World Series of Blackjack Rules

I understand your concern over this format being slow and uninteresting to the general pubic, but I'd hate to legitimize any of the bastardized versions of blackjack by showcasing them on TV. While SuperFun is a far cry from the worse versions, it's still substantially worse for the typical player than good ol' regular blackjack.

The principal problem with televising blackjack events in my opinion, is the fact that only the last few hands matter. Shorter rounds would help, and with insightful commentary some of the strategic moves could be highlighted. That assumes two things though: Players that actually make meaningful strategic moves, and commentators who understand the nuance of the plays. That's a tough order. (I do think Max Rubin did a nice job in the episode we've seen so far, with only one substantial error. He made a comment about Grosjean being able to take first high on the last hand, which wasn't possible. However, I suspect this may have been an editing error, where his statement wasn't actually about Grosjean.)

I've discussed a few ideas with producers about ways to add excitement to events for TV. One idea involved using the "Match Play" format, at least on the final hand, where all the players share the same cards. I don't know how effective it would be, but it's an idea. I'll be interested to see how opinions of the current show evolve as further episodes air.

One of the players on episode #3 will be none other than Micky Rosa,the guy who trained the MIT Counting Team from the book "Bringing Down The House"

...also features (besides yours truly) "MIT Mike" one of the other teammembers in the book.

The book is actively being developed as a film by Kevin Spacey's production company to be shot later this year -- with him playing the role of Rosa and (most likely) Tobey Maguire in the role of "Kevin Lewis" the main teammember in the book.

-hd.

thanks for the info-very cool.

or was she between you and MIT Mike?

I think you are playing the upright organ dude! ;> What I am referring to is having two firm assed dark brown bongos back up on the King Pin, then you make the waves roll and clap out some thunder with your hands and shout WHO LOVES YA BABY?! ;>

Ebony and Ivory
Work together in Harmony! laugh

It tells you that you will often be doing the opposite of what everyone else is doing. Let's say your odds are 1 out of 5 to win. If you are the only one to bet large at the beginning, you can get a 47% chance or close to 1 out of 2. Coming out with a 1 2 4 progression can give you a big edge. That is with your entire bankroll cut into 7 units. I've been winning tournies online for a while now, and reading Stans book, which is based on much of AC's knowledge, was a definite compliment to my skills. Once you know the rules, you make a plan how to beat them. I've taken 1st place tourney $ with a $20 buy in (min depo) due to some crazy rules that I have seen online. All it took was a conversation with the casino operator to figure out the easiest way to beat the game since they posted no understandable rules online.

I don't understand why Anthony Curtis made such radically large bets so early in the competition. Can anyone explain the logic? It looked to me like he was told in advance to do this, so that there would be extra "excitement" added to the game.

I think you have a point. I suspect he got carried away with the thing and tried to make an eye-opening variation from correct tourney strategy, based on an ovestimation the quality of the opposition.
Curtis was the best player at the table, I'm guessing the situation affected his judgement somewhat.
Or, maybe he just got unlucky, its easy to judge in retrospect.

on your left. You were in the center! But you are not the intimidator that I was thinking of. I was keeping tabs on you by peeking over your shoulder throughout most of the show though!