Bill's Casino Gambling Blog

Last Friday the Excalibur Casino in Las Vegas replaced all of the tables in their poker room with the PokerPro electronic poker tables made by PokerTek. This is a 90 day field test and the first PokerTek tables to be installed in Nevada.

As poker revenue declines around the country, many casinos have been adding these electronic poker tables to their poker rooms and some of them like the Excalibur are using them to replace existing poker tables that require a dealer. The Excalibur said that the poker staff would be cut from 55 to 15 because of the change.

I have played on the PokerPro tables and found that there are several advantages. The games are faster, there are no dealer mistakes and you do not have to tip when you win a pot.

This week's topic of discussion in the forum is the electronic poker tables: Have you played on the electronic poker tables? What was your experience?

After months of debates and speculation, the Nevada Gaming Commission voted to lift the ban on the use of cell phones and other electronic devices inside the casino sports books for one year. Commission Chairman Pete Bernhard said that cell phone use would be monitored during the year to make sure that cell phones were not being used for illegal activities such as messenger betting, where a person is paid to place a bet for another person.

It is illegal for someone to make a bet for another person that they are talking to on the phone. The most common occurrence is placing wagers for persons in another State where sports betting is not legal. If messenger betting or other problems are reported, Bernhard said the suspension of the cell phone ban could be quickly canceled. If no problems occur the cell phone ban could be lifted permanently.

I was playing in a sit and go tournament this morning and I was called a complete idiot (and a few other words I can't publish) after I busted a player who had pocket aces with my six and eight of hearts. Unfortunately for him he gave me the correct odds to make the call I did. Here is how it happened.

It was a no limit tournament and the blinds were $25 and $50. I was in the big blind with the six and eight of hearts. Everyone folded to the guy on the button who only raised a single bet of $50 making it $100. The small blind folded and it was up to me. There was $175 in the pot and it would only cost me an additional $50 to call his raise so I was getting 3.5 to 1 in pot odds to make the call. I knew that against a random I was less than a 3.5 to 1 underdog so I was getting the correct pot odds to make the call.

There were three hearts on the flop giving me a flush. I checked and he went all in with his pocket aces. I called and knocked him out. He then started ranting that I was an idiot for defending my blind when in fact he made two mistakes that ultimately knocked him out of the tournament. First he only raised a single bet which gave me the correct odds to call his pre-flop raise. If he had raised more I would not have called. Secondly, he moved all in after there were three suited cards on the flop. I think if he really wants to call someone an idiot he should look in the mirror.

A few years ago I took my cousin Steve to Las Vegas with me. It was his first trip to a casino. Before we left I taught him how to play video poker. I explained that you get a bonus for the royal flush when you play five coins and I reminded him always play five coins on each hand.

After we checked into our room we went down to the casino to play. Steve headed for the video poker machines and I went to play craps. About 45 minutes later Steve came running over to the craps table to tell me he had just hit a royal flush. I knew he was playing the quarter machines which paid $1,000 for the royal. I said, "Congratulations, your trip is paid for."

He then told me he had only been playing one coin at a time and instead of collecting $1,000 he won $62.50. I told him that it was a shame that he lost out on the $1,000 and he said, "That's ok, I'll just hit another royal."

For the next three days he played video poker for about 14 hours a day. He never got another on royal and he went home broke. He found out that hitting the royal was as easy. He was just lucky to hit one so early in the trip.

Casinos would love to have a player win on their first trip. It makes them think that winning is easy and encourages them to go back. Did you win on your fist visit to the casino? Share your story in the forum Topic of the Week.

Two weeks ago Boyd Gaming announced that it was halting work its Echelon Place development project on the Las Vegas Strip. The 4.8 billion dollar project began last year with the implosion of the old Stardust casino which stood on the site where the Echelon was to be built.

The plans for the Echelon Place included 5,000 hotel rooms, a 300,000 square foot shopping venue, 750,000 square foot convention center, 140,000 square foot casino, 4,000 seat theater and approximately 30 restaurants and bars. Boyd had hoped that it would rival MGM's City Place which is being built further down on the strip. Boyd cited the present economy for the decision to halt the project for now even though work has been started.

This is not the only project to be KO'd by the present economic slump. Last week the Elad Group, owners of the New York's Plaza Hotel announced that it was postponing its plans to build a multibillion dollar resort on the Las Vegas strip.

Many players visit the casino and only play slot machines. This may be fun but you are missing out on the excitement of playing the tables games. The main reason players do not try a new game is because they do not feel confident venturing onto the main casino floor. Learning the games and the casino procedures is not as hard as you might think. I have put together a series of short "How to" tutorials to help make you a casino expert.

This week's topic of discussion is the Martingale betting system and was prompted by a post in the forum by Daryl who wrote:

"I have had some success at the casinos here in Connecticut with a conservative variant of the martingale system, and would like to share my thoughts."

You can read the complete post and my reply on the forum.

The Martingale is a negative progression betting system that requires you to double your bet after each loss. Although it has been the ruin of many gamblers, there are some players who still believe it will work for them. So this week's question is:

Have you ever tried the Martingale and if you have, what were your results?

Share your opinions on this discussion in the forum.

Some news stories I read are just plain bizarre this one falls into that category.

A Florida man was arrested he made two calls to 911 to report that a slot machine stole his money. Carlos Gutierrez was playing the slot machines at the Hard Rock Hotel and after a losing session he dialed 911 to report that the slot machine had stolen his money. He placed a second call to 911 shortly after leaving the casino making the same statement. He was arrested on charges of making false 911 calls.

The trade of Bret Favre from the Green Bay Packers to the New York Jets caused the Las Vegas Sports books to halt betting on the AFC Futures bets while they adjusted the lines. Jay Kornegay the director of the sports book at The Hilton said, "Looking at the Jets' quarterback situation, Favre is going to be a huge upgrade. But it's not like they just got Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. Favre is past his prime."

Favre may be past his prime but he still commands enough respect to change the odds in Las Vegas. A Futures bet is a wager on an event happening in the hence the name. Many players like to place a wager at the beginning of the NFL on how many wins a team will have during the regular season. The Futures bet for Jets' regular-season win total was 71/2 before the trade and it moved up to 8 ½ after the announcement that Favre would be the new starting quarterback for the team.

Here is some further reading on the Futures Bets.

The new Casino Gambling Forum is open and ready for you. The web has become more interactive and many readers are responding to my blog posts so I wanted to have a place where everyone could interact with each other and share ideas and stories. The forum was the logical place but over the last few years it has had very little activity and became a repository for a lot of spam which made it unappealing and not very informative. I have deleted the old posts and the spam and we are starting fresh. Please stop in and share your thoughts and say hello to the other members. The registration for the forum is free. If you are not already a member you can sign up here.

Each week I will post a new question to the Topic of the Week section in the Casino Gambling forum. Some weeks I will run a poll in the blog along with the question and then post the link to the forum discussion so you can share your opinion in the forum. If have any suggestions for the Topic of the Week, you can post them or send me an e-mail. I hope you enjoy it.

This Weeks Topic
Some players have been cutting back on the amount of times they visit the casino because of the economy. Some of those players are visiting less often but staying for a few extra days when they do go. What is the length of your average casino stay? Have you cut back on the number of times you visit per year?

Vote in the poll and Discuss it in the Forum.