Bob Dancer – Page 30 – Las Vegas Advisor

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Bob Dancer — 9 Comments

A Look at Robert Wachtel’s The Backgammon Chronicles: A Pro’s Adventures on Tour

Robert Wachtel is a world-class backgammon player — Richard Munchkin and I have each known him for more than forty years. He recently self-published a two-volume set of Chronicles which I read and enjoyed. While Bob will be a guest in the near future on Gambling with an Edge, I thought I’d give readers a preview of the books.

The essays in each volume are mostly previously published stories from backgammon periodicals — updated for the book. I haven’t kept up with the backgammon literature since I left the game in 1993, so it was all new to me (other than a remembrance piece written when Paul Magriel passed away). Color photographs enhance the experience.

Posted on March 17, 2020August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 2 Comments

Drivers, Pilots, and Artists

Several years ago, I was attending a series of motivational lectures by Dr. William Kerley. Near the end of the last lecture, he spoke of when he was hired by Continental Airlines to give classes to their non-pilots on how to deal with pilots. To properly understand what pilots go through, he spent many hours in flight simulators for a variety of airplanes. (This happened before 9/11).

Kerley said he developed a great appreciation of how good all airline pilots really have to be, but as in everything else, there were some of these pilots who barely got their license, some who were average, and some cream-of-the-crop pilots. Kerley said the pilots themselves categorize these groups as drivers, pilots, and artists.

Posted on March 10, 2020August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 7 Comments

How it Should Be Done

I was playing video poker at a Dotty’s — a chain of 15-machine bar/casinos where I can still eke out an edge. I was playing high stakes for there ($50 a hand) at about 4 a.m. one Sunday morning, sitting off in a corner where the rest of the place spread out before me.

Directly across from me, a lady I’ll call Susan, called the bartender over and said her machine had shorted her a hundred dollars. It didn’t involve me and I didn’t have any information about it, so I watched silently. Voices weren’t raised, but I could still hear things clearly.

Posted on March 3, 2020 by Bob Dancer — 4 Comments

The 24th Annual Blackjack Ball

Recently in Las Vegas, more than 60 of the sharpest blackjack players from around the world, with a few other successful gamblers invited as well, got together with their guests for an evening of socializing, drinking champagne, and competing against each other. We voted to select the newest member of the Blackjack Hall of Fame. The last man standing in the skills contest won the Grosjean Cup. The names of both of these winners will be recognizable to most of my readers.

The ballot for the Blackjack Hall of Fame, alphabetized by first name, included Anthony Curtis, Blair Hull, Cat Hulbert, Lance Humble, Maria “The Greek,” Mark Billings, Mike Michalek, Norm Wattenberger, and Richard Dougherty.

Posted on February 25, 2020August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — Leave a comment

Is it Good for Me or Good for Us?

Not too long ago, here I wrote an article about when to hold a kicker to three aces while playing a Double Double Bonus progressive. The thumbnail conclusion was that if four aces pay 800 coins, and the aces-with-a-kicker (AWAK) progressive is at least 2285 coins, from a hand like AAA53, you should hold AAA3.

Whether you understood the article or not, assume for today that the previous sentence is true and that you and Al (whom you’ll meet shortly) both believe that and play that way.

Posted on February 18, 2020August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 13 Comments

What Time Is It?

It was approaching midnight recently as I played a progressive at a Las Vegas casino. This was a casino that changed multipliers every day, and today I was receiving the highest possible multiplier. Tomorrow my multiplier was likely to be smaller. It didn’t have to be, but I wouldn’t know what it would be until I swiped after midnight. It was not a casino where you had to swipe for your multiplier before you started playing, but rather one where you just had to swipe before you left.

The progressive was high enough that it was worth playing whatever the multiplier was, but obviously, the bigger the multiplier the better.

Posted on February 11, 2020August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 11 Comments

The Math is Meaningless!

An interesting article was recently published by FrankB on the gamblingwithanedge.com blog. (I think of that page as “my page” because GWAE is “my show.” In fact, I’m only a co-host on the show and one of many gambling experts who publish on that page — which is hosted by Anthony Curtis’ Las Vegas Advisor. Whether it’s my page or not, I’m proud to be associated with it.)

FrankB is a friend, and quite expert at figuring out combinational mathematics, among other things. Doing it the way he did, his 1-in-288 million is computationally correct. But I have a major bone to pick with doing it that way.

Posted on February 4, 2020August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 11 Comments

It’s Not About Trying

I was teaching an NSU Deuces Wild (the 16-10-4-4-3 version that returns 99.73% with perfect play), and was discussing the hand 3♥ 5♥ 7♥ K♣ Q♣. The correct play, by a mile, is to hold the hearts. One player raised his hand and said:

“But just what are you trying to get holding the hearts? You’re mainly going to get low-valued hands and the highest possibility is only worth $50. Why don’t you go for the KQ and try for a $4,000 royal flush? It doesn’t happen very often, I realize, but the possibility is there and when you hit it, you feel good!”

Posted on January 28, 2020 by Bob Dancer — 14 Comments

No Time to Panic!

I recently entered a local casino shortly after 4 a.m. and swiped my card at the kiosk. On the screen read words to the effect of “Unable to Access Your Card at This Time!” I swiped at an adjacent kiosk and received the same message.

This could mean several things. One possibility was that the casino was doing daily maintenance — such as, for example, calculating multipliers from the previous day. This happens sometime “early” in the morning. Maybe 2 a.m. Maybe 3 a.m. Maybe 4 a.m. Depends on the casino. This was the most benign thing that could happen. I hoped this was the explanation.

Posted on January 22, 2020August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 6 Comments

Too Good to be True

Somebody sent me this photo of what was undoubtedly a casino mistake. It was sent several weeks before the publish date of this article, so there’s no chance of it still being around. But it’s worth discussing anyway.

There is a bank of eight machines with a nickel 8/5 Double Double Bonus progressive poker game. This is normally a 96.79% game before you include the progressives, which is fairly typical for a nickel pay schedule.

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