THE CAT AND MOUSE GAME, PART II

[zengrifter]

THE CAT AND MOUSE GAME, PART II: IS THE GAME OVER?

By Bill Zender
(From Blackjack Forum Volume XXIV #4, Fall 2005)
© 2005 Blackjack Forum

[Editor's Note: In this article, Bill Zender, a former Gaming Control agent and successful co-owner/casino manager of the Aladdin Hotel and Casino, discusses the resistance of casino managers to objective lessons in casino math he provided at a recent seminar at the University of Nevada, Reno. Any poker player knows that to get action, you have to give action--and that means, give your opponent a chance to win. But casinos seem to want to sit there like the tightest players in the world and give absolutely nobody any chance to win. Bill Zender provides an excellent casino-side analysis of the flaw in this kind of thinking. --Arnold Snyder]

Several years ago I wrote an article on blackjack, published in Blackjack Forum, that detailed the card counting "Cat and Mouse" game that went on at the old Aladdin Hotel and Casino in the mid 1990's. The article outlined what our pit management at the Aladdin were doing to triage the potential risk to our bankroll; identify advantage players in blackjack that posed a real monetary problem, ignore knowledgeable players who did not wager enough to present an immediate risk, and loosen procedures, especially game protection procedures, that would be beneficial to the profit potential of the games.

During this time I concluded, in agreement with several other gaming experts and even a number of professional players, that an ongoing atmosphere of cat versus mouse was necessary to extend the health and wealth of the casino...

... continued here - http://blackjackforumonline.com/content/catandmousegameparttwo.htm

 

[The Big Cowboy]

Question

I don't understand why these casino employees who run the blackjack tables have no fear of losing their jobs if they do not produce a good, bottom-line revenue. Usually in the private sector, if your revenues are falling, then something is wrong and needs to be fixed. Or they will go the way of the dodo. Can you explain this to me? I'm not clear how you can implement a defense that decreases revenue and still feel that you are secure in your job.

 

[zengrifter]

Bill has answered this question...

... here and in the past. It really takes a very intelligent & confident casino manager to understand and implement the Zender approach without fear that a negative flux will lead to the loss of job(s). In Vegas, among the Casinos that have taken the Zender approach to some extaent include Plaza and other Barrick/Tamares clubs, Palace Station to the exclusion of other Station properties, and Suncoast to the exclusion of other Coast properties. zg