GAMING GURUS: LATEST FROM OUR STRATEGY EXPERTS

Real blackjack versus video blackjack

QUESTION: My friend used to insist that he got a better deal on video blackjack than on tables. I showed him where the games he was playing paid even money on blackjacks and was a terrible game. He still insists some of the machines are better than tables...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Holding two pair when it pays the same as a high pair

This week I'd like to discuss some comments I overheard in the casinos. Don't hold two pair when it pays the same as jacks or better. Two people were playing some sort of bonus poker pay table that paid the same for two pair and jacks or better...read more

Top 10 random observations from the WSOP Main Event

LAS VEGAS -- Spend more than 50 hours over six consecutive days watching the spectacle that is the World Series of Poker Main Event, and you're bound to come away with a notebook bursting with random thoughts and observations. Here are just 10 of the many items that drifted through this poker-overloaded brain over the last week while I was roaming around the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.10...read more

Slot blasphemy

If I were still in Our Lady of Angels Catholic Grammar School in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and the nuns, led by my nemesis Sister Jerome Drake, would drag us over to the church for a serious bout of Confession, I’d be in great trouble now.I would have to confess my (many) sins to Father Sullivan, a mean little man who enjoyed scolding us and informing us if we kept doing what we were doing we’d go to Hell...read more

WSOP Director Jack Effel talks Main Event mayhem

LAS VEGAS – As Jack Effel instinctively recites the numbers off the top of his head, even he is impressed by the magnitude of it all.516 poker tables. 2,000 temporary employees. 300,000 transactions at the cage, worth $250 million. Participants from 111 different countries...read more

Around the WSOP: Hallaert trying to buck astronomical odds; plus, tequila shots and Superman

LAS VEGAS -- As the number of tables in play and participants in contention continued to plummet rapidly on Saturday night at the World Series of Poker Main Event, Kenny Hallaert sat in the middle of it all, smiling and collecting chips.Just like he has the last three years.In a profession where surliness and antagonism are prevalent, the 35-year-old Belgian thoroughly enjoys himself at the table...read more

Money management and you

Money management is an important concept in gambling. Anything that helps you discipline yourself to keep losses under control while making sure you keep at least part of any winnings is a good thing.However, when Jason, a loyal reader and slot player, e-mailed to ask “What’s the best money management system to beat the slots?” I had to urge him to slow down...read more

Warming up for blackjack

It’s Friday night, and you are planning to head to the casino to play some blackjack. Are you ready? Or are you going into the game cold?Are you sure you have a good recall of all the soft hands for doubling down? Does it take you playing time to get warmed up? Do you have a good handle on splitting against all possible up cards?If any of those things are a problem for you, then consider this...read more

Scotty Nguyen still a fan favorite, despite WSOP Main Event bustout

LAS VEGAS – It was early on during Day 4 of the World Series of Poker Main Event at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino when Scotty Nguyen got his hand caught in the proverbial cookie jar. A bluff gone bad at the ESPN featured table cost him a 500,000 pot, and suddenly his once-healthy chip stack had dwindled from 600,000 all the way down to less than 60,000."I've been playing really good for three days," he explained during the next break in the action, which came just minutes after the crushing blow...read more

Life coach and poker author Phil Hellmuth aiming to 'change humanity'

LAS VEGAS -- Love him or hate him, Phil Hellmuth never disappoints.Whether it's sitting at the ESPN featured table under the hot lights or bumping into a reporter in the hallways of the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino and taking part in an impromptu interview, Hellmuth's bravado gauge is always on full.You want salacious statements and audacious assertions? President Trump has got nothing on the Poker Brat.Hellmuth busted in the World Series of Poker Main Event on Day 2C, but was back at the Rio on Thursday for a book signing...read more