Playing 4 Keeps ™
A Gaming News
Letter For Winners
July 2005
Volume 7 Issue
7
Copyright
©2005 Michael Vernon
"Luck Has Nothng To Do With It When
You Are Playing 4 Keeps!"
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In This Issue:
Unit to Unit...
A Question for the Professor...
Craps Fest October 14-15-16 Las Vegas
2005 Scheduled
Events
Chronicles of
Playing 4 Keeps
Coming Events
Recommended Links
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Craps Fest October 2005 Join the Four
Experts of Craps this October in Las Vegas. Click the link here to get in before
it's sold out. Irishsetter, Heavy, Dice Coach and The Professor only
present this program twice each year. You won't want to be left out of the fun
learning from the legends of dice.
Toll Free 866-342-3626
When There's Something
Wrong With Your Craps Game,
Who ya gonna call?
Dice Busters Weekend
Make
your plans to join the Professor and the Dice Coach in
fabulous Las Vegas. Click the link or Call Beth to be place on the waiting list now.
Toll Free 866-342-3626
or go to
www.dicebusters.com
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Unit to Unit…
It was late summer 1990. My wife Lin and I were traveling with Stuart
Wilde and his wife Robyn to Squaw Valley Resort at Lake Tahoe. We were
finishing up the year’s seminar campaign with Stuart’s Easy Money,
Mongolian Blackjack Seminar. First, we were taking a few days off to
relax at the Mirage in Las Vegas. Back in those days, blackjack at the
Mirage was a great game. After playing all morning, Stuart and I met the
wives at the pool for lunch. During lunch, Stuart remarked that playing
at the Mirage was "like taking candy from a baby". When asked by Robyn,
how much he had won, Stuart replied, "$2,500". Lin turned to me with the
same question. Almost embarrassed, I said, "$250". Lin asked me why I
didn’t win big like Stuart? At the time, I did not know the answer,
obvious as it was.
Knowing how to accept profit is a mental problem for most players. It has
to do with their belief system about gambling. It is their attitude of not
winning enough and emotionally not able to detach from a loss. It also has to
do with the little known concept of the units played and the bankroll.
Losing is not fun and it must be accepted as part of the game. How much you
lose is usually a matter of going bankrupt or holding to a discipline to walk
away. The thought form of winning big and winning more is what I want to
address in this issue. Winning is a limitless experience. When it comes to
abundance, you are bound only by the limitations set within your paradigm
about money. There is nothing stopping your abundance, from having it all,
except for your own beliefs and thought forms. The catch to what I just said
is when you are playing a zero sum game with odds against you winning. Even
when on a winning streak, you still face the odds predicating the eventual end
to the streak. The problem arises when a little voice in your head starts
whispering, "keep playing, win more". In order to win more sessions than you
lose, you must be able to accept any profit that comes your way. As Stuart
Wilde use to say, "The only way to quit winners, is to quit while you are
winning."
I do not like to speak about wins or losses in terms of an hourly rate. I
especially do not like win goals. I prefer to relate to winning or losing in
terms of units played per session. A session may last twenty minutes or three
hours and twenty minutes. In my introduction, I told the story of two players’
success at blackjack. One player won ten times that of the other player. The
part of the story not explained was that Stuart was playing ten times the unit
that I was playing, or a $50 unit compared to my $5 unit.
For either blackjack or a dice game, when Playing 4 Keeps, it is all about
the units. The money won or lost is relative to your minimum unit or base bet.
When you have an understanding of how many units you can expect from either
game, it makes it easier to accept the profit or the loss. No matter your
minimum bet, the units won or lost will be the same. The difference in
the money won or lost is a factor of the unit bet. Simply stated, if you want
to win big, you have to bet big. It goes without saying, that you must be
prepared to lose big as well.
Now, there are a couple of limits to deal with when it comes to gaming. You
are limited to the money you have available to gamble and you are limited by
your emotional tolerance to risk. The cards and dice are dumb. They do not
know how much you are betting. Entering a game with $150 or $1,500, unit to
unit, the results will be the same. At the end of a session, you will ether be
in profit a certain number of units or down a certain number of units. You
must be emotionally comfortable with whatever unit level that is your
financial support to enter a game.
Let’s take a look at a game of blackjack, using "units won" for an example.
An expected win, playing blackjack, can range between 8 to 14 units per
session. Playing $10 units, the money won is between $80 and $140. Since the
average unit won depends on your playing style, the only way of consistently
winning more money is to increase the size of the betting unit. In order to
win $1000 playing blackjack, the unit bet needs to be a hundred dollar chip.
The units won or lost will be the same, only the value per unit changes.
If you want to win more, you must be able to finance yourself for the level
of play necessary for that dollar amount. Please understand that I am not
trying to limit your winning sessions with my example. At the same time, I
want to impress you with the fact that the table games, on average, do not
give up big wins very often. You must be able and willing to accept any win
along with any loss as well.
Recognizing that the game is measured in units played, I hope that it will
help you with the thought form of winning big and winning more. A five-dollar
blackjack player is not going to win $500. A five dollar blackjack player is
likely to win $50 or ten units. The same player, playing $50 units is going to
win $500. Unit to unit, the difference is in the dollar amount of the unit
played.
A Question for the Professor:
I ran across your web site and I am hoping you can help settle an argument
among some friends of mine. Some games of BJ are played with all cards dealt
face up to the players and others with them face down. Does this practice
affect the odds of winning? Does seeing the cards already played help you make
your decision (let's
assume you are in the last position)? Is the difference negligible on a 6 deck
game? What about a 1 deck game?
I appreciate your help very much and I look forward to your answer.
Pablo - Alexandria, VA
Hola Pablo,
Yes, seeing additional cards played after you have made your bet and have your
hand is helpful at times. However, it really does not affect, as you say "the
odds of winning". In short, you have to be a card counter first to recognize any
advantage. Otherwise, the odds are unknown to you as a player. The odds change
with each turn of a card.
Playing third base, the "last seat", as in your example, you could have an
advantage when it comes your turn to play, having seen the cards of several
hands before you. It could effect your split, double down, hit, or stand
decision. The real advantage comes when you know you have favorable conditions
before the next hand and thus you can increase your bet. Once the cards are
dealt, you are stuck with the bet so there is not much left for you to decide,
except for splitting, doubling, hitting and standing.
Personally, I choose not to be in games with many players in the first place,
no more than two other players plus the dealer. So, seeing two hands before me
is not that much of a concern. I prefer to sit in the first or second position,
"closer to the cards", as I like to say. If a "plus count" comes around, I feel
that my chances of pulling the hand are better, getting the cards sooner. This
is not to say that I will not play third base.
If you are not a card counter, the odds of winning depend greatly on your skill
with basic strategy and getting yourself in a winning game. Positioning yourself
in a winning game is what I always refer to as, "perceiving the energy, or the
metaphysics of the game".
Now, to keep things simple here, casinos have different rules for the same game.
However, the single deck game that you mention is always a face down, hand held
game. These days, the single deck game is not worth playing because the rules
are so tight. In Las Vegas, many single deck games pay 6/5 for a blackjack
instead of 3/2. A big rip-off if you understand the math.
I prefer the double deck game to the six-deck shoe. It is hand held, so you
don't see the cards of the other players. That is, unless you play with your
buddy and he shows you his hand and you show him yours. Even when playing with
strangers it is not difficult to get them to show you their hand so you can
adjust for the count. Again, I am talking about playing with no more than two
other players.
The majority of blackjack players ignore playing conditions. This is a huge part
to having success at blackjack. You really have to know the game in order to
position yourself in the best game. Blackjack conditions are like the weather.
It is the reason the game is difficult these days. You must know how changes in
the game take away from player advantage. An example of one take-a-way is when
casinos have fewer tables open and the tables that are open are full. This tends
to force you to play with less than desirable conditions or you have to play
during the odd hours to avoid the crowds and amateur players.
Back to being able to see the cards: what we look for is an imbalance in the
ratio of high cards to low cards. When the low cards play, the probability is
greater for the high cards to come out and drawing a pat hand. Now, with the
six-deck shoe, there are twenty-four cards of each kind of card, six decks times
four suits. Just because you see a bunch of low cards on the table, really does
not mean much unless you are tracking the ratio of the cards played. There are
still plenty of low cards, and who’s to say that the low cards seen are not a
result of having a bunch of high cards play previously.
In conclusion, yes sitting third base and seeing the cards helps me with
decisions. However, it is not the end all be all for a card player. I am a great
player at third base, and, as I said earlier, my preference is to play "closer
to the cards". Consider this, most of the time you are not adjusting basic
strategy for the count. This means you play the hand according to basic strategy
no matter what cards you see before you on the table. So, for your example
sitting at third base, you would be second guessing a proven strategy if you
made your play based on the cards you see and not have knowledge of the true
count.
The odds of winning are directly proportional to your skill and knowledge of the
game. Your ability to play perfect cards, your ability to keep an accurate
count, and being in the right game at the right time makes for the bigger
advantage over all. The first thing to know about gaming is, the casino is never
going to provide the player with anything extra that may benefit the player.
Craps Fest October 14-15-16
The popularity of Craps Fest is ever increasing. In just one short
year, this weekend event has become the recognized gathering of craps
aficionados. And why not? Attendees are treated to first hand information
and personal attention from four of the most prominent experts playing and
teaching the game of dice. Craps Fest is more than hearing four empowering
points of view to improve your game. It is about serving the needs of each
player, helping them with their questions about play as well as developing
other skills such as dice setting and betting strategies. This biannual
event, designed specifically to encompass all levels of player experience,
is not to be missed. It does not matter if you are new to the game or a
twenty-year veteran. "The wealth of knowledge presented will support each
person’s needs". Testimonies from previous satisfied participants support
this statement. Additionally, how many gaming instructors out there will
actually arrange for private craps tables and play with you in live casino
sessions? That is right! You not only get to the opportunity of three days
of personal attention, you get to stand shoulder to shoulder and play dice
with the "Gurus of Craps". Early registration is recommended.
Click here for more details.
Well, that’s it for this edition of the Playing 4 Keeps™ Newsletter.
See you at the
tables Playing 4 Keeps™!
Michael Vernon
Author and Gaming Instructor
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