Dear Mark, I am writing you to complain about a conflict I was involved in
this past weekend. My girlfriend was playing blackjack and I was just finishing
up a hot session on the craps table. Still feeling lucky, I walked over to the
table she was playing on, and with one circle available, I placed $500 on the
layout. Immediately the dealer said I couldn't do that. Naturally I complained,
so he calls over the pit boss, and she, the pit boss, informs me that according
to the rules I will need to wait until the next shuffle before I am able to make
a wager. I've never heard of such a thing. What's the deal? Jerry C.
Well, Jerry, it all goes back to Casino Panic, aka card-counting. Even
though you shorted me on some table information and dialog, I deduce
that you were probably playing on a shoe game, and that the
unidentified casino you were gambling in had a NO Mid-Shoe Entry rule.
(Had you named the joint, I could have and would have looked into their
playing conditions.) What you probably didn't notice, Jerry, was the
sign posted on their blackjack tables that states NO Mid-Shoe Entry.
That means that once a dealer shuffles the cards and then starts to
deal, a new player who comes up to the table will not be able to make a
bet until the shoe is finished. One of the main reasons for this rule
is to discourage "table hoppers." Table hoppers or "Wongers"
(named
after professional blackjack player Stanford Wong) count down the shoe
as bystanders, then when the shoe turns favorable for the player, enter
the game with big bets.
A NO Mid-Shoe Entry policy is just one of many measures some casinos
use to ward off card counters.
Dear Mark, Even though I'm a rank beginner playing poker, I almost
made the final table of a Texas Hold'em tournament, and had I got there,
I would have finished in the money. Interestingly, with two tables remaining
they had this rule whereby one table had to wait for the other table to finish
their hand before starting theirs. Of course, I got beat going "all in"
holding trips with 14 players left, which is whole other story, so I never made
the final table. But what were they trying to accomplish with this rule? David
C.
Poker tournaments involve multiple tables, and as players are
eliminated, tables are combined, aiming at the eventual final table.
When enough players remain to form one full table, that is the final
table. The situation that occurs near the end of a tournament in which
only the last two tables remain is that a few players must go bust
before the tables are combined to make that final table. Because some
players think they can guarantee a place in the money by slow playing,
hoping somebody taps out at the other table, the tournament director
can stipulate that whichever table finishes a hand first must wait for
the other table to finish before starting the next deal.
Here's an example, David, of how getting to that final table can be
very, very rewarding. When the original field of 5,619 players that
began the 2005 World Series of Poker was narrowed to nine, those top
nine places paid as follows: 1st: $7.5 million; 2nd: $4.25 million;
3rd: $2.5 million; 4th: $2 million; 5th: $1.75 million; 6th: $1.5
million; 7th: $1.3 million; 8th: $1.15 million; 9th: $1 million.
If they could, most players in a position for a shot at a million
dollars minimum, would slowwww play, every time. Yours truly included.
Gambling Wisdom of the Week: "Blackjack is the only casino game an
amateur can learn to play and at which he can definitely win." -Lawrence
Revere, author, Playing Blackjack as a Business
