For the past seventeen years, a number of blackjack professionals have met annually at an undisclosed Las Vegas location to swap war stories, renew acquaintances, and to challenge each other with various contests. This shindig is called the Blackjack Ball and is hosted by Max Rubin and Barona Casino. Although I’m a couple of decades removed from being a professional blackjack player, I am fortunate to have been invited the past two years. This is at least partially explained because my Gambling with an Edge co-host Richard Munchkin lobbied for my inclusion. Thank you, Munch! Continue reading The 2013 Blackjack Ball
Category: Video Poker
Odd Man Out
This semester in my free video poker classes at the South Point, I’ll be teaching, among other games, 9/6 Double Double Bonus (DDB) (February 12), 9/6 Double Double Bonus Quick Quads (QQ) (February 19), and 9/6 Double Double Bonus Ten Play Ultimate X (UX)(February 26). These games have much in common with each other, but they also have significant differences. I see people playing both QQ and UX using “normal strategy.” That is a big mistake. Today’s column is dedicated to showing some of the differences among the games. Continue reading Odd Man Out
Which Game to Play?
I’ve mentioned many times that on 2x point days at the South Point, I play 9/6 Double Double Bonus Quick Quads. This is a game that returns 99.65% when played well, and 2x points are worth 0.60%, so that gives me a 0.25% edge — plus a small amount for mailers. I play this game for dollar Ten Play where each bet is $60 because it’s a six-coins-per-line game. Continue reading Which Game to Play?
The Eyes Have It
In 2001, I had Lasik procedures done on both of my eyes. Before that, I couldn’t see the big E on the eye chart without my glasses which I had worn for more than 45 years. I received the mono-vision version, which basically meant that I would see for distance with my left eye and close-up with my right eye.
Being free from glasses was wonderful. My vision was not so sharp in the intermediate ranges (say 2-8 feet), but overall, this was an acceptable trade-off. Continue reading The Eyes Have It
How Not to Run a Promotion
Michael Shackleford, my co-host on the Gambling with an Edge radio show, received an email from the slot director at the Riviera Casino in Las Vegas. The Riv was giving away $72,055 over the weekend of November 16-18 based on play from the prior ten days. In addition, play during November 10-12 would receive 5x points. The problem, however, was that there were five hourly drawings from 6 p.m. – 10 p.m. Friday; ten hourly drawings between noon – 9 p.m. Saturday; and seven hourly drawings from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Sunday. If you had a lot of tickets and wanted the best chance of winning some of the prizes, you basically had to hang out there all weekend. Continue reading How Not to Run a Promotion
How Do You Convince Somebody?
Let’s assume that I think all video poker machines in Nevada are fair — and when I say fair I mean that each unseen card has an equal probability of showing up next. Now let’s assume that I play 200,000 hands of single line Jacks or Better and do not hit a royal. That’s about five cycles. The chances that I will go the next five cycles without a royal on a fair machine are about 1-in-150.
You then ask me if I still think the machines are fair. My answer is going to be, “Yes, the machines are most likely fair.” My ‘prior belief’ dominates my belief system. Continue reading How Do You Convince Somebody?
Video Poker on Twitter
I have yet to join the Twitter-verse. For those still living in the 20th Century, Twitter is usually sent out over smart phones and is limited to 140 characters. Your ‘tweet’ (i.e., a message sent out on Twitter) goes out to all of your followers. They can then re-tweet and send it out to their followers if they wish. Sometimes tweets go ‘viral,’ meaning that millions of folks see your comments. Continue reading Video Poker on Twitter
Maybe Your System Doesn’t Even Work
More often than once a year, I get emails from people I’ve never met who want me to teach them to play video poker and then bankroll them. They assure me that they’ve always been good students, they’re positive they could do well at this, and they will give me a very fair share of the money they make during this process. Continue reading Maybe Your System Doesn’t Even Work
Feeding the Machines
In last week’s article, I mentioned that I had played $500,000 coin-in on a game at the Palms. A man I know as “Al from New York” asked me how I could possibly get that much money into a machine. After all, feeding a machine with hundred dollar bills is a time-consuming process. (I normally don’t give out the real names of people in my columns, but Al complained that he never got credit for his questions, so I took that as permission to use his name.) Continue reading Feeding the Machines
Why Didn’t Somebody Tell Me?
On Saturday November 3, I was at the Palms for a special drawing. This was not the typical 7 p.m. weekly drawing open to everyone. This was a special invited guest drawing where fewer than 200 people (based on previous play) had been invited to receive a free cruise — and this group would have a special drawing at 9:30 p.m. where $20,000 in cash, free play, or cruise credit was to be given away. Continue reading Why Didn’t Somebody Tell Me?