Protect yourself from getting ripped off in the casinos with these tips

Written by Shawn Tinling


Casinos are generally very safe places to be. With video cameras continuously scanning every inch ofrepparttar casino floor, it's easy for people to take their security for granted. Even withrepparttar 109806 eyes inrepparttar 109807 sky, you should still be onrepparttar 109808 lookout for thieves, hustlers and conmen looking to make a quick buck. Here are some tips to keep you from falling prey to a scam.

1) It's an obvious one, but I'll say it anyway - keep your money secure and in sight at all times. I can't tell you how many times I've seen ladies leave their pocketbooks draped overrepparttar 109809 backs of their chair as they play or guys with their wallets bulging out of their back pockets.

Whilerepparttar 109810 casino cameras can catch just about everything, it can still missrepparttar 109811 sleight of hand of a good pickpocket. Keep your wallet in your front pocket and your purses secure on your person. If someone bumps you, check to make sure you still have everything on you. Of course, if you're like me and live in New York City, you probably know this already.

2) If you play tables, don't leave your chips onrepparttar 109812 table if you have to step away for a minute. Many people entrust hundreds - even thousands - of dollars to dealers and other casino staff as they get up to make a phone call, smoke a cigarette, or go torepparttar 109813 restroom.

Contrary to popular belief, dealers are only responsible forrepparttar 109814 house's money -repparttar 109815 chips that lie inrepparttar 109816 dealer's chip trays - notrepparttar 109817 money belonging torepparttar 109818 players. If someone were to walk up and swipe your chips, yes, surveillance can probably catchrepparttar 109819 perpetrator but they can't make any promises to get you back whatever you lose. It's better to be safe than sorry, so carry your chips with you. Color them up for higher valued chips before stepping away if that makes thing easier for you.

Tournament Blackjack and the Art of Sabotage

Written by Shawn Tinling


I was recently invited to play inrepparttar Daily Invitational Blackjack Tournament at Foxwoods in Connecticut. Tournament blackjack differs a great deal fromrepparttar 109805 regular version, and my tournament strategy would - at best - be considered a work-in-progress. I've played in a few inrepparttar 109806 past, though, and had a lot of fun time and again, so I headed up to 'The Woods' forrepparttar 109807 day.

Their tournament structure is pretty straight-forward. Each player begins each round with 5,000 in tournament chips, and a preliminary round is played. If a player hasrepparttar 109808 most chips at their table after 25 hands he advances torepparttar 109809 semifinals. Inrepparttar 109810 semis,repparttar 109811 player withrepparttar 109812 most chips after 25 hands goes torepparttar 109813 final table. Atrepparttar 109814 final table everyone's inrepparttar 109815 money;repparttar 109816 player withrepparttar 109817 most chips after 25 more hands would win $5,000 in cash.

I had just barely squeaked by inrepparttar 109818 preliminary round to win my session. Me and two other players were neck-neck-and-neck going intorepparttar 109819 final few hands. One ofrepparttar 109820 ladies I was up against busted out with one hand to go, while I got a blackjack on my big bet, pulling me ahead with a decent chip lead. It came down to my opponent going all-in and needing to win her hand to beat me out forrepparttar 109821 session.

She had a hard 14 against a dealer's ace - big trouble. She had practically no choice but to hit as I helplessly stood there holding my breath. I chanted to myself, "Break! Break! Break," andrepparttar 109822 dealer delivered my opponentrepparttar 109823 news. Nine. Game over.

I wasrepparttar 109824 only finisher for that session with about 2,700 in chips. A pretty ugly session all in all, but a win's a win. That session wasrepparttar 109825 kind of nail-biter that left me tingling all over, and it's that rush that brings be back with every invite they send me. That, andrepparttar 109826 fact that they tend to draw spectators is pretty nice, too!

My semifinal round would turn out to berepparttar 109827 most memorable. It seems I wasn't quite done withrepparttar 109828 ugly winning just yet.

Many tournament strategists recommend players start out conservatively forrepparttar 109829 round. Most of us weren't very conservative, but we weren't very aggressive, either. I started betting 700-900 a hand and cards were going my wayrepparttar 109830 first several hands. Blackjacks were dropping right in front of me, and got some really good double down hands. I just went withrepparttar 109831 flow, and before long I had a lead of about 4,000 onrepparttar 109832 nearest contender. The other players had some catching up to do, so at this point, I decided to try for a little fun, hopefully at my opponents' expense.

I started to play low - betting smaller thanrepparttar 109833 others withrepparttar 109834 hope that everyone losesrepparttar 109835 hand. I betrepparttar 109836 minimum of 100 whilerepparttar 109837 others went for 1000-1500 to catch up to me. It wasn't so much about me winning or losingrepparttar 109838 hand since I only bet 100. Ifrepparttar 109839 other players lost, it would increase my chip lead. One hand I had a hard 16 versusrepparttar 109840 dealer's 6. In a regular live game, of course, no one would EVER even think of touchingrepparttar 109841 hand. I decided to hit - amid gasps and groans fromrepparttar 109842 other contestants, of course - and busted with 26.

It turns out, that just as I was hoping, I 'tookrepparttar 109843 dealer's bust card' and 'sabotaged'repparttar 109844 hand. If I left my hand alone like I very well should have,repparttar 109845 dealer would've broke and everyone would've won. Instead she drew to 20 and everyone lost. My opponents were clearly rattled and a sea of dirty looks shot my way.

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