The slots operators are threatening to sue
Just as we all used to follow the form of horses – think the Great Depression and the success of Seabiscuit to see we all love a champion – the latest form book covers the race among US states to balance their budgets. Of course, everyone has been focussing on California with Arnold Schwarzenegger leading the charge to the winning post on getting the budget signed into law. He has enough strength for arm twisting and ‘gator wrassling to bulldoze the bill through. But Pennsylvania is just as interesting with the Governor’s office matching California’s use of IOUs by refusing to pay funds to the four state universities. Probably someone somewhere is running a book on which US state will be the first to declare itself bankrupt. These would be the front runners among an alarming number of states lacking initial prudence and the political will to raise taxes, to cut spending, or both.
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Licensing slots in the US
It used to be so easy when issues were black and white. Alcohol is a wonderful example. If lawmakers decide alcohol is a bad thing, we can have Prohibition. They tried to do this in North America and failed. It continues to be successfully applied in Islamic countries where the public consumption of all alcoholic products is strictly prohibited. But as we have moved through the 20th Century in the modern world, too many people see shades of gray. Now there are two sides to every issue and this drives the way our media report the news. Everyone here has his own opinion. Respect is the new game in town.
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The first steps to a basic strategy
The game is one of the simplest ever invented. The rules are few and there’s no physical effort involved in playing it. You just sit, look at a few cards and make your bets. That’s probably why it’s become one of the most popular casino games of all time. Of course everyone knows the House has an edge. That’s how it pays all the expenses for running the casino. Remember it makes no difference whether this is a casino in the real world or online. You still need people and a base. So common sense tells you that no-one beats the House unless they invest some effort. Put another way: if everyone could beat the House without breaking sweat, the casino would go out of business in a day. This produces the headline: no pain, no gain. You have to put in some study time to master the basic strategy. (more…)
The basic strategy and doubling down
There’s a sad fact about playing in a casino, whether real or virtual. The operators have worked out how to play the games on offer and set the odds to favor themselves. After all, if the majority did not lose, there would be no money to pay out all the money you win. Needless to say, the casinos have invested time and money into working out every possible variation on the rules and the ways to play under them. So, if you are going to take on the House edge, you have to become as big an expert on the rules as the operators. So let’s start with one of the more interesting rules which decides when you are allowed to double down. This applies when you have received your two cards. If you decide you are going to draw only one more card, the casino rules can allow you to double your initial bet. The different possibilities are to double: (more…)
Ken Uston
Uston burst onto the scene in 1977 with the publication of The Big Player, co-authored with Roger Rapaport. In this book, Uston exposed the secrets of Al Francesco’s big player teams. The book caused a falling out between Al and Ken that lasted for years, as Al felt Ken had betrayed his trust as well as his teammates. (more…)