I want to start out right away by telling you about myself. I spent over 10
years in the casino business in Las Vegas. During that time I was employed
as a dealer, boxman, floorman, pit boss, and assistant casino manager. I
have seen every casino game and probably every kind of system player there
is. System players are easy to spot. They never seem to be having as much
fun as the recreational gamblers. They are very serious and deliberate
about
what they are doing. Some will even try to disguise or hide what they are
doing so the house doesn't catch on. Now that is funny. Funny because the
house loves system players. Why? Because there are no systems that can
beat
casino games. There are ways to gamble smart and stay ahead of the game,
but
that is not so much a system as it is a method and discipline. More about
that later. Let me deal with each of three games that seem to be the most
popular, blackjack, craps, and roulette.
Blackjack has the distinction among those three games, of being the only
one
of them in which you actually participate in making decisions about your
play and I mean not only about betting, but in the play itself. You decide
whether to hit or stand, split, double down, etc. So you have some control
over what happens in the game. In blackjack the one obvious advantage that
the dealer has over the player is that the player has the op****tunity to
bust out his hand (go over 21) first. In fact, if all the players on the
game bust their hands, the dealer doesn't even have to play his or her
hand.
Now that is a huge advantage. The only blackjack system worth mentioning
here is of course, card counting. With card counting the player stays
aware
of the number of cards already dealt, or more accurately the number of
cards
remaining in the deck, the number of tens that have been exposed, and to a
lesser extent, the number of smaller cards that have been played, and the
number of aces left in the deck. When there are a lot of tens remaining in
the deck and there are fewer (maybe less than half the deck) cards left,
the
deck is said to be rich. This is advantageous to the player, especially if
there are also a good number of aces left. The player's chances of getting
a
blackjack are increased with a rich deck. Counting also makes the player
aware of how many remaining cards can bust out his hand and he might play
his hand accordingly. Not a bad system. This could probably give the
player
an edge or maybe at least level the playing field. In fact it does! If you
are playing on either a single or double deck game and you are more than
halfway through the deck and you are aware the deck is rich, you would
increase the amount you are betting as the odds swing a bit in your favor.
It is worth mentioning here that the dealer's chances of getting a
blackjack
have also increased. When I first read about card counting, I got excited.
Here was a chance to really win some serious money. It made a lot of sense
and in fact, in theory, card counting is the only system that can give you
an edge. So, why aren't there a lot of people out there making money on
blackjack with card counting? The answer is simple. Card counters are very
easy to spot. You see, any floorperson or pit boss also knows how to count
cards (at least they should, to some extent). So they can also determine
if
the deck is rich and if someone is increasing their bets accordingly.
Should
a card counter be spotted, there are 3 things the house can do. Just
ignore
it and let play proceed and see what develops. Or they can nicely tell the
player that he or she is not welcome to play in their casino. Yes, they
have
that right according to gaming commission rules. Or they can simply tell
the
dealer to deal one or two hands and shuffle. This completely nullifies any
advantage that a counter might have. In fact, when I was working in the
pits, this is exactly how I handled it when I spotted a counter. I can
remember one incident when I noticed a young woman walk up to the game and
she was very deliberate and serious. Something instantly told me to watch
her play. So much for trying to hide! Well I watched the game she was
playing on and she was in fact the only player on the game. Sure enough,
when the deck got rich she immediately increased her bet. I leaned over to
the dealer and smiled and told her to shuffle the deck. It was so funny.
The
player actually yelled out, "Hey!" I just smiled and walked away,
instructing the dealer to deal 2 hands and shuffle. Needless to say, the
player went elsewhere with her money and probably had the same thing
happen
to her wherever she went. Counting is very over-rated. Money management is
the only way you will be a winner in a casino.
Now let's briefly talk about roulette systems. I don't want to spend too
much time on it because it is a silly game. There is no possible way
anyone
can predict where that little white ball will fall on a roulette wheel. I
have seen players ****ing over little notepads, scribbling down God knows
what, thinking that this will enable them to determine what will hit next.
Think about it.the wheel does not spin at a constant speed. The dealer
does
not set the ball spinning with the exact same force or from the exact same
point every time. This is all random. When the dealer takes the ball from
the wheel, he or she will give it a little ****ge to keep it spinning,
hence
the non-constant rotating speed. And to think that the balls position can
be
influenced by the preceding spin is pure folly. For instance, let's say
that
5 has hit twice in a row. What do you think the odds of 5 coming up on the
very next spin will be? My friend, the odds are 37 -1 against the 5
hitting
again. The odds of any number hitting at any given time is always 37 - 1
no
matter what happened in the previous spin(s). This is a point that many
players do not see. You don't even get paid 37 - 1 when you do hit a
number.
You get paid 35 -1 ! You are already beat! Hence, very simply, there is
not
a system in the world that can beat roulette. Sure, you can get lucky and
win on the game but that is just luck. No system can guarantee a winning
session. It is all complete random. As Einstein said, "The only way to
beat
a game of roulette is to rob the game." He is right. Do not ever pay
anyone
that claims that they want to sell you a roulette system. They are all
scams, period!
Okay, we have dealt with blackjack and roulette. That leaves us with
craps.
Now craps is a pretty complicated game and there are literally hundreds of
ways to bet on the game. I am not going to go into any betting systems as
that is not exactly what I am trying to debunk here. My concern here is
the
player that actually believes or tries to sell the fact that he can
control
the roll of the dice. This type of player will set the dice in a certain
way, throw them a certain way and claim that he or she can determine how
the
dice will fall. Do I really need to say more? A craps table is 8 - 10 feet
long, with a hard surface underneath the felt layout. The dice bounce and
rebound off of that surface at completely random angles and velocity.
There
is not a person in the world that can have that kind of control. Even the
master magicians in Vegas can't do it! Have you ever seen a magician even
try it?" Of course not.
I want to conclude here that the only valid system I have ever seen is one
that minimizes losses and maximizes wins. It is a money management system
that actually takes a great deal of discipline to use. This system can be
applied to any game but poker. I have actually seen players use this
method
and stay ahead, day after day but it is a money management method and not
really a system. I will write about that in my next article.
In the meantime, if you want to know more about this subject, just click
here
http://www.NousBleux.com/bettingforprofit.html
Anthony Mancuso - 10-year veteran of Las Vegas casinos
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anthony_Mancuso
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