Years ago, new management at the Union Plaza in downtown Las Vegas tried a grand experiment: they liberalized the blackjack rules and raised the limits. The chip design was modernized, and the cage gracefully handled bigger cashouts with no questions asked. As part of the marketing of this new philosophy (as if “bet more, win […]
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How We Do It: Buying a Seat
When it comes to securing a target, I’m not into gimmicks and shortcuts. I’m old-school that way: I believe in hard work (despite a dealer looking at my hands and saying, “You never work”), pounding the pavement, getting to a target on time (which means early), and securing the real estate quietly. There is a […]
Location, Location, Location
I was going to make another installment in the instructional series—”How We Do It: Buying a Seat”—but realize that before we even get into buying “real estate” (our code phrase for seats), we need a crash course on real-estate appraisal. Different seats at the table have value for different reasons.
Legal Musings: Communist Candyland
If you whack a game by hole-carding, the casino will stiff you and then get the DA to intimidate you. The DAs are happy to be the minions of the casino, and the casino no doubt refers to the entire DA’s office as “staff.” So the DA, who’s never heard of a hole card in […]
How We Do It: Handling a ‘Random’ I...
Here’s the scenario: You’re walking around a casino floor (probably scouting games) when suddenly a security guard walks up to you and asks for ID. When faced with this situation recently, one rookie did the following: He produced his ID, left the casino shortly thereafter, went to the adjacent sister property the next day, then […]
FRS, NSA, Salamanders and Scapegoats
Every few months, some rookie posts online about a surprising backoff incident, and then speculates, “I probably got nabbed by FRS (Facial Recognition Software).” I think I’ve got a soapbox sitting around here somewhere.
I Can’t Bet
The death of Eric Garner is disturbing. If you haven’t seen the video by now, you spend too much time counting in casinos! Here’s one of many links to Youtube clips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7jtXXf4tMM. What you may not have seen are the videos of card counter Justin Mills getting backroomed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBdk1yG2pmU, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlMexfd2e8s, and http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-card-counting-20141027-story.html. We’ll get back […]
How Casinos Cheat, Part II: Heads I Win, Tails ...
In the previous post, I made the point that sleight-of-hand wizards working in bust-out joints are largely a thing of the past, and that the casino industry has found a much more efficient way to extract money: on a mass scale, offer lousy games that make it easy for degenerates to give their money to […]
Nevada’s Prop 3: A Bad Bet for Gamblers
This is a rare but timely guest-blogger contribution, penned by renowned Las Vegas attorney Robert Nersesian, the top counsel representing players who run into legal problems involving casinos including (famously and on many occasions) James Grosjean. (For more of this, check James’ own guest contribution to Arnold Snyder’s now-defunct Blackjack Forum publication.)
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