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 more” were some clever, new idea), they held a high-stakes poker tournament and even got some TV crews in there. The goal was to bring some big action back to downtown Vegas. Their experiment worked! Heh heh.
Author: James Grosjean
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 young generation of players who take our terminology literally, and think that the easiest way to acquire real estate is to purchase it. They run around, often getting to games late from oversleeping or laziness, and then think that a simple, grand solution is to buy the seat from any civilian in their way. I prefer acquiring real estate through foreclosure; buying a seat has a huge long-term cost, which matters to anyone who wants longevity for that specific target or that casino. Continue reading How We Do It: Buying a Seat
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. Continue reading Location, Location, Location
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 his life, will come in and say, “Aha!” Then there will be a pause because he’s not sure what he’s aha-ing. Then, he will accuse you of cheating because you “used information not available to others at the table.” Continue reading Legal Musings: Communist Candyland
How We Do It: Handling a ‘Random’ ID Request
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 got backed off nearly immediately while scouting target games. Before getting into how horrendously bad this rookie’s situational response was, let me share with you a quick story (a more detailed version of which I can share someday if people want to hear it). Continue reading How We Do It: Handling a ‘Random’ ID Request
“Ken Uston Ruined Atlantic City”—Discuss.
For those of you who have been sleeping under a rock, Ken Uston was a notorious card counter who, decades ago, sued Atlantic City casinos. The end result was a ruling that AC casinos could not bar players for being skillful. The card counters all rejoiced—or did they? Continue reading “Ken Uston Ruined Atlantic City”—Discuss.
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. Continue reading FRS, NSA, Salamanders and Scapegoats
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 to those. Continue reading I Can’t Bet
How Casinos Cheat, Part II: Heads I Win, Tails You Lose
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 the casino. This solution is more lucrative, and requires no creativity, skill, or hard work. So it is the perfect solution for the casino industry. Continue reading How Casinos Cheat, Part II: Heads I Win, Tails You Lose
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.)