Introduction

The practice of gambling has been a part of human culture for centuries, captivating individuals with the allure of risk and reward. Whether it's placing a bet at a casino, buying a lottery ticket, or participating in online poker, the psychological aspects behind gambling play a significant role in its appeal. In this article, we delve into the psychology of gambling, exploring the science behind the human fascination with risk and reward.

1. The Thrill of Uncertainty

One of the primary reasons people engage in gambling activities is the excitement generated by uncertainty. The human brain has an innate attraction to novelty and unpredictability, and gambling provides the perfect platform to satisfy these cravings. The anticipation of winning and the possibility of losing create an adrenaline rush that triggers the brain's reward system, releasing dopamine—a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and motivation.

2. The Illusion of Control

Gamblers often harbor a belief in their ability to influence the outcome of a game or an event, even when luck is the primary determining factor. This phenomenon is known as the illusion of control. It stems from the human desire to feel competent and in command of their environment. By developing strategies, employing betting systems, or interpreting patterns, gamblers create a sense of control over the unpredictable. This perception enhances the pleasure derived from gambling, despite the limited influence on the actual outcome.

3. Availability Heuristic and Biases

The availability heuristic is a cognitive bias that influences the decisions we make based on readily available information. In the context of gambling, this bias can lead individuals to overestimate their chances of winning based on vivid memories of past successes or the stories of big jackpot winners. The media's tendency to highlight extraordinary wins contributes to this bias, creating an inflated perception of the likelihood of winning. Such biases can blur the line between reality and fantasy, leading gamblers to take more risks than they would in a rational state of mind.

4. Near Misses and the Gambler's Fallacy

Near misses, where the outcome is just short of a win, are particularly compelling for gamblers. These instances trigger a sense of hope and keep individuals engaged in the game, as they believe they are one step away from a significant victory. The gambler's fallacy further intensifies this effect by making individuals believe that a series of losses increases the likelihood of a win in the next round. This fallacy disregards the independent nature of random events and can lead to persistent gambling behavior.

5. Social Factors and Peer Influence

Humans are social beings, and the social environment plays a crucial role in shaping behavior, including gambling. The desire to conform to social norms, peer pressure, and the influence of family and friends can significantly impact an individual's decision to gamble. Social gambling environments, such as casinos, often create an atmosphere of excitement and camaraderie, further enhancing the appeal of gambling activities. Additionally, the normalization of gambling through advertisements, sponsorships, and endorsements can influence people's perceptions and contribute to increased participation.

6. Escapism and Emotional Regulation

For some individuals, gambling provides an escape from reality and a means to regulate their emotions. Whether it's seeking excitement, relief from stress, or a distraction from personal problems, the act of gambling can serve as a coping mechanism. The thrill of risking money and the potential for a win temporarily alleviates negative emotions and provides a sense of euphoria. However, this reliance on gambling as an emotional crutch can lead to addictive behaviors and financial consequences.

7. The Impact of Reinforcement and Loss Aversion

Psychologists have long studied the concepts of reinforcement and loss aversion in the context of gambling. The intermittent reinforcement schedule, where rewards are unpredictable and sporadic, is particularly effective in reinforcing gambling behavior. This schedule creates a sense of anticipation and makes the reward more desirable. Loss aversion, on the other hand, refers to the psychological tendency to strongly dislike losses compared to an equivalent gain. The fear of losing often drives individuals to continue gambling in an attempt to recoup their losses, resulting in a vicious cycle.

Summary

The psychology of gambling reveals that it is not purely a game of chance but rather a complex interplay of cognitive biases, social influences, and emotional factors. Understanding the science behind risk and reward can shed light on why gambling can be so captivating and addictive for some individuals. By recognizing the psychological mechanisms at play, both gamblers and society can take steps towards responsible gambling practices, promoting a healthier and more informed approach to this widespread form of entertainment.

What is essentially a simple game that has been around for centuries is viewed by many as a high-class game played by those in the upper echelon. Many may think of a tuxedo-clad James Bond playing the game in some fancy Monte Carlo casino salon.

But baccarat is fairly easy to follow and play with Italian and French roots and remains highly popular centuries after the game was introduced in European gambling houses. This article details the complete history of the game from its roots in high-end gambling houses to private games to eventually thrilling gamblers in Las Vegas.

Table of Contents

1 – How to Play Baccarat

While the stereotype of Baccarat (also known as Punto Banco in some parts of the world) as a game simply for the upper crust of society certainly endures for some, the game requires no real advanced training or advanced strategy. There are some basics to the game and anyone can play.

This classic game also has now gone beyond the high-stakes area in the casino and the “mini-bac” version can often be found on the main casino floor. Players will also find plenty of Baccarat action online, often at lower stakes than one might find a traditional casino. Here’s a quick look at the basics of both classic Baccarat and Mini Baccarat.

Baccarat is one of the oldest casino games and is pretty simple to play. Players will also find a small house edge when dropping some money in the game. Here are some important things to remember when playing Baccarat:

• Hand Values – Cards retain their numerical values with face cards and 10s valued at 0. Aces are worth 1.
• Player – A player is responsible for one hand and players can wager on this hand.
• Banker – This is the hand dealt to the house and players can also wager on this house.
• Tie – Players can also bet that the player and banker hands will be the same.

A game of Baccarat begins with all players betting on the player, banker, or a tie. The dealer then deals two cards for the player and two cards for the banker. The goal is to get as close to 9 as possible with any two-card hand adding to 9 called a Natural. For example, 10-9 would be a Natural 9 with the 10 worth zero and the 9 reaching the top possible score.

Hands can’t total more than 9 and and simply drop 10 when going over. For example, a player may receive 8-8 for 16. This hand is actually worth 6.

A Natural 9 is an automatic winner and the next best hand is an 8 (also called a Natural). If neither of the two hands total 8 or 9, a third card can be drawn and is entirely based on predetermined baccarat rules. There’s no decision to make, these rules dictate what happens next and whether a third card is given:

• The player must stand with 6 or 7.
• If the player stands, the banker hits a total of 5 or less.
• If the player has 5 or less, the player hits and receives a third card.

If the player receives a third card, then the banker draws a third card according to these additional rules:

• Banker has 0, 1, or 2 – always draws a third card.
• Banker has 3 – draws if the player's third card is 1 to 10 (excluding 8).
• Banker has 4 – draws if the player's third card is 2 to 7.
• Banker has 5 – draws if the player's third card is 4 to 7.
• Banker has 6 – draws if the player's third card is 6 or 7
• The banker always stands with a total of 7.

That’s quite a bit to remember, but there is usually a chart available at the table to guide players. The dealer also knows the rules and can answer any questions.

Many casinos also often offer a Mini Baccarat version on the main casino floor. These usually feature lower odds and a table for fewer players. In the mini version, all cards are also simply dealt face up without players touching the cards at all.

2 – Early Baccarat Origins

Like many of the popular casino games players find in a casino today baccarat is believed to have been derived in Italy and France. From 1650 to 1800, gambling thrived in France and in much of Europe – giving birth to the modern casinos and games seen today. For such a simple game, baccarat has remained incredibly popular since the game was unveiled in the 15th Century.

French soldiers are believed to have brought the game to France after returning from battle in the Italian Wars during the reign of Charles VIII. The game is thought to have first been introduced to the French in 1490. In Italy, the game was known as baccara and later surged in popularity during the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715).

“It became a favored game of the nobility but, by the Napoleonic period, could be found in illegal gambling houses as well,” author David Schwartz notes in Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling.

However, while other games thrived in the intervening years, baccarat began to take a back seat. The French prohibition of public gaming in 1837 even saw the game go virtually underground in the country, played mostly in private games.

3 – 20th Century Baccarat Growth

When French gambling laws were relaxed in the early 20th Century, the game saw a resurgence in the casinos along the French Riviera. The game remained popular among the properties’ wealthier customers and also helped cut into the profits of more traditional casino markets like those seen in Monaco.

At the time French casinos weren’t allowed the full complement of casino games. However, baccarat and some unique business strategy helped France see a rebirth of the country’s casino industry.

“With the popularity of baccarat, casinos in Cannes, Antibes, Juan-les-Pines, Deauville, and Nice began to cut into Monte Carlo’s markets,” Roll the Bones notes. “Since they did not have the bonanza of the lucrative mercantile game of roulette, they adopted a more balanced business plan. Instead of using entertainment and dining as loss leaders, as the Rhine resorts and Monte Carlo had, they derived some substantial profits from them. Critical visitors blanched at the high prices of drinks, cigarettes, and dinners, but paid them before losing tremendous sums to each other at chemin de fer (an early version of Baccarat). Still, they paid – and played – and the Riviera casinos soon rivaled Monte Carlo itself.”

During this time, baccarat also saw growth into other countries as well. It is believed tha King Edward VII introduced the game to Great Britain and first reached the U.S. in 1911, played mostly in underground gambling clubs in New York. Chemin de fer also saw some interest from American gamblers as well.

“Chemin de fer was first played (in the U.S.) in 1920, shortly after World War I, in the homes of wealthy Americans vacationing in Palm Beach, Florida,” Scarne’s New Complete Guide to Gambling notes.

The American introduction to baccarat didn’t last long and the game didn’t reach serious prominence again for American gamblers until the 1950s in Nevada. The birth of Sin City gambling began bringing in players from around the world and the banker-versus-player action appealed to many of these well-heeled players.

Singing legend and part-owner of the Sands Casino Frank Sinatra was even known to take the baccarat palette on occasion. The palette is a flat wooden paddle-like device used to collect cards on the table felt.

4 – Modern Baccarat & Controversy

Most modern casinos offer some form of baccarat and now feature games that feature games catering to a broader range of gamblers. 

While higher stakes traditional baccarat can be found in high-limit areas and salons, mini baccarat can be found on the traditional casino floor. The game remains very popular and still attracts players to back the player or banker more than five centuries after the game debuted in Europe.

The game even garnered some major headlines over the last few years thanks to an interesting turn of events involving one of the biggest names in poker. Card-playing legend Phil Ivey was embroiled in controversy for winning millions in a form of the game called punto banco. He was charged with using an assistant to engage in edge sorting.

This practice involves finding tiny irregularities on the backs of cards, a long-term statistical advantage for the player over the house. Regarding the Ivey case, the New York Times notes, those irregularities come “as a consequence of the manufacturing processes, were trimmed slightly differently on top and bottom, resulting in uneven margins of 1/32 of an inch or less.”

Court appearances for Ivey and his associate followed. They ultimately lost their cases and the vast majority of their winnings. The hype kept this historic game in the news for a few years and may have drawn even more players to the tables.

Online players can also regularly find some action, with virtual casinos offering numerous options and stakes. That includes the option to play various stakes that may not be found in a traditional casino.

So for those looking to live a little like James Bond or just wanting to simply try something new, grab a seat at the baccarat table. Maybe you’ll experience a nice win befitting one of those 16th Century aristocrats – with plenty of francs (okay, maybe dollars instead) heading your way.
 

Given average results in every casino game, the house will make money. Blackjack rules set up an edge for the house in a way that's not always obvious to new players.

The house has only one edge: players act first and lose if they bust regardless of the outcome of the dealer's hand.

Regardless of whether you're playing in an online casino or at a live table, if you bust, the hand stops for you and the dealer takes your chips. Play goes on for others at the table. If someone gets a hand to stand on, the dealer's hand matters for them.

This article takes a look at the overall house edge in Blackjack and how it works.

Analyzing dealer actions

Dealers are required to hit any hand of 16 or less and stand on any hand of 17 or more. In some games, dealers also hit soft 17 while standing on hard 17.

There are small differences in bust percentage depending on whether the dealer hits or stands on soft 17, but dealers bust approximately 28% of hands.

New players sometimes are fooled into thinking dealer strategy is the best strategy. So they mimic the dealer in making hit or stand decisions.

When players mimic the dealer, they also bust 28% of the time.

There's overlap when both player and dealer bust, and on those overlapping hands, the house wins.

On average, both player and dealer bust 8% of the time. If players were restricted to the same hit/stand rules as dealers, the house would have a whopping 8% edge in a single-deck game, and a few tenths of a percent more with more decks.

Average results don't happen every time. Players win often enough to make the game fun and exciting and to keep us coming back.

But  8% is A LOT to make up. Compare it to the 1.41% on the craps pass line, the 2.01% of total action on the ante-play portion of Three Card Poker or even the 5.26% on American double-zero roulette.

Making Things Interesting

At a table with an 8% edge, we'd find our money disappearing fast enough and often enough that most players wouldn't bother. They'd leave for other games.

Casinos don't want to chase you away. So a set of compensating rules and conditions was developed to give some of that edge back. 

There are four basics that are part of nearly every blackjack game:

• Players don't have to hit 16 and under and stand on 17 and over. They're free to make their own decisions after seeing their cards and the dealer's face up card.
• Most winning bets pay even money, but two-card 21s – blackjacks – pay more.
• Players are allowed to double down.
• Players are allowed to split pairs.

Moving the House Edge

There are many other optional rules that can move the house edge up or down by a few tenths or hundredths of a percent, but these four are the basics. They reduce the house edge from 8 percent to less than 1% – about half a percent with six decks 

if the dealer stands on all 17s, or about 0.7% if the dealer hits soft 17. Here's an overview of what each of those basic givebacks does to the house edge:

• Extra payback on blackjacks: When blackjacks pay 3-2, it knocks 2.3% off the edge. 

That's the case in most games. Beware of games that pay only 6-5 on blackjacks. That reduces that starting house edge by only 0.9%.

It's usually said that 6-5 payoffs on blackjack add 1.4% to the house edge. That's true relative to a game where blackjacks pay 3-2. But the house collects no such bonus pay when you lose, so relative o a starting point of a no-bonus set of rules, the small extra payoff in a 6-5 game reduces the original edge by 0.9%.

If no other rules were changed, the 8% house edge would drop to 5.7% with 3-2 pays on blackjacks, but only 7.1% with 6-5 payoffs.

When to hit, stand, and more

• Hit or stand decisions: Giving players the option of straying from dealer strategy is the most important concession by the house. It reduces the house edge by about 3.2%.

Imagine a world in which you had to hit when you had 9-7 for a hard 16 and the dealer had a 6 face up. Using dealer strategy, your average loss would be 43.7 cents per dollar wagered. But you can stand instead, and that drops your average loss to 12.5 cents.

There are dozens of hands in which the strategy that works best for players is different than the strategy required for the dealer. Gains, large and small, add up to cut a big hunk off the house edge.

• Doubling down: Dealers don't have a doubling option, but you do. You can double your bet after you see your first two cards. Then you get one more card.

That opportunity to double down reduces the house edge by about 1.6 percent.

Basic strategy charts recommend doubling down only when you have an edge with a one-card draw, so doubling your bet increases winnings. If you don't have an edge, you don't double.

One great double-down situation comes when you have 6-5 and the dealer has a 5 up. In an average six-deck game, you could just hit and earn a profit of 32 cents. If you double, your profit increases to 64.1 cents. 

You won't always win even though you have an edge on the hand. Sometimes you'll lose two bets instead of one. But average results work in your favor and help knock down the house edge.

• Splitting pairs: If you're dealt two cards of the same rank, you can split them to make two hands. You make a second bet equal to your first, then each card in the pair serves as the start to a separate hand.

The dealer has no such option.  If the dealer has 8-8, it's played as 16. The dealer has to hit.

Imagine you have 8-8 and the dealer has a 7 up. If you had to play it like the dealer and split, you'd lose an average of 40.8 cents per dollar wagered. 

But if you split, the average result is a profit of 31.8 cents per dollar of your original wager. You've turned a losing hand into a winner by exercising an option the dealer doesn't have.
Sometimes splitting reduces losses instead of increasing wins. That's good for players, too. The result is that being allowed to split pairs reduces the house edge by 0.4 percent.

Add all that up, and that 8% house edge is all the way down to 0.2% – about right in a single-deck game with no exotic rules, while a six-deck game would be closer to 0.6%.

The exact edge is dependent on a host of  optional rules variations.

But the big four are: blackjack payoffs, hit/stand decisions, doubling down and splitting pairs. Those diversions from dealer strategy are what make the game playable.

I was thrilled and honored when I received my invitation to the 2022 Blackjack Ball. As a long-time attendee, I looked forward to meeting and socializing once again with the many friends I’ve made over the past 30 years who share the same interest that I have, namely, beating the casino at blackjack.

Moreover, this year’s ball achieved a special milestone. It was the 25th year that some of the most dangerous players from all over the U.S. and abroad, as well as others who have contributed to the craft, gathered together in one place to:

• socialize, renew old friendships, and make new ones
• cast votes to determine who will be inducted into the prestigious Blackjack Hall of Fame
• compete in a skills competition to determine who among the “best of the best” will win the title (and bragging rights) for this year’s “World’s Greatest Blackjack Player.”

Note: There are 30 members in the Blackjack Hall of Fame, and 21 are still alive. Fourteen members, including this year’s inductees, were in attendance. Read further for a list.

What began as a sparse gathering in Max Rubin’s home 25 years ago, the Blackjack Ball soon outgrew that venue and moved to another “secret” location. However, the latter could accommodate only 130 attendees, resulting in a waiting list of players who wanted to join this elite event. However, because this year marked the 25th (silver) anniversary of the ball, organizers decided to make it a special and memorable event, and indeed it was.

Because of a family health emergency in the 11th hour, I was unable to attend this year’s Ball. Nevertheless, my good friends Rick Blaine (author of Blackjack Blueprint and nominee for this year’s Hall of Fame), Don Schlesinger (author of Blackjack Attack: Playing the Pros’ Way and member of the Hall of Fame), and co-hosts of the ball, Max Rubin and Richard Munchkin, provided me with the details that I used to write this article. (Thank you, guys.)

Event changes

Since this year’s Ball was extra special, there were some remarkable changes compared to the previous 24 events. They include the following:

• The event was moved to a much bigger venue, and one of the most unique buildings in Las Vegas, the Cleveland Clinic – Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. From the outside, the building has a unique and distinct architecture (see photo), however, inside there is a large ballroom that could accommodate 180 attendees, who could socialize, dine, and drink all evening in comfort.

• Guests paid $250 to attend, or they could purchase a table for $5,000 or $10,000, with special reserved seating.
   
• Every guest was required to wear either a tuxedo or a suit. Ladies wore formal attire.
   
• An audio-visual company was contracted to prepare the slides, and they were projected on numerous screens located throughout the ballroom.
   
• There was an open bar and a catered gourmet dinner. 
   
• The Blackjack Hall of Fame became a non-profit corporation, allowing it to have a charitable objective.
   
• This year, $25,000 from the Blackjack Ball was donated by the Blackjack Hall of Fame Inc. to the University of Nevada Las Vegas to help establish the UNLV Center for Gambling Policy and Health. The latter will be a center of excellence dedicated to the study of problem gambling and the development of policy recommendations for regulators and the industry to help minimize the harms of problem gambling. 
   
• A new “Ed Thorp Lifetime Achievement Award” was created, and the recipient was automatically inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame. (More on this shortly.)

Blackjack Hall of Fame

Before the Ball, co-host Max Rubin sent the following email to the existing members of The Blackjack Hall of Fame.

The Blackjack Hall of Fame Attendance Committee met online with Dr. Thorp and created the Ed Thorp Lifetime Achievement Award for deserving players and contributors to the craft.  

The award will be bestowed during the Silver Anniversary Blackjack Ball and infrequently, as necessary, in the future. Only members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame may vote for this honor.  

After the committee met with Dr. Thorp, we agreed that our first candidate, who will also be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, should be Blair Hull.  Thirteen members of the Hall of Fame have already wholeheartedly supported Blair’s award and we hope that you can join us in welcoming him into the fold. There will be a formal presentation at the ball, immediately before the guests, including you, elect a second new member to join us.  

Blair Hull was a big player on Al Francesco’s highly successful blackjack team in the mid-’70s.  Blair began playing solo in 1971 and continued to run his own team in the late ’70s.  In 1977 Blair was intrigued by the financial markets and became a market maker on the Pacific Stock Exchange where he founded Hull Trading. Using quantitative models, Hull Trading became one of the world’s premier market-making firms, trading on 26 exchanges in nine countries until being sold in 1999 to Goldman Sachs for $531 million. Worth Magazine named him one of ‘Wall Street’s 25 Smartest Players.’ 

In 2004, Hull sought the Democratic nomination for the US Senate in Illinois in a race that was won by Barack Obama. Blair currently serves as manager of Hull Tactical Asset Allocation (HTAA). HTAA uses macroeconomic, fundamental, and sentiment data along with machine learning techniques to predict moves in the S&P 500.    

Over 50 years after beginning his blackjack career, his boundless energy, financial support, and wise leadership were responsible for the Blackjack Hall of Fame’s success in getting through a Byzantine legal morass to form our own 501-C3 Charitable Foundation.

Additionally, Ed Thorp agreed to have his name on the “Lifetime Achievement Award” because “all the players that attend the Ball have benefited so much from gambling that it is appropriate that we give back to people who have been damaged by gambling.”

The event began with guests gathering in the outside garden for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Card expert Jason England demonstrated his cheating moves that baffled even the best card counters in the room, and there were also framed newspaper articles from the 1960s on blackjack card counting that guests could peruse.

Next up was the catered dinner followed by an introduction video by Ed Thorp that was projected on the large multi-media screens.

(Note: Because of his age, 90, Ed calculated that he had an 18% chance of dying if he caught the Covid virus from the large gathering of people at the ball; therefore, he passed on attending this year.)

2022 Nominees for the Blackjack Hall of Fame

Every guest that was either a member of the Blackjack Hall of Fame, a skilled blackjack player, or a contributor to the craft, voted for one of the following seven nominees. Every person cast one vote except Hall of Fame members who cast three.

Cat Hulbert 

Cat was selected as one of BBC’s 100 Women of 2016, an honor given to “high-profile women from the spheres of entertainment, sport, business, and politics.” Chosen for being the first woman to break through the glass ceiling of professional blackjack in 1978, she played on the Czech blackjack team in over 300 casinos worldwide and was the first woman to ever amass $1 million across the blackjack tables.  
 
Cat’s aggressive play and fearlessness changed many opinions on the mathematical and emotional capabilities of women to bet it up and win under pressure. 
 
Selected by Card Player Magazine in 1996 as one of the best and smartest card players in the world, she was one of only eight professional gamblers to be included in Richard  Munchkin’s book, Gambling Wizards.

Along with teaching a women-only poker class for many years at the Hollywood Park Casino, Cat also wrote Outplaying the Boys in 2005, a guide for women on how to become more competitive in life and at the tables. 
 
Cat was featured in L.A.’s The Daily Breeze and the Sunday Los Angeles Times for her top-notch card-playing abilities in blackjack and poker. Also a contestant on Blackjack’s Tournament of Champions, Cat has been a guest on numerous radio shows including NPR, Gambling With an Edge, and BBC’s The Conversation. She was often sought out due to her unusual successful life choices and her mission to change how women are viewed – by men and by themselves alike. 

On Dec. 7, 2016, the BBC published a biographical article based on her remarkable exploits that is said to have received a million reads the first day it appeared on the network’s homepage.

Colin Jones

Colin founded and co-managed “The Church Team,” one of the largest and most prolific card-counting teams in the 21st century. In 2008, Colin began building blackjackapprentiship.com, which has grown into the premier blackjack training and community worldwide. The site regularly graduates professional blackjack players to winning careers and costing casinos millions of dollars each year.  

BJA's secretive and infamous boot camps have sold out for the last seven years and counting. Colin authored The 21st Century Card Counter: The Pros’ Approach to Beating Today’s Blackjack and continues to be the voice and leader for the next generation of card counters. 

Maria “The Greek” 

Maria is the co-founder and one-time manager of “The Greeks” blackjack team. Having quit their day jobs as very successful New York attorneys, she, her brother, and highly-respected colleagues formed the largest single group of players in history. At one time she simultaneously managed over 40 individual players. 

She recruited only top talent, having the most notoriously difficult set of tests required to pass to get onto the team. Additionally, Maria’s team won countless millions utilizing a “slash and burn” technique in which BPs would wade into the middle of a game, often betting 3 x $10,000. Needless to say, each BP didn’t last long, but the enormous bets resulted in some of the largest card-counting wins in history. 

An extraordinary businessperson, she utilized her acumen, extraordinarily high I.Q., along with common sense to guide the most successful single card-counting team this century. 

Along with being a master at sequencing, tracking, and now a high-stakes poker professional, Maria is also the only woman to have ever won the coveted title of “World’s Greatest Blackjack Player” at the Blackjack Ball, even in the days when arm wrestling, chip shuffling, card tossing, and more were among the 11 events at the final table.

Mark Billings

Starting in 1981, Billings enjoyed a blackjack career that included many of the usual suspects (counting, shuffle-tracking, steering, etc.). In addition, he traveled the world as one of the very early computer players and was instrumental in pioneering advanced non-counting methods of getting an edge. Many of these exploits are recounted in his book, The Ultimate Edge.

Roulette was next, taking over where Doyne Farmer and the Eudaemons had left off and succeeded in a way that had to be seen to be believed. That adventure can be found in his latest book, Follow the Bouncing Ball. Throughout a 26-year career, Billings has played in over 500 casinos on six continents, and has been thrown out of some of the best of them.

Norm Wattenberger

Norm is the foremost blackjack software developer in the world today, and his line of Casino Vérité products has come to be known as the quintessential tool for analyzing virtually any problem associated with the game of blackjack.  The incredible graphics and the realism of the practice modes of CV have received the highest praise from the thousands of satisfied customers who have honed their skills on this magnificent product.   
 
Norm has made a great many of his computer studies and applications available free of charge on the Internet, and you will be amazed at the sophistication of his analyses, as you visit his website, at www.qfit.com.

A consummate programmer, Norm is an industry legend, who continues to provide computer simulations and studies to answer problems on his blackjackforum.com site, while continuing his blackjack research. His two-volume Modern Blackjack is perhaps one of the most original and comprehensive treatments of the game in print and represents hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of computer-generated insights into the game not to be found anywhere else.

Rick Blaine

Rick Blaine, known throughout the elite blackjack circles as “Night Train,” is a skilled, disciplined, and winning blackjack player. Rick has taken professional play as a part-timer to new levels while staying under the radar. 
 
During his career as a high-powered executive in the financial world, Rick was introduced to winning methods in the 1980s. While traveling worldwide, Rick mastered the art of expense-free play by combining business trips on corporate America’s dime with profitable casino visits. 
 
After being recruited onto an existing high-stakes blackjack team, Rick learned the ins and outs of team play. That experience, along with his managerial expertise prompted him to organize teams in the late 1990s. 

Sharing his unique insights, Rick authored Blackjack Blueprint: How to Play Like a Pro … Part-Time, which many consider the most comprehensive book on the game. 
 
At the Blackjack Ball in 2015, Rick “Night Train” Blaine won the intense competition to claim that year’s title of “World’s Greatest Blackjack Player.” Night Train is still active, and due to his low profile, is often sought out as a player by high-stakes teams.

Robert Loeb 

“Bob” Loeb is a criminal defense lawyer, law professor, and successful card counter, and has been a lawyer for the AP community for over 25 years. He is the co-author, with I. Nelson Rose, of Blackjack and the Law, the original book that covered the legal issues of card counting, countermeasures, barrings, arrests, searches, chip and cash seizures, civil forfeitures, taxes, Indian gaming, and Internet gaming. 
 
Bob first became an advocate for APs in a case involving a bogus airport seizure by federal authorities of over $100,000 from a Tommy Hyland team member. Since then, Bob has represented dozens of players in cases, resulting in the recovery and return of over $1 million illegally seized or that casinos have initially refused to redeem. 
 
He has defended APs against numerous serious criminal charges. One case involved five defendants who won $1.2 million in machine play and who were charged with a total of 84 counts of cheating, computer fraud, computer tampering, theft, and structuring. At trial, he obtained findings of not guilty on all 84 counts.

Bob has also defended criminal charges for hole-carding. Despite one misdemeanor conviction in a tribal court, he has won every hole-card case he has tried in state courts. Bob has also been a consultant with attorneys on several civil and criminal gambling cases in several states. He’s been an expert witness for Bob Nersesian in a case regarding the right to play anonymously. He has fielded hundreds of calls from the blackjack community over the years, counseling them at no charge on their legal rights in casinos.

Newest Inductee Into the Blackjack Hall of Fame

After the votes were counted, the winner was Cat Hulbert. Unfortunately, she sadly passed away just two weeks before the ball.

With the addition of Cat Hulbert and Blair Hull, the current list of members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame and the year they were inducted (those in bold attended this year’s ball). The physical Blackjack Hall of Fame is at the Barona Resort and Casino in San Diego, California.

• Al Francesco (2002)
• Peter Griffin (2002)
• Tommy Hyland (2002)
• Arnold Snyder (2002)
• Edward O. Thorp (2002)
• Ken Uston (2002)
• Stanford Wong (2002)
• Max Rubin (2004)
• Keith Taft (2004)
• Julian Bruan (2005)
• Lawrence Revere (2005)
• John Chang (2006)
• James Grosjean (2006)
• Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel, and James McDermott, collectively known as the “Four Horsemen of Aberdeen” (2008)
• Richard Munchkin (2009)
• Darryl Purpose (2010)
• Zeljko Ranogajec (2011)
• Ian Andersen (2012)
• Robert Nersesian (2014)
• Don Schlesinger (2015)
• Bill Benter (2016) 
• Don Johnson (2017)
• Wally Simmons (2018)
• Rob Reitzen (2019)
• Anthony Curtis (2020)
• Blair Hull (2022)
• Cat Hulbert (2022)

Calcutta

Next on the agenda was the charitable Calcutta, which is sort of a pari-mutuel wagering where the attendees can bet on who they think will win the coveted Grosjean Cup and title of “World’s Greatest Blackjack Player.”

Below is the list of the seeds (i.e. The Players) where attendees were slotted into an appropriate grouping. The second column (Best Finish) shows the results for each seed in previous balls. Max posted the opening odds of winning (on his overhead slide at the Ball) for each seed and then started the bidding.

The first row titled The Field is everyone else that isn’t listed on another team. Attendees in each seed are also allowed to purchase up to 50% of themselves from the highest bidder. 

Competition for “World’s Greatest Blackjack Player”

The competition for the title (and bragging rights) as the “World’s Greatest Blackjack Player” consists of several rounds. The first is a challenging, 21-question, written test followed by a series of subsequent rounds conducted on a blackjack table that tests the players’ card-counting skills. 

(Note: The written test includes a mix of questions on blackjack, gambling trivia, and general knowledge. This year there were seven true-false, seven multiple-choice, and seven fill-in-blanks questions. Max Rubin’s philosophy on the questions is this: “A world-class blackjack player should know lots of stuff because you never know when it might come in handy.”)

The instructions for the test were:

1. You must completely answer each true or false question or multiple choice question and fill in the blank before we move on to the next question.
2. All answers must be marked with dark ink. You cannot change your answer once you’ve marked your card. If there are any blanks or changed answers when your graded card is turned in, you will be disqualified. 
3. Anyone who looks at their cell phones for any reason, other than to take an emergency call, in which case we will all wait until that emergency has been dealt with, will also be disqualified from play. 
4. You are allowed to use the back of your playing card to calculate your answers. 
5. You may only play with one card and only write on the back of that card. 
6. Anyone who hasn’t completed their single cards within 45 seconds after the last question has been asked will be eliminated. 
7. Score one point for each correct answer.

21 Questions

1. True or False? 

According to Wikipedia, Max Rubin is 106 years old.

2. During their heyday, Blackjack computer input specialists successfully operated those computers by inputting the data WITHOUT using which of the following?

A. their knees
B. their toes
C. their fingers
D. their teeth
E. they used all of the above 

3. What casino named its parking structure “Garage Mahal”?

4. True or False? 

There are more tribal than non-tribal casinos now operating in the United States.

5. Civilians hate 6:5 blackjack because the casino doesn't allow them to take even money. In the overall house edge, how much would the player benefit if the casino offered even money on a 6:5 eight-deck game?

A. 0.06% 
B. 0.6%
C. 1.6% 
D. 2.6%
E. 3.6% 
F. 6/5 players gain no edge with even money 
    
6. Out of respect for Max, the Blackjack Ball, and for hosting the Blackjack Hall of Fame, out of 989 casinos across the U.S., there is only ONE where you agree to NOT play table games. Name that casino. 

7. True or False? 

Over the past five years, Nevada has lost more than 500 blackjack games, yet the annual casino win on blackjack games has grown by more than $100 million over that time. 

8. In the 1950s, Vegas dubbed itself “The Up and Atom City,” and casinos invited guests to come out and see live nukes going off night and day 75 miles outside of town. There was also an annual beauty pageant to name a comely maiden to represent the unique festivities. What title did the annual pageant winner earn? 

A. Miss Atom Bombshell
B. The Atomic Showgirl
C. Miss Atomic Bomb
D. Miss American Freedom
E. Miss Nevada Freedom
F. Miss Up and Atom 

9. Within two pounds, how much does a million dollars in fresh $100 bills weigh?

Here’s a hint – five bills weigh the same as a new nickel. 
You have 60 seconds to write down your answer. 

10. True or false? 

In a heads-up Blackjack game against a basic strategy player, the dealer WILL BUST over 50% more often than that player. 

11. Over the past year, the average annual Win for a blackjack table on the Strip was:

A. less than $500k
B. less than $600k
C. less than $700k
D. less than $800k
E. less than $900k
F. more than $1,000,000 per table. 

12. Most states have self-exclusion lists so problem gamblers can prohibit themselves from playing. Which state has the most prohibited gamblers on those lists? 

13. True or false? 

According to the Current Blackjack News (CBJN), as of tonight, the Excalibur  Casino on the Las Vegas Strip offers precisely ONE TRADITIONAL BLACKJACK TABLE that pays 3/2 on a natural. 
    
14. In the gaming area, what’s the biggest casino on earth? 

A. The Venetian Macau
B. Resorts Singapore HINT—Photo of Dragons 
C. Winstar World
D. City of Dreams Macau
E. Genting Highlands
F. Sands Singapore

15. From the 1940s to the 1960s there were hundreds of billboards that littered both Route 66 and the Lincoln Highway advertising a single destination.    

The billboards said, RENO OR BUST. What else was written on those billboards? 

16. True or false? 

There are more blackjack tables of all stripes, including 6/5, 22-Hybrid, and more on the Las Vegas Strip than all of the other blackjack tables in the rest of the state of Nevada combined. 

17. In a full-pay, no RSA game, what is the value of blackjack after a split? That is, a two-card 21 resulting from a split is still considered a blackjack and pays 3:2. 

A. 0.06% 
B. 0.16%
C. 1.6% 
D. 0.2%
E. 0.3% 
F. Players gain OVER 2% with split Blackjacks paying 3:2

18. Write down the last name of one of the Four Horsemen. 

19. True or False?

Wendover has more than TWICE AS MANY full-pay single-deck games as the rest of Nevada combined.

20. This casino has the most full-pay double-deck games in the Las Vegas Valley. 

A. Orleans 
B. Red Rock Station 
C. Sam’s Town 
D. Santa Fe Station
E. South Point
F. Sun Coast 

21. Nevada is the state with the most casinos at 334. In order, what states are ranked No. 2 and 3? 

Note: You’ll find the answers to the test questions in Part 2 of this article (including the names of the players who had the most correct answers) as well as a summary of the subsequent rounds in the competition for the “World’s Greatest Player,” and who won the competition.

The Poker-matic machine introduced video poker to the casinos. Since then video poker has grown and become hugely popular.

Video poker has been around for decades. Live poker (played with a 52-card deck) has been around for nearly two centuries. It, too, has become extremely popular – especially after the World Series of Poker began in 1970.

While video poker is based on live poker, the two games are drastically different.

Table of Contents

1. Video poker

Video poker is a machine-based, one player per machine game. The total bet for each hand is made before any play begins. Each game has several winning hands ranked like live poker. Each hand is assigned an amount that is paid when that hand appears including:

• The lowest paying hand is usually a pair of jacks or higher.
• The highest paying hand is usually a royal flush.

Each winning hand is paid according to that game’s pay table. This amount paid varies among games and pay tables, but amount never varies for one game and its associated pay table.

Progressive games are the exception. The amount paid for certain high-paying hands (usually the royal flush) increases as play continues until someone hits that hand. The value is then reset to its initial value. Other things to remember:

2. Live poker

Live poker pits two or more players against each other at a table. Each player makes an initial standard bet (ante) in order to be dealt a hand.

Cards are dealt to each player one at a time in a clockwise direction. One player starts betting. The specific player depends on the game being played. 

The other players can then bet in a clockwise direction. In order to stay in the game, the player must at least match the total bet from the player(s) before him. Betting is over when no player increases the bet.

The player with the highest-ranked hand wins the entire amount bet by all players.

3. Highlighting the differences

There are similarities and there are differences between video poker and live poker. Many of the differences are significant. Here are some of the most significant:

• Video poker is player against machine (house), live poker is player against players.
  • Playing a strictly math-based strategy works for video poker, it does not work for live poker.
  • Live poker requires not only math skills but also observational skills – people reading skills. Just because a player raises a bet does not mean he has a good hand. They could be bluffing.
     
• In video poker, each hand has a specific amount paid when the player gets the hand. In live poker there is no guarantee of the amount the winning hand receives. It is totally dependent on the size of the pot.
  • A royal flush is usually paid 4,000-for-5 in video poker and a straight flush paid 250-for-1. Other winning hands are paid less – usually down to a pair of jacks or higher paying 1-for-1.
     
• In live poker, a royal flush, straight flush, four-of-a-kind, full house, flush, straight, three-of-a-kind, two pairs, high pair, high card and even nothing but garbage could all win – and win whatever is in the pot.
   
• Because pay tables in video poker automatically have a built-in casino edge, most casinos don’t care if players ask for advice from other players. This is strictly forbidden in live poker because players are playing against each other. Giving advice to a live poker player is considered collusion.

• As indicated earlier, live poker has an element not present in video poker – the human element. This is a huge difference.
  • The most skilled video poker player could be devastated playing live poker by being unskilled in people reading skills.
  • Playing strategy is very different – rather than strictly math-based, it is math and people based. This makes playing live poker more difficult to play.

4. Summary 

While both video poker and live poker are based on the same game, they play very differently.

• Video poker is a private game, live poker is highly social in nature.
• Video poker plays quickly, live poker takes a significant amount of time to complete each hand.
• Video poker requires math to succeed, live poker requires math and people reading skills.
• Unskilled video poker players will lose more than skilled players, but win something. Unskilled live poker players could get their figurative heads handed to them.

Video poker and live poker attract very different types of players. Make sure you have the proper demeanor and skills to play your chosen game.
 

Legendary brand 888casino celebrated 25 years in grand style at the EGR Operator Awards. Congratulations & celebrations filled the air as 888casino scooped up the evening's most illustrious honour: EGR Operator of the Year 2022.

On Thursday, October 27, 2022, the e-Gaming industry held its equivalent of the Oscars for online gaming operators. The EGR Operator Awards 2022 took place in London, England. The shortlist featured headline categories, including the following:

•    Rising Star
•    Poker Operator
•    Bingo Operator
•    Casino Operator
•    Affiliate of the Year
•    Operator of the Year
•    Sports Betting Operator
•    Safer Gambling Operator of the Year

Each of these respected categories shortlisted a top-notch group of gaming companies. 888 were featured in multiple headline categories, notably Casino Operator, Operator of The Year, And Poker Operator. With scores of world-class operators competing for the highest accolades in the industry, it was a tremendous honour for 888 to be shortlisted in almost 40% of the headline categories.

EGR Awards Rolls Out Red Carpet for Online Gaming Operators 

Every year, the EGR Operator Awards celebrate excellence and distinction among the world's best online gaming companies. Trailblazing Business to Customer (B2C) operators are honoured for their hard work, safety & security, innovation, creativity, and player-centric focus. Indeed, all verticals are considered in the annual EGR Awards.

 

 

The judges' panel comprises a team of experts from the online gaming arena with a keen eye on details. The intensive judicial process evaluates each Operator on its merits, with comparative metrics used to evaluate operators. Beyond awards, the red carpet ceremony presents the perfect opportunity for industry leaders, operators, and gaming aficionados to meet and greet face-to-face.

The 2022 EGR Awards gala was once again held at Grosvenor House in Mayfair, London. Hundreds of industry-leading executives were in attendance, commemorating another year of online gaming excellence on the world stage. The perfect opportunity to showcase individual brands, the EGR Awards serves as the premier ceremony for the e-Gaming industry.
 

888 Shortlisted Across Multiple Awards Categories

Established in 1997, 888casino is an industry titan. But such an honour comes with tremendous responsibility. 888casino featured prominently across three headline categories in 2022, notably:
Casino Operator

Indeed, in 2021, 888casino was the Casino Operator of the Year, with the panel adjudicating 888casino as follows:

'Content-wise, they are nailing everything and constantly evolving" "The number of live tables is mind-blowing, the personalisation aspect, their performance, in general, is very, very strong.'

888 lived up to expectations, with back-to-back awards in this category and making the grade for the third time in four years. Beyond the coveted EGR Operator of The Year Award, 888 also racked up accolades in other categories, notably Poker Operator of the Year 2022.

 

What Does the Operator of the Year Award Mean for 888casino?

 

 

888casino is no stranger to winning at the highest levels. 888casino won the EGR Operator of the Year Award in 2021. Its in-house sportsbook was also recognised as the In-House Product of the Year for 2020. In addition, the company was honoured as the Casino Operator at the 2020 Gaming Intelligence Awards in the capacity of Winner of the category Best Beginner Software. Two prestigious awards were presented to 888 in 2020 by the 2020 Poker Listings Operator Awards. They were for Best Beginner Software and Most Improved Software.

The 2022 EGR Operator of the Year Award is a tribute to 888casino's hard work, innovation, and pursuit of excellence. With a strong focus on strategy, superior content, and product leadership, 888casino continues to trailblaze across regulated markets worldwide. In addition, the company has recently been involved in major acquisitions, mergers, and divestitures, culminating in focused and forward-oriented operations.

Commenting on the EGR Award, 888casino said,

This is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and commitment of teams across the Group. It showcases the strength of our content and product leadership strategy, which continues to create truly unique betting and gaming experiences for players across all our brands. Now, as we look to 2023, we can't wait to show you what's in store – exciting times ahead! We are Bigger, Stronger, and Better Together.

About the EGR Awards 

The EGR Operator Awards recognise gaming excellence. Online gaming operators can be rising stars or top operators. As the veritable Oscars of e-Gaming, the EGR Awards recognise top-tier operators for their sterling achievements. The EGR Awards features 31 categories, allowing brands to raise the bar across the industry. Each award evaluates operators over the previous 12 months. A panel of reviewers evaluates individual operators on their merits, with the best of the best selected by an expert panel of judges.

About 888casino 

888casino is a leading operator with decades of experience in the industry. Established in 1997, 888casino leads from the front as a world-class innovator. Always raising the bar, 888 has racked up scores of awards over the years, most recently the EGR Casino Operator of the Year 2022 (B2B), and the third time in the last four years. In addition, 888poker - the poker vertical of the 888 Group won the Poker Operator of the Year 2022 at the EGR Award Ceremony last week in a double-triumph for the iconic 888 brands. 
 

Bright lights, gambling, an energetic vibe, and plenty of big money. That scene at a casino can make for a great setting for a film, and Hollywood has taken advantage of this gambling scenario for decades. From gambling-based films to heists and capers to those simply using Sin City or another exotic location such as Monte Carlo as a backdrop, casinos have played a major role in numerous movies mixing in some gambling and casino action.

Those who enjoy hitting a casino for some gambling probably love checking out some casino-related films as well. Hollywood has delivered plenty and here are a few that stand out and run a wide spectrum.

➔    For further reading, check out 888poker’s complete look at poker films every player should see.

Table of Contents

1 – CASINO

Synopsis: Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci star in this ode to old Vegas. The story is based on real-life mobsters Frank Rosenthal and Tony “The Ant” Spilotro, who managed the Stardust, Fremont, Marina, and Hacienda casinos from the ‘70s through 1981. In the film version, the two head up a Las Vegas casino run by the Chicago Outfit and the film shines a light on what Vegas was like when the Mafia was in charge. Mobsters love cash businesses and casinos offer a great source of cash.
 
Sam (De Niro) ensures the money keeps flowing to the mob. However, Nicky (Pesci) is getting out of control – break-ins, violence, and murders are par for the course and the FBI begins taking notice. It’s a great ride for fans of both gambling films and mobster movies with De Niro and Pesci at their best.

Setting: Las Vegas
Release date: 1995
Box office: $116 million
Major quotes: “I was a hell of a handicapper, I’ll tell you that. I had it so good that I ran paradise on Earth. I had one of the biggest casinos in Las Vegas to run – the Tangiers.”

2 – CALIFORNIA SPLIT

Synopsis: This has become a bit of a casino classic and was one of the first to take a look at the life of real gamblers. Fans of the “buddy film” will enjoy this one. Bill and Charlie (George Segal and Elliot Gould) meet and team up after being falsely accused of collusion at a poker table. Their adventures involve plenty of casinos, gambling, and drinking.

From a gambling perspective, this film has a little of everything – nice scores, big losses, bookies, and more. Legendary poker player Amarillo Slim even makes an appearance. Apparently quite the gambler himself, Gould later said his character offered a bit of a glimpse into his life at the gaming tables. It’s become a favorite among gamblers.

Setting: California; Las Vegas
Release date: 1974
Box office: $5 million
Major quotes: Elliot Gould, playing the character Charlie, tells a bartender as a juicy poker game plays out nearby: “My partner here’s a player, and I guess I’m a drinker.”

3 – MISSISSIPPI GRIND

Synopsis: This is a more modern look at the gambling lifestyle with two down on their luck buddies embarking on a road trip. They’re hoping to turn their luck around as they make their way to casinos throughout the southern United States with a big poker tournament in New Orleans as their ultimate destination.

There is plenty of gambling as part of the trip with loan sharks, hustlers, criminals, and more. Can they win it big at a poker tournament in the Big Easy? The film may not have scored well at the box office, but received nice reviews. It’s worth streaming on the couch for sure.

Setting: American South
Release date: 2015
Box office: $422,746
Major quotes: Curtis (Ryan Reynolds), sitting down at a new poker game, says “Aces are good, right?”

4 – BUGSY

Synopsis: This film chronicles the life of legendary mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel. Warren Beatty plays the role of Bugsy with his real-life wife Annette Bening playing his love interest. Siegel was a Vegas visionary, who was the first to bring a luxury hotel and casino to Las Vegas in the 1940s.

The city was mostly desert back then, but Bugsy saw the potential of what the area could be and eventually set about to build the Flamingo hotel and casino. Funding those plans came courtesy of the mob, but bosses grew unhappy when the project ran way over budget. Ultimately, the Flamingo became a huge success and paved the way for the growth in Las Vegas in the decades to come. For Bugsy, things didn’t end as well however. The film received multiple Oscar nominations, winning two.

Setting: Las Vegas, Los Angeles
Release date: 1991
Box office: $49 million
Major quotes: “I’m talking about a hotel. I’m talking about a place where gambling is allowed.”

5 – THE GAMBLER

Synopsis: James Caan plays Axel Freed, New York City English professor with a major gambling problem. He owes tens of thousands of dollars to his bookie and heads to Las Vegas in hopes of running up a nice win and paying back what he owes. Freed isn't always on the up and up however, even paying a student basketball player to shave points so that he can win at the books.

The gambler seems to thrive on the action and the headaches that come with his unique lifestyle along the way. The film was well-received and Caan earned some nice praise for his performance. Critic Roger Ebert loved the film and noted The Gambler “begins as a portrait of Axel Freed's personality, develops into the story of his world, and then pays off as a thriller. We become so absolutely contained by Axel's problems and dangers that they seem like our own.” The film also inspired a 2014 remake starring Mark Wahlberg.

6 – OCEAN’S ELEVEN

Synopsis: This offers quite an entry into the casino heist film genre and is a true favorite for many gamblers. The film featured a deep roster of Hollywood stars including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and Julia Roberts. The movie sees ex-con Danny Ocean (Clooney) plot to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from the Bellagio, Mirage, and MGM Grand casinos.

Ocean’s Eleven is actually a remake of a 1960 film starring Rat Packers Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Angie Dickinson. Like the Clooney film, the original version was also filmed at classic Las Vegas casinos such as the Flamingo, Sands, Riviera, and Sahara. Both films received mixed reviews but were both major box office hits. It seems movie goers can’t resist a good Las Vegas crime caper and the ‘01 version inspired several sequels.

Setting: Las Vegas casinos
Release date: 2001
Box office: $451 million
Major quotes: “The house takes you unless, when that perfect hand comes along and you bet big, and then you take the house.”

7 – 21

Synopsis: Being able to count cards for thousands and thousands of dollars is a romantic notion for many blackjack players. Dreaming of doing that and actually making it happen are two different things. This story is based on a real blackjack card counting team based out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1990s.

A savvy professor teaches some of the school’s whiz kids the tricks of the counting trade. It’s college classes all week then jetting off to Las Vegas for some card counting on the weekend.  The film is based on real events spelled out in Ben Mezrich’s best-selling book Bringing Down the House. Winning tons of money from the casinos isn’t easy and the team faces obstacles such as  getting banned from playing, group infighting, major losing nights, and the pitfalls that can come with being young and having access to the high life and easy money. 21 is a fun ride with a great cast including Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne, and Kate Bosworth.

Setting: Las Vegas, Massachusetts, various casinos
Release date: 2008
Box office: $160 million
Major quotes: “This is a real-world, first-class money-making business.”

8 – CROUPIER

Synopsis: Many of the films on this list offer a real look inside the world of casinos and Croupier (French for the person who collects and pays out bets at a gaming table) offers a look from the house’s point of view. In this case, an inside look at the life of a dealer and his experiences on a day-to-day basis. Jack Manfred (played by Clive Owen) longs for a writing career and his day job pitching cards at a casino helps pay the bills. He meets numerous interesting people and regular players as part of the gig.

This all makes for great inspiration for the book he’s working on, but his life begins to unravel. The casino begins taking over his life and his relationships with others become frayed. As with some casino flicks, a robbery is also part of the plot. This is a great movie from the other side of the blackjack table. When the film made its way to the U.S., Croupier generally received positive reviews and is worth checking out.

Setting: South Africa
Release date: 1998
Box office: $7 million
Major quotes: “You have to make the choice in life, be a gambler or croupier, and live with your decision come what may.”

9 – VEGAS VACATION

Synopsis: This obviously doesn’t live up to the standards of the other popular Vacation films, but brings plenty of Sin City to the screen. It also offers a comedy centering around Las Vegas and gambling as a key part of the story. This time seeing Clark (Chevy Chase) heads to Las Vegas with the family, and of course finds a way to foul things up.

The Griswolds bring some laughs along the way and Cousin Eddie even makes an appearance. Wallace Shawn may steal the show, however, playing feisty dealer Marty. This card-dealing dynamo can’t seem to lose, no matter how hard Clark tries to beat him. Clark eventually loses all of the Griswolds’ and faces some tough odds at salvaging the family’s Sin City getaway. Vegas icons Wayne Newton and Siegfried and Roy also make appearances as part of the fun.

Setting: Las Vegas
Release date: 1997
Box office: $36 million
Major quotes: “Eddie this place is great. They don't have any of these games at the Mirage.”

 

Video poker games are unlike slot machines because players are able to determine the games return by using information on the pay table.

The pay tables detail how much is paid for each winning hand. By knowing the odds for each winning hand and the amount paid for that winning hand, returns can be calculated.

This article explores the odds of hitting winning hands on some of the more popular video poker games.

Table of Contents

3. Odds change based on the pay table

Since the strategy is based on highest return, pay tables affect strategy. For example, a pay table that pays more for a flush will have a strategy that tends to favor drawing for a flush. Because of this, flushes will have better odds of appearing with this pay table.

 

4. Sample games and odds 

Let’s look at some different games first. The odds shown are based on playing the strategy that produces the highest average return.

Note that higher odds numbers mean lower odds of happening. For example, in the above game of Jacks or Better, there is a 1 in 40,390 chance of getting a royal flush – on average.

In this Double Bonus Poker game, the odds of getting a royal flush drop to one in 48,048 hands.

A couple of highlights from the above tables:

• Odds for hitting a royal flush vary from 1-in-40,390 to 1-in-48,048.
• Odds for hitting a straight flush vary from 1-in-8,841 to 1-in-9,148.

The game can, indeed, make a difference in the odds.

5. Odds for the same game and different pay tables 

Now let’s look at how different pay tables can change the odds. The full-pay (10/7) and the short-pay (9/6) Double Bonus poker odds are shown below. 

 

The major differences between the 10/7 and 9/6 tables are:

Summary

• The odds for hitting video poker hands are determined by both the originally dealt hand and the cards held and discarded from that hand.
• Odds are calculated based on playing strategy.
• Since playing strategy changes based on game and pay table, pay tables affect the odds.
• The odds of hitting paying hands for any video poker game and pay table can be found using video poker strategy software or apps that can be found on the internet
   

 When you hear screams of glee coming off of a casino floor, it usually means one thing: There is another gambler who’s winning slots. Often the excited sounds are punctuated by ringing bells and flashing lights. A casino attendant rushes over and facilitates payment.

When the charmed gamblers win really big, they get to pose for pictures while holding giant checks. Considering the random nature of it all, few casino windfalls are as satisfying, or as unexpected, as a gargantuan slot machine jackpot. Here are tales from the frontlines of fortune, documenting some of our favorite slot machine winners.

 

1. Online Hero

Sometimes it pays to be distracted. In 2015, Jon Heywood, a soldier with the British military, was watching a TV documentary about World War II tanks when an online gambling site caught his eye. What the heck, he must have figured, as he augmented the viewing experience by throwing a bit of money up on the site.

A slot machine spin was just 25-pence, the equivalent of less than $1. He took his small-stakes chance and was in for a gigantic surprise: the play paid out £13.2 million, the equivalent of around $17.3 million.

At first he thought it was just £10,000, which already seemed pretty sweet. But even upon realizing how much his jackpot really was, it might have taken a few minutes for Heywood to realize that it was a record-setting win.

Guinness Book of World Records, in fact, confirmed Heywood’s score to be the largest online slot machine victory at the time. A good soldier in every possible way, Heywood was asked by the BBC what he would do with all that money. He replied that he will arrange to get “the best possible medical treatment” for his dad, who was waiting on heart and lung transplants.

While he also vowed to upgrade his automobile, from a supermini Fiat Punto to a far more elegant Bentley Continental convertible GT, the real reward of the win came from what he could do for his father.

“Family comes first,” he told the BBC. “I’d give all this money back for him to be healthy again.”

 

2. Anonymous Luckbox

Some people like to brag about their big slot machine wins, pose for photos, celebrate with friends, order bottles of champagne and do TV interviews. Then there is the 25-year-old man who won the largest slots payout at the time. He lays low and nobody, to this day, really knows who he is.

Back in 2003, the software engineer traveled from Los Angeles to Las Vegas so he could watch and gamble on the NCAA basketball finals, a series of hoops games known as March Madness. They bring out the gambler in all of us and are going on as this story is being posted. 

Apparently taking a break from the sports book, he wandered over to a bank of slot machines and placed three $1 coins into a progressive Megabucks Jackpot machine. Because these are hooked up with other machines in different casinos, the payoffs can be extremely large.

Such was the case for the engineer. His prize totaled $38.7 million. And we don’t have to worry about him having put it all on red, hoping to double up via a spin of the roulette wheel. The money gets paid out over the course of 25 years, landing him more than $1 million per annum.
One thing he did not spend his money on: a press agent. Publicity is the last thing that this lucky gambler would want.

 

 

3. Twice Blessed

Most of us feel fortunate if we experience one major casino payout. Elmer Sherwin, a veteran of World War II, landed $4.6 million back in 1989 when he got lucky on a Megabucks machine during opening weekend at the Mirage in Las Vegas.

Shockingly, he had exhausted his gambling budget of $100 before asking his wife to front him $20 for another round of spins. The one that hit would be worth some $10.5-million in today’s dollars. 

No doubt, it was life-changing money for the man. But he knew better than to quit when he was ahead. In 2005, while plunging money into a different Megabucks machine at the Cannery Casino & Hotel in Las Vegas, he did unimaginable: hit the jackpot again, this time for a whopping $21.1 million.

Apparently set from his big win in ’89, Sherwin donated a good portion of that payout to help those who survived the devastating Hurricane Katrina, which slammed New Orleans in 2005. 

Unsatisfied with just two scores, he vowed to for a hat trick: “I’m gonna try for a third win on Megabucks but I may go for the Wheel of Fortune slot too.” Alas he died two years later, at age 93, just short of making his casino dream come true.
 

 

4. Lost and Found

Robert Taylor came nowhere close to spinning his way to the world’s largest slot machine win. But he did benefit the most from casino technology and provides proof that the gambling dens are not as greedy as some people like to think.

Taylor, who lives in Arizona, was visiting Vegas with his family and began playing The Mask slot machine at Treasure Island. After what he figured would be his final spin, the machine seemed to get stuck. The message on its screen: “Resolving progressive prize. Please wait.”

He waited. But, after a few minutes, Taylor figured that the malfunction hid the fact that he had lost his money, which is what happens to most of us. He and his family went to dinner and he gave no thought to the incident.

It turns out that he should have followed up. The malfunctioning machine was trying to figure out his prize, which totaled $229,368. Even though he had split the scene, casino employees were adamant about making things right after fixing the busted one-armed bandit. They analyzed credit card receipts, surveillance footage and even ride hailing data to identify the winner and track him down.

On January 28, 2022, 20 days after the win, Taylor got handed his six-figure score. Along with the money, he received a giant check and posed with it in front of the lucky machine.

Speaking to the Washington Post, a Gaming Control Board sleuth said, “There’s never been anything like this before, and that’s why it’s so exciting to have a great conclusion to this story.

I get emails and texts and sometimes I’m stopped in the casinos by people who want to pick my brain about what they are doing at the tables and machines. I’m happy I have a rather large readership; after all, that’s what every writer wants. Also, I have some good videos on the Internet.

I never shoo away people who want a few friendly tips. 

I don’t give tips at the tables because I do not want to take away the game from the dealer and the other players, But if someone asks me a question when I am not playing then I am happy to give my opinion. I keep these conversations short.

I am nice with just about everyone but I don't really want to give extended gambling lessons while I am in the casino to have some fun. Most players know this and are polite and cordial.

Yet, sadly, some are the opposite. 

 

Challenging Situation

Not all the players I run into are gentlemen and ladies. In fact, some few are downright obnoxious. Many seem to be living inside an ongoing argument in their heads and when they talk to you, they suddenly put you on the other side of their internal argument. 

Their first question isn’t a question as such, instead it’s a challenge. 

One guy just walked right up to me and said closely into my face: “Yeah, yeah, you think blackjack is the best game but it isn’t! You can’t just go by the house edge because you can’t do that. There’s more to playing than just the house edge. You should know that!”

At that moment I was just standing alone near the roulette pit waiting for my friend, James Peak, to come down from his room. 

“What do you have to say for yourself?” asked the man. “You are wrong to just look at the house edge at the games. You don’t seem to have a comment and you are supposed to be so brilliant! What do you have to say? Don’t you have any owreds of ointelligence?” 

In my mind I thought the following: If I answer him, I could get into a long, dull conversation with – let me be frank here – an idiotic player. Do I really want that?

“Well, well, Mr. Scobleet, you got nothing to say?”

“It’s Scoblete,” I said. At that moment I knew I should have walked away and ignored this guy. But I answered, correcting him about my darn name. Mistake! Oh, that was a mistake.

“What about this garbage about the house edge? Huh? Huh?” he asked.

“House edge is one element in judging games. But you do have other elements –“ 

“Ah, ha! Now, you admit you are wrong! You admit it!” he said.

 

House Edge ‘Discussion’

I answered him calmly while kicking myself inside that I was entering this conversation. “One of those other elements can be the speed of the game. I mean a house edge of 1.06 percent at the bank bet in mini-baccarat is really, really low. But give that bet almost 200 decisions in an hour and the number of decisions makes that bet more dangerous than the house edge makes it appear.”

“Ah, yes, yes, you now admit that you are wrong!” he exclaimed.

I continued, being careful and controlled. A younger me might have told this bloated blob of blubber-ness to go to … well, to go somewhere and do something to himself which I will refrain from referring to now.

“A game’s speed is an important element. But the strategy that a player uses will dictate, over time, how that player will fare at a game,” I said.

“Strategies? Ha! Ha!”

“You have many bets at craps, some tiny few are good, the rest are not good and those go from bad to awful. Keep betting the awful bets and…”

“Blah, blah, blah. It doesn’t matter what bets you make; if they hit, they hit. If they don’t, they don’t,” he scoffed.

“Now, that isn’t so. Here the house edge along with the speed of the game will give you a very good idea where that player will be over time,” I said. I could see in his puffy, red face and beady eyes that he was only half listening.
 

 

Continuing the Confusion

“Long run? Long run? There is no long run,” he said. “Everything is the short run. The long run has nothing to do with anything. Nothing to do with anything at all. That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard; the long run. It doesn’t exist. It is nonsense all the way. 

“How do you sell so many books and you seem to know nothing at all about gambling or playing in the casinos? The short run should be played differently than you want us to play. The long run, poo!”

“I’ve been playing for over three decades; I’ve studied the games and the casinos and I’ve written books and articles about just about every game,” I defended myself. “I’ve spent as many as 130 days a year in casinos.” 

Why was I defending myself? This was nonsense. I was in the midst of a conversation (Conversation? No, an argument!) with someone who didn’t care what I had to say to his questions and ideas. Why was I bothering? I felt almost as if I were in fourth grade defending myself against the typical elementary-school blobby bully.

[Please note: I have a section in one of my books, The Virgin Kiss, where I tell the story of what I did to a bully when I was a young kid. I wished I had the guts to do that with this bully. I didn’t. Perhaps, that’s the problem with growing up. You become cautious and understand the consequences of your actions.]

“There is a long run, statistically, but it only gives us an idea of what will probably happen over some length of time,” I said. “You can be sure the bad bets and the house edge on those bets and the speed of the decisions and time will –“

“What are you talking about?” he said strongly. “You make no sense at all. How do you dare to tell us how to play? This long run thing is absolute –“

“I just offer my ideas based on some criteria, math and the like, and my personal experiences in the casinos throughout the –“

“Yeah, yeah, throughout what? The world? Ha! Ha! You still don’t know anything; you don’t know what you are talking about. You big-brain guys aren’t as smart as you think.”

 

Lesson Learned & Supernatural Powers

I was ready to stop. I said, “Well, I guess…” But then I felt a tug on my shoulder. I thought it was Peak, but no. It was a skinny, sallow-faced woman, definitely a big smoker. You could smell the smoke on her.

“He got you, didn’t he?” she said. “I knew he would.”

“Ah,” I responded. Ah is a word I use when I have no idea what word I should use.

“He’s been coming to this casino for a while now to teach you a lesson about casino gambling. He heard this is one of the casinos where you like to play. Has he bent your ear, Mr. Scobleet?” (Scoblete, Scoblete for crying out loud.) “My husband has strong and wrong ideas about gambling. You talk to him and you find out about that.”

“Ah, I said.

“I didn’t bend nobody’s ear,” he said. “I’m not a nut like you,”

“I play the slots,” she said, ignoring her husband. “I have a method.”

“Oh, here we go!” he said. “The lady with the method, ha! ha!”

“I use my psychic powers to pick the proper machines to play,” she said. 

(Oh, no, I thought. Please no!)

“You see machines have a kind of intelligence, well, more like a kind of consciousness,” she continued. “They send out signals if they are willing to pay off. Almost no one knows this and that is why I am so successful at the slots.”

“You haven’t won anything,” he said. “You go broke almost every trip we make.”

“You haven’t won nothing either,” she countered. “All your stupid ideas and you haven’t won nothing! You go ahead and brag about nothing. You are so full of it. My method is solid.”

“Yeah, okay, know it all, but I don’t pretend to have psychic abilities where I can talk to the machines. Don’t you think that is stupid Mr. Scobleet?”

(Mr. Scobleet is not being drawn into this conversation.)

“Ah,” I said.

“I can do this at times with roulette, a game you write about a lot, and that’s because the wheel is a computer in some ways. It speaks to me at times. What do you think of that?”

“Ah,” I said.

“Don’t bother answering her,” he said. “You can’t talk to a woman like this. I found that out in thirty-five years of marriage. You can’t talk to her about anything. She always thinks she’s right. Mrs. Right! The roulette wheel talking to her? You got to be kidding me. This is so stupid. Why even talk about such stupid things?” 

“Why don’t you,” she replied to her husband in a dignified way, “just shut up your big mouth and stop talking about things you know nothing about. Have you done the necessary mental conditioning to understand the desires of machines? No, you haven’t Mister-Smarter-than- Anyone-Else. You know nothing. The real world that I live in is not the same silly world you live in.”

“Well, I’ve got to go,” I said.

“But you haven’t addressed my question,” she said.

 

More Questions Than Answers

“Oh man, oh man, oh man,” he said. “I’m talking to him about serious stuff and you’re going to waste his time with dopey things. Why don’t you go to a haunted house. You know on vacations she wants to visit what she calls haunted houses. Can you believe that?””

“Can a person understand the desires of a machine? Especially a machine that talks to you? A computer? Do you think that is possible?” she asked me again. 

“Well, I ah, don’t think any studies have been done on such a thing,” I said trying to wiggle my way out of this conversation.

“Ha!” laughed the man. “Are those studies like the studies that give you your ideas of how to play the table games? The serious games in the casino? Huh?”

Then I saw a head behind and above these two. It was James Peak’s head. He’s 6-foot, 5-inches tall and he towered over these two.

“Hey, hey, Peak!” I said, about as happy as I’d been that whole day in the casino. “At last!”

“I’m early,” he said. He and I share the idea that people should be on time for their appointments. Yes, sometimes, something might happen to make you late but those are exceptions.

“Let’s go get a drink,” I said.

He looked over the roulette table and saw that the even-money bets I like to make had a free seat right in front of their area of the table. He pointed. I shook my head and took his arm and headed him to the lounge.

“Whoa! Whoa! Hey! Hey!” said the man. “Can the two of us join you?”

“Ah, ah,” I said. Then I recovered. “We have some serious business to discuss. Sorry. But it was” (here I lied!) “a good conversation we all had.”

In the lounge I told Peak about the conversation of the man and his insistence that the short run was not the long run and his implication that different rules apply. How could that be? I also mentioned how obnoxious it was to talk to this guy.

“Why didn’t you just be nice, say hello, and leave the guy?” he asked. 

“Then the wife came over and discussed that she can talk to the machines; that they tell her when they are going to pay off,” I said.

“I saved you!” he said.

“Yes, you did!”

All the best in and out of the casinos!