Getting bent out of shape
11 June 1999
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark,
I was listening to a radio talk show about
casino gambling when a caller claimed he does
well in blackjack by looking for warps. Well,
the guest on the show didn't give a response
because the host went to a commercial and they
didn't come back to the subject. So, Mark, what
is a warp? Rhonda A.
In the casino industry, we call it a "dealer
tell," meaning, a dealer who gives away
information that the casino believes players
shouldn't possess. In this case, when a dealer
checks the hole card under tens or aces, some
inexperienced dealers will unknowingly bend
those cards upwards. This will cause the tens
and aces to have a different shape than the rest
of the cards in the deck. With this information,
the sharp-eyed player believes he knows the
dealer's hole card by its disfigured state-which
is known as "playing the warps."
But believe me, Rhonda, pit bosses who aren't
asleep standing up are always on the lookout for
dealers who hack their cards to death, and
they'll correct this transgression. How
effective is this type of play? Well, if you
knew the hole card, it could be very lucrative,
but it still comes down to casino management's
ability to monitor their pit.
Dear Mark,
Besides card counters, have any other players
ever been barred from playing blackjack based on
certain strategies? Melvin D.
I really can't answer for every casino on why,
or if, they would heave-ho a player based on
playing strategies, Melvin, but how about being
banned for having too much capital? It happened
when Australian billionaire Kerry Packer beat
the MGM in Las Vegas out of $26 million, most of
it while playing blackjack. The casino finally
barred him, not because he was a card counter
but because he was more capitalized than the
casino.
When you put together a lucky streak and a
player with more financial resources than the
house, you've got a possibility of casino
closure-permanently.
Dear Mark,
What is the worst move a player can make with a
hand while playing blackjack? Susan L.
Getting ridiculous here, Susan, it's actions
like doubling down on a natural blackjack.
Actually I've seen this done once with a $200
wager where alcohol got the best of this party
animal. Now for the average player in the
casino, it's standing on a pair of eights versus
a dealer upcard of 7 instead of splitting them.
A player making this basic strategy error will
lose 70% of the time.
Susan, you are the type of player who always
plays perfect basic strategy, right?
Dear Mark,
Last year when I went to see the dolphin exhibit
at the Mirage in Las Vegas and it was just $3.
Now they are asking more than triple that. What
gives? Henry P.
I've got a sneaky suspicion that Steve Wynn,
owner of Mirage Resorts, recently changed
toothpaste's to one that contains those extra
whitening ingredients. You need a cunning pearly
white smile when you dupe patrons who once paid
$3 to view the hotel's captive dolphins to now
fork over ten bucks-although he threw in a few
white tigers as a bonus. Whoopee!
The point I'm trying to make here is that if
you're coming to Las Vegas, you better be
prepared to spend moocho dinero. Bargain lodging
and $2.49 prison chow buffets are becoming an
endangered genera.
With more than 40% of the total revenues on the
Strip now coming from non-casino sources-and
growing five times as fast as the casino
take-plan on casino operators reaching into your
wallet for any, and every, thing they can.
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