No thinking allowed
25 July 2005
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark, I am writing you to complain about a
conflict I was involved in this past weekend. My
girlfriend was playing blackjack and I was just
finishing up a hot session on the crap table.
Still feeling lucky, I walked over to the table
she was playing on, and with one circle
available, I placed $500 on the layout.
Immediately the dealer said I couldn't do that.
Naturally I complained, so he calls over the pit
boss, and she, the pit boss, informs me that
according to the rules I will need to wait until
the next shuffle before I am able to make a
wager. I've never heard of such a thing. What's
the deal? Jerry C.
Well, Jerry, it all goes back to Casino Panic,
aka card-counting. Even though you shorted me on
some table information and dialog, I deduce that
you were probably playing on a shoe game, and
that the unidentified casino you were gambling
in had a NO Mid-Shoe Entry rule. (Had you named
the joint, I could have and would have looked
into their playing conditions) What you probably
didn't notice, Jerry, was the sign posted on
their blackjack tables that states NO Mid-Shoe
Entry.
That means that once a dealer shuffles the cards
and then starts to deal, a new player who comes
up to the table will not be able to make a bet
until the shoe is finished. One of the main
reasons for this rule is to discourage "table
hoppers." Table hoppers or "Wongers" (named
after professional blackjack player Stanford
Wong) count down the shoe as bystanders, then
when the shoe turns favorable for the player,
enter the game with big bets.
A NO Mid-Shoe Entry policy is just one of many
measures some casinos use to ward off
card-counters.
Dear Mark, Even though I'm a rank beginner
playing poker, I almost made the final table of
a Texas Hold'em tournament, and had I got there,
I would have finished in the money.
Interestingly, with two tables remaining they
had this rule whereby one table had to wait for
the other table to finish their hand before
starting theirs. Of course, I got beat going
"all in" holding trips with 14 players left,
which is whole other story, so I never made the
final table. But what were they trying to
accomplish with this rule? David C.
Poker tournaments involve multiple tables, and
as players are eliminated, tables are combined,
aiming at the eventual final table. When enough
players remain to form one full table, that is
the final table. The situation that occurs near
the end of a tournament in which only the last
two tables remain is that a few players must go
bust before the tables are combined to make that
final table. Because some players think they can
guarantee a place in the money by slow playing,
hoping somebody taps out at the other table, the
tournament director can stipulate that whichever
table finishes a hand first must wait for the
other table to finish before starting the next
deal.
Here's an example, David, of how getting to that
final table can be very, very rewarding. When
the original field of 5,619 players that began
the 2005 World Series of Poker was narrowed to
nine, those top nine places paid as follows:
1st: $7.5 million; 2nd: $4.25 million; 3rd: $2.5
million; 4th: $2 million; 5th: $1.75 million;
6th: $1.5 million; 7th: $1.3 million; 8th: $1.15
million; 9th: $1 million.
If they could, most players in a position for a
shot at a million dollars minimum, would slowwww
play, every time. Yours Truly included.
Gambling Wisdom of the Week: "Blackjack is the
only casino game an amateur can learn to play
and at which he can definitely win." -Lawrence
Revere, author, Playing Blackjack as a Business
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