@ Blackjack: shuffle the cards and begin to WIN! @

One thing my father taught me that’s become a kinda guiding principle, it’s that people without math live their lives in a fog. They’ve got no idea what they’re doing. An’ you never see this more often than in a casino watching how people play the slot machines. So, just for a moment, I’m going to slip into their mindset - give you a quick tour of how a gambler can fall into a trap. Need a drink first, though, to dull the pain.So, here I am, playing video poker. I’m feeding the machine and keeping count of the number of times I do and don’t get winning combinations in the pay table. Got me some serious scientific study going on here! My video poker strategy is down pat! You see, to my way of thinking, there’s no such thing as a random sequence. The probability of any one thing happening is set by what went before. So, if I got me a winning hand, the law of averages says the odds of that happening again is poorer for the hands that come just after it. An’ that’s true for the reverse as well. The longer I go without a winning hand, the more likely a big hand gets.

These folk live in a dream world. You ever watch a Poker Dealer wash and shuffle a deck of 52 cards fairly. Then the Dealer deals five cards to each player from that shuffled deck. The first card dealt comes with a 1 in 52 chance, the second with a 1 in 51 chance, and so on as the cards are dealt in turn. All the countries licensing video versions of card and dice games have laws. No country wants to kill the golden goose that’s laying all them tax eggs so they all want to see fair games. Players vote with their feet if they think a game’s crooked. That’s in no-one’s interest. So all casinos gotta match the odds of a real card game with a human dealer. You might be thinking these casinos’ll still be out to cheat you in some way - after all, wouldn’t nothing be easier than to tweak the software - and those countries’re probably corrupt, take a backhander and look the other way. But there’s no need to cheat. No matter how you cut it, the games make more’n enough money when played fairly. Even when serious professionals come out to play, the House has an edge.

So, on a video poker machine, the Random Number Generator (RNG for short) shuffles that virtual deck of 52 cards and pulls out your first five. Now sometimes, the slot machines sit with that randomized deck and deal the next cards off the top when you press draw. In others, that ol’ RNG don’t know when to quit. It keeps on notionally shuffling the deck while you’re busy trying to decide what to do with your hand. The longer you take, the more times the RNG has cycled. Finally, you decide what you’re holding and hit the draw button. You get whatever’s on top of the deck at that precise moment. Wait a fraction of a second longer, and you get different cards. It don’t matter which wy the machines’re set up. The deck has a random distribution of cards.

What these dreamers in a fog never see clearly is the principle of statistical independence. This a fancy way of saying that events are unrelated - when the first occurrence has no effect on the second. When events are random. So when is a sequence of cards random? When the odds of you predicting the next card are no better than chance. It’s like tossing a coin. Every time you toss a coin, the chances of getting one of two sides is always 1 in 2. It never changes from one toss to the next.

So don’t you never fall into no gambler’s fallacy. There ain’t no deck of cards or dice that got a memory. They’re just the tools we use to gamble with. Sure these new video poker machines can have big memories but there ain’t no point to that. So long as they all got a RNG, all they’re doing is remembering the longest string of random numbers anyone’s ever bothered to collect.

So I’ll be getting back to the free online video poker - I’m looking over a new game. Ain’t no reason to pay to play. Just browsing for now.

So I got me a little snifter here. Jack’s been working his way through some freebies - a new supplier’s trying to break into supplying the casino. Reckons he needs to make sure all the right people get their taste of the good stuff and we’re both of us out to oblige him. Damn, but some of this stuff is good! Makes me wanna give up the poker and the slot machines, and settle down with a bottle or two to enjoy my retirement. Anyways, the young fellah just called. Caught me in a mellow mood for once. He thinks - well, we can suspend judgement on that for so long as he keeps paying me - he thinks I should explain myself. In one piece I’m saying there’s, “a proper mathematical playing strategy for video poker.” In the next, I’m saying there’s a gambler’s fallacy and you can’t predict the cards. He thinks they doesn’t fit right together. So here’s a few words to make it all crystal. Did you ever see Ocean’s 11 - don’t matter whether it was the original Rat Pack version or the new ones with George Clooney and his pals? Did you notice how they always robbed the casinos. There was never a hint of walking through the door with a system for winning at the tables or on the slot machines. Hollywood got it right for once. The only way you guarantee a big score at a casino is as a thief - and you’ve to be lucky to enjoy your “takings” and avoid the hail of bullets if you get caught by wrong people. Look around online. You’ll see a small army of people touting their systems for beating all casino games with a house advantage. Play slot machines, win big. Win at blackjack without counting. When I was growing up, my mother used to play 78s all the time. She loved the musicals of the 1920s. She’d never been on the chorus line, but she’d a hankering for it. Her parents disapproved of theatrical folk and that was an end of that. Anyways, one of my favorites was Banana Oil - kinda like snake oil but always applied to lounge-lizard lines. “When he tells you, ‘I adore you,’ that’s banana oil.” In other words, everything he said to get his mark into bed was bullshit. Well, the same goes for all these salesmen pushing betting systems for slot machines. They’re trying to scam you outa your money. Take it from me. There ain’t no system around that even dents the House edge on games where the probabilities are set in the House’s favor. Math is math. Mind you. It’s not my money - you wanna fool yourself you can shade the odds in your favor on video poker, then feel free. So, how do these systems work? You’re supposed to base your bets on the most recent outcomes. Take roulette as an example. Wait for a run of blacks, then bet on red - the longer the run, the bigger the bets on red. If you see a pattern emerging, you’re supposed to think that the probabilities of the game itself have changed. When I worked for casinos, we always nodded wisely when someone cautiously asked if they could play a system. Another little chicken ripe for the plucking. My father was counting deaths by the million over decades for the life companies. Probabilities and statistics only make sense in the long view. Short-term, you’ll find anomalies in all slot machines but, over time, the basic patterns are set in stone and in the House’s favor. You’ll see lucky streaks that look like they’re never going to end. But, so long as the House keeps its nerve, the winner will lose it all back again. It’s the same with the so-called systems. They aim to build up the small wins to offset the big losses. If you’ve the bankroll, you can often win over a session. But you’re obsessional kind, ain’t ya? You’ve invested that money in a system. You’re not going to quit while you’re ahead, are you? Which means that any small winnings you picked up on the good days will all get given back to the casinos on the bad days. It’s just the way the House edge works. Like I say, you can’t beat the math. Which leaves me with my strategy, which I’ll get back to when I’m good and ready.

This computer communicated its decisions to the player with buzzes and taps on the sole of the player’s foot. It was not easy to use one of these devices. It essentially entailed learning to “type” with your big toes. Even once you had memorized the codes. inputting them via the toe switches was a chore. It took weeks or even months of practice to get to the point where you could use the device at casino-dealing speed without foot cramps stopping you.

In 1984. w en it was still legal to use computers in the casinos. Keith Taft hired me to write an operating manual for his “David” computer. which was the computer Ken Uston later referred to as “George.” Here’s how it worked:
In the toe of each shoe there were two “switches,” or buttons-one above each big toe and one beneath-for a total of four switches. Each switch conveyed a different code to the computer, which was a small epoxy-encased device that was strapped to the calf beneath the trousers. The computer itself was about the size of a pack of cigarettes, but thinner. By using a series oftoe taps, kind of like Morse code, the player could relay to the computer everything it needed to know in order to make a decision in a blackjack game-which cards had already been dealt, what cards the player held, and the dealer’s upcard.

Griffin Investigations, Inc., of Las Vegas, Nevada. This is an outside agency that casinos can contract for assistance in combating cheats, crooks, and other undesirables. So why is it being mentioned here? Because, as ridiculous as this sounds, in most cases card counters are lumped right alongside these criminals. Griffin maintains an extensive electronic database, and can be contacted at any time to help the casino identify an individual considered a threat to its bottom line.
Something about the black jack play online
will be in the next post. I’ll tell you about online casino blackjack
and sone features of online casinos and Internet.

Where does a dealer 18 leave our players? Player Number One made
the correct move by doubling down, but unfortunately the dealer ended with a higher total. Betsy loses both her original bet and her second wager, the double down. The dealer loses to Player Number Two, and pays Patrick an amount equivalent to his original bet. Jim from the Sunshine State had previously busted. His cards and wager were removed at the time that occurred. Likewise, Glen had been dealt a blackjack—his cards were removed and a payoff had been made earlier in the hand. Our last player, Nancy, is the big winner this round, with a payoff equal to three times her original bet for two hands that both totaled higher than the dealer’s. The stand-alone 21 gets paid even money, as does the second 3, which then became part of a double down.There are endless variations to the above, but that’s the general flow for how a typical hand might unfold, Special blackjack. After the dealer’s cards are totaled, wagers are paid, taken away, or left on the table, depending on whether the player has won, lost, or tied the dealer. It’s a good Blackjack Trainer
.

PLAYER NUMBER ONE (BETSY): The total of her first two cards is n. Betsy puts out another bet equal in amount to her original wager—in order to double down—and receives a 6 for a total of 17.
PLAYER NUMBER TWO (PATRICK): The total of this player’s first two cards is 19. Pat elects to stand "as is."
PLAYER NUMBER THREE (JIM): Jim has a total of
9, and subsequently draws a 5 for 14, followed by a 2 for 16, followed by a
10 for 26. This player has busted, and automatically loses. Like those of
the player with blackjack, Jim’s cards are removed right after his chips
are taken away.
PLAYER NUMBER FOUR (GLEN): This blackjack player is skipped. Glen had an ace and a queen on his first two cards—a blackjack, and was previously paid.
PLAYER NUMBER FIVE (NANCY): This player has two 3s, and decides to split them. She puts out a bet equivalent to her first, and the dealer separates her cards. On the first 3 Nancy is dealt a 10. She hits again and receives an 8 for 21. On the second 3 Nancy is dealt a 7. This prompts her to put out a third wager, again equal to her original bet, in order to double down on the second hand—on what now totals
10.  She receives a king for 20.
Our dealer then flips over her hole card, revealing a 6 for a total of 13. As 13 is below 17, she must draw another card and does—a 5 for a total of 18. According to the blackjack rules: Hit or Stand
, she must now stand, and proceed to pay off or collect winning and losing wagers.

From your experience to date, is it hard to imagine a pit full of friendly casino personnel suddenly turning against you? It probably is, and it’s probably also hard to imagine a multimillion dollar corporation "sweating" the action of a single card counter varying his bets between $10 and $200 per hand. But that happens too. And in poker game the same

In the old days, the lights used to dim for a second when pictures were being taken. But with today’s technology, the counter will likely never even know that he’s being filmed. One clever casino ploy involves letting the card counter "hang himself." This can occur if you’re suspected by pit personnel of card counting, and then all interest in you suddenly ceases. Sometimes the pit even seems deserted. What’s really going on is that surveillance is recording your every move and play, and local personnel are giving you free rein to show them everything you’re made of before the hammer comes crashing down. Just because a suit isn’t watching your game called blackjack
doesn’t mean ten pairs of electronic eyes don’t have your face, your cards, your bets, and your eyes plastered across seven thirty-one-inch television screens in the surveillance room.