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Threads 2041 to 2070

blackjack dice
Posted by Leon on 13-Dec-2005 12:31:31 (#14905)

Dr. Jacobson, I heard your interview on Vegas Talk Radio in October and you mentioned a new game called Blackjack Dice that you really liked that you saw at the G2E convention in September. Any comments on the future of this game? Do you think it'll make it to the casinos?

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From what I understand...
Posted by The Mayor on 13-Dec-2005 12:55:50 (#14906)

This game was set to debut in a gulf coast casino when Katrina hit. It believe it is now scheduled to debut in a casino in Connecticut, though I cannot confirm this.

I spoke with the developer at some length. It is a good game that is well thought out and has a future. It is not a game that advantage players would be interested in playing (though there may be an issue with dice setting that the manufactures have to be concerned with).

--Mayor

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Good bye, Lady Luck!
Posted by The Mayor on 13-Dec-2005 14:25:00 (#14907)

Lady Luck running out

Nevada (Las Vegas) - Howard Stutz, Gaming Wire - Owners of the Lady Luck, a 41-year-old hotel-casino on Third Street in downtown, said the property will close in February for a renovation that is expected to take about a year…The Henry Brent Co…has been operating the Lady Luck since 2003 and purchased the property in April…"We looked at every scenario possible to keep the property fully open during the renovation," Chief Executive Officer Andrew Donne said. "But in reality it would be difficult to provide guests with a good experience or attract the number of visitors we'd need to maintain our staff during the renovation."…The announcement by Lady Luck continued a year of upheaval in the downtown gaming market…Landry's Restaurants took over the Golden Nugget in September…gaming regulators this month are expected to approve Navegante, a company managed by veteran gaming executive Larry Woolf, as the operator of the Plaza, Gold Spike, Las Vegas Club and Western Hotel…Downtown casinos won $60.7 million in October, a jump of 4.8 percent from $57.9 million a year ago.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Dec-13-Tue-2005/business/4759504.html

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Good riddance
Posted by LVBear584 on 13-Dec-2005 15:27:00 (#14908)

Lady Luck is a poorly-managed property located in a bad area. There is no reason for anyone to go there. The employees are surly and rude, and the pit staff has a long history of hostility towards any patrons who use their brains. Its policy of using the single-digit IQ security guards to attempt to intimidate winning patrons made Lady Luck a laughing stock.

Unfortunately for the employees, most of them appear to be unemployable, and will probably soon have to be supported by the taxpayers. Or maybe they can apply at Gold Spike or the Western, both of which are always looking for new bad people.

If it ever reopens, which I doubt, I hope it is under new management with new staff. Otherwise, it's doomed to fail again.

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'Nalmefene' - take one and stop LOSING
Posted by zengrifter on 13-Dec-2005 15:29:42 (#14909)

Search is on for drugs to treat gambling addiction

By Liz Benston | Las Vegas Sun

For problem gamblers dealing with an addiction to slots or blackjack, help may soon come in the form of a pill.

... continued - http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/business/2005/dec/13/519812069.html

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Firefox - More reasons to switch
Posted by zengrifter on 13-Dec-2005 15:34:00 (#14910)

My primary browser is Opera, but here are some of the latest reasons for Exlorer users to download Firefox. zg

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The Firefox Hacks You Must Have

By Quinn Norton | Wired.com

Dec. 12, 2005

With the release of the new version 1.5 of Firefox, there's never been a better time to download the open-source browser, take it for a drive, kick the tires and see what it can do. In the case of a browser, mainly what it can do is show you web pages, hopefully quickly. So the real satisfaction comes from finding enhancements and add-ons, because you can only have so much fun timing page loads with a stopwatch.

Fortunately, Firefox is famous for its pluggable extensions architecture, which allows you to download little snippets of code that act as the software equivalent of small consumer electronics devices, only they are free.

... continued here - http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,69781,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1

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certainly works...
Posted by stainless steel rat on 13-Dec-2005 16:10:24 (#14911)

Been running this since it came out on my Linux boxes (my office box is linux as is my laptop at home).

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BugMeNot extension
Posted by zengrifter on 18-Dec-2005 12:28:06 (#14940)

This one in particular is great! zg
http://roachfiend.com/archives/2005/02/07/bugmenot/
Everyone hates registering on sites that want to know a little about you before letting you see their content; making up all that demographic data is hard work. That's why the BugMeNot extension has long been one of the most popular enhancements for Firefox. It allows you to use the web-based, registration-avoidance system of the same name without the hassle of surfing to it and querying its database by hand.

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14-Day Plan Improves Memory
Posted by zengrifter on 14-Dec-2005 17:42:33 (#14914)

14-Day Plan Improves Memory

Robert Roy Britt
LiveScience Managing Editor
LiveScience.com | Dec 13,2005

It sounds like an infomercial from late-night TV: Follow this four-step plan and improve your memory in just 14 days!

But researchers have indeed found a way to improve memory function in older people. After a two-week study that involved brainteasers, exercise and diet changes, study participants' memories worked more efficiently.

Here's the program:

Memory Training: Brainteasers, crossword puzzles and memory exercises that emphasized verbal skills throughout the day.

Healthy Diet: Five meals daily included a balanced diet rich in omega-3 fats, whole grains and antioxidants. Eating frequent meals prevents dips in blood glucose, the primary energy source for the brain.

Physical Fitness: Brisk daily walks and stretching. Physical fitness has been found in other research to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Stress Reduction: Stretching and relaxation exercises. Stress causes the body to release cortisol, which can impair memory and has been found to shrink the memory centers in the brain.

Before-and-after brain scans showed the participants experienced on average a five percent decrease in brain metabolism in the dorsal lateral prefrontal region of the brain, which is directly linked to working memory and other cognitive functions. This suggests they were using their brains more efficiently. The subjects also performed better on a cognitive test.

A control group that didn't follow the plan showed no significant changes.

"We've known for years that diet and exercise can help people maintain their physical health, which is a key component of healthy aging," said Gary Small, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences UCLA. "But maintaining mental health is just as important. Now we have evidence which suggests that people can preserve their memory by adding memory exercises and stress reduction to this routine."

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Eye Direction and Lying
Posted by zengrifter on 15-Dec-2005 00:44:55 (#14917)

Eye Movement and Direction and How it Can Reveal the Truth or a Lie

So can the direction a person's eyes reveal whether or not they are making a truthful statement? Short answer: sort of. But, it isn't as simple as some recent television shows or movies make it seem. In these shows a detective will deduce a person is being untruthful simply because they looked to the left or right while making a statement.

In reality, it would be foolish to make such a snap judgment without further investigation... but the technique does have some merit. So, here it is... read, ponder and test it on your friends and family to see how reliable it is for yourself.

...continued - http://www.blifaloo.com/info/lies_eyes.php

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UBT - Betting big on blackjack.
Posted by zengrifter on 17-Dec-2005 00:44:24 (#14932)

Blackjack on a hot streak
Duo looking to make a big splash on tube

By JOSEF ADALIAN
Variety | Dec. 6, 2005

Entertainment attorney Jon Moonves and producer Houston Curtis are betting big on blackjack.

Duo are part of a team of producers and investors behind the "Ultimate Blackjack Tour," a tournament-style version of the classic game, and they're looking to make a big splash on television, via a format that combines elements of reality TV and casino gaming.

But in an unusual move, the backers of UBT -- along with Russ Hamilton, founder and creator of the UBT format -- decided to forego the usual development process to get their game on the air. Instead, they decided to shell out more than seven figures to produce an entire 10-episode series --completely on spec.

Pitch meetings on the project have just begun with Blackjack Entertainment -- the company behind the show -- taking meetings with cable and broadcast nets, as well as syndicators.

A few outlets, including GSN, have already attempted blackjack shows in the wake of TV's poker craze. Moonves, a partner at the firm of Del, Shaw, Moonves, Tanaka and Finkelstein, said his group decided it needed to show networks a finished product in order to demonstrate how their idea was different from other skeins.

"We knew if we talked about a gaming show, people would have in their mind shows that already exists," he said. "We knew ours would be a bigger show, with bigger production values, and the best way to show that was to do it rather than describe it."

Indie financing should also allow for more enticing economic terms for a TV partner vs. the usual studio model. Producers are also hoping to set up concurrent broadcast/cable and syndie windows.

Curtis said the major difference between UBT and other blackjack skeins is the format's forced-elimination rules. Three times during each game, a player is forced out, a la "Survivor," if they have the least number of chips on the table.

A secret bet provision also ups the drama in the game, which is won not by beating the house, but by collecting more chips than other players.

"We've given away over $1.2 million" in prize money during the first season, Curtis said. "It's got the drama of a reality show with the thrill of high-stakes casino gaming."

A number of high-profile poker and blackjack players took part in the first round of episodes, including the so-called "MIT Mike" profiled in the bestseller "Bringing Down the House." Poker champs Phil Hellmuth and Antonio Esfandiari also competed, as did thesp/World Series of Poker champ Jennifer Tilly.

Many of the players compete in disguise and/or under assumed names since they've been banned from casinos, Moonves said.

UBT is in talks with several sponsors and promo partners to launch a national media campaign on behalf of the game and the skein. A tie-in Web site's also been set up.

Moonves said he and his partners don't consider the spec financing of the ICM-packaged project much of a risk.

"We're going to get this on the air. We're confident of that," he said.

Former MTV exec Curtis exec produced via his Big Vision shingle and served as showrunner on the 10-episode series, which features self-contained episodes and a grand finale of champions. Moonves also exec produced, along with Sam Korkis and Mark Ganshirt of Red 23.

This is the first foray into production for Moonves, the brother of CBS topper Leslie Moonves, said he's not looking to make the producer's hat permanent.

"I'm not changing careers or anything like that," he said.

xxx

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Blackjack on TV
Posted by BlackJackHack on 17-Dec-2005 20:38:59 (#14937)

There's a big problem with this - blackjack may be interesting to play, but it is not very interesting to watch.

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If it had the same type of ...
Posted by zengrifter on 17-Dec-2005 22:08:20 (#14939)

... commentary and 'peek' cameras it might fly better... or does it already have this? I've never watched. zg

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Tournament blackjack
Posted by GPC on 19-Dec-2005 07:52:07 (#14944)

All of the TV blackjack is tournament action, which of course, is vastly different than casino blackjack. All the cards are dealt face-up, and the player's chip totals are shown on the screen. This game is a betting game much more than a play of cards game, and a lot of the betting strategies are pretty complex. It's also fun near the end where the player's may makes some really wild card play decisions, (doubling on 16, etc), because it's their only way to catch up.

The World Series of Blackjack on GSN (last year) was well produced and they had Max Rubin as the expert commentators. It is reasonably good TV, and blackjack tournament play is pretty interesting, but most of the best betting strategies are way above the average viewer's head.

GPC

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Green Card Scheme Recruited in Casinos
Posted by zengrifter on 17-Dec-2005 00:49:06 (#14933)

Officials Say Phony-Marriage Scheme Recruited in Casinos
Gamblers in debt were sought for fake nuptials with foreign nationals, U.S. agency alleges.

By Mai Tran
LA Times Staff Writer

Dec. 9, 2005

The organizers of a phony-marriage scheme that targeted Asians seeking U.S. citizenship went after people with large gambling debts in their quest to find men and women willing to fill the role of husband or wife, federal authorities said Friday.

Those involved, who allegedly targeted Southern California casinos, would offer to erase gambling debts in exchange for the debtors' willingness to marry Vietnamese and Chinese nationals, authorities said.

"They were able to find people who were on a losing streak who would be willing to do something illegal for the right price," said Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Commerce Casino, Morongo Casino and Resort in Cabazon and the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens were recruiting hot spots, officials said.

After a three-year investigation, authorities this week arrested 11 of the 44 men and women from Orange and Los Angeles counties and the Bay Area suspected of operating or participating in the phony-marriage scheme.

Most of the others had already been charged.

On Friday, one of the suspected ring leaders, Marian Therese Thai, 53, of Westminster, turned herself in to authorities and made her first court appearance at U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.

She faces federal charges of conspiracy, fraud and misuse of visas, harboring aliens, marriage fraud, and aiding and abetting.

Thai did not turn herself in earlier because she was out of town on her honeymoon, officials said. She addressed the judge in Vietnamese through a court translator, and retained a private attorney.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Marc L. Goldman set bail at $25,000 and ordered Thai to surrender her U.S. passport.

Officials said the ring, dubbed Operation Newlywed Game, was unusually sophisticated. Leaders charged Chinese and Vietnamese nationals as much as $60,000 to marry American citizens to obtain green cards. Thai operated the ring mostly from her now-defunct MT Travel agency in Westminster, officials said. She produced fake wedding pictures, joint tax returns and love letters, officials said.

Authorities caught up with the scam after immigration agency employees discovered U.S. citizens who were petitioning for more than one spouse to receive green cards.

In one case, officials said, Thai arranged for Jasmine Loan Vo to marry three men from China between 2000 and 2002.

Officials said one recruiter, Alex Pham, after gathering a group of willing spouses in Houston, had them flown to China to pose for phony honeymoon photos.

After expenses, recruiters made as much as $50,000 for each marriage.

Authorities said some of the U.S. citizens were paid as much as $5,000 to marry foreign nationals. Some of those arrested worked as professional gamblers. Many lived flamboyant lifestyles, traveling often and driving luxury cars, and were heavily involved in identity theft and credit-card fraud to support their gambling habit, federal agents said. They also had connections to Asian gangs in Orange County, officials said.

For the foreign nationals, the scheme provided an opportunity to seek better lives. Relatives would contribute money to support one person who would enter the U.S. to work and gain citizenship, then sponsor other family members to follow.

They all could now be arrested and deported, officials said, while the convicted schemers could face jail sentences.

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Internet Archive "Time Machine"
Posted by zengrifter on 17-Dec-2005 04:01:45 (#14935)

This is pretty neat, I'm finding more uses all the time - when you visit a page that you want to find an old version of, just click the toolbar link. You will be transported to any historic versions at the Wayback Machine.
http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

Example, older versions of CC.com, here -
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://cardcounter.com/

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CC.com, a retrospective -
Posted by zengrifter on 17-Dec-2005 18:39:59 (#14936)

Oct 26, 2000
http://web.archive.org/web/20001026033438/http://www.cardcounter.com/
Apr 01, 2001
http://web.archive.org/web/20010401160733/http://www.cardcounter.com/
Nov 29, 2001
http://web.archive.org/web/20010922062347/http://cardcounter.com/
Jan 20, 2002
http://web.archive.org/web/20020120205840/http://cardcounter.com/
Sept. 21, 2002
http://web.archive.org/web/20020921170514/http://cardcounter.com/
Sept. 26, 2002
http://web.archive.org/web/20020926045806/http://www.cardcounter.com/
Feb. 04, 2003
http://web.archive.org/web/20030204194810/http://cardcounter.com/

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I like most of those more than the current layout *NM*
Posted by The Mayor on 17-Dec-2005 20:48:05 (#14938)

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Ahhhh evolution and what it hath wrought!
Posted by Learning to count on 18-Dec-2005 15:22:23 (#14941)

Genius pure genius!

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I need a more advanced version.
Posted by Igor on 19-Dec-2005 17:52:46 (#14946)

In fact, I need to be like the old Biff in Back to the Future, visiting myself in my youth to mitigate my worst blunders.

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Anybody playing in AC 12/25-12/29?
Posted by Automatic Monkey on 19-Dec-2005 03:45:57 (#14943)

I'm looking for 1-3 backcounters to join me, efficiency should go way up with several tables being analyzed at once. Oh yes there's going to be some slug tracking going on too in a couple of the stores, but that's my problem, you just have to count.

automatic_monkey_21@hotmail.com

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Only a primate would play AC! *NM*
Posted by zengrifter on 21-Dec-2005 07:42:31 (#14956)

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CASING THE CASINOS by Ken Uston
Posted by zengrifter on 20-Dec-2005 01:46:56 (#14947)

CASING THE CASINOS
by Ken Uston | Atari News 1982
--------------
Ken Uston is author of the 60 Minute Guide to computers series and the best-selling How to Beat PacMan. He is a world-renowned blackjack player, having successfully assured through a court case the right of "card counters" to play in Atlantic City casinos.
--------------

Gamblers have a natural affinity for computers, and with good reason. Computers create order out of the seeming randomness of the universe. In fact, computers led to the knowledge that the game of blackjack could be beaten.

In the late 1950s a group of scientists analyzed the rules of blackjack as established by the Nevada casinos. Through computer algorithms, they uncovered the astounding fact that blackjack, unlike craps, roulette or slot machines, could be mastered if the proper mathematical principles were applied. This was due to the finding that the odds change back and forth between the player and the house in relation to changes in the content of the deck(s).

... continued here - http://www.atariarchives.org/deli/casinos.php

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Without letting me know, my soon-to-be-ex-wife slipped my Atari 800 into the trash.
Posted by Igor on 20-Dec-2005 14:00:13 (#14949)

So, instead of it going on ebay, it went to landfill. Following, by some decades, my set of Brooklyn Dodgers cards, complete with team card, for 1953 thru 1957 (may Walter O'Malley roast in hell), my Captain Video helmet, and my Roy Rodgers dinnerware.

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Likely New Method for Catching Counters...
Posted by zengrifter on 20-Dec-2005 17:05:57 (#14951)

... casino thought scanners. zg

------------------

Daily Times | December 15, 2005

Brainwaves to be used as identification

* 'Pass-thoughts' are the new fingerprints

OTTAWA: Canadian researchers hope to soon be able to use brain waves to unlock doors and get access to bank accounts.

Some companies are already offering iris recognition systems that many countries want to put into biometric passports. But Julie Thorpe, a researcher at Carleton University in

Ottawa wants to take the idea much further.

She says it is possible to do away with key cards, pin numbers and a litany of other security tools that allow people to retrieve bank money, access computer data or enter restricted building.

"A user would simply think their password," said Thorpe, who hopes to develop the first biometric security device to read your mind to authenticate users.

Her idea, yet to be proven viable for commercial application, assumes that brainwave signals, like fingerprints, vary slightly from person to person, even when they think alike.

"Everyone's brainwave signal is a bit different even when they think about the same thing. They're unique just like fingerprints," she said.

While people may be tricked into giving up their passwords, smart cards may be lost or stolen, as can biometric templates stored on computers for comparing eye or fingerprint scans, so-called "pass-thoughts" are unique.

A user would only have to think up a different password and save it on a computer, Thorpe said, describing what would become the world's first changeable biometric security tool.

The doctoral student is working with leading Canadian security technology researcher Paul Van Oorschot in Ottawa to turn her idea into reality.

Her research builds on other efforts to develop rudimentary brain-computer interfaces to help paralysed patients control their environment and communicate.

Whereas slight differences in brainwave patterns created difficulties for researchers trying to build universal tools that could translate thoughts into computer commands, these peculiarities make brainwaves ideal for security applications, Thorpe said.

"You could use a sound or music or childhood memory as your pass. You could even flash someone an image to help them remember their pass-thought," she said.

Thorpe must still prove that people can reproduce clear, concise signals over and over.

"Often, unconscious thoughts, maybe a song in the back of your mind, may blur a signal.

There's a lot going on in people's heads," she said. Also, current brain-computer interfaces are not yet up to the task.

The latest electroencephalogram (EEG) hardware, which measures electrical signals in the brain, consists of a costly bowl-shaped cap dotted with electrodes that takes time to put on and requires a gel be smeared on the person's head to bridge the gap between the electrodes and their scalp.

"It's not very fashionable, looks like a polka-dot swimming cap," Thorpe said, noting how refinements are in the works. afp

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Won't work
Posted by Automatic Monkey on 20-Dec-2005 18:04:56 (#14952)

The Soviets were obsessed with trying to read people's minds electronically. There's no correlation between brainwaves and specific thoughts. Brainwaves are more connected to states of consciousness. Besides, the subharmonics from power lines will swamp any amplifier sensitive enough to pick up human brainwaves a thousandfold.

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Sure it would...
Posted by zengrifter on 20-Dec-2005 22:10:57 (#14953)

... just like the "pass-thought", most counters are thought-verbalizing "plus 1, plus 3, zero, -2..." etc. Those would be easy. But we'd just all wear aluminum foil under our hats... like I do already to stop the ET signals from reading my mind. zg

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Still wouldn't work...
Posted by Sonny on 21-Dec-2005 09:25:42 (#14958)

The card counter's brain waves would be drowned out by the sea of white noise from all the ploppies!

-Sonny-

P.S.- Hey ZG, I always forget, is it shiny side out or dull side out? =)

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Blackjack Zone
Posted by Garo on 21-Dec-2005 11:20:15 (#14960)

But if players are able to enter the Zen like state the Mayor talks about in Chapter 6 there probably wouldn't be enough of a pattern to pick up.

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Chapter 6 refers to the...
Posted by zengrifter on 21-Dec-2005 15:46:02 (#14963)

...ZenZONE!!! zg

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Possible origin of Automatic Monkey
Posted by zengrifter on 20-Dec-2005 22:50:05 (#14955)

Stalin's half-man, half-ape super-warriors

CHRIS STEPHEN AND ALLAN HALL
Scotsman.com | Dec. 20, 2005

THE Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered the creation of Planet of the Apes-style warriors by crossing humans with apes, according to recently uncovered secret documents.

... continued here - http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=2434192005

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Going ape
Posted by Automatic Monkey on 21-Dec-2005 10:20:43 (#14959)

It's true. We were exiled from Russia after they started building casinos. Just imagine what we would do to those BJ games.

The whole thing sounds like a Lysenko experiment.

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Anyone read "My Life with the God Father of Blackjack"? *LINK*
Posted by Sonny on 21-Dec-2005 13:22:37 (#14961)

I've never even heard of this book. A link to Barnes & Noble is below.

-Sonny-

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Your assignment, Comrade Sonny is to buy it, read it,...
Posted by zengrifter on 21-Dec-2005 14:48:57 (#14962)

... and post us a review, for better or worse! zg

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A white merry Xmass...
Posted by zengrifter on 21-Dec-2005 16:06:12 (#14964)

... from me and the Hungarians (look out Czechs!). zg
http://www.reuters.hu/card_dom/index_content.html

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Same to you Z-man.
Posted by Learning to count on 23-Dec-2005 06:47:42 (#14967)

...And a Merry Christmas to everyone including the Mayor, Al Rogers, Stanford Wong, John J, El Lobo, Titanium man,Marathon Slim, Ploppy Jimmy, Panther Counter, Chicgo Slim, and all you card counting thieves Semper FI! My new years resolution is to get my bank roll in order and make 2006 a prosperous year!

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Off Topic - The Holographic Universe
Posted by zengrifter on 23-Dec-2005 23:52:55 (#14968)

The Holographic Universe

by Michael Talbot

In 1982 a remarkable event took place. At the University of Paris a research team led by physicist Alain Aspect performed what may turn out to be one of the most important experiments of the 20th century. You did not hear about it on the evening news. In fact, unless you are in the habit of reading scientific journals you probably have never even heard Aspect's name, though there are some who believe his discovery may change the face of science.

...University of London physicist David Bohm, for example, believes Aspect's findings imply that objective reality does not exist, that despite its apparent solidity the universe is at heart a phantasm, a gigantic and splendidly detailed hologram.

... continued here - http://www.crystalinks.com/holographic.html

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Guru Sues BJ Teacher
Posted by zengrifter on 24-Dec-2005 00:13:09 (#14969)

Sikh man files suit against blackjack teacher

By Tom Sharpe | The New Mexican
December 23, 2005

An expert card player said he barred an Española Sikh from his seminar because he suspects he works for casinos that want to bar people who learn his method of winning at blackjack.

Guru Sant Singh Khalsa recently sued Richard Harvey and Richard Brown, doing business as Mystic Ridge Books or Mystic Ridge Production, alleging they breached his contract to attend Harvey's blackjack seminar.

"Mr. Khalsa has invested thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of time becoming proficient to a level where he qualifies for the advanced seminar," says the complaint filed Tuesday in District Court by lawyer John Aragon of Santa Fe.

"As a result of the bad-faith breach of contract ... Khalsa (loses) his investment and time and (loses) profits which are reasonably to be expected."

The complaint, which seeks unspecified damages, says Harvey falsely accused Khalsa of being an undercover security officer for casinos.

According to Sikh Web sites, the Khalsa Code of Ethical Conduct -- also known as the Reht Maryada -- forbids gambling along with stealing and the consumption of alcohol or drugs.

Neither Aragon nor Khalsa responded to messages this week.

Reached through Mystic Ridge Books' office in Albuquerque, Harvey called Khalsa a "fool," a "phony" and a "crackpot." He said the lawsuit makes him more suspicious of Khalsa's motives. Harvey said there is no written contract between him and Khalsa, and he plans to return Khalsa's money. The class costs $325 plus tax, according to Mystic Ridge Books' Web site.

Harvey maintains he has the right to ban anyone from his seminars -- as do casinos and other private businesses. He said he recently told Khalsa that if he wanted to take the seminar planned for Denver in April, he should provide a photo and identification, but Khalsa did not comply.

Harvey said Khalsa began acting suspiciously after taking a seminar last year. He said Khalsa claimed he had come into a lot of money, owned a "sports-gaming company," wanted to form an illegal blackjack team with Harvey and tried to "lure" him to the Taos Mountain Casino.

"He's very well known at the Taos casino, and he knows damn well that anybody like myself can't go with somebody who's this flaming exhibitionist because then I would be identified, and I would never be able to play blackjack there again."

Harvey, who claims to be "one of the top blackjack guys in the world," said he developed his system of winning at blackjack a decade ago with computer studies, "card-behavior studies" and "theoretical-math models." He said he has written several books about his technique, including Blackjack the Smart Way.

When Harvey recently visited a Santa Fe-area casino, which he would not identify, he said the pit boss followed him and insisted on dealing to him. "How did they identify me?" he asked. "Maybe they came to my seminar."

Harvey said some casinos threaten blackjack experts with violence -- documented by Ben Mezrich's book Bringing Down the House and a soon-to-be-released film based on the book, 21, starring Kevin Spacey.

"I've had people follow me onto highways," he said. "I've had people try to break into my hotel rooms. I've got to protect myself and my family, and I cannot allow strange people who refuse to identify themselves to come into my seminars."

Recently, Harvey said, he became extra suspicious of Khalsa when he saw a magazine cover with a photograph of a bearded, turbaned Sikh identified as an executive with AKAL Security. A company spokesman said no one named Guru Sant Singh Khalsa worked there. Harvey said when he asked Khalsa if he were the same person pictured in the magazine, Khalsa suggested Harvey thought "all turban people look alike."

"That's ridiculous," Harvey said. "It's not about turbans. I've been friendly with the guy. ... But I don't need this crap. It's not kind. It's not nice. It's uncalled for, and now I'm going to have to countersue and spend more money because I'm not going to allow this to go unanswered."

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This is not the Guru's first lawsuit -
Posted by zengrifter on 24-Dec-2005 06:35:32 (#14972)

United States Judicial Opinions Regarding the Sikh Religious Identity
Khalsa v. Weinberger, 779 F.2d 1393 (9th Cir. 1985)

GURU SANT SINGH KHALSA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CASPER WEINBERGER, Secretary of Defense; JOHN O. MARSH, JR., Secretary of the Army; in their official capacities, and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Defendants-Appellees

No. 84-5880

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

OPINION BY BEEZER, Circuit Judge:
Appellant, a member of the Sikh religion, sued the Army for refusing to process his enlistment application because he could not comply with Army appearance regulations. The district court dismissed the suit on the ground that such regulations are not subject to judicial review. Appellant [**2] contends that the regulations are reviewable, that they were amended in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, and that they violated his First and Fifth Amendment rights. We affirm.

... continued here - http://www.sikhcoalition.org/LegalUS3.asp

---

LOL! Richard Harvey is a scamster
Posted by LVBear584 on 24-Dec-2005 16:24:19 (#14974)

Harvey's books are slightly rewritten John Patrick-type garbage. Harvey saved the Guru the time and money that would have been wasted on the undoubtedly worthless seminar. The Guru should be grateful.

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Harvey should be greatful...
Posted by zengrifter on 24-Dec-2005 18:16:30 (#14975)

... to have his karma purified by a 5th-stage realizer such as Gurudev Khalsa, what a blessing!
- zg(busy brushing up on the Singh lineage so that I can approach Gurudev as the ideal person to continue His Holiness's lessons!)

---

Locals Casinos - The Saga Continues
Posted by zengrifter on 24-Dec-2005 00:18:09 (#14970)

Neighborhood Draw

South Coast's opening latest in a boom where the stakes keep getting higher

By Liz Benston <benston@lasvegassun.com>
Las Vegas Sun

The journey from Frank Fertitta Jr.'s casino pit 30 years ago to the new South Coast isn't easy to trace on a map, but anyone who wants to understand Las Vegas needs to try.

Fertitta opened a small casino in 1976 merely to give co-workers a place to relax after their shifts. What he unwittingly tapped was a new market -- Las Vegans who wanted casinos of their own, places they could go to off the Strip.

... continued here - http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/lv-other/2005/dec/23/519866173.html

---

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Sheldon Adelson Sues John L. Smith
Posted by zengrifter on 24-Dec-2005 00:53:59 (#14971)

Venetian owner files suit

Adelson alleges libel by Las Vegas author

By CARRI GEER THEVENOT
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit in Los Angeles that accuses Las Vegas author John L. Smith of libeling him in the recently published book "Sharks in the Desert."

"The implication of Smith's writing is clear and unavoidable: that Adelson paid off gangsters and was 'in business with these people,'." the lawsuit said. "These statements, written by John L. Smith and published by Barricade Books Inc. and Lyle Stuart, are false and defamatory of Adelson."

Smith, a Review-Journal columnist, said the lawsuit surprised and disappointed him.

"I certainly haven't tried to link anyone to the mob," he said.

He said he "will vigorously defend" the lawsuit.

"I certainly have no ill will toward Sheldon Adelson, nor will I be intimidated by him," Smith said.

The complaint was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The lawsuit describes Adelson -- chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp., the parent company of The Venetian hotel and casino -- as a resident of Malibu, Calif.

In "Sharks in the Desert," according to the lawsuit, "Smith deceptively manipulates language, quotations and sources in order to concoct the smear that Adelson had dealings with the Boston Mob when Adelson was in the vending machine business. Smith's claims are baseless -- part of Smith's procrustean effort to find gangsters and molls behind every casino door."

Smith said he was trying to describe Adelson's rise in business "and the type of tough businessman he is today."

The lawsuit was prepared by Los Angeles attorney Marty Singer, who has represented several celebrities.

---

13th International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking *LINK*
Posted by zengrifter on 24-Dec-2005 07:05:30 (#14973)

13th International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking
May 22nd - 26th, 2006 @ Harrah's Lake Tahoe

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Mgmt Shake-up @ Plaza & Vegas Club
Posted by zengrifter on 24-Dec-2005 22:52:20 (#14976)

There is a big mgmt regime change at the troubled "Barrick" properties. The people responsible principally for the exceptional games are out. The great games may be gone momentarily as well. The new mgmt agency, 'Navagante Group', is not known for its liberal BJ policies. zg

Navagante Group
http://www.navegantegroup.com/index.html

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You beat me to it, Zen...
Posted by Brillo on 25-Dec-2005 08:45:52 (#14978)

I was just about to write a post about this when I saw your thread. When Barrick took over, the Plaza DD game actually got better: he introduced S17, RSA, and I'm not sure if you still can, but I saw a fellow there split 10's 8 times once.

Now I don't know jack about these Navgante people, but could you provide more info about "how they are not known for their liberal rules?" Taking single-deck BJ away from the Western and Vegas Club would be a travesty of monumental proportions. You can practically begin to sing the funeral rights for it in Vegas.

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1D games at Vegas Club...
Posted by zengrifter on 25-Dec-2005 15:15:55 (#14980)

"Taking single-deck BJ away from the Western and Vegas Club would be a travesty of monumental proportions."
------------------------------
...would be no great loss - the 2D games are far superior. zg

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One of the joints...
Posted by Alexander Mundy on 26-Dec-2005 11:54:59 (#14983)

that Navegante owns or manages in Carson City - Casino Fandango - offered a very good deeply dealt DOA SD. I haven't been there in over a year, so I don't know the current conditions.

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You would think...
Posted by Brillo on 26-Dec-2005 16:58:12 (#14985)

They would want to keep their games decent to keep some traffic headed downtown's way.

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Merry Christmas everybody! *NM*
Posted by phantom007 on 25-Dec-2005 05:27:26 (#14977)

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Is this gaming violation???
Posted by Brillo on 25-Dec-2005 08:52:57 (#14979)

I read that casinos have the words single-deck 21 over their 6:5 games because the gaming commission will not allow them to call the game blackjack. If this is true, how come some casinos advertise the words "single-deck blackjack" on marquees and signs outside on the stip, but when you walk inside, all you find is 6:5.

The reason I'm asking is I'm wondering if I only dreamt that I read this; it seems that it is a double standard to call it blackjack outside, but the actual game is called single-deck 21.

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Nothing illegal about calling 6:5 BJ. *NM*
Posted by zengrifter on 25-Dec-2005 15:17:20 (#14981)

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Nevada Gaming Control Board is worthless
Posted by Al Rogers on 25-Dec-2005 19:39:36 (#14982)

I made the argument that casinos should not be allowed to call 6 to 5 "blackjack" in a complaint I filed with the Nevada Gaming Control Board a couple of years ago. The Gaming Control Board wasn't interested, which was no surprise. But the Board wastes taxpayer time and money worrying about the length of the girls' skirts in Hard Rock billboards. The Nevada Gaming Control Board is worthless.

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Mississippi
Posted by Garo on 26-Dec-2005 16:16:46 (#14984)

I read about it in Mississippi, I believe it is the case there.

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The Incredible 'False Profit'
Posted by zengrifter on 26-Dec-2005 22:26:58 (#14986)

To the multitudes of investors who sent him money, Clyde Hood's promises of low-risk, high-return investmensts must have sounded like the answer to their dreams. Shane Tritsch's article "False Profit" recites the bizarre story of the retired electrician who held himself out to be one of the world's top financeers in the process of fleecing tens of millions from tens of thousands.

Here - http://www.quatloos.com/FalseProfit.pdf

---

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KO Question
Posted by spraymaster on 26-Dec-2005 22:40:45 (#14987)

how many of yous play with the ko-count and how good has it been with your play it over time i been working on it but have not went and tryed its comeing soon i just would like some feed back from player that count with it if someone can thanks alot. sm

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Have you thought about dice control? *NM*
Posted by zengrifter on 28-Dec-2005 00:47:52 (#14994)

---

Posted by on 31-Dec-1969 18:00:00 (#14989)

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Media mogul Kerry Packer dies
Posted by zengrifter on 27-Dec-2005 06:52:25 (#14991)

Media mogul lived life to the full

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Australia's richest man, 68-year-old media mogul Kerry Packer, was known throughout the world for his love of sports and gambling.

He died at home in Sydney on Monday night, his family said Tuesday.

Packer -- listed by Forbes magazine this year as the 94th richest man in the world with a $5 billion fortune -- amassed his billions from his family company, Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd., which he inherited from his father. He handed the day-to-day running of the giant company to his son James Packer some years ago.

The media empire included Australia's most popular television network and a stable of profitable magazines.

While Packer's business empire made his name in Australia, it was his love of sports and gambling that earned him worldwide fame.

In 1977, he reinvented limited-overs cricket to make it more appealing to a mass television audience.

Players in the Packer-backed World Series Cricket swapped their traditional white clothing for multicolored uniforms disparagingly referred to by some as pajamas.

The new format was attacked as gaudy by traditionalists, but helped revitalize the game. It was also controversial because it featured players from South Africa who were at that time subject to sporting sanctions aimed at ending their country's apartheid regime.

The Australian and South African cricket teams stood for a minute's silence in memory of Packer on Tuesday morning in the southern city of Melbourne before play started on day two of the second Test.

Packer will be missed by casino bosses around the world.

He haunted baccarat tables at casinos from London to Las Vegas and his love of gambling inspired him to buy Melbourne's Crown Casino complex, Australia's largest. PBL is also developing casinos in Macau with Asian businessman Stanley Ho.

Reports of huge losses in the tens of millions surfaced from time to time but Packer either refused to comment on them or brushed them off.
A mogul's son

Son of newspaper and magazine mogul Sir Frank Packer, Kerry began his career in the industry at age 19, working in the printing room of his father's Daily Telegraph newspaper in Sydney.

Packer was trained in all aspects of his father's business except as a reporter. He had shown little academic ability at school, and was not considered journalist material.

Packer was not first in line to take over the running of his father's empire, but his older brother Clyde fell out with his father in 1972, and remained largely estranged from the remaining Packer family until his death in 2001.

Packer was announced as chairman of Australian Consolidated Press, now the magazine publishing subsidiary of PBL, in 1974, a few days after his father's funeral.

Packer inherited two television stations, five radio stations, nine provincial newspapers and the biggest magazine publishing company in the country. The Daily Telegraph had been sold two years earlier to rival Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

By the late 1980s, Packer had acquired another magazine business, bought and sold the nation's largest engineering company and expanded programming at Nine.

Packer also bought into real estate, and in the late 1980s became one of Australia's largest landowners and cattle barons. His Australian properties were said to cover an area bigger than Belgium.

The powerful businessman was courted by prime ministers and was credited with using his media empire to make or break governments.

However, he was not a one-party supporter -- according to former Labor Party Prime Minister Bob Hawke, Packer "preferred winners to losers."

In 1987, Packer made the deal of a lifetime when he sold his two television stations to up-and-coming entrepreneur Alan Bond for 1 billion Australian dollars. Packer's own financial advisers believed the stations were worth just A$400 million.

Packer bought the TV stations back three years later for A$200 million.

A giant of a man who was said to live on hamburgers and milkshakes, Packer was nonetheless a keen sports fan and in the 1980s began devoting his time and money to the sport of polo.
Health problems

Packer had long been plagued by ill health.

In 2000, he received a new kidney donated by his longtime helicopter pilot and friend Nick Ross.

The operation left him without either of his own kidneys -- the first was removed in the 1980s after doctors found it to be cancerous.

In 1990, he had a heart attack while playing polo and his heart stopped for about seven minutes before he was revived by paramedics using a defibrillator.

Days later, he donated A$3 million dollars to equip all ambulances in New South Wales state with defibrillators. Machines bought with the donations were irreverently branded "Packer Whackers."

He had heart bypass surgery later in 1990, but had a second heart attack in 1995.

According to journalist Paul Barry, author of the unofficial biography "The Rise and Rise of Kerry Packer," the billionaire's power "was frightening to some, but to others he seemed to be a champion of Australian values and the common man."

Kerry Packer is survived by his wife of 42 years, Roslyn; a son and a daughter, James and Gretel.

---------
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Packer's gambling: fact or fiction?
Posted by zengrifter on 27-Dec-2005 07:01:03 (#14992)

Packer's gambling: fact or fiction?

The Age | December 27, 2005 - 6:29PM

Attempting to separate fact from fiction when it comes to tales of Kerry Packer's gambling is hardly worth the trouble.

Because you can safely assume that those stories that are true are as brightly coloured as those that are not.

Whether they are about winning and losing, of tipping casino card dealers enough to buy a house or of confrontations with loud-mouthed Texan tycoons, the Packer punting fables are characterised by the same thing: vast amounts of money and the fearless staking of it on an opinion.

The story of the time Packer cleaned up at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas in 1997 is typical.

He won something between $20 million and $40 million.

One source that claims to know the "real truth" puts it US$26 million and that it was won playing blackjack six hands at a time for $200,000 a hand - and it resulted in the house-sized tip to the dealer.

The most notorious of the Packer losses suffers from a similar lack of authentication.

But Mark Latham claimed to have it right when he publicly questioned Mr Packer's morality over his supposed loss of $34 million in one session.

One of the more colourful stories that went with those visits to Las Vegas can also be taken fairly lightly. Or it can be enthusiastically adopted.

It involves a Texan who approached Packer at the tables in Vegas and started making a nuisance of himself.

When asked to give it a rest, the Texan supposedly replied with the old, "Do you know who I am", to which the Packer reply was, "No".

"I happen to be worth $100 million," said the Texan.

"Toss you for it," said Packer. Allegedly.

What are true are the punting sprees Packer engaged in on Australian racecourses.

It is fact that Packer lost as much as $30 million to the Sydney bookmaker Bruce McHugh.

Over a period of time, he began to win it back, so McHugh retired, knowing that the well was virtually bottomless and that Packer would eventually retrieve it all.

In the late 1990s one of Packer's favourite punts was on the Melbourne Cup.

Bookmakers grew to dread the Cup Day call that began with two words: "Packer here." For a couple of years at least, the big man got it right.

In 1997 he had an estimated $1 million on Might And Power who won at 7-2 and the next year he backed Jezabeel who landed the cash at 6-1.

In recent years though, Packer has gone from poacher to gamekeeper. And he has done so in his own inimitable style.

Twelve years ago he bid for the tender to build and run the Sydney casino, putting his son James in charge.

A Four Corners investigation into the process revealed various aspects of the Packer approach, including an alleged phone call made by James Packer to a then minister in the NSW Liberal government.

"The old man told me to ring," James Packer supposedly said. "This is the message. If we don't win the casino, you guys are f...ed."

The Packers lost, and, coincidentally, John Fahey's Liberal government got tossed out at the next opportunity.

Mr Packer then waged a three-year battle that won control of the Sydney Casino which it duly sold to Victorian-based TabCorp.

But his companies still control Melbourne Crown Casino and Perth's Burswood Casino.

Mr Packer's companies are also a partner in a casino in Macau which is seen as a stepping stone into China.

More recently he has thrown in with the English-based betting exchange operator, Betfair.

In a move reminiscent of World Series Cricket, Mr Packer has taken on the establishment which is trying to outlaw Betfair, an operation which allows punters to accept bets as well as place them.

None of it, though, should be surprising.

Mr Packer's grandfather Robert Packer apparently got the whole empire started when he paid his family's fare from Tasmania to the mainland with the proceeds of a bet he made on a horse after finding ten shillings in the street.

So they say.

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ADDT'L PACKER RETROSPECTIVE
Posted by zengrifter on 28-Dec-2005 18:33:42 (#14996)

28 December 2005
£3BN PACKER CASHES IN HIS CHIPS
Gambling TV mogul dies
By Mark Mcgivern

HE was ready to bet $100million on the toss of a coin and once paid off a waitress's mortgage as a tip.

And when his country's national sport refused to sell him its TV rights, he simply bought up all the best players and started a game of his own.

Even by Australian standards, Kerry Packer was a confident man.

But his brash nature earned him a £3billion fortune. And the swashbuckling tycoon and legendary gambler, who has died aged 68, was hailed by many yesterday as a national hero.

Aussie prime minister John Howard said: "He was a larger-than-life character - a great Australian."

Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer was a sickly child who spent nine months in an iron lung after an attack of polio.

He grew up to turn his family's newspaper company into a massive empire with interests in everything from casinos to chemicals But it was his roleasheadof Australian TV station Channel Nine that made him world-famous.

In 1976, Packer bid for the rights to Australia's cricket matches. But the sport's stuffy bosses gave the contract to the old network, ABC, even though Channel Nine bid seven times more.

Furious, Packer set up a rival competition,World Series Cricket, and hired the best players on the planet to take part.

The old guard laughed at the innovations he brought in - night games, white balls and brightly coloured uniforms that critics called "pyjamas".

But within two years, the Australian Cricket Board had to make a deal with Packer to get back their stars. And all his"gimmicks" are now standard features of the international one-day game.

One of the stalwarts of World Series Cricket, former England captain Tony Greig, said yesterday: "Cricket will never know how different things would have been without Kerry Packer."

Packer had won but he didn't rest on his laurels. He continued to build his business, as well as indulging his legendary love of gambling.

He is rumoured to have lost £10million playing baccarat at one Las Vegas casino. But he is also said to have won £7million on the tables in London in a single year.

Packer was also renowned for his kindness. When a waitress told him she worked nights to keep a roof over her children's heads,he left her a cheque for the balance of her mortgage as a tip.

Another time, Packer saw a Texas oilman being rude to another waitress.

The boorish American bragged that he was worth $100million, so Packer told him, "I'll toss you for it." The Texan didn't take the bet.

Packer was a hands-on boss. One night, a Channel Nine show called Australia's Rudest Videos vanished from the screen half-way through - the outraged tycoon had ordered it off air.

Packer worked all hours and lived on a diet of burgers, milkshakes and cigarettes. His weight ballooned to 20 stone and his health began to fail.

He had a heart attack at a polo game in Sydney in 1990 and only survived because an ambulance with a defibrillator machine happened to be passing.

Days later, Packer gave $3million to buy defibrillators for every ambulance in New South Wales.Locals started calling the machines"Packer Whackers".

Packer had a second heart attack in 1995. And in 2000, after falling ill with cancer, he received a new kidney.

The transplanted organ began to fail last week and Packer knew his time was up.He told a pal: "I can't eat what I want, I can't do what I want and I can't go where I want.Son,what am I doing here?"

Packer ordered his doctor not to try to keep him alive,saying: "This is my time."

And on Boxing Day, he died in his sleep at his Sydney mansion with his wife and family at his bedside.

Packer is survived by his wife of 42 years, Ros, daughter Gretel, 39, and son and heir James, 38

---

MLM Poker Site
Posted by zengrifter on 27-Dec-2005 20:40:42 (#14993)

Federico is the former CTO for Binion's. zg

----- Original Message -----
From: Federico Schiavio, WSOP Owner
To: 'zengrifter'
Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2005 4:45 PM
Subject: WSOP.com Launch

We have launched! We are now Live and want you to try us out!

We are giving you the opportunity to start your own business, no money down ever, and be in the black the first month.

There are 4 main points to keep in mind;

1) Only 750 raked hands per month, at any blind to earn your entire commission OR,
2) Full commission also earned by referring 100 people who play at least 100 raked hands at any blinds per month, and they can be the same 100 people every time
3) We give you 25% of the commission regardless if you play or refer
4) Members who sign up without an invitation are equally and evenly distributed among existing members so your downline grows by itself.

The links below explain our referral program in detail.

E-Movie - http://www.wsop.com/emovie.html

Brochure - http://www.wsop.com/brochure.php

Advantage - www.wsop.com/advantage.php

Federico Schiavio

WSOP.com Downline Sponsor

---

Life Lessons From Blackjack *LINK*
Posted by Sonny on 28-Dec-2005 11:32:41 (#14995)

It looks like someone else has noticed the similarities as well! In a way, the Mayor's book is a Bible, of sorts.

-Sonny-

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AC trip report
Posted by Automatic Monkey on 28-Dec-2005 18:48:48 (#14997)

Couldn't get anybody to play with me, so I was an ape alone and forlorn on the Boardwalk for a few days.

The good news is playing conditions have slightly improved! Most of the 6:5 crapjack is gone. The Trump Plaza now deals only 6D with 75-80% pen. With a few exceptions pen was pretty good, got as good as 0.8D with one dealer (probably a mistake). Several shuffles in town are now workable.

The bad news was the crowds were beyond oppressive! I swear, the entire population of China seemed like they were there, as well as groups of middle aged homosexual men, strangely enough. Maybe they were having a convention or something. Borgata and most other places were up to $50-$100 mins except for their one token $5 and $10 table which of course people are lined up at. Most tables in town were NMS and that plus the crowds made backcounting very difficult, but the backcounting forays I was able to get off went well. I even found one of the few remaining crapjack tables that allowed mid-shoe entry, so I switched to UBZ and abused it for a while, lunging in for a single hand every 2-3 decks feeling like all eyes were on me. The crowd situation didn't allow me to get as much play in as I wanted. Too much time was spent finding a seat. Now I came prepared to deal with crowds, but not like that, and a dealer told me the casinos grossly misunderestimated the need for dealers. Tables were managed full 24 hours a day and the only hope for getting good play in was finding the times when the crowds didn't match up with the shift changes. The high table mins were also a problem. My bankroll wasn't sufficient for a $50 game and barely for a $25 game, but I went back to my room and did some quick sims and found that when Wonging out properly, I'm just as well off playing a $50 6D game where I can always spread to two hands, than a $25 8D game where I can only play one. So I braved the higher limits with no harm done.

Heat: I got lit up twice. Once was at a game that lent itself to double-key single-ace sequencing, and I was having a nice session of this until I looked up and saw two suits standing there with their arms crossed and glaring. Might have looked like I was bet-capping or something, so I got the heck out of there. The second incident was at a very dingy run-down Midtown joint. That's usually a good place to avoid, but I walked through and found a dealer cutting deep so I played, and on my first shoe got a huge count, spread to two hands, and on the last hand of the shoe went to spread to 3, and the PC came over and told me if I don't accept a player's card, I can only play one hand because "we don't know who you are." And I'm thinking, if they find out who I am, they're not going to let me even play one hand, so I finished the shoe and left with a nice win.

Results: lost a few hundred, got frustrated with the crowds that I was informed wouldn't be getting any better that week, so I blew town, all the way back to Foxwoods and won it all back in a couple of hours. Life at the speed of blackjack!

Best experience: getting toked a green by a whale at the table for informing him to hit A6 vs. 10! Yes of course he got his 4. It sucks to get the abuse from ploppies for basic strategy advice that doesn't go their way, so it was nice to be rewarded for a change. Also had some fun partnering with players on splits and DD's.

Worst experience: having a prostitute try to shake me down for money in an elevator. This scabrous woman makes conversation with me, then in the elevator solicits me for prostitution. I tell her "No thanks," then she tells me she's a police informant and is going to have me arrested for prostitution if I don't "take care of her." "Poor choice of words" I thought, as I considered the various ways I could take care of her. I could call the cops but that would attract unwanted attention and possibly get her to raise the stakes with a false claim. So I act afraid- "OK, OK, please don't get me in trouble, my wife will kill me. I've got $500 in my wallet, it's down in my car. You can come with me." She walks along with me and gives me this pseudo-cop lecture about the trouble I can get into talking to strangers. I'm gritting my teeth with rage, restraining myself, and at an intersection of corridors, instead of turning towards the parking deck, I walked onto the casino floor and sat down at a BJ table, flipping her a double-bird behind my back. Her voice turned into something from The Exorcist when she realized she'd been screwed, and she didn't dare follow me out there. Fifteen seconds later I turned around and she was gone. A bad omen I guess, because the session that followed was the worst of the week!

New trick: when playing at a NMS shoe, to ensure that the table doesn't fill up during the shuffle preventing you from playing two hands, just put a bet down in two spots. Right when the dealer puts the cards back in the shoe, pull one back. He won't care, and that spot will be empty til the shuffle unless your neighbor starts playing two hands.

Question: How do you deal with a dealer who picks up the cards any old way? I'm recording sequences, then the relief dealer comes in and just scoops the cards together randomly after each round. Typical AC sloppiness. I could tell him, hey that's not the right way to pick up cards, but would that be too much of a tipoff to someone that I'm using advanced AP? It's the most vexing problem I faced when sequencing. Unfortunately I couldn't just go to another table, because the tables were too full.

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It sound like AC playing conditions are improving! *NM*
Posted by zengrifter on 29-Dec-2005 00:37:39 (#14999)

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Your book title - An ape alone: an AP in AC
Posted by Sonny on 29-Dec-2005 09:57:09 (#15003)

> ...I was an ape alone and forlorn on the Boardwalk for a few days.

You must have blended in just fine! =)

> ...the PC came over and told me if I don't accept a player's card,
> I can only play one hand because "we don't know who you are."

"Well, if you don't know who I am then I must not be any trouble, right?"

"I don't know who this guy [point to the dealer] is but I'm letting him take my money."

"Sorry, my wife keeps all the credit cards. I should be in your computer under the name Johnson."

> Results: lost a few hundred, got frustrated with the crowds that I was
> informed wouldn't be getting any better that week, so I blew town...

It sounds like you made the right choice. The small EV just wasn't worth the time and effort (and frustration) it takes to get it. Other than the skanky hooker maneuver, that may have been your biggest Advantage Play of the trip!

> Question: How do you deal with a dealer who picks up the cards any old way?

Just make a big fuss. "I won that last hand but the dealer took my money! I had 20 and he had 18!" I imagine that the dealer will be immediately "re-trained" once the pit boss watches him try to reconstruct the last hand from the discard tray. There is nothing wrong with bringing attention to someone who is not doing their job properly, especially when it is costing you money.

-Sonny-

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Ooooh, good one!
Posted by Automatic Monkey on 29-Dec-2005 11:12:13 (#15004)

What a great idea, making the dealer reconstruct a hand from the mess he made when picking up cards. Now there's a chance that the cards when laid out again will actually make it appear you had a winning hand.

In fact, if you can follow what he did when picking up the cards, you can seek out dealers who pick up the cards sloppily and complain only when the cards when laid out would give you a win when you lost. Just imagine the advantage of being able to convert 10% of your losing hands to winners. Congratulations on this new (?) technique!

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May not work all the time
Posted by Sonny on 29-Dec-2005 17:51:01 (#15006)

> In fact, if you can follow what he did when picking up the cards, you can
> seek out dealers who pick up the cards sloppily and complain only when the
> cards when laid out would give you a win when you lost.

Ah, you're always a step ahead of me! You've just invented Pick-Up Sequencing!

If the dealer shows any uncertainty about the hands then the floorman will check with the eye in the sky. You don't want to get caught doing that too many times. Still, even once a day would give you a great advantage.

-Sonny-

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Enjoyable read, thanks for the report. *NM*
Posted by The Mayor on 29-Dec-2005 12:10:35 (#15005)

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not to change the subject, but...
Posted by stainless steel rat on 29-Dec-2005 20:19:33 (#15007)

your "gay men" reminded me of an amusing happening. My wife went with a friend to NYC a few years ago. They managed to tour much of the city. She called one night and said "you'll never guess what I saw today!". I promptly asked "what?" She answered "butt-cheeks. _Lots_ of butt-cheeks. Guys' butt-cheeks." I asked "how did that happen?" She answered "there's some sort of gay thing going on up here, and there was a huge parade that we ran into around Times Square. I turned a corner, and say lots of guys wearing jeans with the rear pockets (and everything else back there) cut off so that their butt-cheeks were hanging out in the breeze." I asked "see anything interesting?" She responded "arsehole..."

:)

Never know what you will see around the next corner in NYC. :)

Now back to AC. (since this was more a "DC" issue. :) )

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The First Wearable Computer (by Ed Thorp)
Posted by zengrifter on 29-Dec-2005 01:47:19 (#15000)

The Invention of the First Wearable Computer
Edward O. Thorp
Edward O. Thorp & Associates
EOThorp@ix.netcom.com

Abstract

The first wearable computer was conceived in 1955 by the author to predict roulette, culminating in a joint effort at M.I.T. with Claude Shannon in 1960-61. The final operating version was tested in Shannon's basement home lab in June of 1961. The cigarette pack sized analog device yielded an expected gain of +44% when betting on the most favored "octant." The Shannons and Thorps tested the computer in Las Vegas in the summer of 1961. The predictions there were consistent with the laboratory expected gain of 44% but a minor hardware problem deferred sustained serious betting. We kept the method and the existence of the computer secret until 1966.

... continued here in PDF -
http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/graphics/courses/mobwear/resources/thorp-iswc98.pdf

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C Shannon
Posted by spyndocktor on 01-Jan-2006 14:18:56 (#15016)

What I find intersting is that Thorp pull Shannon into AP play. Claude Shannon is one of the most important mathematicians in the 20th Century. He is the father of information theory which is critial in determining the bandwith of a communication channel and also the mathematics behind compression algorithms.

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Excerpt from Claude Shannon Video
Posted by zengrifter on 01-Jan-2006 18:16:17 (#15017)

The video is supposedly available online but it doesnt load currently. If it becomes available I'll repost the link. It shows Shannon juggling, among other things. zg

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UCSD-TV DOCUMENTARY ON CLAUDE SHANNON WINS AURORA BIOGRAPHY AWARD
http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news_events/news_2002/20020812_shannon.shtml
A documentary co-produced by the Jacobs School about the father of information theory, the late Claude Shannon, has won a Gold award in the Biography category in the 2002 Aurora Awards.

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Excerpt from "Claude Shannon - Father of the Information Age"

...Although he continued as a consultant there for another decade, Shannon left Bell Labs in 1956 to teach at MIT. While there, he engaged in an eclectic set of interests and inventions, many of them, in his own words, 'useless.'

In a 1963 edition of Vogue, the magazine described some of Shannon's early contraptions—a chair lift that took his kids 600 feet down from the house to a nearby lake, for instance, and a hidden panel in his library that sprung open, but didn't lead anywhere. "The fact is he loved engineering things, the gadgets," says Paul Siegel, an information theorist and director of UCSD's Center for Magnetic Recording Research. "The mechanical mouse, the chair lift from his house down to the lake, they were an integral part of his psyche."

"He built more than 30 unicycles by hand in his garage," adds UC Berkeley's Berlekamp. "One of the questions that intrigued him was how small a unicycle could a human ride, and he built several that no one could ever ride."

Shannon was an inveterate tinker and inventor. One room in his house was crammed with dozens of his devices: a computer that could calculate in Roman numerals; a machine that could solve the Rubik's Cube puzzle; a gasoline-powered pogo stick; and several mechanical juggling machines.

Shannon himself took up juggling with a vengeance, a sport he later demonstrated for a Canadian Broadcasting documentary. He also wrote a widely praised academic paper on the dynamics of keeping multiple objects in the air at once. "Generally, I think if a guy comes up with all those things, like a mouse that does a maze etcetera, it usually looks like showing off, that he's Mister Idea man," says Thomas Cover, a professor at Stanford University. "But Shannon was so quiet and unassuming and humble, that I think he was doing these things despite himself, rather than to show off."

Stanford's Cover won the Shannon Award in 1990, in part for his work extending information theory into investment analysis. Shannon never published on the subject, but delivered two influential lectures at MIT on stock investing—pre-dating widespread use of portfolio theory on Wall Street. He and Betty Shannon also made a killing in the stock market, after investing in technology start-ups owned by friends, companies such as Teledyne and Hewlett-Packard.

Like playing the stock market, games and game theory also intrigued him. Notes Cover: "One of Shannon's connections that's little known, is Ed Thorp, the guy who became famous for writing the book Beat the Dealer, how to play blackjack optimally and count the cards. One summer he talked to Shannon and he asked whether Shannon would submit his work on blackjack to the national academy of sciences. Shannon got interested and before long he went out to Shannon's house and worked on a roulette prediction scheme." ....

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