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John May Gaming Guru - Page 6 Is Math the Cowbird of Advantage Play?20 May 2001
One of the main fallacies the general public has about card counting and advantage play in general is that an individual must be mathematically gifted to succeed. I am not especially mathematically gifted. I have won a lot of money in the casinos, more than some who were more mathematically gifted and initially better capitalized. ... (read more)
Never Heard of Spread Betting? You Will15 April 2001
Spread betting is one of the most exciting innovations in modern gambling. It is the only form of gambling where losses and gains are potentiallly unlimited. The principle is simple. A spread firm will offer a quote on the result of some event. Initially, spread firms dealt exclusively with business so the quotes tended to be about financial things like currency movements. ... (read more)
Advantage Play with John May11 March 2001
Advantage players typically want to know how favourable a particular game or technique is. A variety of methods have been used to try to determine the worth of a game or system. When card counting, the advantage player's staple, was first developed, the measure used was percent advantage. This is simply defined as your expectation divided by your average bet. ... (read more)
How Much of a Threat Are Shuffle-Trackers?26 February 2001
Casino bosses are terrified of shuffle-trackers, who employ a deadly and mysterious form of advantage play virtually no one understands. The bosses know that the countermeasures they have adopted at the blackjack tables have been successful in eliminating all but the most tenacious card counters, but shuffle-tracking -- well, they haven't had forty years to study it and they are scared. ... (read more)
A Trick to Get a Little Extra Edge at Blackjack24 December 2000
Here is a trick to get a little extra edge at the blackjack table. If you play against a skilled dealer who performs no more than two riffles and interleaves the cards evenly and precisely, have a look to see what happens to the aces that are dealt when they are scooped up into the discard tray. If many ... (read more)
Treasure in the Snake Pit1 December 2000
In a recent article on this site ("Winning Streaks"), Henry Tamburin gave an excellent analysis of the new and popular streak sidebet. At the end of the article Henry asks: Why would anyone make a bet with a 0.5% casino edge and then follow it with one that has almost a twenty-fold higher casino edge? Of course, Henry is right. ... (read more)
Compulsive Gambler?19 November 2000
One question I often get asked when people find out I am a gambler is, "Are you a compulsive gambler?" I've lost count of the number of women who have tried to "save" me. I learned long ago it was inadvisable to explain that I have a system, because all gamblers have a system. The general public does not ... (read more)
In My Mailbox20 October 2000
Here are some interesting questions from my mailbox: On page 13 of your excellent book (the out-of-print Baccarat for the Clueless), you mention that a combined banker and tie bet "has a 55.4% chance of winning". I'm sure my lack of arithmetic ability has caused me to read more into this than I should ... (read more)
Is it the Economy, Stupid?3 September 2000
The advent of the internet sportsbook means that for the first time many Americans can participate in betting on the outcome of their own presidential election, a privilege previously only granted to Europeans. Elections are highly predictable and a potential source of profit for the intelligent gambler, despite the fact you can make this bet only once every four years. ... (read more)
Blackjack Streaks and Shuffles30 August 2000
Fred Renzey writes: In the end it all comes down to the randomness question. Until it's determined positively whether shoe-dealt blackjack is more streaky than its theoretical probability dictates, the contention that progressive blackjack wins will remain a hotly debated controversy. Me? I seriously doubt it works. ... (read more)
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