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XVP Interesting Black Jack article

#1

The Chicago Sun-Times gaming columnist, John Grochowski, (Who, if I
remember correctly was nominated to the vpFREE Hall of Fame) has a
very interesting column, on BJ, in today's paper.

He quotes Max Rubin, who among other gaming activities and writings,
trains pit personnel for Barona Valley Ranch, in California.

Among Rubin's other surprizing statements in regard to card
counters, he says, "We not only let them in, but we invite them to
play" !!

If you want to read this article in it's entirety, go to:

    www.suntimes.com/output/grochowski/wkp-news-bet29.html

I think most BJ players will find this column quite interesting.

             Babe

#2

One thing that perhaps John G. does not know is that big known card counters do not play at Barona out of respect for Max Rubin. But his point is well taken - the smaller amateur card counter is really not a worry for Barona and shouldn't be in any casino.

···

________________________________________
Jean $¢ott - Go to http://www.FrugalGambler.biz
  for VP software and strategy cards and for the
  Frugal series of books.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

#3

I couldn't agree more!
I wish that casinos would realize that the big appeal of Blackjack
(as opposed to other table games or slot machines) is that it
is "beatable". The vast majority of BJ players do not even know basic
strategy! If an unskilled player wins at BJ, he is still able to feel
that he won because he was "skilled". The player won because he
was "skilled" enough to never take the dealer's bust card. The player
won because he was "skilled" enough to take the best bet in the
casino: even money on Blackjack with dealer Ace. The player won
because he was "skilled" enough to raise his bets at the right time:
after a Blackjack. An unskilled player does not want to win because
he was "lucky", he wants to win because he was "skilled".
With 6 to 5 BJ, Mindplay, continuous shuffle machines, etc. BJ is now
being presented to amateur players as an "UNbeatable" game. WHO THE
HELL WANTS TO PLAY A GAME THAT THEY CANNOT WIN!? The unskilled player
says "if I can only win via 'luck', then I'll just play slots, the
lotto, or just not play at all".

···

Among Rubin's other surprizing statements in regard to card
counters, he says, "We not only let them in, but we invite them to
play" !!

If you want to read this article in it's entirety, go to:

    www.suntimes.com/output/grochowski/wkp-news-bet29.html

I think most BJ players will find this column quite interesting.

#4

--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "jackessiebabe" <jackessiebabe@y...>
wrote:

..... Among Rubin's other surprizing statements in regard to card
counters, he says, "We not only let them in, but we invite them to
play" !!

Unfortunately, very few casino managers share this attitude. Most of
them would spend $1000 to prevent a counter from possibly winning
$10, and consider it money well spent! Just out of principle, they
can't stand the thought of ANYONE actually getting a mathematical
advantage in their house. And even a tolerant manager like Rubin
will toss a player whom they consider to be a significant financial
threat.

This was an amusing quote:

"Florence said he found all he had to do to discourage a card counter
was limit him to flat bets -- bets of the same size on each hand --
and take away his comps."

Well DUH!!! Flat betting a counter has essentially the same effect as
tossing him out on the street - it's just a nicer approach.

EE