Spanish 21 needs the
player to memorize a whole new basic strategy (called
the Armada Strategy) in order to reduce the house
edge to around 0.8 percent. This still isn’t
as good as the approximately 0.5 percent edge a
normal six-deck blackjack game has for a basic strategy
player. And if you don’t play the correct strategy
at Spanish 21, which most people do not, you are
facing edges of well over two and three percent.
Assumption #8: When
you get to the bonus round on Wheel of Fortune,
each stop is equally likely.
Visually, the beautiful spinning wheel looks as
if every stop is as equally likely as every other
stop. It isn’t. They aren’t. That wheel
is not a mechanical device but a computer controlled
“entertainment feature” that selects the
winning stop based on a Random Number Generator
(that pesky RNG again), so something that might
look like a one in 22 chance could really be a one
in 20,000 chance!
Assumption #9: Counting
cards is illegal.
A lot of people believe that this is true but it
isn’t. Despite the fact that casinos have been
known to “ask” card counters to leave
their environs, or at the very least desist from
playing blackjack, card counters are not violating
any laws. How could they be? It is not a criminal
offense to think. Your eyes have to look at the
cards. Your brain has to make decisions on what
to do with your hand. So why have the courts (thus
far) upheld the right of a casino to refuse someone’s
action because he or she is counting cards (or was
thought to be counting cards)? Casinos are under
an ancient law/custom called the “Innkeeper
Law” that states a man’s home and, by
extension, his “Inn” is his castle and
he can serve or not serve whomever he pleases. In
the United States, certain “protected”
groups, such as minorities and the handicapped,
cannot be asked to leave a business establishment
because of these particulars, but if they were counting
cards in a casino, they could be booted out as well.
Thus far, no court has really established that we
have a right to think.
Assumption #10:
Casinos are not interested in low rollers. To get
comps, you have to bet big money.
If you play the machines, even for quarters, you
aren’t as low a roller as you think you are.
Put three quarters in a machine every five seconds
and you are putting through $540 per hour. Play
four hours and you just gambled $2,160 -- wow! The
casinos will be more than happy to recognize such
action with free or discounted rooms, meals and
other special promotions. Even such high-end places
as Mirage and Treasure Island are now rating quarter
players. If you play table games, you might not
want to be a five-dollar bettor looking for comps
at the Mirage where they only rate $25 action. But
there are plenty of casinos in Vegas and around
the country that will gladly comp five-dollar players
if they play long enough. The bottom line is this:
Most casinos want just about all players. Find the
places that give your action the most in perks as
possible...and then patronize them.
Good
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