Gaming Industry Club
Game and Money Management in Casinos
The management of a large casino is both elaborate and orderly. Tables for the major games, such as Blackjack, tend to be clustered around some central area, and groups of tables are supervised by 'pit bosses'.
The dealers and pit bosses ordinarily work eight-hour shifts, to make up three shifts per day; for most casinos in Nevada do not close. During the shifts, of course, the personnel have regular rest periods. Dealers, for example, are commonly assigned to a particular table, and relief dealers will rotate from table to table on a prescribed schedule. Frequent inventories are made of the turnover of money at each table. Play is suspended for a minute or two when the casino supervisory and security personnel visit a table to collect the accumulated cash and to keep the dealer's supply of chips at a satisfactory level.
Casinos vary somewhat in their degree of solicitude for the customers, but all provide free drinks, cigarettes, and other major or minor courtesies. The customer or the player usually does not even have to ask for these things, as they will be offered constantly. A modern casino is the exception to the platitude that you can be alone in a crowd. In addition to the pit bosses, other personnel keep unobtrusive but constant watch over the proceedings. Devices such as two-way mirrors, perhaps with magnification, provide vantage points for close scrutiny. Observers are not necessarily behind these mirrors at all times, but they can readily be stationed there if anything suspicious develops on the casino floor.
Security measures in a large casino are extensive, and personnel monitor everything: players, dealers, pit bosses, one another, and everything. You may be on a hidden camera when you play.
In terms of managing your money, it really is necessary for success at any game, as other of the principles presented. This one involves several important questions--- how much money do you need when you begin to play? How much can you reasonably expect to win? How should you size your individual bets? How should you appraise certain popular betting schemes, or 'systems'? Should 'luck' influence your play?
Basically, the sizing of bets involves a rather simple matter; they should be large when the deck is favorable and small otherwise. However, the tactics of varying bets to take advantage of a favorable deck must be tempered to avoid pressing the casino into adopting measures that compromise successful play. You should never gamble with money you cannot afford to lose. Chance fluctuations in the run of the cards can overcome a statistical advantage, and there is no absolute guarantee of winning.