Blackjack Strategy Tips from Caesar's!

Hey all,

I just received the latest issue of Total Rewards magazine, the magazine for players club members of Caesars casinos. Here are some super helpful Blackjack strategy tips straight out of the magazine!

*"How you play will affect the cards your tablemates get"
*Never split tens: "Why risk losing twice and messing up the rotation of the cards"`
*When to hit or stand: "If you are dealt a 12 or better, stay put"
*"Tip your dealer"

Shame on Caesars!!!

http://www.caesars.com/emagazine/fall_2011/?ed_rid=21PRE6-LHPI7-KERWAB-HF79MF-WLPX11-v1&ed_mid=3289106

it does say against a bust card for the stay on 12.

id say biggest shame is tip the dealer

Quote: cardshark

*"How you play will affect the cards your tablemates get"

I've seen so many fights (some physical) started because someone at third base hits their 12 v 2 and "takes the dealer's bust card". I've even gotten dirty looks for surrendering 16 v 10 from third base as if its my duty to hit and take the dealer's small card. Ironically these same people will no doubt give dirty looks if you hit a 16 v 10 and take the dealers bust card. As if youre magically supposed to know. Sometimes when sitting at 3rd base I feel like taking a vote at the table to see what the consensus is about hitting a 16 v 10 and 12 v 2 and whether or not it will "mess up the rotation of the cards". At my local casino its like people are afraid to sit at third base because they know all the ignorant people will be blaming them for their own losses. Yet these ignorant people who seem to magically know when the rotation of the cards is being disturbed never volunteer to sit at 3rd base and be the saviors of the table. At the same time it seems good business for the casinos to reinforce this bad play so that good strategy players are peer-pressured or intimidated into playing like the herd of bad players.

Quote: cardshark

I just received the latest issue of Total Rewards magazine,

Hold it folks. That is an internal Puff Piece compendium magazine that publishes a series of articles usually in some sort of indiscernible sequence such as Pastry Chef's Biography, Life of a Casino Bartender, The Exotic Mysteries of Casino War, Lifestyes of the Rich and Famous Professional Keno Players, How You Too Can Master The Arcane Secrets Of Slot Machines In Ten Easy Lessons.

Such a light, airy Puff Piece magazine balances each issue geographically and tries to find a balance suitable for the young and old as well as the poor and the rich. These are designed to keep card holders in the fold, they are not rigorously scholarly tutorials.

And I see nothing wrong with Tip Your Dealer though most places only write an article on HOW TO Tip Your Dealer, leaving the decision to the player. I'm sure the dealers are happy to see that Tip Your Dealer.

Now as to this Pre-Ordained Destiny of the Cards and the sacred duty incumbent upon a player to see that the Circle Shall Be UnBroken, I don't know if uttering such rubbish is all that wrong in such a setting. Its a current fad to believe this and the writer probably doesn't even play Blackjack any more than the writer mixes the drinks or makes the pastries. I'm sure we could approach that writer and provide a certified copy of the Oath of the Blackjack Player and if we could really pull it off and get it published, I'd sure love to give it a try. The writer knows as much about Blackjack as any other journalism major who got a job writing an in house organ. You can't do all the footnotes in a puff piece. You can't settle who won the Civil War in a one page article. I'm sure this Blackjack article prominently features a lovely young model posing as a Blackjack player and an equally lovely young model posing as a dealer. The text is a minor part of the article and the accuracy of the text and its completness is hardly a matter of any misunderstanding.

Fleastiff, my post is intended as a public shaming of Casaers. Why? For publishing and distributing an article to its player base with misleading advice. They make this advice look authoritative - the publication comes directly from the casino and features quotes from one of their blackjack dealers. Naive and new players would not know that the advice is misleading and would actually cause them to lose more in the long run (especially the bit about not hitting 12's or better).

Yes, it is a puff piece, yes it isn't illegal what they are doing. I think its immoral, though. If Caesars were an upstanding corporation (yes, I know that is an oxymoron), they would only publish correct strategies, or not publish a strategy at all.

I'd all also like to point out that this isn't the first time Caesars has printed misleading advice for its games. See this post I made a year and a half ago:

Quote: cardshark

"Sitting in my inbox was the latest edition of the Total Rewards magazine. I guess these are sent out to any Total Rewards member who gives them their email address. For those of you that don't know, Total Rewards is Harrah's comp system.

Some snippets from the magazine:

On the subject of Three Card Poker...
"There is one instance where other players may affect your cards. If someone gets up and leaves the table, consider scaling back your bet and see if you still get the type of hands that previously kept you on your winning streak."

"Bendinelli recommends playing the long-odds Pair Plus early and often. 'For the Pair Plus payouts, we go from 1:1 to 50:1,' he says. So if you are going to be at the table for a while, its a good, regular investment of some of your chips because you'll typically get a pair or better in 25% of your hands."

Shame on you Harrah's!"

https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/off-topic/gripes/957-more-shame-for-harrahs/

>my post is intended as a public shaming of Casaers.
Well, its been called the Evil Empire so I guess they've merited public shaming for decades.
>For publishing and distributing an article to its player base with misleading advice.
Well, I don't like what they've done and I certainly it would be more desirable for them to have been forthright but its not as if anyone is going to really rely on it. Its sort of like those maps that are published in a magazine with a little box that says "Not to be used for navigation".

>they would only publish correct strategies, or not publish a strategy at all.
That would be desirable but hardly within their goals for a light publication.

A one paragraph and one chart piece that was accurate could have been done. Heck they could have stolen something from The Wizard or the Bluejay and it would have been a better piece. I'll admit its not desirable. I just question whether its all that impact-laden? I mean you hit 12 if the dealer has 2 but stand if he has 3to6 and hit if he as 7 or more. Its not that difficult for the author to do it right.

I'm more concerned with the Destiny of the Cards stuff. Its a currently hot topic and most players seem to erroneously believe that they have a right to their pre-destined cards. Its similar to the First Base-Third Base argument: it won't be settled in a puff piece.

I saw "Blackjack University" at Mystic Lake many years ago where a dealer was giving lessons to a gathering crowd, and he gave some mis-information, but it was too many years ago for me to remember what. I read that in England pit bosses are required to tell the truth when asked for strategy tips by a player. Also, no tips (the toke type) are allowed, I think. They supposedly have some strategy rules posted at each table, including never split anything starting with an "F". This, of course, would be wrong if you can double after split, because you would split 4s vs. dealer 5s and 6s, but I have no idea if England allows double after split.

In the UK it used be such that you had no tipping allowed. This is no longer true.

Also the only splits allowed where Aces and Eights. That is not true any more, and there's more lee-way in the type of blackjack allowed to be spread. I highly doubt that pit bosses are forced to "tell the truth" as they may not know what it is. I suspect they are highly encouraged not to give advice. It seemed that way when I've played there.