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Gambling Thread

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Songbird, Oct 18, 2013.

  1. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    You would think so, yes? The leagues are all making deals with casinos. Would it surprise you that those casinos have people in the stadium, say, the press box, and tallying what's happening in real time?

    Back when I was actually working, at a TV station, the Broncos and Patriots were in the AFC Championship Game. I could pull up the satellite feed on my TV at my desk as it came into the station. I also had access to our in-stadium camera. On another TV, I had the CBS network feed. There was about a 2-second delay on our in-stadium camera vs. the satellite feed. And at least a 12-second delay from the satellite feed and what was seen on the network feed.
     
  2. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Yeah, that makes sense. I never liked playing at full tables either, I wanted to play alone or with one other guy grinding like me.

    6:5 is evil, but seems like there are so many tables now with garbage side bets that the house can spread 3:2 and still be OK.
     
  3. exmediahack

    exmediahack Well-Known Member

    I'm always amused by all of the people at BJ or baccarat tables who play the side bets that have a 10-15% house edge. You may as well just stand on every 14 or 15 if you're going to play those.

    I prefer to play "heads up" against the dealer but only at 3:2 and if I find the rare "Stands on all 17s". When I dealt, we stood on soft 17 but I think everyone in the Midwest hits Soft 17.

    The best rules in Las Vegas: The Bighorn and the Longhorn. Local, grinder joint. A hint of danger in the parking lot.

    But the rules...
    3:2, of course.
    Player can double on ANY three cards.
    Surrender.
    BJ pays 2-1 IF 2+ players at the table have a BJ.

    I was at the Bighorn a few years ago and lost something like 17 of 19 hands, six of the three-card double downs in a row. The hi/lo count was something crazy, like +27 or +28. We got deeper into the 6-card shoe and it stayed in the high 20s. Finally, at the end of getting waxed in that shoe (I was playing heads up) and the cut card came out, I asked if they would show the rest of the shoe.

    They told me to leave.
     
  4. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    Great rules. What about resplitting aces in single and double deck? A lot of the blackjack tables out here have tons of circus side games -- including double deck.

    And that's a crazy story.
     
  5. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    I remember playing the "top of the deck" side bet at the Club Cal-Neva in Reno long, long ago, just because it was their thing and at 17-1 it was good, clean fun for a buck with a new deck. I was also young and drunk every time I was in Reno. But watching people put out chips hand after hand for a three-card bonus or pairs plus or all the other jive is just painful.
     
  6. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    The double deck I usually play has the pair square. The cards you are dealt have to be a pair (10:1 off-suited, 25:1 suited) and I see guys just put up green chips like it's nothing hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. I don't play it and it pisses the higher-stakes guys because I tend to get pairs.
     
  7. swingline

    swingline Well-Known Member

    As always, you play your cards and I'll play mine.

    So, bitcher at the table, go fuck yourself.
     
    MileHigh likes this.
  8. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    OK, maybe not pisses off. Frustrates them. Helps that a couple of dealers who know me egg them on to make for some entertainment. But, yeah, you play your cards and I'll play mine. Until you start splitting kings, then it's time for a break.
     
    swingline likes this.
  9. swingline

    swingline Well-Known Member

    You split kings and it's time for an ass beating. In the parking lot, of course. Maybe with a tire iron.
     
  10. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    I love it when some jackalope splits kings and then gets a jack and I say, "split it again." And they get all nervous and such and say "but I have a 20." "Yeah, no fake, you already had a 20 and you've F'd everything up so you might as well go the whole way."
     
    Batman, swingline and Matt1735 like this.
  11. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Good stuff here from the WWL on how all those Russian table tennis matches are a bit shady and unsanctioned. Some states, like mine, have now deemed them illegal and, poof!, they have vanished from the apps. But I can say I made a couple bucks on it, just for my gambling resume.

    Gambling on table tennis is blowing up -- but are the matches legit?
     
    MileHigh likes this.
  12. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    When I used to play blackjack a lot, there would always be people at the table betting either the pair squares or 3-card poker hands. I think they cared more about that than the actual blackjack game. I never, or very, very rarely, touched the side bets (maybe $1 here or there if I'd hit a blackjack and had some odd chips or something), and some people would actually get mad if I got a run of pairs or paying poker hands. They'd tell me I should be playing those, while I'm just like, "Yeah, but what about the last hour I've been sitting here treading water on the blackjack and not getting a single side bet hand?"

    Some people would ask if they could slide a chip onto my side bet square, and I'd always let them. The cooler ones would at least slide me back the $5 chip for the bet if they won, but most of them didn't.
     
    MileHigh likes this.
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