most of my articles have more to do with gambling than this one does. This one is primarily about an adventure that Bonnie and I had in which we accidentally ended up in a red light district–of sorts.
We were aboard the Norwegian Cruise Lines Epic sailing from Miami to the eastern Caribbean. After two days at sea, our first port of call was Philipsburg, Sint Maarten, the Dutch capital city of a small island which is 2/3 French (and considered part of Europe) and 1/3 Dutch (and is considered part of the Netherlands Antilles.) We decided we needed to go shopping. Continue reading A Different Sort of Shopping Trip
It’s been more than a year since Shirley and I parted ways, and this past April I began seeing a lady named Bonnie. That relationship is going very well and we plan to marry this coming May. Prior to our wedding, Bonnie and I have had to arrive at a financial understanding regarding my gambling profession. I’m certain that other couples have had to deal with similar situations.
In financial terms, both Bonnie and I are reasonably comfortable. Although her relatives like me well enough, it scares them to death that she could actually be sharing her estate with a professional gambler who might need her to bail him out from bankruptcy. Although I feel that I’m at the top of my craft and believe that there is essentially a zero chance of me ever losing all of my assets, her relatives don’t understand that. In their mind ‘gambler’ means ‘loser in the long run.’ Continue reading Sharing a Bankroll
