FUNDAMENTALS OF PLAY
THE EQUIPMENT
The implements used for playing craps in a casino include a table with high sides and a layout showing the various craps wagers, a pair of dice, and a puck for identifying the established point. These items are described below.
The craps table: Unlike other table games, craps tables vary considerably in size. The typical craps table accommodates 16 to 20 stand- ing players, and is manned by a crew of four: a stickman, two inside dealers, and a boxman. The largest tables, which can handle up to 24 players, often have two boxmen. Occasionally, you may find a very small table that is run by a single dealer and accommodates 8 or 9 seated players.
Regardless of size, all craps tables have high sides to contain the action of the dice. At both ends, the inside surfaces of the sidcs are covered with diamond-embossed rubber. This is where the thrown dice are supposed to bounce to assure a fair roll. The central portion of the long side opposite the boxman is mirrored so that he can easily see the opposite faces of the dice to ascertain that someone didn’t switch in miss potted cubes.
The tops of the sides have rails with convenient grooves for holding the player’s chips. Lower down on the outside is a ledge for holding drinks and ashtrays.
The layout: The felt surface of the craps table carries the imprinted online betting tips layout, which has numerous boxes and spaces for placing wagers. To a newcomer, the layout may seem very complex, but as the nature and purpose of the various bets are explained, it will eventually become clear and logical. A typical double-ended craps layout is shown on the next page.
Almost all craps tables are double-ended, meaning that the layout is duplicated at both ends of the table to make the betting areas easier to reach by all the players. These end sections contain the most important and useful bets on the table. Between the two end sections is a large box containing the center bets, also known as the proposition bets, all of which are controlled by the stickman.
The dice: Modern casino dice are precision cubes made of cellulose acetate. Most dice have flush number spots. To maintain the correct weight and balance, each spot is slightly recessed and filled with a colored paint that is the same weight as the material that was removed. Casino dice have sharp edges rather than the rounded edges found on backgammon or home-game dice.
Standard casino dice in most of the world are 0.750-inch wide, but a few casinos may use slightly smaller dice. Each cube is usually embossed with the casino logo and a code number to make it difficult for cheats to switch in dishonest dice.
Each of the dice has six faces, and each one of the faces has one through six spots. The game of craps uses a pair of dice, so the possible numbers that can be rolled are 2 through 12.
The puck: A round plastic disk, black on one side and white on the other, is used to indicate when a point is established. This disk is called a puck, although in the past it has sometimes been called a buck. During a come-out roll the black side of the puck, which is marked with the word OFF, is lying face up. When a point number is rolled, the puck is turned over and placed at the appropriate numbered box to remind everyone which point was established. The white side of the puck (marked ON) is now facing up. The puck remains in this position until the point is made or the shooter sevens-out, whereupon it is removed from the number box and flipped to its black side.
PLAYER OPTIONS
Once you’ve examined your initial two cards and determined if the hand is hard, soft, stiff, oar pat, you are expected to take some action. A number of different player options are available, all of which are reviewed below. Some actions are communicated to the dealer with hand signals, while others are communicated by simply increasing the initial wager.
Hit: If you are not satisfied with the two card count, you may request additional cards, one by one. This is called taking a hit. Indicate your desire to take a hit by pointing at your cards with an index finger. Some players prefer to tap or scratch the felt directly behind the cards. Either way is acceptable. You may hit as many times as you want, so long as you don’t go over 21. If the card count exceeds 21, you have busted and your bet is lost.
Stand: When you are satisfied with the card count and don’t want any more hits, you may stand. Signal your intention to stand by waving your hand over the cards, palm down. You can stand at any time: after looking at your original hand, after taking one or more hits, or after splitting a pair. Standing is automatic if you double down (see below) because you are given just one card and are not allowed to take any hits.
Double down: You may double down on any hand by placing another wager up to the amount of your original bet. Do this by placing the new wager alongside your original bet. When you double down, you receive only one additional card from the dealer. Doubling is good strategy when your hand reaches a total of 10 or 11 and the dealer is showing a low card.
In Spanish 21, you may double down on your original two card hand, after you have taken one or more hits, or after a split. However, after doubling down, your hand does not qualify for a bonus.
Double down rescue: If, after getting a double down card you don’t like the resulting hand, you may take back (rescue) the doubled portion of your wager and forfeit your original bet. This can only be done if the hand did not go over 21. Assuming you used proper doubling strategy in the first place, this is not a recommended option.
THE EQUIPMENT
We always playing casino in UK and other countries most of us like to play the game of some other country and also want to know its strategy that’s why I like to tell you some thing about Spanish casinos.
The implements used for playing Spanish 21 include a half-moon table with stools for the players, several decks of cards, and a dealing shoe. These items are described below.
The playing table: Spanish 21 is played on a table that is essentially identical to a standard blackjack table and is located in the blackjack area. In most casinos it is easy to find because there is an elevated sign at the table identifying the game. The dealer stands at the flat side with a chip rack directly in front of her and a card-dealing shoe to her left.
At each player position there is one betting spot in the shape of a circle or a rectangle. The first player seat to the left of the dealer is called first base. This spot is the first hand dealt in a round of play. The last seat to the dealer’s right is called the anchor position, and is also referred to as third base. It is the last player hand dealt in a round.
The felt surface of the table has two game rules imprinted on it. The most common rule is: Dealer must hit soft 17. In Atlantic City and some other jurisdictions, this rule is modified to read: Dealer must draw to 16 and stand on all 17s, which is a more favorable rule for the player. The second imprinted rule is: Insurance pays 2 to 1.
The dealing shoe: Spanish 21 games use six or eight decks of cards, which are dealt from a dealing shoe. The shoe is an elongated plastic box into which the pre-shuffled cards are stacked, one end of which has a slot and a finger notch so that the dealer may easily slide out the cards, one at a time.
The shuffling machine: To speed up the game, many Spanish 21 tables are now equipped with an automatic shuffling machine.
The deck: The 48-card deck used in Spanish 21 is standard except that all four 10s have been removed. Removing the 10s effectively reduces the number of ten-value cards by 25%, giving the dealer a major mathematical advantage. Each face card (jack, queen, and king) has a numerical value of ten. In a standard blackjack deck, there are sixteen ten-value cards, while in a Spanish 21 deck (because of the missing tens) there are only twelve ten-value cards. As in blackjack, an ace may be valued one or eleven.
When the only legal casinos in the United States weicated in Nevada and New Jersey, the rules of casino blackjack were fairly well standardized. At that time, there were only a few minor rule variances between the two states. There were also some minor differences between the main venues in Nevada, namely: the Las Vegas Strip, downtown Las Vegas, and Northern Nevada.
Today, much of that has changed. With the proliferation of legal casinos in Mississippi, Louisiana, Illinois, and other states, along with the expansion of tribal casinos throughout the country, blackjack playing rules can no longer be easily defined by venue. The one exception is Atlantic City where the rules are controlled by legal statute rather than by the individual casinos.
STANDARD RULES
Before getting into the rule variations, it would be useful to establish a set of standard rules as a baseline. The problem is that there is no single set of blackjack rules used by the majority of casinos. In fact, within some casinos the rules can change from one blackjack table to the next.
The only uniform venue in the United States is Atlantic City. Since the multi-deck rules used in Atlantic City are reasonably good for the player, they are a logical choice to use as a standard baseline.
SIX- OR EIGHT-DECK GAME
A multi-deck game dealt from a shoe increases the house edge by 0.55% for six decks or 0.57% for eight decks over a single-deck game. The multi-deck game is part of our standard baseline rules because that is the primary aim of this chapter. All games in Atlantic City are six- or eight-deck —-mostly eight decks.
If you see a continuous shuffling machine (CSM), consider it the same as a multi-deck game. CSM have been disparaged by blackjack players, believing that casinos would not have made the investment if they didn’t derive some benefit—probably to the detriment of the players. The only detriment is to card counters, who are probably the biggest complainers. With a CSM, each new hand is effectively dealt from a freshly shuffled deck, making it impossible to maintain a count.
Use of a CSM does impart a financial benefit to the casinos. Since the delay caused by shuffling the cards and loading the shoe has been eliminated, about 20% more hands can be dealt every hour. Consequently, the net return from a table is increased by the same percentage.
For a non-counting basic strategy player (such as you), playing at a CSM-equipped table has no disadvantage. In fact, computer simulations have proved that a CSM reduces the house edge by 0.02% when compared to a hand-shuffled six-deck game. The mathematical reasoning for this gets a little complicated and has to do with something called the cut card effect. The insertion of a cut card (designed to make counting more difficult) instead of dealing out all the decks is also slightly detrimental to the non-counting player. Since there is no cut card in a CSM-dealt game, the house loses this mathematical advantage.
Dealer must stand on all 17s: As previously mentioned, this is the rule where the dealer must draw on all totals of 16 or less, and stand on all totals of 17 or more. It is easy to determine which games apply this rule because it is always imprinted on the felt tabletop. In Atlantic City this rule is required by statute.
Resplitting of pairs allowed: When you split a pair and one or both of the cards you get from the dealer are the same rank as the original pair, you may split again. Most casinos do not allow resplitting of aces.
Double down on any two cards: This rule has to be specified in the baseline because some casinos only allow doubling on certain totals. Outside of Atlantic City, you will have to ask the dealer about any doubling restrictions.
Double down after splitting allowed: After splitting a pair into two hands, some casinos allow you to double down on one or both of the hands. This is a standard rule in Atlantic City. Elsewhere you will have to ask the dealer or a floor supervisor if doubling after splitting is permitted.
Winning Strategies in Blackjack
At the beginning of this section we have observed that the player’s total gain is increased if he uses the main-count playing strategy, which is given in the next two sections. The expectation of the basic strategy player depends on the value of the running index. The same is true when one uses the main-count playing strategy. Moreover, the expectation of this player is higher than that of the player who uses the basic strategy, If one takes this into account, some of the indices in the betting tables can be decreased. This gives the player more opportunities to bet higher and increases his overall gain. Roughly speaking, one can proceed as follows: When the running index is between 11 and 15, one should increase it by 1 before comparing it with the indices in the betting table being used. When the running index is between 16 and 20, one should increase it by 2. When the running index is between 21 and 25, one should increase it by 4. Finally, when by 7.
THE PLAYING STRATEGY FOR MULTIPLE-DECK GAMES The strategy given in this section should be used for all multiple-deck games. Also, unless we say explicitly the contrary, the same strategy should be used whether the dealer stands or draws on soft 1 7. The playing strategy is given in Tables 5—11. Some of the blocks in these tables contain critical indices. The player makes the playing decisions by comparing the running index with the corresponding critical index. When a block contains two critical indices, separated by a slanted bar, the one on the left should be used when the dealer stands on soft Drawing and Standing (Hard Hands) With a hand of value 11 or less (that is 11, 10, 9,. . ), the player should draw, no matter what the dealer’s up card is. With a hand of value 18 or more (that is 18, 19,) the player should stand, no matter what the dealer’s up card is. With a hand of value 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 or 17, the player should proceed as indicated in Table 5. This table is read as follows: We determine the block, located to the right of the number representing the value of the player’s hand and under the dealer’s up card. If the block is shaded, the player should stand. If the block is white, without any number on it, the player should draw. If the block is white and has a number on it, * the player should stand if the running index is greater than, or equal to, that number and draw otherwise.
Drands)
The player should follow the basic strategy, except in the case when the dealer has an ace up. Hence, when the dealer’s up card is
2,3,4, 5,6, 7, or 8
the player should draw to any soft hand of value 17 or less and stand otherwise. When the dealer’s up card is
9 or ten
the player should draw to any soft hand of value 18 or less and stand otherwise.
Now assume that the dealer has an ace up. The player should always stand on 19 or more and draw on 17 or less. When the dealer stands on soft 17, the player should stand on soft 18, if the running index is greater than, or equal to, 3 and draw otherwise. When the dealer draws on soft 17, the player should again follow the basic strategy. Therefore he should draw on soft 18.
Not only do the 5-8 cards have the biggest mathematical influence on the most frequent decisions of the game (in terms of depletions and surpluses), but the house simply doesn't pay as much attention to them. They can't. They already watch the tens and aces (that's five cards) to create Simple Clumps. When they create Complex Clumps, of the high-low nature, that usually involves another three or four lower-card values (making eight or nine cards). That leaves only four of the thirteen values of the deck. If they start messing with them, they'll be stacking the entire deck, and anyone who knows about it (like the readers of the CORE System) will be able to win.
Now here I am trying to explain you how to Spot a favorable deck first, look for a core imbalance. Sometimes you will first all or some of the Core cards in some kind of clump. This is why Heavy and light Cores occur. Remember, when the deck has a Heavy Core, it puts you at a strategic disadvantage. And a deck with a light Core puts you at a strategic advantage. Keep in mind that a deck with a Heavy Core at one end can turn it over with the shuffle and deal out those same cards, creating a light Core for the next hands.
When you walk up to a table, take a quick look at the cards. If you don't want to linger, try to walk up at the end of the hand, when all of the cards are being turned over. If anyone questions you, you can say that you're waiting for the shuffle. No'\v, ask yourself what you're seeing.
First, do you see a lot of tens? Did everyone just push twenty with the dealer? That's a big Ten Clump. You may hear comments like, "This is like pushing back and forth in a mud hole," or ''Win one, lose one."
Or are the tens alternating with low cards? Did most of the players already lose their hand by busting a stiff? (Their bet will be gone.) Then, did the dealer also bust? If she made her hand, are the remaining players holding two-card stiffs? Does the dealer have a ten card with a lower card, that she just hit for a standing hand? You're seeing a Complex, or high-low clump. You may hear comments like, "I knew she didn't have it! (But she made it anyway!)" Or, "Oh, no! She did it (made 20, 21) again!" or, simply, "She's too hot for me!"
Do you see any tens? If not, you may have very well just come during one of the lower clumps. The tens are probably packed together in some other part of the deck. You might hear comments like: silence, or groaning, as the dealer just took two, three or four hits to make a standing hand. Most of the players will have stiffs. There might be only one ten on the table, if that many.
All of (but not only) the above three situations could be favorable for the Core player. If you see any of the above, you should then ask yourself, Do 1 see either a lot of, or, almost no Core cards? Either case could mean the presence of a Core imbalance. And that is what we want to firs. Because a Heavy Core on one shuffle can easily turn into a light Core the next Even if you haven't had time to actually observe enough of the deck, learn to spot the trademarks of a Core imbalance. Ask yourself, "Am 1 seeing a lot of fifteens, sixteen’s, seventeen’s, and eighteens (signs of a Heavy Core)? Or am 1 seeing a lot of twelve’s, thirteen’s and fourteens (signs of a possible light Core)? Am 1 seeing lots of double downs taking bad hit (possible Heavy Core)? Or, do I see only a few double downs, which are getting good hits (possible light Core)?"
Memorize the traits listed in Table #2 and learn to spot them. Most players attribute those types of things to luck, but you, as a Core Player, can learn to see signposts in them.
Here, once again, is a simpler listing of the procedure for fading a favorable deck:
1) Determine if you're in the presence of a Balanced or a Defensive Deck.
2) If it's Defensive, what kind of clumping are they using, Simple or Complex?
3) If it's Complex, see if the lower part of the high-low scheme uses mostly Core cards or mostly lower valued cards (two, three and four). Avoid it if it uses too many 5-8 Core cards.
4) Determine if there is a Core imbalance. You don't have to see all four Core card values. A cluster of fives and sevens, or sixes and eights will do. Or, as well, a marked absence of fives, sixes, sevens and/or eights.
5) Learn the traits, as outlined in Table #2, of the Heavy and light Cores in play.
If the deck meets these criteria, then watch for just one more thing in the deck structure: Make sure that it doesn't have a Heavy Core mixed in with a strong clump of tens. A clump of tens combined with a clump of Core cards is a player-killing game!
And remember: It only takes a shuffle and/or a well placed cut to make a Core flip over and become its opposite. light to Heavy. Heavy to light.
You respond to this by changing the size of your wager. That's why we next have a chapter on betting.
Now, this Basic Strategy to win in casino is to play consistently from the beginning to the end of a deck, will usually not be enough to allow you to become a winning player. All Basic Strategy is saying is that if you played head-to-head with a dealer, and she shuffled up each time after dealing a hand to you, and you played a thousand or ten thousand hands like that, by following Basic Strategy, you may have (depending on house rules) a slight edge over the dealer.
But, in real life, almost any time that more than four cards are dealt out, a bias of some sort has developed in the deck as the result of the depletion of certain card values. Sometimes that bias will react favorably to Basic Strategy, and about an equal amount of time it won't. A minority of the time, the deck will retain enough balance to have no bias after the first few hands, but, by and large, it will be altered enough to cause the blanket use of Basic Strategy over months and years to be as successful as flipping a coin and always calling heads.
The use of Basic Strategy, in certain situations, is one way that pit bosses detect counters. Generally, though, they don't care about it because most users don't get very sophisticated in their play-they just memorize some charts and respond accordingly. The casinos have devised some very successful defenses against Basic Strategy, so, on the whole, they don't mind seeing it.
Like any other game of casino, Gin Rummy has its own language. To help you understand this book, and the game itself, here are some of the words and phrases used by Gin players:
• Bunching (also called rudle or frishee) Expressions used when neither player is satisfied with the hand dealt, and the cards are mixed again for a new deal. According to the rules, this should not be done, even with the agreement of both parties.
• Blitz (also called Schneider) - A game in which the losing player does not score a point.
• Box - A hand won by a player or a team in partnership play. When you win the hand, you win the box in HollYWOOd-style play. In most games, there are bonus points for boxes.
• Breaking pairs - Discarding one card from a pair of the same value.
• Count - The number of points won or lost. Each card has the point value of its name, aces are one point, and face cards count 10 points.
• Discard - A card released from the hand after a draw from the deck or the pick up of art opponent's play.
• Dead hand or standoff - This occurs when the 50th card has been played and neither player can knock or gin his hand. No one wins or loses, no points are given and the hand is replayed.
• Gin - A hand completely melded, where each card is matched in a set or sequence.
• Hold play - In a partnership game, when one player plays slower than the normal flow, his opponent advises his partner not to play until the slow player makes his play.
• Hand key - The number of unmelded 14 points that can be held by a player in a partnership game (after his partner has scored) and allow the team to win the box.
• Game key - The number of unmelded points that can be held to avoid losing the game if the opponent gins.
• Hollywood - Scoring for three games simultaneously. The first time a player scores, his points are recorded in the first line, his second score points are recorded in the second line and added to the score in the first line, his third score points are recorded in the third line and added to both the first and second line totals.
• Hot, wild or live card - A card that would be almost certainly useful to the opponent in making a meld or gin.
• Kishka or gut card - A card that falls between two others in a sequence to complete a meld.
• Knock - Ending a hand by laying down melds and totaling unmatched cards. Total unmatched points must be the same or less than the number established at the beginning of the hand for a player to make this move.
• Layoff - Playing cards on the opponent's melds after he has declared a knock to reduce the point count in a player's hand.
• Meld or spread - A matched sequence or set of three or four cards. A set consists of cards of the same number in different suits. A sequence consists of cards of the same suit in sequential number order.
• No-Brainer - A hand that, on the deal, consists of two or three melds so that the player can knock or gin within three plays.
• Self-Player - A hand that develops without the benefit of skillful play.
• Speculation - Taking a discard that does not make a meld, but may match a card held and provide the opportunity for a later meld.
• Tells - Any habit, movement, comment or break in rhythm that indicates something about the make up of a hand.
• Triangle for gin - A combination of cards that allows anyone of four different cards to make gin for a player.
• Undercut - Occurs when one player knocks and the opposing player has less point count in unmatched cards than the player who knocked.
However, positive or negative is not really the question in casino. The most advantageous thing to do is to track the cards that effect the most overall change, be it positive or negative. Change is an absolute value, relative to what came before it. It doesn't matter whether it goes over, under, up, down or inside out, its still change. Therefore, in the columns on the far right, I've calculated what I call the Average Absolute Effect for each of the possible depleted card values. This is the sum of each line of figures from left to right, ignoring their positive or negative signs (this is called an absolute number), and dividing by thirteen (There are four cards worth ten, making thirteen.). I've taken these averages out to three decimal places to make it easier to view their differences.
Once you have learned the specifics of playing Gin in casino, your next step is to learn all you can about your opponent. This can be the difference between winning and losing, especially with evenly matched opponents. Slight movements while discarding, or hesitation in picking up a discard, may have meaning.
On observing several players at our club, I noticed they had different motions when discarding. Generally speaking, when the discard had no meaning, it was played with abandon.
On the other hand, if the player was baiting his opponent (discarding a particular number in one suit in hopes of drawing out the same number in another suit), the play was made with a slight hesitation. This became a "tell" that I used to advantage many times to defeat them.
