Ken Smith | February 18, 2005
An item in today’s Las Vegas Mercury discusses various casino advantage players and their tactics. It covers a broad spectrum including card counting, hole card play, sports betting, poker, and even craps. The article starts with a few paragraphs about Eliot “The Mayor” Jacobson. Stanford Wong weighs in on his new passion, beating the game […]
Ken Smith | February 13, 2005
From the Edmonton Sun: WINNIPEG — The Manitoba Lotteries Corporation has partially lifted a ban on French in the province’s casinos by allowing bilingual blackjack tables twice a week. Although Manitoba recognizes French as an official language, provincial rules normally forbid any language other than English at many casino tables to prevent collusion among gamblers. […]
Ken Smith | November 22, 2004
An article in today’s Las Vegas Sun starts out talking about Jimmy Pine, aka “Young Jimmy Dime” who was a participant in the recent World Series of Blackjack’s second season. The story goes on to cover a laundry list of blackjack topics: Card counters, backrooming, lawsuits, and of course a few bits of WSOB2.
Ken Smith | November 6, 2004
My recent post about a $99,999 judgement against Imperial Palace casino in Las Vegas included only the actual damages awarded in the case. Since then, the case has returned to the courtroom where the jury awarded an additional $500,000 in punitive damages. Law caps the punitive damages in this case to $300,000, so the plaintiff […]
Ken Smith | October 25, 2004
An editorial in Saturday’s Las Vegas Review Journal references the suit I mentioned a few days ago, and features this telling quote: “The gaming industry’s viability — and the state’s economy — hinge on the premise that gamblers get a fair shake. Even the slightest hint that fancy shufflers and other glittering casino technologies can […]
Ken Smith | October 22, 2004
I recently got this question via email: “What is the rule of 6?” Casinos that deal single-deck blackjack often instruct their dealers to use the “rule of 6” to decide when to shuffle. This means that the number of players plus the number of rounds between shuffles should add up to 6. If there are […]
Ken Smith | October 19, 2004
Las Vegas attorney Bob Nersesian has filed suit on behalf of a gambler at a casino in Reno, NV, seeking to stop the casino from using the automated MindPlay blackjack table for a practice known as ‘preferential shuffling’. That’s when the casino shuffles away any player-favorable situations. The suit alleges that the casino used an […]