InCREDITibly Stupid Slot Idea.

We all know that the casino companies are a big business. Their business just happens to be separating you from your money. They try to do this in a way that is both enjoyable and entertaining to you. They offer entertainment with a sliding scale for admission. Sometimes you actually come home with more money than you started with. The entertainment comes in the form of table games and slot machines. Most of the games such as Blackjack Craps and Roulette have been around for years and are pretty much casino standards. Once there was a time when these games attributed for the majority of casino profits. However over the last ten years things have change drastically.card cheating

The slot machines now rule and accounts for over 70 percent of most casinos' profits. The casinos are competing to get you into their casinos to play their slots. It would not be feasible for casinos to design their own slot machines so they look to the manufacturers to supply them with new games. There are several companies that manufacturer slot machines.

Just as the casinos are competing for your business, the slot makers are competing to get the casino's business. The way they do this is by designing machines that are not only interesting to the players but ones that will bring in more profits for the casino. Over the last few years there have been many changes to slot machines to make them more profitable. The first big change came with the advent of dollar bill receptors to make it easier and FASTER for a player to get their money in the machine. No more wasting time feeding those dirty coins into the slot. The casinos loved it.

Next the slot makers started designing machines that were multi-line and multi-coin machines. At last years World Gaming Expo one company was giving away T-shits that had a slogan reading, "More Lines- More Coins- More Profits." That pretty much said it all. This year we saw the multi-denomination machines that pay out using vouchers eliminating the need for coins.

The coinless slots help the casino's profits in several ways. They don't have to hire as many change people or people to empty the coins from the machines. When a machine pays out in vouchers a player is more inclined to pay off the last few credits rather than cash out an have to take a voucher to the booth to collect a dollar or less.

While these changes help the casino's profits they don't have a big effect on most players. Players must still bring their money to the casino to play with. Most players budget for a casino visit and if they run out of money they go home. There are a few players who find it necessary to take credit card advances when they run out of money at the casino. I have written about how costly and foolish this can be. I also always advise that you;

"NEVER TAKE MONEY TO THE CASINO THAT YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO LOSE!"

There are many people that have problems with huge credit card debt. Using them in the casino is a terrible idea. Fortunately it is somewhat of a hassle to get a credit card advance in the casino. You have to go to the cashier's cage and fill out the forms to get your money. This takes time and many players who consider it change their minds on the walk to the cage. Making it easier to do would present more problems for players who may get caught up in the excitement of playing and find themselves short on money.

For this reason I was alarmed when I read that Innovative Gaming Corp. announced that they would make a credit card driven machine. They will use technology making it possible to use debit and credit cards right in the machine. I think this is one of the worst ideas I have heard of. I don't mind the casinos making a profit but I do think it would be irresponsible to make it easier for players who might in a moment of weakness decide to charge a few more spins on their credit cards. infrared contact lenses

The issue of allowing players to use credit cards in the machine is questionable and most of the major slot makers are hesitant to get involved with it at this time. One executive at Bally's, a leading slot maker said, It's been a morality issue. Bally developed a product in the mid-90's but no one would touch it."

At this time Nevada law prohibits slot machines from excepting credit cards. I hope that this law remains in effect. There is enough money taken in by the slots. The casinos do not need to prey on the weaker players who discipline is weakened by the excitement of their games.

Variance in Poker

Professional poker players often describe their vocation as “a hard way to make an easy living”. One of the most difficult aspects of the game that a professional poker player must deal with is the inconsistency in income. Despite employing a strong skill set and the benefits of years of experience, many poker players still come home with less money in their pocket than when they arrived at the tables. These ups and downs of poker are often collectively known as “variance”. marked cards contact lenses

What is Variance?
In statistical terms, variance is used to examine the differences between an individual result and the average for a set of results. These results can be represented as data points in a set to determine the fluctuations within that set.
We’ll demonstrate how to calculate variance with a small sample data set. If you were to track the results for your previous sessions at a $3/$6 fixed-limit hold’em cash game, they could read:
Variance and Sample Sizes
The more data points a sample size contains, the more accurate and reliable the measurements of variance and standard deviation will be. The seven-point data set included here is obviously much too small to give an accurate estimate of how a player performs at a 3/6 limit hold’em game. Also, more data points will give the player more information on how to manage the inevitable ups and downs involved in cash games.

Variance and the Central Limit Theorem

Another important mathematical concept that comes with sample size is the “Central Limit Theorem”. This concept states that, as the number of data points in a set grows, a plot of those points on a graph will resemble a normal statistical distribution, as seen in the classic “Bell Curve”.

The guiding principle is that, the larger the sample size, the more data points that will fall at or near the average. This measure of variance gives the player a more accurate idea as to what to expect from his results.

Variance and Luck
Even in the most distinguished poker careers, a player will have sessions where he has wins (or losses) that go two or more standard deviations away from the average. Many inexperienced players attribute these results to luck, but they are within the realm of possibility shown in the Bell Curve. These data points are known as “outliers” and, individually, have little effect on the variance seen over a career. If these “outlying” results continue to appear, however, they may signal the start of a new trend.

Variance and Bankrolls
A sufficient poker bankroll is necessary to act as a cushion against variance. Some players may believe that, with just a few positive results at a $1/$2 no-limit hold’em game, they are ready to jump into a $2/$5 or $5/$10 game, regardless of their bankroll size. When the variance swings in the negative direction, as it inevitably will, a depleted bankroll could send the player to either a lower-stakes game or out of the game entirely.

Variance and Structure
Some poker games, as well as some betting structures, are prone to have higher variance than others. For instance, a $3/$6 fixed-limit hold’em game will have much less variance than a $1/$2 no-limit hold’em game due almost exclusively to the betting structure. In the $3/$6 limit game, the maximum bet a player can make on the river is $24 (bet-raise-re-raise-cap). In the no-limit game, a player can bet his entire stack at any time, which may be hundreds of dollars. These bet sizes can cause huge swings in variance.marked cards

Variance in Poker Tournaments

Despite the allure of fame and glory presented by televised events, no-limit hold’em tournaments are shining examples of the deceptive power of variance. Most professional players (including many famous faces on the tournament circuit) make more of their living through cash games and only enter the most prestigious (and lucrative) tournaments due to the high variance involved. Most major tournament winners are “outliers”, as up to ninety percent of all tournament players walk home empty-handed.

Variance and Playing Styles
In a previous piece, we examined the four primary playing styles (loose-passive, loose-aggressive, tight-passive and tight-aggressive). Just as the tight-aggressive style has been shown to be the most profitable, it also often results in the lowest variance. Both the loose-passive and the tight-passive players depend on catching cards to win hands (a high-variance strategy) while the loose-aggressive style relies on big bets to push players off hands. The tight-aggressive method relies on strong starting hand selection, infrequent bluffs and a well-founded understanding of probabilities, all of which contribute to reducing variance.

Variance and Emotion
The effects of big wins and staggering losses are not strictly limited to a player’s bankroll. The emotional roller coaster that comes with big swings in variance can also affect how a player approaches the game. Players who have become accustomed to big wins may lose their cool when confronted with a crushing loss. One bad session can set a player “on tilt” and wreck both his skills and his confidence.

How to Deal with Variance
Shifts in variance can be as unpredictable and dangerous as shifts in the weather: everybody complains about them, but no one can do anything to prevent it. The most important aspect of success in poker lies in treating each session or tournament as a continuation in one long game. Experienced players understand that their success or failure as a player does not lie in the results of a single tournament or a handful of cash-game sessions. Each session represents only a single data point: a consistent approach will often reduce (but never entirely eliminate) variance.

Conclusion
Former World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Chris “Jesus” Ferguson once said that poker is “100 percent luck and 100 percent skill”. The turn of each card is the result of luck, but how a player responds to that unpredictable event is the product of skill, practice and experience. The ability to manage the game’s inherent variance is a skill on par with calculating odds and outs in terms of how successful a player can eventually become.

Blackjack in Puerto Rico: Dealer Cheating

From the founding of Blackjack Forum in 1980 through 1986, when this article was submitted by Harry McArdle, numerous players had written about encountering high counts shoe after shoe while playing blackjack in Puerto Rico. The counts did not go down by the time the cut card was reached despite the fact that the cut card was placed only a half deck from the end of the shoe.infrared marked cards

Although it's been a long time since players have reported any signs of cheating at casinos in Puerto Rico, I am including this article in the library for historical interest and for its discussion of methods of cheating in blackjack shoe games.

In Puerto Rico in the early 70s, casinos like the El San Juan had all of their dealers deal from a shoe with two hands. They pulled cards from the shoe with the right hand. Their left hand held the front of the shoe. Their left thumb fed cards to their right fingers. Their left forearm covered the top of the shoe.

It occurred to me that this was conducive to second dealing as the left thumb could easily pull up the top card, allowing the right fingers to pull out the second from the top. Of course, most of the dealers were not second dealing. As with dealers out west who used the mechanic's grip to no purpose, they only looked like they were second dealing�

In the 60s, I learned that the dealer schools of Las Vegas taught dealers to high low stack. [Editor's note: I have not been able to verify this claim. —A.S.] The dealer trainees were told it was a form of shuffling.

At the Four Queens in �67, I made $700 by a combination of luck and the fact that I sat at first base and varied my bet with whether the last card played in the previous hand was high or low. In short, if the dealer was high-low stacking, I would bet low if the last card played was high and high if the last card played was low. marked cards

My luck at the Four Queens prompted me to seek out high-low stackers in Puerto Rico.

So, naturally I jumped at the chance to play first base against the finest, most thorough high-low stacker I ever seen. This guy was dealing at a $5 table, which was the most active since it faced the entrance to the casino and usually got the most business.

Usually, a high-low stacker will only intermittently high-low stack the deck. This guy was able to thoroughly high-low stack the deck. In retrospect, I guess he must have been false shuffling too, since the cards were coming out exactly high-low as he had picked them up, except when the cards came to me! l explain.

I watched cards come out high, low, high, low until the dealer dealt the last card which, say, was high. I was sitting at first base and naturally would bet low as the next card would more likely be low. When the last card would be low, I bet high. But each of these times that I bet high I got the wrong card. I got a low card. Finally, it became obvious to me that I was not getting the next card when I raised my bet.




I remained silent. When the pit boss left along with the other players, the dealer got his rocks off. Apparently, the word cheating turned him inside out. When we were alone together, he delivered a speech in really clear English. His tone was that of a man angered at me for belittling his skill.

A couple of weeks later, I approached a government inspector whom I knew to be honest (this one was honest!), and pointed out the dealer and asserted that he was high-low stacking and second dealing. The government inspector did not know what this meant. I tried to explain. The inspector promised to watch the dealer.

After that I did most of playing at the poorer casinos that could not afford such high-priced dealers.

But even at poorer places like the Borinquen, problems developed. One evening I continuously got positive counts every time the dealer reached the blank card that indicated reshuffling. Sure, the high cards could be behind the cut card. But every time? I began to suspect that all the cards were not there.

After a couple of hours I voiced my suspicions and asked for a count of the cards. In that warm, polite tone that is so common in Puerto Rico, the pit boss informed me that if I waited until 4 a.m., when the casino closed, he would give me the cards. The other players seemed satisfied. Even I had to admit that this was fair. So I waited three or more hours and kept getting positive counts. By closing time they all seemed to have forgotten their promise to give me the cards. So I reminded them.

The pit boss snapped his fingers.

What of the luxurious El San Juan? Well, it was eight years older and not as luxurious.

What about the blackjack? Well, the fast two-handed dealers of the early seventies were gone. In their place were the ordinary, nice, simple and not so simple Puerto Rican dealers of the type I remembered from the 60s.

The dealing was obviously honest but the counts were constantly very positive. By this time, I become a skillful cutter capable of bringing the high cards to the front more often than not. But all attempts failed. I still got positive counts at the cut card, just as at the Borinquen in 1982.


I made a scene. A number of dealers converged on the area, more to see the outcome than to side with the casino. None of them asserted that they knew me to be wrong.

The next day at the Sheraton was a repeat but in the end they gave me the cards. However, I foolishly allowed them to return the cards to the boxes they came in before giving them to me. Without thinking, I failed to make sure that the boxes were empty before the cards were placed in them. So the fact that all the cards were ultimately there proves little.

I hope things get better in Puerto Rico, blackjackwise, since I really love that place.  ♠

Five Card Stud Poker Rules

The game starts off with each player being dealt two cards; one of those cards is face up and one of the cards is face down. Each player takes a look at their hands and decides whether or not they want to stay in the hand by calling the forced ?bring in? bet that the person with the lowest card showing is required to make. Most Five Card Stud games also have an ante that all players put into the centre before the hand starts, which is why the bring in bet is usually smaller than the blinds in other variants would be.infrared marked cards

Once players have decided whether they are in or out for the round (players of course also do have the chance to raise the initial forced bet amount if they wish), another round of cards is dealt to each player. This is referred to as Third Street and after it has been dealt, all of the players that are left in the hand participate in another round of betting. After that round of betting has been resolved, Fourth Street is dealt face up and one more round of betting follows. Now, this is where the rules can get different depending on where in the world you decide to play. Some Five Card Stud games deal the last card (Fifth Street) face up while some games deal it face down. Regardless of how the card is actually dealt, there is still the final betting round and then the showdown in which the best five card poker hand wins and takes the pot.


Now, what makes Five Card Stud unique is the fact that Five Card Stud can be played on a regular basis with any of the different betting structures that are common in today's world. These structures are the fixed limit structure, the no limit structure, the spread limit structure and the pot limit structure and while Five Card Stud is not a very common poker variant in today's world, at the same time there are no pre-biases about which betting structure to use. For that reason, it can be either a very calculating game with the limit betting structure or else one of the most action junkie hair raising games imaginable with the no limit betting structure.luminosu contact lenses

The main reason for Five Card Stud becoming obsolete as a variant was the idea of the player having to get a spectacular run of luck in order to get a good poker hand; this was mediated in a sense by seven card stud and Hold 'Em, which involve seven cards instead of just five. In order to help Five Card Stud become more popular in today's world, another house rule has been added in some casinos where after the five streets have been dealt, players can exchange one of their cards. This is however not a universal rule and to the best of knowledge is not a rule that is used in even a majority of casinos, so do not expect it to be there at the casino you choose to patronize.