Anyone read that maxim article about BJ?

C

Cass

Well-Known Member
#1
#1
I happened to pick up a copy of maxim magazine this month (has angelina jolie on cover). On one page they had a article how to beat blackjack. They interviewed some guy who had made a DVD on how to win at blackjack. twenty one of his best tips were posted in the article. About half of the things he wrote were just flat out wrong. A few that i remember
- when you have 14-16 and dealer is showing 9,10,A surrender
- do not split 8's agains dealer 9,10,a
- If a player at your table isnt playing BS get up and leave because he will cost you money
- The three F's never split fours, fives, faces


And My personal favorite:
-If playing $5 a hand bet $1 for the dealer, it is good luck!

Unfortunately I dont remember the guys name or his DVd hopeful some of you saw it.
 
S

ScottH

Well-Known Member
#2
#2
Cass said:
I happened to pick up a copy of maxim magazine this month (has angelina jolie on cover). On one page they had a article how to beat blackjack. They interviewed some guy who had made a DVD on how to win at blackjack. twenty one of his best tips were posted in the article. About half of the things he wrote were just flat out wrong. A few that i remember
- when you have 14-16 and dealer is showing 9,10,A surrender
- do not split 8's agains dealer 9,10,a
- If a player at your table isnt playing BS get up and leave because he will cost you money
- The three F's never split fours, fives, faces


And My personal favorite:
-If playing $5 a hand bet $1 for the dealer, it is good luck!

Unfortunately I dont remember the guys name or his DVd hopeful some of you saw it.
Click to expand...
I hope noone bought this DVD! I cant believe they would publish information that is completely wrong.

Bet 20% of your bet for good luck, HA! That's a good one...NOT!
 
M

mdlbj

Well-Known Member
#3
#3
Seeing how Maxim is building a new casino on the LV Strip, I think they are priming the readers to blow their money there..

Let me correct my statement: (Dead link: http://vegasblog.latimes.com/vegas/2006/06/maxim.html)

They are being paid a fee for use of the name..
 
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ihate17

ihate17

Well-Known Member
#4
#4
Everyone has something for sale

But everything that is for sale is not necessarily good.

On another blackjack board someone mentioned this guys name and none of the players there have ever heard of him. Nothing surprising, you can go to your local bookstore and find that half or more than half of the blackjack books on sale there are not worth the paper they are printed on.
Just like the selling of progression systems if there is a demand, then there will be a buyer.

To switch hats a bit:
We should not jump all over (and I am guilty at times) people who use definate losing systems unless they are asking for help. I say this because decent blackjack today (getting harder to find but still out there) can be found with house edges between .2 and .4%. For a casino and all of its expenses it does not take much to see that if every single player played at least perfect basic strategy, the casino's net on the game would be so low that perhaps they could not pay for the salaries, benifits etc involved with putting on the game. So, the games would all become much worse than the games we complain about today.
Casinos make somewhere between 2-3% on blackjack with decent rules today, and to me it is obvious that they only make that much because there are a ton of horrid players out there playing at deficits of 5% and even more. We need these players for the sole purpose of keeping the games playable for us. We are beholden to the ploppies! (Just do not let it go to their heads)

ihate17
 
S

ScottH

Well-Known Member
#5
#5
ihate17 said:
But everything that is for sale is not necessarily good.

On another blackjack board someone mentioned this guys name and none of the players there have ever heard of him. Nothing surprising, you can go to your local bookstore and find that half or more than half of the blackjack books on sale there are not worth the paper they are printed on.
Just like the selling of progression systems if there is a demand, then there will be a buyer.

To switch hats a bit:
We should not jump all over (and I am guilty at times) people who use definate losing systems unless they are asking for help. I say this because decent blackjack today (getting harder to find but still out there) can be found with house edges between .2 and .4%. For a casino and all of its expenses it does not take much to see that if every single player played at least perfect basic strategy, the casino's net on the game would be so low that perhaps they could not pay for the salaries, benifits etc involved with putting on the game. So, the games would all become much worse than the games we complain about today.
Casinos make somewhere between 2-3% on blackjack with decent rules today, and to me it is obvious that they only make that much because there are a ton of horrid players out there playing at deficits of 5% and even more. We need these players for the sole purpose of keeping the games playable for us. We are beholden to the ploppies! (Just do not let it go to their heads)

ihate17
Click to expand...
You could do all the advertising you wanted about basic strategy and there would still be plenty of ploppies to keep the casinos going strong. There are too many people out there that you can tell them and PROVE to them that they are playing wrong, and they just wont listen, or they dont care.

How many times have I tried to tell people progressions dont work in negative expectation games, but almost every time I get the "You're just not open to other ideas besides card counting". I feel bad (only a little :) ), but like you mentioned, I know that they are keeping the good games available.
 
sagefr0g

sagefr0g

Well-Known Member
#6
#6
ihate17 said:
........
To switch hats a bit:
We should not jump all over (and I am guilty at times) people who use definate losing systems unless they are asking for help. I say this because decent blackjack today (getting harder to find but still out there) can be found with house edges between .2 and .4%. For a casino and all of its expenses it does not take much to see that if every single player played at least perfect basic strategy, the casino's net on the game would be so low that perhaps they could not pay for the salaries, benifits etc involved with putting on the game. So, the games would all become much worse than the games we complain about today.
Casinos make somewhere between 2-3% on blackjack with decent rules today, and to me it is obvious that they only make that much because there are a ton of horrid players out there playing at deficits of 5% and even more. We need these players for the sole purpose of keeping the games playable for us. We are beholden to the ploppies! (Just do not let it go to their heads)

ihate17
Click to expand...
right you are. at my local joint there are some ploppies that i've become friendly with. one a pure gambler that bets big a lot. i've sat at the table with him while he was laying out huge bets when the count was going south. it's been all i can do to keep myself from signaling him to drop his bets. then this other guy is not wrapped right. his parents apparently use the casino as a babysitting station. they must be loaded cause the guy bets loads of money willy nilly and just loses it like nothing. i'd like to help them but i know if the casino got drift of it i'd be history for sure.
 
B

bartbart

New Member
#7
#7
ScottH said:
I cant believe they would publish information that is completely wrong.
Click to expand...
A good friend of mine was an editor at Maxim. Most of the writing in that magazine is completely made up. Very little of it is factual. I have had my name in that magazine several times in fictional stories.
 
S

shadroch

Well-Known Member
#8
#8
The Las Vegas Advisor newsletter mentions this article in passing. It pretty much says its some of the worse gamling advice published recently.
I recently worked a charity event that was co-sponsored by Maxim,and many of their junior employees worked alongside me. I got the impression their workplace wasn't much different than my old Fraternity house.
 
halcyon1234

halcyon1234

Well-Known Member
#10
#10
You mentioned "Maxim" and "bj" in the same sentence, and I have to tell you-- even though I'm on a website called blackjackinfo.com-- blackjack isn't what came to mind.

I suppose that goes to show how much faith I have in Maxim's ability to publish factually worthwhile material. ;)
 
S

someday

Member
#12
#12
Brett Granstaff creator of the DVD Hot Hand Advantage.

Cass said:
- when you have 14-16 and dealer is showing 9,10,A surrender
- do not split 8's agains dealer 9,10,a
- If a player at your table isnt playing BS get up and leave because he will cost you money
- The three F's never split fours, fives, faces


And My personal favorite:
-If playing $5 a hand bet $1 for the dealer, it is good luck!

Unfortunately I dont remember the guys name or his DVd hopeful some of you saw it.
Click to expand...

You forgot rule #10 - "Playing to the dealer's right, or 'third base,' lets you draw before he does, giving you control over which card he takes next."
If only you knew what that card was...

Rules 8 and 15 also contradict themselves, but I think everyone gets the idea of the amount of rubbish printed.

His name is Brett Granstaff creator of the DVD Hot Hand Advantage.
 
T

Tom241

New Member
#14
#14
Someone gave me this article to "Improve" my game

One of my co-workers who knows I play blackjack at Foxwoods passed me his copy of Maxim with this article in it. For a minute I was second guessing myself, then I realized that this guy was a tool who probably had some friend make a connection in a magazine that would help sell his dvd.

I hope he takes his own advice and plays everything he earned from dvd sales at the tables. :laugh:
 
O

ortango

Well-Known Member
#15
#15
http://www.hothandadvantage.com/article3.aspx

Here is the actual article on his page. His site is definately a must browse for some hilarious laughs. Its all about the GLAMOUR AND FUN of Blackjack and how you can beat "ANY" casino at Blackjack once you learn his 1. EASIEST and 2. MOST EFFECTIVE (obviously) system. My favorite pics, the picture with him with his shirt off with three rent-a-whores by the pool. A classic.

Some other gems off the same article:

Rule 8: Always assume the dealer's under card is a 10. (oh boy, I'm not even going here)
Rule 11: Always stay on hard 17. The dealer has to -- so should you. (The dealer has to hit 16 against 16 -- so should you then?) (Bonus fun: this rule contradicts rule 8.. wouldn't you hit hard 17 sine you "Always assume the dealer's under card is 10?)
Rule 16: Never take insurance... house edge is 7% on insurance. (HUH?)
Rule 19: Count cards (but never take insurance... especially with that 7% disadvantage)

Oh well, at least he doesn't push progressions... he may make it to purgatory.
 
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sagefr0g

sagefr0g

Well-Known Member
#16
#16
ortango said:
http://www.hothandadvantage.com/article3.aspx

Here is the actual article on his page. His site is definately a must browse for some hilarious laughs. Its all about the GLAMOUR AND FUN of Blackjack and how you can beat "ANY" casino at Blackjack once you learn his 1. EASIEST and 2. MOST EFFECTIVE (obviously) system. My favorite pics, the picture with him with his shirt off with three rent-a-whores by the pool. A classic.
Click to expand...
great advice for a cover act :)
 
S

shadroch

Well-Known Member
#17
#17
As far as rule #8,always assume a dealers undercard is a ten,is it really that far off? Say the dealer is showing a 5.So under any circumstance but everyone busting before him,he's going to draw a third card.As approx. 1/3 of the deck is 10s,it is fairly safe to assume that one of the dealers three cards will be a ten.
I think that message gets garbled into the " assume a dealers undercard is always a ten",but a very high percentage of a dealers three card hands will contain the aforementioned 10.
 
halcyon1234

halcyon1234

Well-Known Member
#18
#18
shadroch said:
As far as rule #8,always assume a dealers undercard is a ten,is it really that far off? Say the dealer is showing a 5.So under any circumstance but everyone busting before him,he's going to draw a third card.As approx. 1/3 of the deck is 10s,it is fairly safe to assume that one of the dealers three cards will be a ten.
I think that message gets garbled into the " assume a dealers undercard is always a ten",but a very high percentage of a dealers three card hands will contain the aforementioned 10.
Click to expand...
I think players often mistake BS for this, because it SEEMS similar. "I have 12, the dealer has 7. The dealer MUST have a ten, because i have to hit to make a hand". "Dealer 10" says to do this because the dealer "has" 17. BS says to do this because you'll win more hands hitting than losing.

It's a logical fallacy. "Dealer 10 says to hit a 12 vs. 17. BS player hit 12 vs. 17. Therefore BS is the same as Dealer 10".

But concider this: If you have a 19 and the dealer's upcard is a 10, do you hit? If you were playing Dealer 10, you would. But not if you were playing BS (unless you're going for some hell of a cover play ;) )
 
S

shadroch

Well-Known Member
#19
#19
But he also says don't hit a hard 17 or above.
The "assume a down card is a ten" rule of thumb applies only when the dealers upcard is a 6 or less. Thus he almost always needs to hit a third card.
I just think its a simple explanation for newbies,but often gets misinterpeted.
 
EasyRhino

EasyRhino

Well-Known Member
#20
#20
I think that maybe the guy doesn't actually know what blackjack is.

... and he had a pretty glowing half-page writeup in 21 magazine. Isn't that a reputable magazine, though?
 
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