Victor H Royer - Powerful Profits from Casino Table Games

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

M any people have contributed in some way to this book, and have influenced my life. I dedicate this book to my dear mother, because her life has been of such profound meaning, and of such complexity, that her story is a book in itself. It is an everlasting credit to her that she has not only retained her life and her sanity, but that she is still able to contribute to and foster our family. She is by far the most deserving person to whom I ever can so offer my thanks.

I also wish to thank my literary agents, Greg Dinkin and Frank Scatoni. Through their agency, Venture Literary, they recognized the value of what I had to offer as an author of books on casino games and gaming. Without their efforts, this book, and the others in this series, would never have come to exist.

My thanks also to Bruce Bender, a managing director at Kensington Publishing. He recognized that this book, and this series, offers valuable insight into the casino games as they really are, and will enable almost all players to realize a happy and profitable casino experience. I thank Bruce, and the staff at Kensington, for their help in this process. In particular, I wish to single out a lady who has become my friend, my editor, the lovely Ann LaFarge.

I also wish to thank my colleagues and staff at the Midwest Gaming and Travel magazine, particularly Cathy Jaeger and Beth. I have known Cathy for a long time, and she was at one time also the editor of several other magazines that published my articles. Since 1984 I have published a continuous column on casino gaming in various publications, and for most of these years it was Cathy who was my editor and friend.

In addition, I wish to single out Michael Shackleford, better known to all as the Wizard of Odds. Michael is a terrific mathematician and analyst of casino games. His website, www.wizardofodds.com , is full of wonderful information about casino games and their odds. I have used Michaels website as a reference source, and to complement and verify my own calculations as I have needed them. I have found his work of great help, especially when I tried to separate the theory from the reality. I wish to thank him for the work that he has done, and for the invaluable assistance it offers to players of casino games. I also wish to encourage anyone with interest in casino games and game analysis to contact Michael and request his consulting services. Only my late colleague Lenny Frome was as brilliant a mathematician and gambling game analyst as is Michael. Michael has great skills that allow the world of mathematics to become more clearly visible to the casual player, and although I do not always see eye to eye with theoretical mathematics, I nonetheless have a deep appreciation for the skill it takes to be able to do what Michael does so well.

I am fortunate to also bring you a list of my friends and others who have helped me and influenced my life in many ways.

I extend my gratitude and thanks to my longtime friend Tom Caldwell for the many things he has done to help me and to enrich my life. I have had many discussions with Tom, and my thoughts about the casino games have become more mature because of these discussions. I also send my thanks to Norreta, Sean, and Brent, for reasons they all know.

To the management and staff of Arizona Charlies Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, in particular those in the poker room, and to all my other friends and associates in the gaming business, from owners, managers, senior executives, hosts, and supervisors, you all know who you are, and I thank you.

My friends in Australia, Neil and his family, Lilli and little MRM (Mark), Ormond College, University of Melbourne, the governor of Victoria and my former master, Sir Davis McCaughey. Also his Proctorial Eminence R.A. Dwyer, Esq., and the Alumni Association of the University of Wollongong, NSW, Department of Philosophy, and Professor Chipman.

My thanks also to the management and staff of the newspaper The Age , in Melbourne, Australia, where I once worked, and also to the Fairfax Press , Sydney, Australia, and the management and staff of the Ilawarra Mercury newspaper, in Wollongong, NSW, Australia.

I also extend my grateful appreciation to Laurence E. Levit, C.P.A. of Los Angeles, who has been my steadfast friend, accountant, and adviser for two decades, and whose faith in me and my work has never faltered. A truer friend a man rarely finds. And also to Michael Harrison, attorney at law in Beverly Hills, California, whose expertise and help have always made my life more secure.

To Andrew Hooker and the Cowboys from Vietnam, I also send my thanks. And to Edwin Slogar, a good friend.

And finally to all those whose paths have crossed with mine, and who have for one reason or another stopped a while and visited. I may no longer remember your names, by I do remember what it meant to have those moments.

Thank you.

B OOKS BY V ICTOR H. R OYER

Powerful Profits From Poker
Powerful Profits From Tournament Poker
Powerful Profits From Poker
Powerful Profits From Internet Poker
Powerful Profits From Keno
Powerful Profits From Slots
Powerful Profits From Video Slots
Powerful Profits From Craps
Powerful Profits From Blackjack
Powerful Profits From Casino Table Games
Powerful Profits From Internet Gambling
Winning Strategies for Casino Games
Casino Gamble Talk

Available from Lyle Stuart / Citadel Press

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

V ICTOR H. R OYER , known as Vegas Vic, is the author of thirty-eight books. Mostly known for books, articles, and columns on casino games and gambling, he is also the author of The Great American Joke Book, as well as several forthcoming titles of fiction. Versatile and multitalented, Royer is the creator, producer, and host of the Web-TV show Great Casino Slots, now showing at www.YouTube.com/LasVegasLiveTV . He also composes music and performs under the names Glenn Diamond, Pappy Jones, and Hans Dorfmann. For more information, please visit him at www.GamingAuthor.com and www.MoreCasinoDeals.com . Sign up for a free casino newsletter at www.AccessVegas.com .

Postscript

T his book is a potpourri of casino table games. There are many of these games in every casino, but most of them are either not very complex, or not so popular as to warrant a whole book just about them. Thats why I have put them all together and created this book in the way it was done. This is the ninth book in my Powerful Profits series from Kensington Books. Owning all of these books will give you twenty years of knowledge and experience that I have lived, and put into these books. While there are many other books about these various casino games, the books I have created speak from the direct experience of a player and casino consultant. I have been on both sides of the gamesas a gambler and as a casino employee. My job as a casino consultant was to write reports about various items pertaining to casino operations and how the players perceived the casino. This I was able to do after many years as a player. I knew how the players felt and what they wanted. I also knew how the casinos operated, and what they wanted. In my books, I tell you the truth about these games in the real world , in the real casinos, and as you will find them when you go there.

Although I enjoy the theory of gaming, let me tell you that some 99 percent of all casino players of these games will never be able to play those games purely and only in accordance with the theory, or with the mathematically perfect strategies. It simply isnt possible to do so. Not only have the casinos changed, and the games changed, but the casinos arent stupidthey have experts who are better at these systems than the people who are trying to play them. Even if you can still find a casino that will allow you to play blackjack with all of the best mathematically advantageous rules, for example, and still allow you to count cards, just precisely how well can you do it? For how long? Not well, and not for long, and thats just the plain, simple truth. Even a casino that will give you a perfect blackjack game thats juicily great for a card countereven if that were still possiblesuch casinos would limit your spread to no more than four units, and probably cap your bets at $25 a hand. So, what good is that to you? How much will you make? Not much. This doesnt mean that blackjack isnt a good game to play, or that you cant win playing it. In my books Powerful Profits from Blackjack , and Powerful Profits: Winning Strategies for Casino Games , I show you how even a casual player can make blackjack into a good game, and make profits even in the short term, without the need for the complex card counting systems. In fact, I call all my strategies methods, because they are just thatmethods developed over decades of research, trial, error, and actual in-casino real-world play.