Casino-ology Articles http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/ I have been preaching for some time that there is a new world of game security having to do with proprietary table games and side bets. With the flood of new games in the market, there is hardly time to keep up with the new opportunities. Every popular game needs to be analyzed for advantage play. Casino-ology Wed, 02 May 2012 08:00:00 -0700 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Beating-the-Lucky-Lucky-Side-Bet/ (Eliot Jacobson) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Beating-the-Lucky-Lucky-Side-Bet/ The gaming world was in a dither after Dr. Eliot Jacobson published his finding on EZ Baccarat’s Dragon 7 side bet on the Wizard of Odds website last year. Eliot’s information pointed out that the Dragon 7 side bet was susceptible to card counting, but then again, all side bets on deck depletion dependency games (i.e., blackjack and baccarat) are subject to card counting. It’s whether or not they can be counted profitably. Casino-ology Wed, 04 Apr 2012 08:00:00 -0700 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Counting-the-Dragon-7-Side-Bet/ (Bill Zender) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Counting-the-Dragon-7-Side-Bet/ The question of why advantage players do what they do is answered in the popular media by images of glitz, glamour, parties, piles of chips, cat and mouse, and youth. The motive is greed and the timeframe is now. But there is another class of advantage players (APs) who definitely do not fit in this Hollywood stereotype. I’m talking about the professional APs – the lifetimers. Casino-ology Wed, 07 Mar 2012 08:00:00 -0800 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Why-Advantage-Players-Play/ (Eliot Jacobson) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Why-Advantage-Players-Play/ With years of blow back from what comes out of my big mouth, I have come to the conclusion that companies that create proprietary games often don’t know their game’s weaknesses, don’t want to know their game’s weaknesses, and don’t want anyone else talking about their game’s weaknesses. Casino-ology Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:00:00 -0800 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/The-Problem-of-Protecting-Proprietary-Games/ (Eliot Jacobson) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/The-Problem-of-Protecting-Proprietary-Games/ Nightmares happen in our industry all the time. The following is a scenario that could happen in your casino and is “loosely” based on a real incident. This narrative is meant to help educate, and not to embarrass any parties who were involved. Casino-ology Wed, 04 Jan 2012 08:00:00 -0800 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/A-Casino-Nightmare-Could-this-Happen-to-You/ (Bill Zender) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/A-Casino-Nightmare-Could-this-Happen-to-You/ From time to time the question of card counting in baccarat comes up. Because baccarat is dealt from a shoe, it follows that the odds for the banker/player/tie bets change as cards are dealt. As more and more cards are dealt, a counter will get an ever more precise estimation of the composition of the cards that remain. Casino-ology Wed, 07 Dec 2011 08:00:00 -0800 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Card-Counting-in-Baccarat/ (Eliot Jacobson) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Card-Counting-in-Baccarat/ During this past July, a husband and wife team from Argentina allegedly beat several Las Vegas Strip casinos out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by using a dice cheating technique known as a “dice scoot” or “dice slide.” Casino-ology Wed, 02 Nov 2011 08:00:00 -0700 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Anatomy-of-the-Dice-Slide-Everything-You-Need-to-Know/ (Bill Zender) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Anatomy-of-the-Dice-Slide-Everything-You-Need-to-Know/ Once a year, in preparation for G2E, I take a walk through a host of Las Vegas casinos. I have two primary objectives for this walk. The first is to survey the changing landscape of proprietary table games and electronic versions. The second is to consider security and advantage play issues for these variants. Casino-ology Wed, 05 Oct 2011 08:00:00 -0700 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Card-Counting-Proprietary-Games/ (Eliot Jacobson) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Card-Counting-Proprietary-Games/ Your swing shift supervisor has left you a note. He’s letting you know that there has been some unusual play in baccarat over the past several nights. It appears that up to three different baccarat players have been making large wagers towards the end of the shoe on several occasions, and are winning an aggregate total of $60,000. He wants you to review the play. Casino-ology Wed, 07 Sep 2011 08:00:00 -0700 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/The-Baccarat-Procedure-That-Advantage-Players-Love/ (Bill Zender) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/The-Baccarat-Procedure-That-Advantage-Players-Love/ Just recently, everyone in gaming became aware of a player named Don Johnson who connived casinos in Atlantic City into a number of concessions that he claimed reversed the tables in his favor. Is this situation uncommon, or is it common enough to be a continuing threat to the casino bankroll? Casino-ology Wed, 03 Aug 2011 08:00:00 -0700 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/There-are-More-Ways-to-Beat-the-Casino-than-Across-the-Felted-Tables/ (Bill Zender) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/There-are-More-Ways-to-Beat-the-Casino-than-Across-the-Felted-Tables/ For about 8 years, I lived the life of an undisciplined low limit card counter. It is guys like me, however, that casinos obsess over: weak, unthreatening and barely profitable hobbyists. Casino-ology Wed, 06 Jul 2011 08:00:00 -0700 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Married-to-the-Blackjack-Tables/ (Eliot Jacobson) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Married-to-the-Blackjack-Tables/ Most casinos and card rooms in North America don’t perceive illegal lending of money as a problem until it’s too late. Not until someone steps forward and talks to the local law enforcement agencies. Casino-ology Wed, 01 Jun 2011 09:35:00 -0700 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Is-Loan-Sharking-a-Casino-Problem/ (Bill Zender) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Is-Loan-Sharking-a-Casino-Problem/ With the increased number of hand pitched games, especially since the advent of the 6:5 blackjack games, there have been an epidemic of negative game situation resulting from professional blackjack players spying the dealer’s hole-card and using that information against the casino. Casino-ology Wed, 04 May 2011 08:25:00 -0700 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Options-for-Inserting-the-Hole-card-in-Blackjack/ (Bill Zender) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Options-for-Inserting-the-Hole-card-in-Blackjack/ Fairness for an Internet casino game is often understood by the notion that the game operates in the Internet casino in a manner that is indistinguishable from the same game as offered in a brick and mortar (B&M) casino. In principle this is a reasonable guidepost. In practice, there are some fundamental problems with this definition. Casino-ology Wed, 06 Apr 2011 08:00:00 -0700 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Game-Fairness-in-Two-Universes/ (Eliot Jacobson) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Game-Fairness-in-Two-Universes/ The casino industry is built on mathematics. As Nicholas Pileggi pointedly observed in his 1995 novel Casino (the book on which the movie by the same name was based): "A casino is a mathematics palace set up to separate players from their money. Every bet made in a casino has been calibrated within a fraction of its life to maximize profit while still giving the players the illusion that they have a chance." Casino-ology Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:00:00 -0800 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Mathematics--Surveillance-Unlikely-Bedfellows--/ (Robert Hannum, Ph.D.) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Mathematics--Surveillance-Unlikely-Bedfellows--/ Two weeks prior to the Chinese most celebrated Lunar New Year, two different baccarat scams were witness by surveillance and floor operations in Las Vegas. Casino-ology Wed, 02 Feb 2011 08:00:00 -0800 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/The-First-Cut-is-the-Deepest/ (Bill Zender) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/The-First-Cut-is-the-Deepest/ George glanced up from his paper work as Thomas entered the surveillance director’s office. Thomas was one of George’s more qualified and experienced surveillance operators, and his presence at George’s office door meant there was probably a bad situation developing on the casino floor. “I have something I need you to look at”, commented Thomas, “It has to do with one of the squeeze baccarat games. Casino-ology Wed, 05 Jan 2011 08:00:00 -0800 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Baccarat--Ripe-for-the-Mucking-/ (Bill Zender) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Baccarat--Ripe-for-the-Mucking-/ A number of customers have asked me if I could develop a statistical model that they could use to determine whether or not a “winning” blackjack player was beating the casino based on that specific player’s ability to gain an edge over the house legally or illegally. Casino-ology Wed, 01 Dec 2010 01:00:00 -0800 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Statistical-Model-for-Blackjack/ (Bill Zender) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Statistical-Model-for-Blackjack/ Since the year 2000, the combined number of blackjack tables in all Nevada casinos dropped by 16%. This is in the face of a huge expansion in the number of resort casinos and casino floor space. Games that showed growth include roulette, Pai Gow poker and baccarat. Casino-ology Wed, 03 Nov 2010 08:00:00 -0700 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/What-Players-Want/ (Eliot Jacobson) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/What-Players-Want/ I have received a number of emails over the past several years asking my opinion about how often playing cards should be changed on hand held/player touched games. If one really thinks about this question, it appears that there isn’t an easy answer. There are several variables which need to be considered when contemplating the situation. Casino-ology Wed, 06 Oct 2010 08:00:00 -0700 http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Replacing-Cards-on-Hand-Held-Blackjack/ (Bill Zender) http://www.worldgameprotection.com/the-catwalk/casino-ology/BOSVIEW/Replacing-Cards-on-Hand-Held-Blackjack/