Play Casino Games

Money Management is the term coined to remind gamblers to manage the money they have to play with for maximum action and maximum profit.

For demonstration purposes we’re going to use the game of Blackjack.  The same principal can apply to any other game – even slots.  So many tries on the game of your choice at a minimum wager and then press your wagers when you win some of the house’s money.

The first thing you do is separate your eight chips into two stacks of four.  Put one stack back by the rail.  Put the other stack between the rail and the wagering area.  Put one unit in your wagering area and spread the other three out side-by-side.  The presumption here is that you’re at a $5 or less minimum table.  If you happen to find a $2 or $3 table get more silver and translate this into one unit being equal to $3 (or $2).

Play the hand and if you win place that chip on top of the one you have in the wagering square.  If you lose, replace your wager with one of the three chips you have in front of you.

If you lose the second hand replace your wager with one of the three chips.  If you win, place a third chip on your wager and the other chip on top of one of the three chips.

The best thing you can hope for here is that you get good hands in a row so you can keep adding a unit to your wager and then place your other winnings on top of your three stacks until they’re all double and then you start to put your winnings back by the rail with your reserve buy-in.

What you need to decide (and hope you get there) is how large you’re going to let the wager grow to.  It really doesn’t matter.  My ceiling is $25 because if I get a chance to double down or split I want to do it – and if I had to wager more than $50 I wouldn’t enjoy it.

Just by the nature of the game you’ll build it to between $15 and $25 before you lose and start over again.  If you’ve built your other three stacks to double units go ahead and start with the double units.  However, if you go through two of them, switch to single units with the last stack and see if the odds swing back into your favor before you have to start going into your reserve.

Money Management is the term given to a procedure that all people who play gambling games should stay aware of.  When you play, you have a certain amount of money to play with.  When you play, you have a choice of games to play.  Each of the games you play offer slightly different odds and different rules, but one thing remains constant.  If you play long enough the house will get all of the money that you have to play with.

The biggest benefit of the Fantasy Casino Parties that I now coordinate is that I have about 120 dealers who are all gaming experts on their chosen game.  When we’re waiting to start one of our events we discuss games and strategy and successes and failures.  I’ve mentioned in other areas that I do not come from a gaming background so I had no idea about the “inside tricks” to surviving casino gaming.  I was just like every other neophyte who approached a gaming table – anxious to break even for awhile.

My fellow dealers began to open my eyes with the explanations of Money Management and how it applies to different games.

Basically it means that you determine how much money you have to play with.  Then consider how many playing sessions you want to play during your gaming trip or whatever the situation is that you find yourself in.  An average of $50 to $100 per session is about the norm. 

Sometimes things will go well and sometimes they won’t.  If you continue to play when they’re not going well you will spend the money you have to play with instead of waiting and being able to play another time when circumstances might be more in your favor.

Give the money you’re going to play with to the dealer and you’ll get chips in return.  Separate those chips evenly and play with one half of your buy-in and see how long they last.  If they’re gone in a flash, find another table to try the rest of your buy-in.

We’re going to assume a $40 buy in here.  That will give you eight $5 chips.  On Craps you want to get mostly silver or dollar chips and Roulette and Hold’em will be all $1 chips.  We suggest you have a basic Money Management sytems in mind for each of the games you play.

Money Management is a phrase that means you need to learn to wager your chips in some sort of a pattern or pre-determined manner so that you avoid the high bet/low bet trap that many players get into.

If you wager low amounts and then jump to a higher amount you’ll call attention to yourself.  In Blackjack, Pit Bosses and Casino Security will think that is a sure sign that you’re a card counter.

The other part of that trap falls to hunch betting.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ll watch someone play back and forth with their wagers and then push it all out on one last wager – win or lose – before they end their day.  Not good playing – devise a wagering strategy based on the money you have to play with and stick to it – or wait and play another time.

In actuality, one of the first things we would ask you to accept is that you will not be able to control the playing situations you find yourself in.  You’ll be there if something good starts to happen and the way you manage your wagers will make the difference in how much profit you end up with.

Essentially, some times it goes in your favor and most times it doesn’t.  Surviving casino gaming means you need to know and understand the games and then combine that with how much money you have to play with and then know enough to recognize favorable situations and how to press your wagers when those favorable situations become apparent.  Or, just be in a progressive wagering mode when good things start to happen.

Build your skills in that area because favorable playing situations come and go – sometimes very quickly.  If you have a pre-determined betting pattern in place that allows you to increase your wagers with house winnings, you won’t get caught in the trap of second guessing when you should make the larger wagers.  You play with a basic wager and then progress your wager when you have house winnings.

In my early playing days I judged success by how long I could play.  If I sat into a live Blackjack game and played for several hours and still had money I felt pretty good.

Part 2 on the next post . . .

There may be many more choices for your gambling dollars than there were 20 years ago.  Don’t make the mistake of thinking that because there are more they are the same choices.

Where once we would travel to Nevada for our annual gaming vacation we now have to simply head 5 or 10 miles down the road to find pretty much the same offering of games.  But, is it the same?  Close, but not the same is the answer.

  When you walk into a local casino in Washington State you’re looking at an establishment that exists in a state that prohibits Class I gamgling devices.  So what are all those machines that look like slot machines – they’re either bingo machines, poker machines or video lottery machines configured to resemble slot machines.

The difference in this:  A regular slot machine contains a chip that predetermines when the winners will happen.  Unless that machine is played continually, there is no chance that the high winners will ever show up.  The win time may just slide by and go back into the payout rotation of the machine.  Just as likely is that a lucky player will be playing that machine when the win rotation does come around.  That’s why they call in gambling.  You pay your money and you take your chances.

In a look-alike slot machine there are so may predetermined winners per the amount of money that is played in a machine.

Which is better (or worse) remains a question for the slot gods.  What is sure is that people all across the country are spending their leisure dollars (as well as other dollars) in slot locations across the country with all of the profits going into a tribal economy.  That’s okay, too, because for many years our Native American brothers have endured an economic situation that has been less than fair.

However, now that lawmakers across the country are beginning to see the huge numbers attached to profit from local casinos that profit is being considered as a source to lessen the tax burden of states that still have millions of dollars in services they need to provide to a constituency that contains many more out of work taxpayers and a consuming public who is limiting their spending and therefore severely impacting sales tax revenues the states count on.

Is there an answer for this – Who knows?  One of the best answers (from our point of view) would be to review the compacts that the states have made with the tribes to allow gaming in their state.  Every other business in the state has to pay their fair share of taxes based on what their business earns.  The fact that the tribal casinos do not is based on treaties executed many years ago.  The profit level of the Native American casino business should certainly stay with the tribes – they’re entitled and the economic advantage that money gives to tribal members is long overdue.

However, the possibility of individual states creating competition for tribal casinos is only going to mean more competition for the gaming dollars that players are going to spend.  Somehow I think the tribal nations should protect their interest by paying a fair tax to the state they’re located in – just like any other profit making venture in that state – and continue their monopoly.

Gambling in the United States has changed drastically in the last 20 to 30 years.  Casino gaming used to be available only in certain locations – now it is spreading out to many more communities.  I was struck by just how much by a supplement in Sunday’s neewspaper this week. 

Begining about 30 years I sold advertising for a gaming publication called The Northwest Gambler.  Washington State offered some of the best bingo games in the country.  All of the bingo locally benefitted local charitable and civic organizations.  The availability of these games was the end result of private industry and the state Gambling Commission working very closely to create a product that people could enjoy, a product that was safe and fair to play and benefitted many groups who were otherwise hard to fund.  Casino Gaming was alive and well in Washington State.

What began as a tolerance for low level gaming in Washington State has now advanced to full fledged gambing throughout the sate.  Jurisdictions in other states are looking at casino gaming to be the end allanswer for their economic woes.  Currently there are millions, if not billions, of dollars being spent in tribal casinos across the country. 

State lawmakers in various places are beginning to look at the profit from those gaming dollars alleviating their budget worries.  Currentlly at least 25 states are considering expanding their gaming options – hoping that the gambling dollars can help fund the budget issues that many states are facing from the loss of tax revenue because the the recent decline in our economic base.

In a recent Sunday tabloid, an article stated that only two states in the union do not have some form of casino gaming. Those two states would be Utah and Hawaii.

Now, in the same tabloid two weeks later I noticed two full page ads touting the fun and excitement available in our loca casinos.  When I worked with the Gambler those 20 to 30 years ago, mainstream newspapers would never have considered accepting ads from gmbling establishments.  If they did accept the ad it had to be for the restaurant or the music entertainment – not the gambling.

Now the casino advertising is all over the place – on the sides of buses, billboards, radio, television – amazing to me how the acceptance level has changed with the amount of gaming business that is now being done in our area.

The perpetrator of this scam conducts it among an aura of innocense. Most high-tech drawings show the winning balls coming out of blower system of some sort.

This scam was part of the plot in a recent novel I read.  The author, James B. Swain, writes a wonderful collection of fiction centered around casino schemes and cheating. 

The hero is a life-long law enforcement officer who ended up in casino security.  He’s created a company called Grift Sense and specializes in identifying schemes to bilk casinos out of big bucks.  His Clients are the casinos of the world.

Part of the story line revolves around the fact that this guy is so good he doesn’t even have to go to the casino to watch the scam being perpetrated.  He simply receives their $3,000 retainer along with an explanation of what’s been happening and he figures it out.

What that also says is that there are only so many things that can be done with dice and cards and they’ve all been done.  Or, you could consider it a version of what goes around, comes around.

Whichever way you want to look at it – it makes for great reading if you’re a fan of casino gamng.  In a recent plot, the quasi-hero was on a real roll.  Everything was falling into his lap and our Grift Sense guy had been hired to figure out what was happening. 

One of the prizes won was a lottery type drawing where all six numbers our scamming hero had chosen were pulled out of a grocery bag.

In a low-technology situation the balls might be offered from some sort of container from which someone pulls the lucky balls.  Generally, the balls are spit from a blower apparatus in plain view of a group.  In this case the drawing was in a grange hall so no one questioned the method or container for the drawing.

Let’s say you pick your six lucky number from 1 to 46 – those numbers are 3-14-19-22-33-45.  The rules of the drawing are that if your six numbers are drawn – in any order – you’re the magical winner.

If there is no six number winner, the prize goes to the five number winner and on down the line.  If there is no single winner all the balls go back in the container and the drawing starts over.  Those are the rules, but it never gets that far.

The designated drawee reaches in and pulls out one ball – look, it’s 33.  And, you guessed it, all of the chosen numbers were pulled from the paper bag by the blind town librarian.  How great a pretense is that.

Turns out that the winning balls had been kept in a freezer until just before the drawing.  Then they’re added to the mix and brought out in front of the group for the drawing.

Like everything else that appears too good to be true – it was.  But enjoyable reading.

In the previous post we reviewed the word casino and what does it mean in relationship to some of the varied activities on the North American Continent.  Even though the activity may be different in different locations, it is correct to call it casino activity as long and the business offers whatever is legal in that jurisdiction.

When you finish this post, go to the sidebar and request our FREE Reports – The Gaming Glossary is a fun collection of casino terms and insider information that you’ll enjoy reading.  The series of “Casino Gaming Tips” is a set of messages that will help you understand the business side of casino gaming.

Canada offers government owned casinos in some, if not all, provinces.  Years ago gaming evolved in British Columbia based on what was allowed at carnival locations.  From the occasional casino that would set up with the local fair, gaming evolved into an opportunity for local charities to receive the profits from casino activity (table games only and no Craps) for one or two days per year.   Then the activity evolved into huge buildings filled with hundreds of video slot machines and no table games.

We operate in the State of Washington, USA.  What goes on here is a very good example of diversity between jurisdictions – and all of the activities qualifying as casino activity.  For instance, the city of Seattle sits in the heart of King County.  County and city jurisdictional lines are located approximately 7 to 10 miles North and South of the heart of Seattle and bordered by Puget Sound on the West and Lake Washington on the East.  A little pocket of normalcy in the midst of an otherwise gamblering mecca. 

Until about 10 years ago absolutely no gambling was allowed in Seattle.  Because local businessmen were missing out on the revenue their business brothers ouside of the city were able to generate through pull-tabs (or pickles as they’re referred to in some states).  The aforementioned businessmen were primarily bowling center operators who had businesses inside of the city and also in the county. 

The Murphy’s Law of be careful of what you ask for applied to the whole Seattle (and our bedroom community on the Eastside – Bellevue) situation.  Many of the smaller businesses survived with their increased revenue for a period of time. 

Then the Tribal casinos started to open in the areas around Seattle.  Then the businessmen who owned businesses in the County areas around Seattle started lobbying for relaxed laws to allow them to add more tables to their card rooms so they could compete with the emerging Tribal gaming situation.

In the long run, social mores affected gaming in and around Seattle more than any lawmakers or businessmen could have predicted.  The greater Seattle area used to have some of the best bingo games off the reservation lands in the country.  Then local laws changed and smoking was banned in public places.

Most bowling centers are now closed with no replacements on the horizon.  The few that remain open do well, but their overall numbers are about half of what they were.  Charity bingo in this area has virtually disappeared and there are probably 30 Tribal casinos in operation in this state – 10 of them easy access off of the I-5 corridor between Vancouver, WA (directly across the Columbia River from Portland, OR) and Vancouver, B.C.

So, when you see the word “Casino” on a business somewhere outside of Las Vegas, Nevada or Atlantic City, New Jersey and you’re not on Tribal land you may be in for a surprise when you walk through the door.  Wherever you go – enjoy and play smart!

The word casino usually conjures up a picture in your mind of glitz and glamour and acres of bright flashing lights with bells and whistles announcing major winners.

Actually the word casino will mean something different in different locations.  The word casino is universally used to identify a business which offers gambling games to the public in that jurisdiction.

Different places in the world offer pockets of casino gaming that may or may not be familiar to visitors from other parts of the world.  Best example is Monte Carlo where the casino opens mid-afternoon and stays open most of the night and there is a dress code.

Compare that to Las Vegas where the gaming is wide open and open 24 hours a day and hopefully most people will be wearing clothes – unless they’re on the stages performing in the live shows.

London features private gambling clubs that we hear about but maintain a very low profile.  Hong Kong and it’s neighboring island of Macaw feature casino gaming with some very strange habits to accommodate the overpowering crowds.  We’ve heard that multiple players can wager on the same hand.  The person seated at the table makes the decisions but if others want to wager the same hand, they’re allowed to do that. 

They you have Hawaii – the vacation destination of the world – and no gaming allowed.  That’s right – nada!  The Caribbean and the Virgin Islands on the other hand feature casino activity – on a smaller scale – to what is available in Las Vegas.  Traditional casino activity is not available in Alaska, although some minor forms of gambling are.  Las Vegas is a favorite destination of choice for Alaskans during their long winters.

Casino gaming is an exciting way to spend your free time and money.  Go to the right sidebar and request “Casino Gaming Tips.” If you play you know it’s not an inexpensive pass time.  Do yourself a favor and understand what it is that you’re doing. 

More on what makes a casino in the next post . . .

Complimentaries (casino comps) are the goodies given to the players by the casino to entice them to “stay and play.”

Casino gaming is an exciting way to spend your free time and money.  Go to the right sidebar and request “Casino Gaming Tips.” If you play you know it’s not an inexpensive pass time.  Do yourself a favor and understand what it is that you’re doing.

Until 10 or so years ago you would have had to be a pretty intense player to rate the complimentaries.  That all began to change once the tribal casinos started opening around the country.

Just about every property now offers Player’s Club Cards for you (and the casino) to track your play.  You insert the card into the machine and a small window welcomes you to the game and tells you how many points you have in your account.

You continue to amass points as you continue to play.  You can use the points for items in the gift shop, meals in the coffee shops and restaurants, extra nights at the hotel, special invitations to special tournaments.  Whatever the casino management feels will lock in your loyalty will be offered through your Player’s Club Card.

In the “old days” of casino gaming – before local tribal casinos infringed on the lucrative Nevada gaming market – you would have to play at a significant level to rate complimentaries from your hotel.  That attitude changed seriously with the competition from local casinos.  Player’s cards began springing up at casinos, bonuses for signing up for a player’s card were enticing, and once they had your name and address multiple offers for upcoming fun events stuffed your mailbox.

When you take advantage of Player’s Card for your favorite casino you acquire points for your play.  Each of those points builds to benefits.  If you’re in a destination resort area be sure to get the Player’s Card for the hotel/casino you’re staying in.  Chances are you’ll play there more that other places and you may accumulate enough points for a few free meals and perhaps even a return invitation.

Local casinos (mostly Tribal, some commercial or state operated) will also offer player cards and if you’re going to be around the casino at meal times definitely use one of the Player’s Cards.  One of our local casinos – The Muckleshoot Tribe – has great benefits from their Player’s Card, yet I still don’t use one.  We only go about once a month, so I don’t bother and it’s usually the day they’re doing the Player’s Club giveaways when we’re there.

I have several people who work for me who live in the area and will hang around the casino on that particular day with their Player’s Club card because the prizes are very good.  And, that’s the name of the game these days – getting and edge on the competition.

When you finish this post, go to the sidebar and request our FREE Reports – The Gaming Glossary is a fun collection of casino terms and insider information that you’ll enjoy reading.  The series of “Casino Gaming Tips” is a set of messages that will help you understand the business side of casino gaming.

The whole puprpose of complimentaries (casino comps) is not the level that you play.  It’s that you’re giving that house their shot at your action.  In return for the hours of play, they’re happy to feed you, give you drinks and an occasional room.  Should you win anything signigicant, you’ll see an upgrade in the offers.  They want you back with their money in your pocket.

Cocktails in the Casino – there is no better example of “there is no such thing as a free lunch” as the “free” cocktails in a casino.  Bear in mind that most of my playing experiences have been in the Nevada casinos.  Now that there are so many tribal casinos opened throughout the United States people are staying closer to home.  One of the big differences is that the drinks in Nevada are “Free.”

How free do you think those drinks are – after you’ve dropped your first, second, or third hundred dollar bill.  You guessed it – the more you drink the more you’re going to want to stay around and drink.

Refreshments – especially the alcoholic type – flowing freely are one of the main attractions to keeping players in the casino.

And, human nature being what it is, the player seldom leaves once they’ve ordered a drink.  Don’t make the mistake of staying at a table once it starts to turn just because you’ve ordered a drink. 

Now, I’m as much for the working person as the other person is but I seldom stay at a table waiting for a free drink if all of the other indications are that I should leave.  However, be aware that most of the service personnel in casino areas are generally not paid above minimum wage.  The rest of their salary is made up in tips.  Don’t short change the service people because your luck takes a turn or it might go even further away.

Generally all of the table drinks are prepared at a side service bar near the casino pit.  If you take a few minutes to look around you’ll see the cocktail waitress either filling her order or dropping off drinks. 

Just head for where she is, drop the tip on her tray and they’re usually very glad to give you the drink.  They would much rather have whatever tip you’re going to give them than to return the drink.

Be on your guard against the free cocktails in the casino.  Stay aware of the amount of alcohol you’re consuming.  There are other drinks available.  Don’t keep ingesting the “free” alcohol just because it’s there.  If you do your judgement is going to take a hike along with your playing bank.

Have fun and play carefully.