LV Bear Interview @ BJINFO!

Mikeaber

Well-Known Member
ChefJJ said:
That's a bit extreme, but your take nonetheless.
Maybe calling it a lack of intelligence is extreme...no doubt. I think with the guy I was talking about, it is more a situation in which he just wants to leave his responsibility behind and make non-educated decisions. He's certainly not "stupid" when it comes to most other activities we have shared in the past. Taking the time to really understand the odds in a casino and then gaining the skill to have a "best chance" in those casinos, would be defeating the purpose for him.

I do not disagree with you ChefJJ when you say the losers are the ones who make it possible for APs and every other category to continue playing. But I do think that if folks knew enough about the game NOT to play the bad variations (like 6:5 BJ) and shoes cut of at 50% pen and dealers hitting soft 17, the casinos would improve the rules in the players' favor. I think Blackjack is such a traditional game in the casinos that they would continue offering it.

But at the same time, I do not think that there is going to be any change that we as BJ players would consider favorable. The novelty of Las Vegas (and gambling in general) to tourists is such that there seems for now anyway, to be a huge desire for those who wouldn't have considered Vegas a vacation destination ten years ago, to now want to go.

But, like you say, that is "my take" on it.
 

ChefJJ

Well-Known Member
Good stuff Mike...with gambling just a small part of many people's vacations to Vegas, you've got it right about many not really caring about small variations in rules. But I don't think it has anything to do with intelligence, perhaps more with gambling savvy, but not intellect.

good luck
 

aslan

Well-Known Member
This was one terrific interview. Thanks, LVB, ZG and Ken! This is the kind of information that I am always looking for. Priceless! I hope BJ as we know it still has a few good years left. I think LVB is dead on; there just isn't much we can do about the changes casinos will slowing make to counter advantage players. I wonder why casinos do act so slowly? Is it that there aren't enough advantage players to really make much difference in their profits? Is it that in some sense they are as uninformed or uncaring as the ploppies who finance their billion dollar digs? Is it that they fear a loss in business due to public lashback? I don't know what it is, but it stands to reason that they won't continue to offer a game that can be beat forever. First of all, eventually, even if it takes years, larger and larger numbers of people will learn how to beat them, and we know that they won't stand for that. Secondly, a little change here, a little change there, with only the outcry from a handful of APs (compared to the 99% ploppies), and they will have reduced the game to an exercise in futility. All I can say is, "Seize the day!"

Right now I am having the time of my life playing BJ. It was sobering to hear LVB talk about the boredom and the sense of not accomplishing anything to the benefit of others. I have recently been offered a nice part-time job, which I will now consider even more seriously after reading the interview. For those of you who don't know, I am currently retired.

I am happy that LVB will be a permanent fixture here, and once again I am grateful that he decided to share some of his experience here with us on the forum.
 

jack.jackson

Well-Known Member
zengrifter said:
"Shame on LV Bear!"
-- Stalker @ BJFO*
*(Referring to LVB granting an interview to Ken and his WBPITTW)

.
I wonder if the flurry of new members has something to do with that?
I also saw sonny blast somebody that posted four different kind of spam in less than a minute. Resistance is futile!:)
 

Mikeaber

Well-Known Member
aslan said:
I don't know what it is, but it stands to reason that they won't continue to offer a game that can be beat forever. First of all, eventually, even if it takes years, larger and larger numbers of people will learn how to beat them, and we know that they won't stand for that.
I agree with most everything you posted Aslan except for the quote above. I do NOT believe that "larger and larger numbers" will learn how to beat BJ. It would take too much effort. Yet, I still think the game will continue to degrade simply because the casinos will have what amounts to a captive audience (majority of people will play whatever the rules!) and the worse the rules for the players, the more the bottom line will be for the casino!

Good grief! Even outside of Vegas, you see tables packed that have 6:5 or even an Ante per hand of $.50 or more (Oklahoma).

They may state that the reason for multiple decks and bad rules is to counteract the exposure to Advantage Play, but I personally do not for a second believe it. It's that bottom line!
 
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aslan

Well-Known Member
Mikeaber said:
I agree with most everything you posted Aslan except for the quote above. I do NOT believe that "larger and larger numbers" will learn how to beat BJ. It would take too much effort. Yet, I still think the game will continue to degrade simply because the casinos will have what amounts to a captive audience (majority of people will play whatever the rules!) and the worse the rules for the players, the more the bottom line will be for the casino!

Good grief! Even outside of Vegas, you see tables packed that have 6:5 or even an Ante per hand of $.50 or more (Oklahoma).

They may state that the reason for multiple decks and bad rules is to counteract the exposure to Advantage Play, but I personally do not for a second believe it. It's that bottom line!
You may be right about it taking too much effort. I have a limited vantage point from which to judge, but my friends are asking me to show them how to count cards, and it was this, plus the fact that books about advantage play are proliferating like never before, that made me think there may be a threat of larger numbers to the casinos.
 

zengrifter

Banned
LVB Interview is now posted to the Interview Page. zg
"Shame on LV Bear!" (and that WBPITTW!)
-- 'You know who'
 
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