Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 730

Slots and Pacemakers

Hi, My friend and I are both retired now and taking our first bus trip to Reno in July. We'd like to find out if there are certain casinos where the slot machines pay off more often. Some of the reviews in TripAdvisor.com talk about some casinos slot machines being tight and that no one was winning. Are there more slot machine winners in casinos that are away from the main strip? Thank you for your suggestions. Sincerely, Gladys Dear Gladys, It's true in Las Vegas that the off-strip casinos tend to have higher slot machine paybacks than the casinos on the strip...read more

Jest for Fun

Customer to waiter in a casino restaurant, "Waiter, there's a footprint on my steak!" Waiter: "Well, sir, you said you wanted a steak and to step on it." * * * * * A teacher asks a gambler's son, "Billy, what is an effigy?" Gambler's son: "I don't know." Teacher: "An effigy is a dummy...read more

Card Counting 101.5

Dear Mark, I've enjoyed reading your column for years. I'm puzzled by your historical avoidance of a whole area of gambling that would increase the pleasure and reduce the cost to every one of your readers. This area is the area of card counting in blackjack...read more

Are You Trendy?

Craps players love to discover, uncover, capitalize and ride trends at the craps tables. The thinking goes that if several people have sevened-out just after establishing the point, then the table is cold and most likely it will continue to stay cold for a while...read more

Casino City Press Books Packed with Names, Places, Online Sites, Addresses, Numbers

Casino City Press has produced three wonderful time-saving reference books that will appeal to those looking for a job; interested in selling a product to a casino or finding which gambling operation is located in what state or country. The three books are the Gaming Business Directory (716 pages, 8x11 plastic spiralbound, $124.95); the Online Gaming Business Directory (288 pages, 8x11 plastic spiralbound, $89.95) and the Worldwide Casino Guide (472 pages, 8x11 paperbound, $29.95). In order of reference, first, let's look at the Gaming Business Directory and what unique features it offers: There are sections listing gaming operations by state, showing you for instance what Arizona offers, each establishment, address, fax, toll-free numbers, total number of and type of gaming machines or tables; number of employees; owner and key management personnel including who's in charge of each department; gift shop manager; human resources (hiring) director and who's in charge of purchasing...read more

Surviving in Vegas

Here I was, almost 30 years old, all my old friends working at great jobs with great benefits and great futures, and me? I was a student dealer at the Mint Hotel in Las Vegas, scratching out a living at $14 a day. If it wasn't for the free food and a 20-minute break every hour, I would've probably fled back to Texas, my tail between my legs. Oh, and one other thing I learned...read more

Tragedy and Personal Responsibility

Last week, following the Boston Red Sox's victory over the New York Yankees, tragedy struck in Boston when a 21 year old college student was hit by a pepper gas projectile fired by police to disperse the crowd. Some 60,000 to 80,000 people took to the streets to celebrate the victory, and police have said that they were attempting to disperse the crowd because some individuals were setting fires and vandalizing property...read more

Chicago-Area Casinos Get Their Two Cents In

The much anticipated debut of "penny slots" at Chicago area casinos in Illinois should be looked upon with a mix of joy and caution by players who have become familiar with them, either on trips to Las Vegas or, locally, to the Trump and Majestic Star Casinos in Gary, Indiana, where they've been in place for some time. Two-cent multi-line video slots were introduced in May at Argosy's Empress Casino & Hotel in Joliet...read more

There's No Place Like Home

For those who frequent casinos, two glaring facts hit you after a while. Casinos don't have windows. Casinos don't have clocks. Quite frankly, the casinos pretty much want to make you forget the outside world even exists! If you were to be 'transported' to the center of a random casino, it would take a while to figure out where you are...read more

Heard it on the River

You can take the boy out of Boston but you can't take Boston out of the boy. Forgive me this moment of gloating but I have been waiting since the fifties for my beloved BOSOX to beat the damn Yankees in a significant fashion for a league championship and what just happened, y'all know by now, wipes the slate clean as far as I am concerned...read more