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They drive me crazy!

26 March 2009

I am very tolerant… well, most times… well, occasionally. Oh, OK, OK, I've lost all my tolerance, to tell you the truth. I've gotten grumpy in the last few decades. Things that never bothered me now bother me.

Maybe it has to do with the fact that I was expecting global freezing in the 21st century based on the books I read in the 1960s such as Future Shock which speculated that we'd better get our long johns ready for a long, brutally cold future, and now Al Gore and his zealous crew are telling us that we are all about to fry due to global warming!

Now that can make even the most tolerant of us lose a large part of our tolerance, can't it. By the way, I have an attic filled with long johns that I will sell to you for a few bucks.

It's no different in gambling. Certain things now drive me crazy. In the past I could sniff and disdainfully dismiss these things with a smirk and a chuckle. Now I rant. So here goes.

"See a horn bet a horn." Aaarrrrgggghhhh! Yeah, I know, the saying doesn't make sense to me either since the horn bet at craps has a 12.5% edge. Your expectation is to lose $12.50 for every $100 you bet on this moronic strategy. It's total nonsense! But most idiocies don't make any sense to normal people, even grumpy normal people such as me. This strategy is almost the dumbest strategy at craps second only to the "I love betting the Any Seven" one.

"Hot machines stay hot; cold machines stay cold." What? What the heck? Heaven help me! All traditional slot machines lose more spins than win more spins. That's called hit frequency. It's all random too. There is no predictability to slot machines. There is only pure or impure, blind or dumb luck involved. So it's luck, luck, and good or bad luck for the players and math, math, and more math for the casinos. Hot machines can stay hot; they can get cold. Who knows what they'll do? Even the machine doesn't know what it will do until it does it! Yes, cold machines can stay cold or get hot. Again who the heck knows? But the slot-nuts think they have it all figured out. So how come they lose just as much money as the rest of us who haven't got it all figured out? Because we really do have it figured out and they don't.

"Always figure a dealer has a 10 card in the hole in blackjack." OK, let's not let them get away with this one — the most common myth in all of blackjack — because this one can get me to crawl the walls. Take a deck of 52 cards. How many 10-valued cards are in the deck? Yes, a mere 16 — the 10, jack, queen and king. That means there are 36 cards of values other than 10. So only about 31% of the cards in a deck are 10-valued cards. Now, is it more likely the dealer will have a 10-value in the hole or a non-10-value? Come on, come on, I'm waiting. OK, the probability favors a NON-10 in the hole! So next time you hear someone who thinks he or she knows blackjack say that a dealer probably has a 10 in the hole kick him or her in the you-know-what or tell him or her to marry the person who believes if you see a horn you should bet a horn.

"The new games give the players a good chance to win." No, folks, the new games give the casino a better shot at your money because the games have 2%-3% house edges, have many more decisions than older games with much smaller house edges, and often have multiple bets that can also drain your bankroll. I don't deny these games can be fun but they have not been introduced to help the players. The casinos are hoping that players jump from the traditional games to play the "carnival games" as these are called and you know what carnival barkers call their patrons, right? A hint — one of them is born every minute.

OK, I've gotten it all off my chest. Now I await the cooling or heating of the earth. Thank heavens casinos have heating and air-conditioning. Then I really don't have to worry about the weather.

Frank Scoblete

Frank Scoblete is the #1 best selling gaming author in America. His newest books are Slots Conquest: How to Beat the Slot Machines; Everything Casino Poker: Get the Edge at Video Poker, Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo and Pai Gow Poker!; Beat Blackjack Now: The Easiest Way to Get the Edge; Casino Craps: Shoot to Win!; Cutting Edge Craps: Advanced Strategies for Serious Players; Casino Conquest: Beat the Casinos at Their Own Games! and The Virgin Kiss.

Frank and Casino City Times columnist Jerry "Stickman" teach private lessons in dice control. Frank's books are available at Amazon.com, in bookstores or by mail order. Call 1-800-944-0406 or write to Frank Scoblete Enterprises, PO Box 446, Malverne, NY 11565. Frank can also be reached by email at fscobe@optonline.net.

Frank Scoblete Websites:

www.goldentouchcraps.com
www.goldentouchblackjack.com

Books by Frank Scoblete:

Casino Craps: Shoot to Win!

> More Books By Frank Scoblete

Frank Scoblete
Frank Scoblete is the #1 best selling gaming author in America. His newest books are Slots Conquest: How to Beat the Slot Machines; Everything Casino Poker: Get the Edge at Video Poker, Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo and Pai Gow Poker!; Beat Blackjack Now: The Easiest Way to Get the Edge; Casino Craps: Shoot to Win!; Cutting Edge Craps: Advanced Strategies for Serious Players; Casino Conquest: Beat the Casinos at Their Own Games! and The Virgin Kiss.

Frank and Casino City Times columnist Jerry "Stickman" teach private lessons in dice control. Frank's books are available at Amazon.com, in bookstores or by mail order. Call 1-800-944-0406 or write to Frank Scoblete Enterprises, PO Box 446, Malverne, NY 11565. Frank can also be reached by email at fscobe@optonline.net.

Frank Scoblete Websites:

www.goldentouchcraps.com
www.goldentouchblackjack.com

Books by Frank Scoblete:

> More Books By Frank Scoblete