Under the hot sun of Cuba I finished off reading my first copy of Blackjack Forum. I mean, what a concept. Reading a book about Blackjack in a country that does not allow gambling, hates casinos, and anything to do with the old life style that made the original casino hotels on the island the best places to play in the world.
Barry Meadows article on playing blackjack was very well written. Nothing you haven't heard before, but his style always adds a new flavor to an old dish. He tossed in some Arnold Snyder type humor which helps fit the bill of Blackjack Forum showing his professional writing style. This is what is expected by any editor. If the magazine is to be dry and humorless, you better leave your Jim Carey routine out of the article.
The book style of BJF reminds me of these minority "yellow pages" type books you will find from time to time. "The Black Pages" for black people, or "Pink Pages" for people that walk on the wild side of the sexual razor. BJF is the minority report for the world wide blackjack card counting community, as small as it may be. A 100 page book folded in half with two big staples in it for a binding, published four times a year, it will cost you $15 a pop plus shipping.
Page 2-8 is what Arnold calls "a blatant ad" for his new book "The Blackjack Shuffle Trackers Cookbook," an updated reprint of his old shuffle tracking series. Some new "never before seen in print" information should get you to buy the 114 paged book for $50. Page 9-25 is Barry Meadow's article from "Crushing the Internet Casinos," another 66 paged book for another $50. Page 26-32 is the usual follow up to any discussion about playing online. This time Rob Loeb is saying it is not enforceable, instead of "don't do it or you will go to Club Fed" like all of the other anti-online trolls will tell you. Most of these trolls are making money, as you will see in my article New Testament Blackjack below. 33-38 is by 98% and called Paranoia 101. I am actually fearful of what the other 2% is about. So far it is about overcoming his fears of walking into a casino to play blackjack with a possible 2% edge. Page 39-52 is from the book Gambling Wizards by RW Munchkin, who represents the Lolly Pop Guild by the way. Part I of a chat with "The Performer," Ken Uston's #1 player as word has it. $20. Pages 53-99 are "Notes from the Blackjack Underground." Table conditions from far and wide are covered. There is probably a page that covers your area in this half of the book. For me there are no table conditions for Ontario, so maybe I can get in touch with Arnold and get my name in print too!
On the back cover there is an article reprinted from the September 1993 BJF by Dr. 21. It simplifies the Kelly Criterion by showing how it works with 6 red chips and 4 white ones. Red is a win, white is a loss. You have a 20% edge and should bet 20% of your 1K bank. This will give you a win of $223.06. Betting 15% or 25% gave around a $200 win. Betting 40% (2x Kelly) will actually lose $24.17. Flat betting $200 will guarantee a win of $400 with no risk of ruin, but what if there were 600 red chips and 400 white ones? The Kelly bettor would have $555 billion while the $200 flat bettor will have won $40K. Awesome example I must say.
I will allow Arnold to close off this article in his own words from his book Blackjack Wisdom, page 194. BJW is basically a reprint of articles from BJF with a few "never before seen in print" goodies tossed in for people that have read everything that Arnold has put his pen to.
"I am a writer, not a professional gambler. I have never been a professional gambler, and have never made any claim in print or otherwise that I gamble professionally at blackjack or any other casino game." You just have to like a man that is that honest.
"Back in the day" when Blackjack Professional was in its onLine blackjack infancy, Winward casino offered me a $100 bounty per player. This was double any other offer I was working with at that time and offered my players half the booty. I mean bounty. Money. You get it right? Okay. I continually hound my past reps at these sites trying to get us more money. They ask me why I don't send them any new players. I ask them why they put me on a % loss. Back and forth. I have what they want, and they have what we want.
Shortly after that, Tangiers joined the game, and things began to expand. In less than two months they had seen enough of us, and they forced me onto a % loss per player. We got all the money owed to us, but as the players played on, they sent my account into the hole by $1125. I think that was at the rate of 30%. Do the math. We killed them. That was AFTER two months of sign ups and kick backs.
This time around we get $50 for new players, not $100, but the bonus is an awesome $500 one. A typical Winward match play, it actually works out to around a real 50% bonus. You have to give them 12 times action, then you get your bonus, and can cash in your deposit. You can play through the bonus and what you have left is yours. Your expected EV around 50%. Or you can plunge the entire match play and hope to win $500 if you went all in.
They say history repeats itself. "They." Who the heck is they any way? I guess they are we once we start talking like they do, saying the things they do, and reliving a small part of history all over again. Then we say history repeats itself and make it come true. I think I've been watching too many Terminator movies. The theme for Matrix Revolution which will hit the big screen in November is "Everything that has a beginning has an end." I'd get all over this Winward deal before it comes to an end again.
There is only one thing more precious than a woman. A woman that can count cards, has a huge bankroll, and knows how to use it. Women players are fierce, and can often fly under the anti-counter radar, thanks to typical male chauvinism. The weaker sex? My ass! By under-estimating these precious players, they leave themselves exposed to a good butt kicking.
Ian Anderson was one of the first writers to put their thoughts down about ladies at the blackjack table. In his book Turning the Tables on Las Vegas, he tells us how deadly these women can be. In fact, some players have used disguises to make themselves look female to help them get the edge that women have. The next time you see Aunt Edna playing blackjack, guess again. It's probably just Arnold Snyder playing tucked and taped!
It's all simply prejudice. The typical counter is a skinny nervous white male that wears glasses, doesn't drink, looks at all the cards, and has a pen and paper in his pocket. HA! Sounds like the typical bookworm that reads Bringing Down the House or Million Dollar Blackjack and then goes and blows his bankroll in Atlantic City. With the added advantage you have because of the casinos sexual or racial profiling, you can turn a supposed negative into a positive. You GO girl!
"And I saw new blackjack games and new players, for the old blackjack games and players had passed away...." Salvation has come to all people through the grace of Cyber Blackjack. Before Cyber Blackjack (the B.C.B. era), players had to travel across country to pay homage to their game. They had to go through rituals, disguise themselves, and had to count cards to get a small edge against "The Evil One." After Cyber Blackjack (A.C.B.), all the player had to do was show their trust by using their credit card, and they walked into the promised land of milk and honey, mana and quail, dollars and sense. "There will no longer be cover and rat-holing, neither will there be any counting or painful loss. I am making everything new! Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
The enemy had been defeated, and the New Testament Players florished and received their blessings in double portions without even setting foot on the land. Many of the Old Testament Players poo poo'ed the New Way, telling people that they were following a false leader, that their trust had been put into something evil, that they would be destroyed by their own greed. The pot was calling the kettle black, but there was no kettle anymore, just the steam called "Spirit of Advantage Play."
There were giants inhabiting this new space, and they did not want our company. They too tried everything in their power to put fear in our hearts, but their power was weaker than a small camel fart. The faithful pressed on behind me and we inhabited the new area. We took pity on these squatters and let them continue to tell lies to our people so we could laugh at them, and at the fools that believed their lies. No longer could they take freely from the Bonus Tree. My players and I danced and frolicked in the tree like happy chimps drinking Irish Mist.
Freedom awaits you. Throw off your sackcloth and ashes and enjoy the blessings that Cyber Blackjack can bring you! Tell a friend! Each one can reach one! Share the joy! "Go and make players of all nations, teach them to beat onLine Blackjack, baptizing them in the Spirit of Advantage Play. Teach them to take care of one and other. Surely your advantage will be with you always, to the very end of the age."
AMEN
As I gave a $1US tip to a waitress in Veradero I thought about the concept of tipping. My entire trip was covered by the US money I had made by playing onLine casinos. I thought of each tip like I was tipping some gorgeously hot Latina dealer for a win on a split/double down bet. I can dream can't I? Caliente!
I enjoyed relaxing and playing in the sea and pool with wife and two children, and felt that we had just touched a bit of paradise. A $1US tip means a lot to these people. Before they started using the Convertible Peso, you could get black market Pesos at the rate of 30 to 40 to one USD. At the hotels, they proudly treated their worthless Peso as they did the USD, so you could bring them back to the hotel and use them just like you could use the USD. The Convertible Peso looks like a real coin but is more like a metal casino chip that equals the same amount in USD. It didn't take long for the Cuban Government to stuff a sock into that opportunity.
OnLand the average counter has an advantage of around 1-2%. If you play undisturbed for an hour and can get 100 hands in with an average bet of $50, your total action is 5K and your long run expectation around $50-$100. You could be up or down by $500 from this expectation due to variance (what ploppies call "luck"), but the math speaks the truth. OnLine I can put in 400 hands an hour and make 5 cents with each dollar played with less variance than a T bill has, but that is another story.
When I tip the dealer I do so when I am winning, and when the count calls for a larger bet. This means that if I am playing every hand (which I seldom due in 8deckville Ontario) half the time I am not winning, and there will be no tips. Sorry. Bad day. When I do tip, I normally place a $1 chip on the edge of the betting circle and play it for the dealer. The dealer has a chance of getting a $2 win, and it keeps my tip in action longer so the pit and eye can catch it. Counters don't tip right? Yeah, sure.
We don't owe anyone a living, but we do have the responsibility that goes with being a winner. We are expected to tip 10% to 15% for a nice dinner on the town. We can't tip like that at a blackjack table or we will give our edge away. A single dollar can go a long way for you and the person you give it to. In fact, the next time someone begs you for your spare change, look them in the eye and tell them you don't have any spare change and hand them a dollar bill. Your smile will be as wide as Texas, and their amazement will be worth every Lincoln cent of it!
Cuba Libre translates into a rum and coke for the average tourist. It also translates into something a lot of people, including the Cubans, have trouble drinking down. Liberation. Cuba (Cuba = Great Rock) has been liberated from the original Indians that inhabited the island by the Spaniards an their diseases, then from the Spanish by America, then by Castro and Che Rivera. . A political roller coaster ride that you can't get off for the Cuban people.
In early October, Bush was coming on strong against the Castro regime.
"We know that the enemy of every tyrant is the truth," Bush said. "We're determined to bring the truth to the people who suffer under Fidel Castro."
Bush said he has directed Secretary of State Colin Powell and Housing Secretary Mel Martinez to chair a commission that will develop a plan to help Cuba move to democracy whenever Castro, who has ruled Cuba since 1959, leaves power.
Asked about his new role, Powell said, "It's prudent for us, as Castro gets older and his regime gets rustier, to start to think about the fate of millions of people in Cuba who one day will be free."
Bush wanted to enforce the ban on American travel to Cuba, punishing people for spending US dollars in this communist country. On the 27th of October, the people finally weighed in on the issue.
"The White House was on a collision course with some of the most influential figures in the Republican party after the Senate voted to ease a 40-year ban on Americans travelling to Cuba. The Senate voted 59-38 on Thursday night to ease the travel ban two weeks after the US president, George Bush, announced he was stepping up pressure on Fidel Castro, Cuba's president, by tightening restrictions on Americans on visiting and spending money on the island. It was the first time the Senate had acted against the restrictions since John Kennedy imposed them 40 years ago."
"We know that the enemy of every tyrant is the truth," Bush said. The truth is, the Cubans AND the Americans know the truth. Tyrants are like asses: every country is run by one. Here are the candidates for the first Cuban democratic election. Far left, far right, or the perfect ass? Place your vote!
Master Won Lung Man is a killer blackjack player. He has been playing blackjack for over half his life, which has been a long and peaceful one. When asked how old he is he smiles and says "Not as long as a mountain and longer than a tree." Okay. What style of blackjack do you play? "I played Zen for a while before Zen was discovered by the Western world, but now I am the game, and the game is also me." Huh? Please explain. "No explanation neccessary. I see cards, I remember cards, chip goes into circle, Master play hand perfectly." You have a photographic memory? "That is what you say. I see cards, I remember cards, chip goes into circle, Master play hand perfectly." Do you actually count the cards? "No. Why count cards? There are 52 of them. I see cards, I remember cards...." Okay, okay, I hear you! "Wasn't sure. Maybe too much wax! Hahahahahaha! Hahahahaha!" Now seriously. You just look at the cards and know how to bet and play each hand without using a count. "Yes. So simple. Western mind make everything too complicated. 4 worth this, 5 worth that, 10 worth this. Master sees value without count. Skips to next level. Waste of time is not Gung Fu. Gung Fu is knowing without counting." Ahhh. I think I am getting the picture. "When I was young, I got hit. Then I learned to block. Then I learned to move body and not use block. I learn to accept and give stuning blow. Then a breaking blow. Then a knock out blow. Finally I learned to give and take a killing blow. Old man too old to fight. Must learn beyond physical body. Having felt pain and sorrow, and having seen fear and distruction, I was well prepared by my Master. I win without fighting. How then do you expect a man like me to count down a deck of cards? The same way. Without counting." I think I understand. "Do not think, just know, and you are on next level. Master used to count just like he used to block and punch." Do you play 6 deck? "You think Master crazy? I play single and double deck. Fighting 6 decks like fighting 6 men. Master always win, but why ask for so much trouble to make some money?" Thank you Won Lung Man. "No problem. Have a nice day."
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