casino weblog

Resorts International opened in Atlantic City, the first legal East Coast casino. Their four- and six-deck online casino games offered a new form of surrender, dubbed by card counters as “early surrender,” since the casino allowed players to surrender half a bet even when the dealer showed an ace or 10 up, and before the dealer checked for a blackjack. From opening day, card counters had a field day at Resorts’ tables. Ironically, as word spread through the gambling community that card counters found the Resorts’ blackjack game to be the most lucrative game for players in the country, gamblers from all over the world - most of whom knew nothing about basic strategy or card counting - flocked to their tables. And, ironically, Resorts International was soon the most profitable casino in history, winning an average of $650,000 per day.

A New Jersey college student whose name was Tommy Hyland, who had just turned twenty-one, started going to AC when he heard about the famous black jack on the east coast. Within a year, he had organized about twenty of his college and golfing buddies into a team of blackjack players. This team was equiped with only brains and knowledge.

The other event occured in that day was that MIT team started its black jack activity. Johnny C.j now a legendary player who joined the team in 1981, plays high-stakes blackjack to this day and continues organizing teams of professional players. Many believe these teams owe their existence to the Resorts’ game with its early surrender rule that made the game so easy to beat. College kids found that they could pool their money, play blackjack with a modicum of intelligence, and get rich quick.

A team of professional blackjack players whose founders were from Czechoslovakia that had been playing in Las Vegas flew all of their members to Atlantic City to take advantage of this new surrender rule. This team, which later became known in the casino industry as simply the Czech Team, found the Resorts’ game to their liking and stayed for months.

Ken Uston’s The Big Player had just been published in 1977 that worked together to create an environment where new teams of smart young kids could make millions playing blackjack.

Jack and me were shooting the breeze at the bar when the young fellah called. “How much you need to play to become professional in video poker?” - he asked. Laugh? I coulda died. If ever anyone was begging to be called a girlie man - Schwarzenegger was right on the money with that - he’s the one. Him a gambler? The very idea of him losing a quarter in slot machines would give him gas. But I guess he’s got a right to ask for you - not that I’m inspired with confidence looking round at you. You’re just playing the pro game in your heads when you read these articles. Ain’t nothing gonna come of it. Anyways, let’s keep the dream going a while longer. That Mr. Ferguson fellah calculates you’d need $10,000 if you wanna turn pro and play the quarter video poker machines. It’s very optimistic even to multiple this only by four if you play in real casino. I’ve seen people burn that and never hit a jackpot. The Math God don’t care nothing for you. If you hit a run of cold machines, ain’t nothing you can do ‘cept play through the patch until you come out the other side. And now the time has come to use your brains. So I used a pen Jack loaned to me and we’ve created a greatest mathematical model I ever seen. You’ve got the proper video poker strategy nailed. That kinda calculation would make Mr. Ferguson’s number look a smart bet. But ya gotta ask yourself, what kinda assumptions are we making? Are we assuming you’ve got an infinite amount of cash - that you’re gonna play video poker until all the probabilities work out like the book says they should? And you’ve never gotta take a restroom break or sleep some? Don’t matter whether you’re playing a flat top or a progressive. If it’s a flat top, ya take a break and the next player on “your” video poker machine takes the pot. Playing the progressive, that jackpot can always go somewhere else no matter how fast and well ya play. When you decide to give up, how much have you already spend? Ten grand might be enough to give ya that cushion. But ya might need the kinda eye-poppin’ wad some whale tosses on the table like it’s loose change before ya break even. Are you ready to lose all that? And don’t you never forget. Once you’re tapped out, you’re outa the video poker game until you get the front money together again. Still reading, are ya? Jack here’s got an expression like he’s sucking on a lemon. He thinks I’m being too hard on ya all. I should make like an angel now I’ve crossed over to your side of the casino. OK. So think of this like video poker boot camp. I’m the ex-soldier of USA Navy and I’m going to give you all the love you missed for all this years. You’ll be all the better for it. Well, that’s me done again. Catch ya ’round.