Month: May 2025

Several years ago, I gave a blackjack seminar in front of an audience of about 100. At the start of my seminar, I posed this question to them. “How does the casino get its edge in blackjack?”

A few folks attributed the casino edge to “the poor play of most blackjack players” but that’s not what gives them their initial edge. Simply put, the house gets its edge in blackjack due to the “double bust” rule. After I stated this, I could see glary eyes and raised eyebrows from attendees. “Say what?” yelled one attendee.

First, it rather floored me that not one person knew how the casino creates its edge. Nevertheless, I forged on and explained the double bust rule to the attendees as follows.

If a player’s hand exceeds 21, he automatically losses even if the dealer’s hand exceeds 21 in the same round. This is known as the “double bust rule,” and it is what creates the casino’s initial advantage over blackjack players.

To explain the double bust a different way, I asked the audience what happens if you get 17 and the blackjack dealer gets 17? About everyone yelled, “it’s a push.” Then I asked them what happens if a player gets 22 and the dealer gets 22? Is it still a push? The answer of course is no, you lose. I could see a smile on faces of the attendees, as they finally really understood how the double bust works against players.

You might be wondering how much the double bust is roughly worth for the casino. This is easy to determine. The dealer busts on average about 28% of the time. Consider a player who plays his hand exactly like the dealer (always hit 16 or less and stand on 17 or more). He will also bust 28% of the time; therefore, a double bust in the same round will occur roughly 8% of the time (28% x 28%). Voilà, the casino’s initial advantage over players would be 8% assuming all else were equal. However, all else is not equal and for good reason.

Historically, when blackjack was first introduced into the casinos in the 1930s and 1940s, casino owners mistakenly believed the game could not be beaten. They understood the basis of their advantage (double bust) but realized their edge was too strong, and reasoned that if players consistently lost, they would stop playing. Therefore, they decided to give players a casino bonus payout for an untied blackjack hand. They also implemented additional player benefits in the way of playing options available only to players (not the dealer), which could reduce the house edge to a level that players would tolerate. The result was a game of uneven rules between player and dealer.

The following table summarizes the differences in the rules between the player and the dealer, and who has the advantage (from Blackjack Bluebook II by Fred Renzey).

If you peruse the table, you’ll see that except for acting first, all the other rules favor the player over the dealer. This means a smart player who knows how to take advantage of these rules can significantly reduce that initial 8% disadvantage to less than one percent. Here’s how this is done.

The first player perk — paying all player blackjacks at 3 to 2 while the dealer wins only even money with a blackjack — is a gimme and is worth 2.25% in a 6-deck game. Learning when to draw and when not to (as opposed to the dealer who has no playing options) gives the player roughly a 3.25% gain. Likewise, by maximizing your options to double down and split pairs you’ll gain about an additional 1.50% and 0.5% respectively. Surrender, if allowed, gives the player an additional 0.07% gain (assumes surrender after dealer checks for blackjack). Therefore, if you add up all the player gains and subtract them from the initial 8% player disadvantage, you’ll arrive at a player disadvantage (or house advantage) of about half a percent without surrender, and approximately four tenths of a percent with surrender. (The previous percentages differ slightly based on the number of decks of cards and mix of playing rules.) That, my dear readers, is about the lowest house edge you’ll find in any game on the casino floor.

The key to whittling down the initial disadvantage is to take maximum advantage of the playing options. You can do this by learning the basic blackjack strategy, which is a set of decision rules that a player should always follow to know when to hit, stand, double down, pair split, and surrender. The basic playing strategy is not based on opinion, common sense, hunches, or intuition; rather it’s the computer derived, mathematically correct way to play your hand when the only information available is the cards that comprise your hand and the dealer’s upcard (it does not depend on other player’s cards or previously played cards). There is only one right play in blackjack and it’s the basic strategy play. Period.

Note: If you want to learn the basic playing strategy for any set of blackjack rules, see Chapter 3 in my Ultimate Blackjack Strategy Guide.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

One of the questions I often get from blackjack players is this: My favorite live casino just installed a double-deck blackjack game. What changes do I need to make to my playing and betting strategy compared to a six- or eight-deck game?

I’ve had a lot of experience playing all of the above games, but my favorites were thesingle- and double-deck games. Toward the end of my playing career, I stopped playing single-deck games when the casinos began shorting the payoff on blackjack hands (from 3-2 to 6-5). My main focus, thereafter, was double-deck games, and I’ll explain below what changes you need to make when switching from a six- or eight-deck game to a double-deck game (both for a basic blackjack strategy player and card counter).

DOUBLE-DECK RULES & PLAYING STRATEGY

I’ll assume that the six- or eight-deck game allows doubling after pair splitting (DAS) and surrender is not offered. I’ll cover the strategy changes for two scenarios: when the dealer must stand on soft 17 (S17) or hit soft 17 (H17).

If Playing Rules are S17 and DAS
The playing strategy changes that you should make when switching from a six- or eight-deck game to a double-deck game with the above rules are as follows.

• Double down hard 9 against a dealer deuce
• Double down hard 11 against a dealer ace.
• Split 6-6 against a dealer 7.
• Split 7-7 against a dealer 8.

If Double Deck Playing Rules are H17 and DAS
If the double-deck rules specify that the dealer must hit soft 17 (H17) rather than stand (S17), then you should include these three additional changes to the above S17 strategy.

• Double down A-3 (soft 14) against a dealer 4.
• Double down A-7 (soft 18) against a dealer deuce
• Double down A-8 (soft 19) against a dealer 6

You’ll be facing the lowest house edge by incorporating the above in your playing decisions and playing all your other hands accurately. (House edge is –0.18% for S17/DAS and –0.38% for H17/DAS.)

Tip: Before you jump in and start playing any double-deck game, make sure you check the blackjack rules and the payoff for a blackjack. For example, some casinos are paying only 6-5 for a blackjack (instead of 3-2). Others don’t allow doubling down after pair splitting. (These are horrible games that should be avoided.) Play only double-deck games where a blackjack is paid at 3-2, you can double down after pair splitting (DAS), and ideally, with S17. (If the playing rules specify H17, that’s acceptable, even though it is not as favorable as an S17 game.)

Note: For the complete basic playing strategy charts for a double-deck game with S17 and H17, see Chapter 3 of my free Ultimate Guide to Blackjack.

DOUBLE-DECK CARD COUNTING

Card counting in a double-deck game requires several changes to your betting strategy. The reason is there are two primary differences in counting a double-deck vs. a six-deck game:

• the true count tends to rise and fall more frequently, and
• you’ll be playing more hands where you have the edge.

Card counters have to be patient when they play, say, a six-deck game because it often takes several rounds after the shuffle before the count goes sufficiently positive, meaning the edge swings in their favor (and the counter will increase his bets). Sometimes the count will never get positive during the entire six-deck shoe. However, on the bright side, once the count goes positive it tends to stay positive for several rounds allowing the counter to fire away with big bets.

When you play a double-deck game, the true count is more volatile. It can quickly go positive after a round or two but just as quickly fall into negative territory. You’ll also be playing more hands where you have the edge so you don’t need as big a bet spread as you would for a six-deck game. (This is why card counters need a bigger bet spread in a six- or eight-deck game; they need to bet a lot more when they have the edge to compensate for the more frequent hands they play where they don’t have the edge.) For example, you’ll need a 1‒10 or 1‒12 bet spread to get a respectable edge in a six-deck game; however, for a double-deck game, a 1‒6 or 1‒8 spread often will suffice.

Penetration, or the percentage of cards dealt until the shuffle, is very important in double-deck games. Many casinos instruct their live dealers to place the cut card at 50%, meaning that, after one deck is played, the decks are shuffled. A double-deck game with 50% penetration is less profitable for a card counter then a similar game with 60% to 75% penetration (1.2 to 1.5 decks played). Therefore, if you are a card counter, you need to be sure the penetration is greater than 50%.

Here’s another tip I used that can come in handy when you are counting a double-deck game. Because there are only 104 cards in a double-deck game, just a few extra cards that are put into play before the cards are shuffled can significantly increase your advantage. Therefore, if the count is positive and you know that the next round will be the last one before the shuffle, spread and play two (or three) spots. You’ll be playing more hands where you have the edge in the game while consuming more of the undealt cards, which results in deeper penetration (advantageous for the play of the additional hand or hands). (However, don’t use this ploy at the end of every positive deal, because it will attract too much attention from pit supervisors.)

SUMMARY

I played mostly double-deck games with good rules and deep penetration during my playing career. They were profitable for me but you must be discreet with your card counting and betting. (For details on camouflaging your card counting skills, see Chapter 10 in my Ultimate Guide to Blackjack.)

When I first started playing video poker some 25 years ago, I knew about the importance of playing with an edge. At the start of my video poker playing career, it was fairly common to find video poker games that had a theoretical return over 100%, especially in the local’s casinos in Las Vegas (and in one casino in Mississippi). Most of the time, my wife and I played a deuces wild game called Full Pay Deuces Wild (or FPDW), which returned 5 coins per coin played for 4-of-a-kind and 15 coins for 5-of-a-kind. By playing every hand accurately, the game had a theoretical return of 100.76% (meaning you had an edge of 0.76% over the casino).

You had to play every hand perfectly so my wife and I learned the video poker strategy for FPDW using a video poker software training program on our home PC until our playing accuracy was virtually 100%, and to be sure we played every hand accurately, we also brought along a strategy card when we played in case we weren’t absolutely sure of how to play a specific hand. I also played another game in Las Vegas that had a theoretical return of 100.17% (known as 10/7 Double Bonus; although this game had a higher variance than FPDW, meaning the ups and downs in your bankroll were steeper and thus required more bankroll). But it wasn’t long before the casinos started downgrading the pay schedules of both games so that the theoretical returns were below 100%. This made us change our focus to not only playing video poker games with the highest theoretical return that were offered in casinos but also with the best Player’s Club benefits to boost our overall return to greater than 100%.

Then along came THE game in a Mississippi casino (circa 2012) that blew me away. This particular casino offered a bank of progressive video poker machines that included 9/6 Jacks or Better (JOB) at a dollar denomination.

A traditional 9/6 JOB game (where the royal flush payout is 4,000 coins) has a theoretical return of 99.54%, which allows you to get over a 100% return if the casino’s benefits exceed 0.5%. But this particular casino had a progressive meter for the royal flush on its machines. If I recollect, it was a 1% meter, meaning the amount of the progressive jackpot for a royal flush increased 10 cents per $10 played. (This means the amount of the royal flush jackpot when playing five coins at a dollar denomination was often in the $4,200 to $4,500 range before it was hit. The latter depends, of course, on how much play the machine gets. I started playing weekly, and on each visit, most of the time the jackpot was in the above range.)

As a rule of thumb when playing progressive video poker games, the theoretical return of a game will increase by 0.5% for every 1,000 coins above the 4,000 coin base for the royal flush payout. For example, if the payout for the royal flush was at, say, $4,200 (dollar denomination), the theoretical return of the game would increase from 99.54% to 100.54% (99.54% + 1.0% = 100.54%.) Bottom Line: Most of the time I played, my theoretical return on the game exceeded 100%. But wait, there’s more to this story.

This casino, like most, had a Player’s Club. On Monday’s, they would have a 24-hour casino promotion where you played a silly game on a kiosk, and if you were lucky you could get up to 7-times points on all of your play for that day. However, if you were in the top tier of their Player’s Club (which I was), you would automatically get a guaranteed 7-times points multiplier every time you played the kiosk game. The result: With a base rate of 0.13%, I was getting another 0.91% return on my play. (The other perk was this: there was no limit to the number of points you could earn on Monday that would be multiplied by 7.)

The points you earned after the 7-times multiplication could not be cashed out; however, they could be downloaded as free play on the same 9/6 JOB progressive machines. This was yet another perk, since some Mississippi casinos during this time started implementing a new procedure where your earned slot points could only be used as free play in slots (i.e., video poker machines were excluded).

Lastly, as I began playing every Monday, I was racking up a lot of base points on my Player’s Club account and was receiving hefty amounts of weekly free play in my monthly mailers. I don’t recollect the exact amounts, but it added roughly another half a percent to my overall return.

There was a limited number of video poker machines that had the juicy 9/6 JOB progressives. (I believe there were a total of eight bar-top machines.) With a potential theoretical return that easily could be 100.2% or greater (depending on the amount of the jackpot for the royal flush and the number of hours you played on Monday to take advantage of the promotion), I knew that other local astute video poker players would be flocking to play these machines. I had to get a seat before they tied up all the machines, so this is what I did.

Fortunately, I had a great host at this particular casino who told me when the casino’s Player’s Club “clock” would start each day. You would assume it would be midnight, but at this casino it was 3:00 a.m. Therefore, for the next several months, every Sunday evening I drove from my primary residence in Alabama to this casino, slept for a few hours in a comped suite, woke up at about 1:30 a.m., checked out, and took a seat at the progressive machines. By around 2:30 a.m., the bank of the machines was filled with astute players. None of us played, we just sat there waiting for 3 a.m. when the 7-times multiplier would be activated. (Some read the newspaper; others ate their breakfast at the machines, but nobody played; we just patiently waited.) When the clock finally struck 3 a.m. on Monday, the automatic 7-times promotion began and all of us started shoving hundreds of dollars into the machines and playing for hours on end. (On most of my visits, I generally played 5–8 hours; sometimes more.)

You may find it strange that I would do something like this every week but when it came to being an advantage video poker player, you often had to take advantage of a juicy game or promotion before it ended. Fortunately, I also hit an inordinate number of royal flushes during the time I played this promotion. (A total of eight royal flushes over a two- month period that began one of the most memorable royal flush streaks I ever experienced playing video poker. I’ll describe this streak in a future article.)

Between the bonus payouts on the royal flushes, and the large amounts of free play I was earning with the 7-times promotion (I often had $500 to $800 in free play each week), I was earning quite an impressive amount of money from this juicy game and promotion. But alas, it all came to a screeching halt when I got a call from my casino host one day.

Up till then, I had been invited to comped golf outings by my host that were held for “high rollers” while I had been playing at this casino. They owned a golf course and these golf outings were something else; free transportation; free breakfast, free lunch; and just about everyone received a cash prize, oodles of free play, or a $100 or greater gift at the end of the tournament. Anyway, my host basically told me one day he couldn’t invite me to any more video poker tournaments, and that I would be contacted by the casino manager for the reasons why.

I knew exactly what was about to go down and it eventually did. The casino zeroed out my player’s club account, meaning I wouldn’t earn any points when I played and I wouldn’t be receiving any more monthly mailings. But what really annoyed me was they also deleted nearly $2,000 of comps I had earned from my account. (I could have filed a complaint to the Mississippi Gaming Commission for this, and based on prior cases that I knew of, they would have had to give me back my comps. But I decided not to pursue this since if I did, I would have been persona non grata in all the casinos in Mississippi.)

I didn’t tell this story to brag of my good fortune for finding and playing this juicy game but rather to let you know that being an advantage video poker player has its risks, and sometimes you will experience what I experienced. If something like this happens, you do what I did: just forget about it and move on to another casino that offers a (juicy) playable game.

What was ironic about the above experience is that a few weeks later, this casino went and severely downgraded all their video poker pay tables (including the former 9/6 JOB progressives) that basically made all the video poker machines in this casino unplayable for smart players.

Basic strategy players and card counters have asked me that question umpteen times over the course of nearly 50 years of playing, teaching, and writing about blackjack. This is what I told them.

BASIC STRATEGY PLAYER

Most basic strategy players believe they play every hand perfectly; however, that is not often the case. Most make mistakes, and what’s sad is they don’t even know it. That’s because a dealer isn’t going to tell a player that he just made a “bad” play. (Most dealers don’t know the basic playing strategy anyway, and even for those that do, most casinos forbid them from coaching a player.) Certainly, the floor supervisor isn’t going to rush to a table to correct a mistake a player just made. In addition, if you are depending on your tablemates to tell you how to play a hand, good luck with that ploy.

When you play blackjack, there is one, and only one, mathematically correct way to play every hand dealt to you. When a player uses intuition, gut feeling, or just plain guessing when deciding how to play a hand, the end result is a greater house edge and increased monetary losses. Therefore, it’s important that you play every hand perfectly, and the only way to know if you are doing this is to test yourself beforehand.

Note: Chapter 3 in my Ultimate Blackjack Strategy Guide contains several tips on how you can learn the basic playing strategy at home and then test yourself to be sure you know the strategy cold. You can also bring a blackjack strategy card with you when you play and refer to it if you are not sure of how to play any blackjack hand. (That will guarantee you won’t make any costly playing mistakes.)

Let’s suppose that you master the basic blackjack strategy and are playing every hand perfectly. Will this guarantee you won’t lose? Nope, and here’s why.

Even though you may be playing perfectly, your results on a session-by-session basis will fluctuate widely from the expected result. In some sessions, you will win, in others you will lose, but the results will always be skewed toward the losing side (because the house has the edge over a basic strategy player). Over time, your losses will equal roughly half a percent times the total amount of your wagers. That, my dear readers, is a mathematical fact about the game of blackjack, and no betting system or other voodoo is going to change it.

CARD COUNTING

Many blackjack players who advance to learn card counting mistakenly believe that they should win every time they play. That just isn’t going to happen.

Here’s an example that often occurred with students who attended and completed my four-week card-counting class. They would contact me several weeks later complaining that they were still “losing.” When I asked how long they’d been playing, the answer was usually “a few sessions.”

Folks, it takes more than a “few sessions” before knowing whether your losses are due to the “variance” in the game, or to mistakes in keeping the count, making the correct size bet, or implementing the correct strategy deviations. This is why I always told my students these five important points during their last class:

• After you complete the final take-home practice exercises, contact me so I can check you out before you head to the casino.
• It takes at least 250 hours of play before knowing whether your “losses” are due to variance or due to making mistakes in your playing or betting strategy.
• You need the bankroll amount (discussed in the class) set aside in a money market (or other) account, specifically to tide you over the short-term variability (meaning the ups and downs in your bankroll).
• The math of blackjack will always work out in the long term if you execute the strategies learned in the course perfectly.
• Your edge is small even playing perfectly, and just a few mistakes can wipe out that edge.

The students who embraced the above five blackjack tips did well with card counting. (I know because many contacted me to let me know how they were doing.) The ones who didn’t pay attention during class invariably were the ones that didn’t bother to be checked out by me. This was a free benefit I offered to all my students who took only about 30 minutes of table play to evaluate their playing 100% accurately, and I gave him or her more practice exercises to do at home followed by another check-out by me.

The only way to know if you are playing perfectly is to test yourself. (Alternatively, if you took a card counting class, ask the instructor to test you.) There are also tutorial software programs that you can purchase that will test your counting skills. In fact, there is a free Interactive Card Counting Trainer that you can use to practice and sharpen your counting skills in my Ultimate Blackjack Strategy Guide.

The point is this: When you play free blackjack, you have to play like a machine, meaning you must make all (not most) playing decisions accurately, keep the count accurately, and make the correct bets and strategy deviations accurately. If not, you’ll continue to experience losses that exceed the mathematical expectations.

Winning lines

Most machines have multiple winning lines on the reels, so options are given for how many lines the player wants to bet. Each line is equal to one bet, so on a five-cent machine, betting on five lines would equate to betting 25 cents.

Credit meter

A credit meter keeps track of how much credit the player currently has as well as winnings when the reels are spun.

Credits are often used instead of showing actual cash amounts because, to the player, losing credits may not seem as negative as losing money.

Arm or button

Once the player has selected how many lines they want to bet, pulling the arm or pressing the bet button locks the settings, selects a random number, and spins the reels.

We all need to get away. And if you’re like me, you want to go to one of the world’s top gambling cities, a place where legal gaming tops the menu. Casinosmake great bases out of which to vacation. Of course, there is the clang of slot machines, the tumble of dice and the divvying of cards at the blackjack table.

Just as importantly, though, when you are in a great casino there is so much to do. The world’s best casinos function as self-contained hotspots.

They come complete with top-notch restaurants, luxurious spas, round-the-clock room service, usually a fabulous swimming pool and some iteration of top-flight entertainment. Then, of course, there is the gambling and the fact that casinos tend to be located in cool cities.

Wishing you pleasant travels, here is a list of the five greatest gambling cities in the world and why you should visit them.

LAS VEGAS

Las Vegas, situated on the edge of America’s Mojave Desert, has long reigned as the king of gambling locales.

Taking into account the number of casinos there, it ranks as the biggest casino city in the world. Las Vegas has more than 170 casinos and over 90 casino hotels – that is, places to stay where gambling is on offer. It’s also a place with different gambling neighborhoods to accommodate the budgets and lifestyles of visitors.

Everywhere features non-stop games and great sports betting. The sports books all have giant TVs and comfy seats that make it a pleasure to hang out and watch the basketball or football or whatever-kind-of-ball unfold with wagers that make it all the more exciting.

Most famously, there is the Vegas Strip, with the fanciest hotels, highest stakes gambling and best-known restaurants. Top places to stay at on the Strip include Bellagio, Wynn Las Vegas, Cosmopolitan and Fontainebleau.

Fontainebleau is the newest, it boasts terrific restaurants such as Mother Wolf and Papi Steak, a private club on the top floor and a cool nightclub called Liv.

Bellagio has the famous fountains, its own clutch of great dining spots and a poker room where pros like to play.Cosmopolitan skews a little younger and splashier with the semi-private Talon Club for high rollers.

Created by taste-maker Steve Wynn, Wynn Las Vegas is known for posh accommodations, mega high limits, a poker room of its own and great entertainment with resident performers like the magician David Blaine.

A more suburban experience is to be had in the neighborhood known as Summerlin, where Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa rules the roost. It’s a Strip-quality casino with easy access to hiking and more rural explorations.

Downtown Vegas is an older precinct where the best place, for my money, is Circa. A great feature there is Stadium Swim, a pool that never closes, which essentially functions as an outdoor sports book with games being shown on a giant screen. Barry’s Downtown Prime is a phenomenal, subterranean steakhouse and Saginaw’s Delicatessen serves the best pastrami in town.

If you love gambling, Las Vegas is a place that you must visit.

MACAU

A ferry ride away from Hong Kong, Macau is often referred to as Las Vegas of the East. The name is justified, considering that Macau is the biggest gambling city in Asia.

In fact, in terms of gambling revenue, it often outshines Las Vegas. There are 24 casinos on Macau Peninsula, which is the original gambling hub there, and 17 in a second gambling ‘hood, referred to as the Cotai Strip.

Visitors to Vegas will recognize familiar names in Macau. The city boasts outposts of Wynn, MGM Grand and Venetian.

Similar to what is found in Las Vegas, Macau’s joints offer 24/7 action on the casino floor and all the sports betting you can desire.

Native casinos include the old school Lisboa, Macau Palace (on the water, it is often described as a “floating casino”) and City of Dreams with its Michelin-starred restaurants, four hotels and high-energy vibe.

One thing unique to Macau is the overriding love of playing baccarat. That game rules in the casinos. It’s not unusual for baccarat tables to roll out for as far as the eye can see.

When visiting Macau, make like a local, sip from a glass of milky tea and buy into a game of baccarat. From there, your only decision will be whether you should wager on the banker or player.

MONTE CARLO

If you’ve seen the James Bond movies “Never Say Never Again” and “Golden Eye,” you would naturally be thirsting for a visit to Monte Carlo.

Besides being a top gambling destination, it ranks as one of the world’s most luxurious destinations (regardless of the gaming). Yachts crowd the waterfront, Michelin-starred restaurants warrant a visit and the casino gambling experience is as opulent as it gets. The must-play spot there is Casino de Monte Carlo.

The elite gambling den opened in 1856 and still retains a sense of old-world elegance with high-stakes blackjack, baccarat, craps and roulette among the games of choice.

One thing unlikely to repeat from the old days: in 1913, the ball in a roulette game is said to have landed on black 26 times in a row. Millions of francs were blown, as bettors wagered on the streak being broken. It finally was, of course, but, by then, the casino had loaded up on winnings.

If you gamble high enough, angle for a comped room at Hotel de Paris, in close proximity to Casino de Monte Carlo and dripping one-of-a-kind elegance.

SINGAPORE

Everyone knows that Singapore is a great food city, but it is also one of the top gambling cities in the world.

Marina Bay Sands there is fantastic for more than gambling, and clearly appeals to players who believe that bigger is better. The largest gambling resort in the world, Marina Bay Sands houses 2,500 rooms, enough swimming pools that you will never get bored of paddling around and an outpost of Universal Studios for the kid in all of us.

But of course, we are there for the gambling and there is no shortage of that.

The gaming floor boasts more than 600 table games – including craps, blackjack and baccarat, with every variation and side-bet that you may desire – plus 2,300 slot machines. And when you get hungry from all the action, check out eateries from celebrity chefs Wolfgang Puck, Gordon Ramsey and Daniel Bolud.

LONDON

With all there is to do in the capital city of England, you might not think of casino gambling as being a key attraction. But, in fact, London counts itself among the world’s greatest gambling cities and the place is completely poker crazy.

There are more than 20 casinos, with the Hippodrome and the Empire, both in Leister Square, ranking among great places for a punt.

On the other end of things, there are private casinos such as Crockfords (where Kelly Sun and Phil Ivey attempted to pull off their high-flying baccarat play via edge sorting before it all unraveled) and Crown London Aspinalls. They are designed for high rollers and operate on intimate scales.

Whatever you go for, though, you will surely have a blast in one of the world’s hottest casino destinations.

We all hope to hit it big at the casino. For most of us, winning a few thousand dollars would be the dream come true. Then there are those who lived the dream writ large. They won millions instead of thousands, and the payoffs were life changing. Making these victories even more special, they got snagged in single sessions, not over the course of multiple nights spent grinding it out.

What does it take to rack up a jaw-dropping win? Sometimes, you need strategy and a knowledge of the game you’re playing. Always, there looms the unpredictable luck factor, which invariably plays a key role in massive payoffs at the tables. And finally, since one never knows when luck will strike, there is something to be said for putting up the money and being game to go for it.

Here are some of our favorite big winners, people we salute for their abilities to keep wagering and to not quit until they got to where they wanted to end up.

Kerry Packer holds the crown for being one of the biggest and most prolific gamblers in the world. The Australian billionaire’s winningest night of all? A 1997 run he had at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. He is said to have played blackjack for $200,000 per hand, covering six spots at a time. So, each of the dealer’s hands had $1.2 million on the table with Packer giving himself six opportunities to win or lose.

During this infamous streak, he clearly won more than he lost. In fact, the wins are so large that it is unclear exactly how much he ultimately took down. While it’s reported to be as much as $40 million, a pal who was there has claimed that the total is closer to $26 million. Whatever the case, the sum was jaw dropping. And not just for him. When all was said and done, Packer reportedly tipped the MGM crew $1 million. Clearly, it was a good night for everyone – except for the holders of purse strings at MGM Grand.

It’s Never Too Late to Score Millions

While it’s easy to believe that gambling is best enjoyed by young people, Johanna Heundl is an exception to that rule.

She proved her mettle in 2002 while celebrating her 74th birthday in Las Vegas. Like almost everyone visitor to Sin City, she figured that she would take lady luck for a spin.

Heundl did it via a progressive slot machine at Bally’s, laying out $100 to try winning the $3,000 progressive. But that didn’t work out. Her money got drained. Rather than quitting and heading off for eggs or pancakes or whatever, Heundl ponied up another 100 bucks.

Things were not looking good on the rebuy until, some $70 in, she hit a jackpot that far exceeded $3,000. Heundl was thrilled with what she believed to be a $2 million payday. When staff strolled by, though, she found out that she was wrong.

In fact, her payout was $22.6 million. Clearly, it was the greatest birthday present imaginable and nobody complained about her being late for breakfast.

Squeezing Tropicana

The professional gambler Don Johnson has won tons of money and reaped loads of comps from casinos around the world. But his most stunning win has got to be the one that he engineered at the Tropicana in Atlantic City.

As with Packer, Johnson excelled at blackjack. He found his edge by demanding advantageous rules: a hand-shuffled six deck game, re-splitting Aces, dealer stands on soft 17 and a 20 percent discount on losses.

All of that, combined with incredible luck – as Johnson has acknowledged to me – allowed the blackjack whiz to fleece the Tropicana out of nearly $6 million over the course of an on-fire 12-hour-long session in 2010.

For obvious reasons, Johnson was unenthusiastic about the world getting wind of his massive takedown. But that became impossible after bosses at the casino made public that its poor financial showing for a particular quarter was due to the win of a player named Don Johnson.

The revelation gave Johnson notoriety in the gambling world, but it also led to casino managers handling him with care and, eventually, not providing him with the rules he needed to keep winning. But Johnson doesn’t mind all that much. Blackjack was just a side hustle for him. He makes his real money handicapping horse racing, and that continues to go strong.

Clocking the Wheel

In his book “Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk,” the world-class sports bettor Billy Walters writes about clocking roulette wheels.

He put together a team of people who traveled to casinos around the United States and found biases on the wheels. After all, they are mechanical devices and prone to mechanical glitches. Recognizing the wheels with specific biases that resulted in certain numbers hitting more often than they would if the game was completely randomize, he set out to win millions of dollars.

Among his biggest scores: nearly $4 million, aced during a 38-hour session at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, which was then owned by Steve Wynn. Walters bet $2,000 per spin on the same five numbers: 7, 10, 20, 27 and 36. He managed a magnificent profit at a game that statistically comes out on top against gamblers. Of course, though, with his hard-earned knowledge, Walters was not exactly gambling.

Putin’s Prize

This, strictly speaking, is not a gambling win, but it did come down in a Vegas casino, it did happen in a single session and it is too juicy to not include among our favorites.

In 2018, the Russian UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov successfully defended his lightweight title in a match against Conor McGregor. According to UFC President Dana White, Nurmagomedov was on his way to the dressing room when he received a call from Vladimir Putin. The Russian strong man, according to White, “gave him and his father like $20 million worth of property in Russia.” As far as we’re concerned, that’s a heck of a Vegas win.

Maybe Putin was impressed by Nurmagomedov post-victory tactics: He jumped into the crowd and mixed it up with a teammate of McGregor.

And while the real estate windfall is nice, it’s hard to keep from wondering what Putin might have done if Nurmagomedov had lost the match.

It’s easy to stay at one of the new, shimmering casinos on the Las Vegas Strip or thereabouts. And we’re advocates for doing just that.

The Fontainebleau, for example, is new, cushy and compelling. Opened late last year, it features a state-of-the-art spa, fabulous restaurants (La Fontaine is a terrific Frenchified spot for gourmet dining) and a nightclub that will have you dancing all night.

But, also, there is something to be said for checking into the town’s oldest joints. They tend to be comfortable, friendly, dripping with history and best bets for value hunters. Knowing where Las Vegas used to be can provide a great counterbalance to explorations of where the ever-changing city is heading next.

Here then are four of our favorite casino/hotels that drip history and provide great experiences.

GOLDEN GATE

Not only is this the oldest continually running gambling den in Las Vegas, but it is also a great bargain with recently renovated rooms usually going for less than $100 per night, even on the weekends. Opened in 1906, the Golden Gate was lauded for its electric lighting and steam heat.

The city’s first phone number was installed at the Golden Gate, though gambling was temporarily put on ice – between 1910 and 1931, when the likes of poker and roulette were outlawed in the burgeoning Sin City.

These days of course, the place, fittingly situated at 1 Fremont Street, is loaded with all the gambling you can desire. Upon checking in, don’t forget to get a gander at the display case, which features mementos from the early days.

EL CORTEZ

This is my favorite place to gamble. I love the clutch of blackjack tables located in the rear of the casino, with low limits, friendly dealers and a good-natured pit crew.

Best of all: The single deck games that pay 3 to 2 on blackjacks (these days, the much less advantageous 6 to 5 seems to be everywhere outside of the high limit rooms).

Located downtown, right on Fremont Street, the El Cortez was built in 1941 and billed as downtown LV’s first full-on resort.In 1945, the joint was purchased by a group of mobsters who included Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky. Tribute is now paid to Bugsy via the Cortez restaurant, Siegel’s 1941, where the prime rib special is a must-order item.

Beyond the food, the Parlor Bar puts on performances of bands playing vintage jazz that takes you back to another era. Back it up with a quick jaunt through the Cortez’s History Hallway, where black-and-white photos capture the early days of Vegas in general and the El Cortez in particular.

If you want to soak up history with comfort and style, be sure to reserve one of the hotel’s 47 original rooms. They received top to bottom renovations in 2022. No doubt, Bugsy Siegel would approve.

GOLDEN NUGGET

The Nugget, as it’s known, reigns one of the fancier places downtown and it was built to be that way, constructed at a cost of $1 million in 1946. The joint’s founder, Guy McAffee, was perfect for Vegas. He came there from nearby Los Angeles with a posse of mobster pals and a history of running illegal nightclubs after his stint as a crooked cop.

Reportedly, McAffee invited 20,000 people to the grand opening and hosted some of the highest poker games in town. Over time, though, the Golden Nugget was eventually eclipsed by places on the Vegas Strip. If it did not exactly go to seed, well, it was on the way.

In 1972, Steve Wynn came to the rescue. Taking a controlling interest, he restored the Golden Nugget back to its original luster. The place changed hands multiple times after Wynn sold it to MGM and MGM sold it to a fresh set of owners. Wynn, if nothing else, was a masterful showman, and the place retains no small amount of head-turning amenities.

Tourists come to check out the Tank Pool – loaded with sharks – and guests enjoy the $30 million swimming pool, complete with a slides that whip you through the shark tank. Thanks to Plexiglass encasement, a drop into the pool is a gamble in which you can’t lose. Goldennugget.com

THE FLAMINGO

While Guy McAffee was getting the Golden Nugget in motion, his organized crime pal Bugsy Siegel was breaking ground on a main thoroughfare that came to be known as the Las Vegas Strip.

That’s where the Fabulous Flamingo stood. Opened in 1946, it was the third casino to be built on the Strip (first up on what would pretty much define Vegas was the El Rancho) and stood out as the costliest spot in town, constructed with a $6 million budget.

The idea was right – put up luxurious digs (including Seigel’s penthouse, which took up the entire fourth floor), bring in top-flight entertainment (the likes of Jimmy Durante and later Wayne Newton), lure rich gamblers from around the world – but the execution must have been flawed. The Flamingo flopped in record time. By 1947, other mobsters had it under their control and Seigel took a bullet to the head in June of that year.

What marked the end of Seigel also seemed to mark the beginning of the Flamingo and high-end Vegas as we now know it. The property turned over $4 million in profit during 1948 and Vegas proved to be fertile ground for organized crime.

While the Flamingo has switched ownership a number of times – one of the bosses, in 1953, added the Champagne Tower, which was fronted with bubbling neon – it is now in the hands of Caesars Entertainment and rules as the oldest, still-operating casino on the Strip.

The tropical themed pool remains in full effect and the spirit of Hunter S. Thompson, who stayed there while reporting “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” still haunts some of the rooms. Speaking of which, the Fab Rooms are the oldest and most loaded with history (a plus or minus, depending on how you see things) and high-floor Flamingo rooms are the pinkest and newest and offer views of the flamingo loaded Habitat.

Where would I stay? Like a blackjack player dealt a pair of Aces, I’d split ‘em, and spend half of my time in each room.

Are you looking for the best, the very, very best times I have ever had? There might be a single problem with them, as some are not around anymore or some of them might be played only in locals casinos.

1. How would you like to play a single-deck blackjack game where all but one card was dealt from the deck and then the deck was reshuffled from the cards in the discard pile?

Single deck blackjack with all except one card played. Yes, this was the best blackjack game my wife, the Beautiful AP, and I played at the Maxim Casino Hotel in the summer of 1992 or thereabouts.

2. When the dealer ran out of cards, he just grabbed the discards, shuffled them, and played what remained in the game. Yep! A basic strategy player had an edge at this game because …

You could surrender your hand if you wanted.

Any blackjack with $5 wagered earned you a dollar that could be spent anywhere in the casino. Even for meals in the gourmet room!

The odds were about one in 20 that a player received a blackjack. That plus the 3-to-2 payouts meant those blackjacks were quite valuable. Of course, those $1 payouts didn’t go up as you increased your bets but still … come on! Free money!

I learned a method of play (called end game from Paul Kean, a master blackjack player), and that plus the basic odds of that wonderful game gave us an edge over the house. Paul was one of the teachers of blackjack great Ken Uston.

My wife and I spent eight weeks in Vegas until we had to return home to our jobs – we were both teachers at the time. We played eight to 10 hours a day, two hands each. We were somewhat well-off teachers after that time. All our debts were paid off.

They only had four tables available for that magnificent game and we came down early and played all day. Two hands for each of us too!

We’d go out to dinner and I played craps most nights, working on my controlled dice throw (took me three years to learn it!). I used the Captain’s throw as my guide but seriously it was the hardest thing I ever tackled in my gaming career.

But I could even see in the early 1990s that blackjack was starting to change. Multiple-deck games were becoming the norm – not all at once but slowly you could see the writing was soon on the wall.

A few weeks after the Beautiful AP and I returned home the Maxim ended their game and that was that for that game.

Playing Baccarat in the High Roller Rooms

In the good old days of the casinos, just about every high roller room had the large baccarat table with large minimums (in those days $100 to $200). I liked playing in those. The game was slow and the dealers were truly well-dressed and responsive since tips were plentiful.

Given that the house edge on the two best bets were 1.06% on the Banker wager and 1.24% on the Player wager, baccarat is a close game between players and casinos. It was also a slow game – which was really, really good. The slower was the better for the player; the faster was the better for the house.

Since the Banker won more often than the Player I always bet banker. The lower the house edge; the less you lose. The higher house edge; the more you lose.

Baccarat attracted many as in many, many superstitious players. You will note that some table numbers do not appear on the game – number 4 and a couple of others.

My most fun came when I found myself sitting across from a wealthy and truly nutty lady whose English wasn’t actually English. I think she was Asian but even that was hard to determine since she always had a scowl on her face.

It took me some minutes to realize that she and I had a relationship of sorts. “Of sorts” is the right term. I won a couple of hands in a row and all of a sudden she ran around to my side of the table and stuck her face into my face and screamed.

A couple of the people she was with took her by her arms and led her back to the table. She was glaring at me.

I won a third hand in a row. She was (I kid you not) growling. Her companion held her arm – I guess to prevent her from running to my side of the table.

I didn’t play the next round. Nor did she. I didn’t play the next round either. Nor did she.

Then I realized what she was doing. She was counter betting me. If I bet Player; she bet Bank. Now for some fun. You see, as I said, I always bet Bank. It was the best bet at the table so I always made that bet.

I would see what she did as I made my Banker bets. I was so hoping – and praying – that I could hit a long, long winning streak on the Banker bet. That would – I assumed – drive her crazy. And that drive wouldn’t be a long trip for her; I can assure you of that.

Okay, I made a Player bet. Yes, yes, I made a Player bet. She made a Bank bet. I quickly switched to Bank bet just as the dealer signaled for the game to start. Bingo! She was now betting with me.

Her eyes bugged out and she garbled something. She stood up. Her companion took her arm and settled her down. We lost the bet. Boo-hoo!

I then bet Player again. She waited and waited. Then the deal hit and I quickly moved my bet over to Banker. She stood up. Was she going to attack me?

Oh, I forgot to mention, she was a truly short lady. Wrinkled too. She didn’t seem old but I’m guessing her emotions had left their marks on her skin. I won again!

I could see now that she was struggling. Emotionally struggling. I made a Banker bet. Would she bet with me or against me?

She bet with me. I won again! This was better than I had hoped for. This was glorious. I could see she had a full head of steam seemingly coming out of her ears.

Then she got up and ran to my side of the table. Oh, boy, I thought, I’m in trouble now.

She took me by the head (she was awfully strong for such a little lady) and she kissed me. A big wet kiss. She was jabbering in her language – whatever language it was – and she hugged me. Then she ran out of the room.

That was the last I saw of her. And then, as the gods of chance would have it, I went on a losing streak.

The Greatest Dice Rolls I Ever Saw

The greatest dice roll I was ever on I wrote about in one of my books. The roll was 147 numbers – the second-longest roll ever accomplished (at least as far as I know). That was the Captain. That roll I will leave for readers of my books to enjoy.

The most impressive roll was by the woman known as “the Arm.” The rolls themselves were not more than 15 or 20 numbers or so. No. In fact, roll by roll, it wasn’t what you would call special. Plenty of shooters can roll 15 to 20 numbers right?

It was New Years Eve and the Captain was at the craps table at the Claridge in Atlantic City. This was somewhere in the vicinity of 1993.

At that time, the Claridge was a favorite hangout for the Captain. And also, for his crew of high rollers. There were 22 of these guys and most of them played craps. Some also played blackjack; a few even played slots. But the main game was craps.

The table was cold. Horribly, awfully, hideously cold. “Get the Arm down here, Captain.” “Come on Captain. Get the Arm.” “This table is freezing.”

The Arm was the best dice controller I ever saw. She had a unique throw and she more often than not would make money for the Captain and his crew. She didn’t gamble but she would, when asked nicely, shoot the dice. The Captain would put up a Pass Line bet for her and she was usually off to the races after that.

She entered the casino shortly after she was called. The crowd (I swear this!) parted as if she were Moses crossing the Red Sea. She took her place at the table, took the dice, rolled a four, then immediately rolled the four again.

And for about an hour that is what she did. She’d roll a number then hit that number again within a roll or two. She did seven-out at times but these seven outs were not often. I watched the greatest dice controller ever that night and it was, when all was said and done, a very happy New Years for the Captain, the Crew and, yes, me.

The Beautiful AP and I Stumbled on A Biased Roulette Wheel

Roulette players of the I-hope-I can-stick-it-to-the-casino school of thought are always looking for biased wheels where certain numbers come up more than others in long-range calculations. Indeed, over history some players have found such wheels.

This is an extensive project, recording hundreds (make that thousands) of spins. Very few players ever find such roulette wheels and when I played roulette I never bothered to look. I just played my red and black colors for small amounts and I was done with the game.

I always played in casinos where a green zero meant the casino only took half your bet. That brought the house edge down to 2.63% on the double zero wheel and down to 1.35% on the single-zero wheel. That game was a good one but, no matter what, no edge could be found.

All the Atlantic City casinos had that game and a few Las Vegas casinos offered it too.

Our normal Las Vegas and Atlantic City days were repetitive. We’d head out early in the morning to play blackjack for a couple of hours, then go for a walk or run or swim, then eat breakfast, then take a nap, then go out again later, then return and at night go to a show after a scrumptious dinner.

We might play a little roulette in the evening or craps (low, low, and lower wagers on both of those games) and we’d do the same thing the next day. Our trips lasted a week or two.

This particular morning in Las Vegas, we headed out to play blackjack at a locals casino that had a good game. As we passed the roulette table I noticed three numbers that were next to each other on the wheel that had been selected and we headed out.

A couple of hours later we came back and I noticed the same three numbers on the scoreboard – each separated by a few other numbers. Wow! They had hit again.

We worked out; took naps and then headed to our afternoon casino again. We passed that roulette table and two of those numbers were again up on the scoreboard.

“Let’s wait a couple of spins,” I said. We did. In a few spins, one of the numbers came up. Then we headed out.

“There are a few numbers that are repeating,” I said.

“There are always numbers repeating,” said the Beautiful AP. “I doubt there are any biased wheels in a fancy casino such as this.”

We played blackjack and walked back into the hotel. We walked past the roulette table. All three numbers were on the scoreboard.

Back to the room for another nap. Then we went to dinner. Before that, however, we passed the roulette table and two of the numbers showed again on the scoreboard. I stopped. “Let’s play a few numbers,” I said. “Maybe we have a biased wheel here.”

We were a few minutes early for dinner so AP and I sat at the roulette table and I bet the minimum bet on the three numbers.

A few spins later, one of them hit. A few spins after, another one hit. Then the same one right after that. We waited about eight spins later and … we were off to the races!

This was a biased wheel! Holy mackerel! We played that wheel for a while when the pit boss came over. He asked if we were having a good day. “Yes!” I said.

Here is what happened. No one else played those numbers. They all had their own ways to play the wheel. No one even seemed to noticed that our numbers were hitting. Over and over!

“We’re closing this table but you are free to go to another table to play,” said the pit boss. He closed the table and the other players (who groused a little), got up and went to the new table.

We went to dinner. Flushed with one of the biggest wins of our careers! We ate silently for a few minutes.

“That’s never going to happen again,” I said.

“No, it’s not,” said the Beautiful AP. We sat silently.

“It will make a good article,” I said.

“No one will believe it,” she said.

“Probably not,” I said.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

It’s 4 in the morning at Durango Casino and Resort. You’ve been riding the gambler’s roller coaster all night long, swinging between wins and losses, pressing bets and taking walks when they seem appropriate. Between it all, you capitalized on a comped dinner at the absolutely fantastic Nicco’s steakhouse.

Unable to decide between fish or beef, you opted for both: citrus fed filet mignon for the entrée and a few langoustines as an appetizer. The warm butter toffee cake was impossible to resist for dessert.

But that was hours ago. In the gambling pit of recently opened Durango, you ran the gamut, going from slot machines to blackjack to craps. Then there were the pre-season football games you bet on – plus a futures bet for the Super Bowl champion in 2025. You started out with a crew of four friends. One by one, they disappeared – sick of gambling, having won enough or lost too much, and just plain tired.

Hero that you are, you kept going, loving the action and hanging on for the swings, until you are finally satisfied with your starting stake and a pocket full of multi-colored chips – including a couple of purples – for your trouble.

You could go to sleep. But, why? Instead, you repair to The George, Durango’s 24-hour eatery, for steak and eggs – more beef, but you are in Vegas and that seems like the right thing to do – and a reckoning of the night’s results. It is the perfect way to end your gambling spree.

The Durango, which opened late last year, is not the most obvious place in which to try your luck in Las Vegas. Located away from the neon drenched Vegas Strip, it stands on its own and is a luxurious, elegant, comfortable option for gambling as well as sleeping (the rooms are large and welcoming, with high ceilings and comfy beds). Great for those who want to avoid the bustle and congestion of what we think to be Vegas proper, it is a great alternative spot in which to get down and enjoy the action that defines Sin City.

“You come into town and get here 80 percent quicker than you get to a place on the Strip on a Friday night,” Durango’s general manager David Horn tells 888casino. “For a lot of people, it’s refreshing to avoid the craziness and stay here.”

Luxury Away from the Strip

Gaming rules at Durango lean toward the liberal (which means that you win more or lose less, depending on how things shake out at the tables), all of the newest slot machines are in place and the crowd – many of whom are locals on nights off of working in other casinos – provides a nice change from the touristy throngs that dominate gambling joints on the Strip.

“We’re creating unique experiences,” says Horn. “We’re doing that with natural lighting, keeping the casino bright and being easy on the eyes [in terms of décor]. The idea is to make it feel tranquil in some places and high energy in others.”

The Durango has long been in the making, and the finished product ranks among the nicest casinos in Leas Vegas. The place has a clean, California-style aesthetic. All the standard games are there on the casino floor. High limit gaming areas for slots and table games both rank as showstoppers.

“We make sure high-limit is inviting,” says Horn of the table-gaming enclave where betting minimums begin at $100 per hand and go as high as $300 on busy nights. “There’s a nice bar in there – where players can relax and feel like they are in a bit of a hideaway. There’s a private cage” – for cashing out discreetly – “and TVs all over the place so that you never miss a game.”

Slot players with deep pockets do not exactly get the short shrift.

“The chairs are comfortable, and the room feels good, but customer service is key,” says Horn. “We swap out machines, set up requested machines ahead of a player’s arrival, move things around if need be. We have quite a few machines that are first to brand.”

Keeping Gamblers Happy

Because the casino is not on the Strip, where visitors to Vegas make a pastime of roaming from casino to casino, Durango has to be enticing enough to keep guests in house and occupied. Right now, the pool – “It’s set up,” says Horn, “so that you go there and feel like you are getting away from everything” – is one way of making visitors stick around. The sportsbook is another.No ordinary sportsbook, The George Sportsman’s Lounge is built into the aforementioned George.

“It wraps around an experience that is not just for the sports bettor,” says Horn. “You can come here, bet on the games, enjoy dinner and make a night of it by finishing up with a UFC party on the back patio.”

And if you get hungry during the day – of course you will – a well-thought-out food hall replaces the more standardized food court that has long been a staple of casinos aimed at locals. But in Durango’s iteration, there is no McDonalds in sight. Instead, there are Vegas outposts of cool local restaurants from around the United States as well as some unique to Durango.

As a New Yorker, it did my heart good to see Prince Street Pizza, a downtown Manhattan staple. And, like at the original, there was a line to get a slice. As always, the wait was worth it.

Other spots worth checking out for a quick bite: Irv’s Burgers, Uncle Paulie’s Italian deli and El Pono Café with Hawaiian street food.

Plus, occupying a middle ground between gourmet and everyman is Fiorella, a pasta joint that comes courtesy of Italian food maestro Marc Vetri.

More formal, after the sun goes down, are options that include the market-driven Summer House and Mijo Modern Mexican Restaurant, which lives up to its name.

High Rollers

Then, of course, there are the gamblers who never have to wait on lines for anything, the ones who gamble so high that the casino completely rolls out the red carpet for them. They take their shots in Durango’s private gaming rooms.

“We have three salons here,” Horn says, referring to the refined spaces for discreet gamblers who like to play behind closed doors – often with friends and karaoke machines and a selection of top shelf liquor to help things along – and wager between $1,000 and $10,000 per hand. “Games being played in the salons tend to be split between blackjack and baccarat. Maximum limits are discussed with the guests.”

Back inside The George, your chips are organized and you’re ready to cash out with a tidy profit. Your steak and eggs are finished off and you just found out that tonight the spot will feature live entertainment, right outside, on the patio – plus sports to be wagered on and watched on the big screen monitors.

It’s a good bet that you’ll be there to take it all in.