Bill Zender, Chat Guest for Monday Sept 28th

[KenSmith]

I'm pleased to announce that Bill Zender will be our invited chat guest for the Monday Sept 28th chat at 7 PM Eastern, (2300 UTC).

Bill Zender has a wide array of experience on both sides of the table. He served as an agent for Nevada Gaming Control; he has worked in casino table games in every capacity from dealer to director of casino operations; he has been an expert witness in several court cases (including testifying on behalf of players establishing that the techniques they used were legal advantage plays!) According to his brief bio (Archive copy), he also played blackjack professionally in the 1980's.

He currently serves as a consultant to casinos. His company is Last Resort Consulting.

He has several books, including:
Advantage Play for the Casino Executive
How to Detect Casino Cheating at Blackjack
Casino-ology: The Art of Managing Casino Games

If you are unaware of Bill's work, here's a great collection of some of his writing: http://www.lastresortconsulting.com/pages/ezine.html (Archive copy)

It is worth noting that the idea of having a casino consultant here as a chat guest is controversial. (See http://www.blackjackinfo.com/bb/showthread.php?t=15277 ) I remain convinced that Zender will be a very informative guest and encourage everyone to attend.

You can also reply to this post with suggested questions for the moderated portion of the chat session.

 

[creeping panther]

Ken

I'm pleased to announce that Bill Zender will be our invited chat guest for the Monday Sept 28th chat at 7 PM Eastern, (2300 UTC).

Bill Zender has a wide array of experience on both sides of the table. He served as an agent for Nevada Gaming Control; he has worked in casino table games in every capacity from dealer to director of casino operations; he has been an expert witness in several court cases (including testifying on behalf of players establishing that the techniques they used were legal advantage plays!) According to his brief bio (Archive copy), he also played blackjack professionally in the 1980's.

He currently serves as a consultant to casinos. His company is Last Resort Consulting.

He has several books, including:
Advantage Play for the Casino Executive
How to Detect Casino Cheating at Blackjack
Casino-ology: The Art of Managing Casino Games

If you are unaware of Bill's work, here's a great collection of some of his writing: http://www.lastresortconsulting.com/pages/ezine.html (Archive copy)

It is worth noting that the idea of having a casino consultant here as a chat guest is controversial. (See http://www.blackjackinfo.com/bb/showthread.php?t=15277 ) I remain convinced that Zender will be a very informative guest and encourage everyone to attend.

You can also reply to this post with suggested questions for the moderated portion of the chat session.

The articles listed above are most interesting.

I feel pretty good after reading them because the Predatory methods I have developed, that have allowed me to win with great consistency, he seems to be not aware of, as they fly in the face of the conventional wisdom.

CP

 

[WRX]

Another nice catch! It's unfortunate for them that more up and coming players aren't taking part in these chats. This truly is a golden age of chat, and 10 years from now people will look back and either say, "I was there," or regret not having taken the opportunity to have conversations with so many great personalities of the game.

 

[prankster]

Like Al Francesco not long ago.:joker:

 

[zengrifter]

Bill's casinos ALWAYS feature(d) DREAM games. zg

 

[21forme]

Question for Zender:
Why is it that casinos just "don't get it" and do everything they can to thwart APs at the expense of their bottom line?

 

[bjcounter]

Question for Zender:
Why is it that casinos just "don't get it" and do everything they can to thwart APs at the expense of their bottom line?

"Idiocracy"

 

[Lonesome Gambler]

Well done! I'm definitely not missing this one.

 

[Katweezel]

Question for Zender:
Why is it that casinos just "don't get it" and do everything they can to thwart APs at the expense of their bottom line?

And: Regarding the movie '21' - in its aftermath - has it had any effect on casino blackjack takings? Do casinos plan to sponsor a '21' MkII, to further the myth that people can get rich quick by counting cards?

 

[KenSmith]

Reminder: Today (Mon Sep 28, 2009) is the day for scheduled chat guest Bill Zender.

Please join us in the chat room at 7 PM Eastern, 4 PM Pacific. (UTC 2300).

 

[johndoe]

Will this one be archived? If not, can it be? I might not make it home by then.

 

[KenSmith]

Reminder: Today (Mon Sep 28, 2009) is the day for scheduled chat guest Bill Zender.

Please join us in the chat room at 7 PM Eastern, 4 PM Pacific. (UTC 2300).

Will this one be archived? If not, can it be? I might not make it home by then.

Our policy remains that chats will not be archived. I understand that is inconvenient in many circumstances. I'm not sure how long Zender will be fielding questions tonight, so get there when you can.

 

[21forme]

I won't be able to make it either, tonight. If someone can archive it, it would be appreciated

 

[Katweezel]

First prize

Much appreciation to Bill Zender for his time, patience and effort in answering so many tough questions, and doing it so frankly and openly. Thanks again Bill.
This chat demonstrated beyond doubt the value of this method of communication. Thanks to Ken, and to the moderators for organizing +30 questioners so well. Well done guys, it was a great success all round.:1st:

 

[Pro21]

I was not happy Kat with the moderation aspect. I thought it slowed it to a crawl. How did others feel about the moderation?

 

[johndoe]

I'm not crazy about the slow pace of the moderated chats, but I don't see any alternative. With so many people posting it can very quickly become noise, and I'd hate to annoy a special guest.

Though I suppose if the "official" question were submitted in a special font color, maybe the guest could pay attention to those.

 

[daddybo]

I was not happy Kat with the moderation aspect. I thought it slowed it to a crawl. How did others feel about the moderation?

Large chats should have a combination of questions submitted in advance and spontaneous moderated questions that pop up during the discussion. This would allow guest to have some advance answers that can be cut and pasted for speed and concise answers. Moderators could also have pastible questions in advanceto allowore time to moderate the new questions. Would take a little forethought, bit would be worth it. IMHO

 

[shadroch]

What I didn't understand is how Flash managed to ask several questions, when he logged in after many who had yet to ask a question, and then seemed to follow thru with a response.

 

[shadroch]

I won't be able to make it either, tonight. If someone can archive it, it would be appreciated

If you log on to chat and minimize it, I believe you can get a transcript of everything that goes on while you are away. I'm not sure it works for hours, but I do it for intervals of 15-20 minutes all he time.

 

[21forme]

If you log on to chat and minimize it, I believe you can get a transcript of everything that goes on while you are away. I'm not sure it works for hours, but I do it for intervals of 15-20 minutes all he time.

I tried that. It only holds a couple of screens-worth and everything before that goes bye bye.