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Over the years I have seen some major changes come about within Sheffield where there are three land based casinos. These are the G Casino and Napoleons in the town centre and Napoleons at Hillsborough. Years ago when I first started in gaming, the G casino was called Grosvenor and Napoleons at Hillsborough was called Bonapartes.

Each casino has had its turn as being the premier casino in the city. Back in 1990 up to 1996, it was Napoleons in the town centre that was the premier casino in Sheffield. Often the venue for local celebrities, footballers and even snooker players when the World Championships were in town.

Then when Bonapartes moved to a new expensive casino in Hillsborough in 1996, that then became the number one casino in Sheffield. That situation lasted until recently with what is now the new Grosvenor casino or G casino as it is known. This multi-million pound development has made the G casino the premier place to be in Sheffield in terms of casinos in Sheffield.

So each casino has been number one in terms of status within the past 14 years but it is clear that the status of the G casino as the number one casino in Sheffield will be here to stay for quite some considerable time as the city centre Napoleons is restricted with how much more development it can undertake.

It is interesting to see these events take place because it highlights one very important fact of gaming and that is the fantastic competition that there is to capture the biggest slice of the market and that will continue long into the future and as long as there is gaming anywhere in the world.

While casinos are not evil places, they often attract people looking to cheat. This is an unfortunate side effect but fortunately the number of people who cheat are well in the minority. In my experience the vast majority of cheats are nothing more than opportunists that take advantage of something if and when the time arises.

For instance, there is a world of difference between someone who finds a wallet and then keeps the money inside it without handing it in and someone like a pickpocket who actively goes out and steals one.

In one instance one person has the money by default and is still technically stealing while in the other, the individual has actively planned the act. In a similar way, it is like the act of murder and manslaughter. Both involve the taking of a human life but only one was deliberate.

It is the same with cheating inside casinos. I believe that at least 99% of any dishonest activity stems from opportunists. Maybe someone was paid a bet that they shouldn’t have been paid and said nothing but whatever the cause, very few players actively plan cheating moves in my opinion.

But that is taken from the total population of people who inhabit casinos and 1% of that population still accounts for an awful lot of people. The last casino that I worked at had around 22,000 members and 1% of that figure comes to 220.

While only around 5000 of that total were active core regulars, that is still 50 people who actively go out to look to cheat. So that is an awful lot of people and if those 50 people each cheat the casino out of £200 per week then that is an amazing £10,000 a week being lost to cheating.

Some people have asked me in the past how casinos manage to create their edge at blackjack when the dealer is forced to draw to 17? Basically it is one of two factors and the first one is absolutely huge. This is to do with the dealer always acting last. This advantage is so huge that it is akin to having position in poker.

If you think about this for a minute then the advantage is rather obvious. Every time that you take a card and bust then the dealer wins. So if you have 13 and they have 10 then you feel compelled to take a card to better your total and this is correct play. But there will be many times where you will recieve a ten value card or a nine value card and bust immediately. But yet when the dealer plays on then the dealer may well turn a card from 2 to 6 and then bust.

But if the dealer busts after the player busts then the hand is not a push but a loss for the player. This advantage is substantial but it is not one to be over estimated. With accurate basic strategy then the house edge is only in the vicinity of 0.5% and with even adequate card counting skills then this can be at least reduced to 0% and possibly a slight edge.

The second and more subtle factor is connected to the first and this is that the player will be forced to bust their own hand in an attempt to improve their total. This is correct play and cannot be avoided and is another reason as to why the house starts with an edge and the 3/2 pay offs for blackjacks/naturals do not do enough to offset this.

Someone asked me the other day about entering into a blackjack game in mid-shoe without knowing what the count was and how this affected your edge. Firstly what you have to remember is that if you enter a game in mid-shoe then what we are dealing with here is cards unseen.

So we don’t know if the count is plus or minus and in the absence of such information then we have to take a long term view of this and this means only one thing. The number of pluses that we cannot see will equal the number of minuses and so theoretically we can now treat the count as zero.

This is great for cover plays and especially in casinos with more than one table open. No card counter moves from table to table and bets sizable bets unless they are being signalled in by non counting team members. But let us say that you have a 20/1 bet spread of $5 to $200 and you enter mid-shoe. You could enter at say $20 and then downgrade the bets if your initial count is negative.

But also, going in at $20 allows you to double up and get to $100 very quickly and thus $200. Going from $20 to $40 to $80 to $160 looks like you are merely chasing losses or letting winnings ride. This can be achieved if the count goes immediately positive after entering.

However if the count goes negative then you can merely switch tables and enter mid-shoe again which makes you look less like a counter. So as long as you understand that entering mid-shoe makes no difference because cards unseen means that you can take the count to be zero then you will do fine entering mid-shoe.

There is no doubt that being a Croupier sounds like a very glamorous life and job to many people. The reality is something rather different of course as inner city land based casinos are often populated by many types of people who you would not want to be around.

But yet there is no doubt that becoming a Croupier is something that is not only accessible for the ordinary person but it can also lead to a very exciting life. I have known several people personally who were fully trained up in the UK and got their experience there and then left and went to work on the cruise ships.

This was a life that attracted many people although most of them came back to the UK at some future point in time. Imagine sailing around the Mediterranean or the Caribbean seas and being paid to do so.

The downside to life on cruise ships is that the hours can be long and there is nowhere to go except on deck or to your cabin. So I can understand how the novelty would wear off after a few weeks or months of doing this.

But then again I have also spoken to people who have worked on cruise ships and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. So I suppose that this indicates that they do not suit everyone. If you do not like long hours or life on the sea then cruise ships are not going to be for you. But a certain type of person could find this life very rewarding and exciting.

With beginners coming into the online casino industry every single day, it cannot be stressed enough for someone to be properly prepared with online gambling etiquette.

Understand the Law

Online gambling is illegal in many countries and the consequences can be harsh so it is best to review your country’s and your state’s law regarding online gambling to ensure that it is a safe bet.

Know That You’ll Lose

One thing that many people tend to forget and throw out the door when taking part in online gambling is that you are going to lose at some point in time.  It’s a matter of time before you lose if you are on a winning streak.  It’s inevitable so there is no use fighting it.  Just know before you start gambling online that there are going to be times that you lose because you can’t win all the time.

Never Spend More Than You Can Afford

This is a MUST!  Never, and I mean never, spend more money that you can actually afford to lose.  If you have bills to pay such as rent or you electricity bill, do not gamble with that money.  Pay your bills first as these should be your priority.  If you have some money left after paying the necessities then you can use some of that money.  Set a limit, stick to it, and be sure that it is one that you and your family can actually afford realistically.

Take Time to Learn Rules and Strategies

You should always take the time to learn the rules and strategies of any game that you are partaking in.  It is important to know the rules of the game so that you can keep up with the game and understand what’s going on.  Strategies will help you win and are worth the time researching and reading.

Understand and Trust the Game Odds

The odds are there for a reason – they are real and proven to be true.  Every single casino games, online or offline, is based off of some type of probabilities and odds.

Be Polite and Play Sensible

When you are gambling online, most games have chat rooms that allow you to converse with the other players.  If you do so, try to be polite.  In addition, play sensibly in terms of time.  If you need to go to the restroom, grab a snack, or something of the like, just use the button to sit out the next hand.  You can return when you are ready and get back into the game without making your opponents wait on your maximum hand time to run out so that the next player can play.

Hopefully, the above online gambling etiquette will help you get started in the online gambling world.  There are newbies embarking on the online gambling journey every single day so don’t think that you are the only one out there.  Good luck!

Following on from yesterdays post and I want to continue my look at the inner workings of casinos and what they really are and peoples perception of them. In this aspect it is similar to poker in so much that there is no real badness inherent in the business.

The only badness if it can interpreted as that is from the people that frequent them and not from the owners themselves. Basically the casino is what it is……..it is a place of business where business people make money by providing entertainment for others. It is certain members of the public who have misconceptions regarding casinos that some people  see them in a totally different light.

This is why some people see them as cheats or as places where criminals and other various types of low life hang out. There is an element of truth to this but this just reflects life in general. The types of people that you may see in casinos will be the same types of people that you see in other areas so it is rather unfair to throw that label at casinos by inferring that they are only ever inhabited by crooks and low life.

Casinos are still one of the few places where a single woman would in all likelihood not be molested in any way shape or form. You really couldn’t say that about many of the bars and nightclubs in most major towns and cities. So casinos are forms of entertainment first and foremost and how much you want to pay for that entertainment is basically up to the individual.

Having worked in the casino industry on the inside as a Croupier, Inspector and trainee Pit Boss then I was in that industry for quite some considerable time. So it annoys me sometimes when certain ignorant people have some rather extreme views of the gaming and the gambling industry.

A few years ago a proposed “Super Casino” was planned for the town where I live. It actually made me laugh at the time how so many people were getting hot under the collar about this proposed event. They cited increases in problem gambling and prostitution amongst others. I saw documents from local residents which showed clear misunderstanding about what casinos actually were and their role in the community.

I also find something inherently wrong in being preached to by people many of whom have never even set foot inside a casino in their entire lives. Casinos first and foremost are places of entertainment and they do provide many thousands of jobs nationwide. This also knocks on into other areas as well and casinos plough an awful lot of money back into the economy.

But drugs and a dependency on drugs drives a large part of the prostitution industry and young people who become dependent on drugs need income in which to buy them above and beyond what they could earn in a normal day to day job.

Young boys turn to burglary and other types of theft while the girls turn to shop lifting and prostitution but the driving force behind prostitution is the drugs industry and not casinos or any proposed “Super Casino”.

Like bluffing, everyone in the gambling industry talks about card counting and how it can be the key to success in your gambling endeavors. Unfortunately,, for most players card counting is never an easy task to follow through with, especially if you’re not a mathematical super-genius and able to quickly process all possible combinations coming your way. Thankfully, a technique exists that allows players to easily keep track of basic card combinations: the Hi-Low technique.

Designed to be both quick and effective, the Hi-Low technique focuses on attributing each card dealt on the table a value of +1, 0 or -1 and then tracking the total value of all cards shown before a re-shuffle. If the value of the total number is then positive the player should increase their overall betting amount, whereas if it is negative, the overall bet should be lowered. In this way, the player can stay in the game at all times while reducing the risk to their bankroll and keeping a positive cash flow.

The division of the card values is fairly straight forward: all cads valued 10 or greater (Jack, Queen, King or Ace) are given a value of -1, all cards valued 7 through 9 are given a value of 0, while cards valued 2 through 6 are valued at +1. This means that while the total number counted is positive there is a higher chance of a high-value card being dealt (good for the player), while a negative number means lower cards are likely to be shown and therefore are good for the dealer.

While the technique is simple, practice is the key to success, so be sure to try it out at home before applying it in a casino. Additionally, try to be discreet while playing in live areas – after all, even though this technique isn’t officially illegal, it is still highly frowned upon by casinos and could land you in bad favor if caught, so be sure to not be too open about your approaches.

Take it from me when I say that gambling books will not necessarily make you a winner. This applies whether we are talking about blackjack, poker or gambling in general. I will leave other forms of gambling out of the equation where it is not possible to create an edge like roulette for instance.

In my opinion, books are a constant in what is an ever changing environment in so much as what is written in them has the tendency to date. Also what you have to remember is that the information that is in them also has to be deciphered and understood correctly by the individual.

I have created a name for this and it is the “understanding gap”. What this means is the difference between what is being written and what is being interpreted. This isn’t always clear cut as well as often the reader can deliberately interpret data in a way which is favourable to them. Adding and subtracting data is a common theme amongst book readers and so the reader rarely reads what is intended.

In blackjack of course then this problem isn’t as severe due to the somewhat mechanical nature of the game. But even here then care has to be taken. Merely having blackjack knowledge connected to card counting does you little good if you get caught and are then prevented from playing. So what I say on this subject is that by all means read books as this is a very important part of your education.

But you have to read them objectively and almost begin the process of disputing what you read even though you could and often will be incorrectly disputing issues with the author. Then and only then will your thinking start to evolve.