Derren Brown With Roulette

A few weeks back now Derren Brown appeared live on UK television in the final episode in the Derren Brown's The Events series. As I understood things, according to the great deal of Internet hype generated before the showing, Derren Brown intended to take down a casino by predicting where a ball would land on a roulette wheel and winning a lucky viewer £175,000. But he didn't do it. That's right: he didn't win the money for a viewer. He didn't predict the number correctly - although he came close. The ball stopped one number away on the roulette wheel from the number he predicted to win.

And so that sort of got me wondering. What was the point of the Derren Brown show? Was it to highlight that gambling is based on chance, that chance means events are truly random, and that therefore there is no guarantee of winning? It it was meant to do that, then it's done a great job. Or did Derren Brown simply want to show that he was very good at predicting the stopping position of a ball on the roulette wheel - in most cases - but not perfect? It did a good job of demonstrating that too.

Of course the conspiracy theorists are already working over time. Maybe Derren Brown knew exactly where the roulette ball would stop on the wheel but placed the bet one neighbour number away so the viewer didn't win? Maybe that was the ultimate gamble, as perhaps he knows people are sometimes happy when people DON'T have nice things happen to them, and maybe that will drive further audiences to watch the next Derren Brown The Events series. Personally I doubt that any conspiracy occurred. I think Derren Brown just proved that he's not perfect. That's ok - none of us are.

Derren Brown's roulette prediction didn't work. I've not met Derren but he is after all considered a Mentalist (or very good psychologist, or magician) - not a casino expert. Here at Beat the Casinos, we know that placing a large bet on just a single spin of the roulette wheel is always going to be a dangerous thing. You've only got a one in 37 chance of winning that bet - 2.63%, or even less if you live in the USA and play standard American Casino roulette.

We've got more than a few articles around better roulette betting here at Beat the Casinos, and also at our sister blog: Beat Roulette Wheels. Take time to read them, and improve your chances.

$50 Free Cash For Full Tilt Poker

Here's a very special treat for all of my readers. Join Full Tilt Poker using the banner below. You can get up to a $600 signup bonus from Full Tilt Poker themselves - fantastic!

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Skycity Festival of Poker

Today in little Auckland, New Zealand, battle will commence. The battle will be fierce. It will be heated. It will be fun to watch and participate in. Because today, the Skycity Festival of Poker will begin.

With only 180 seats maximum up for grabs, at a price of $3250 NZD each, the poker tournament prize pool will be significant. The Skycity Festival of Poker is already being billed as "New Zealand's biggest poker tournament" based upon the prize money on offer. The festival goes from 10th to 18th October 2009, with the main event start date of 14th October 2009.

Quite a few well known international players are competing, including Joe Hachem and Tony Hachem. Skycity Auckland casino bills this as "your chance to play with the pros". It takes a lot of cash to play alongside these guys - but I guess anyone can win. I know - I won a VIP invitation only poker tournament only a week ago (the prize was a ticket to the main event). My best wishes to all of the players competing in the Skycity Festival of Poker.

Casino Changing Comps Policy

Our local casino changed their comps policy recently. To their credit, they did put advertising and brochures around the casino about the changes, but I doubt most people really took the information in. The devil was in the details.

Up until recently, the casino gave most players 1 point for every $4 played in a slot or video poker machine (or 1 point for every $3 for a diamond member, or 1 point for every $2 for a casino VIP), and these points could be used for food, accommodation, merchandise, or cashback in the casino. A VIP player playing $100000 of slots in a month could get $500 back in cash. An advantage table player would receive 100 points for a full hour spent at a minimum $25 hand average on blackjack. It would take that player around 40 hours (100 hands per hour x $25 = $2500 per hour) to get to $100000 turnover, so they would earn only $40 in points, which again could be used to pay for food, accommodation, merchandise, or cashback. That's about one-tenth of the cashback a slot player could get - but then the odds against the player (0.5% against typical 5% slot hold) are about one-tenth too!

Clearly some table players were doing quite well, and the comps were costing the casino even more as most players were opting for cashback rather than other services which cost the casino much less... so they've changed the formula. Now play on table games accumulates points, but those points can be used for food, accommodation, or merchandise - or TABLE CHIPS. NO MORE CASHBACK.

Table Chips might be seen as equivalent to cashback by some players: after all, they are issued as if they were cash (i.e. you get a $25 chip; before you'd get $25 in cash). However, the chip (which is non-negotiable) must be PLAYED until lost. Any winnings can be cashed out as normal. Because of this requirement, players are giving up about 1% of that value (on blackjack or baccarat) or more, depending on the games they play. So in reality, it's costing the player.

Personally, it won't stop me playing, as I play a lot of table games, and these chips I earn as comps are really insignificant in value compared to my normal buy-ins. But I expect some players won't like this new touch, and may move to slots. Maybe that's the casinos wish: after all, slots make more money for the casinos than most table games, and with lower staff overhead. If you see your own local casino making changes to the comp policy, do check out the details. Their "swap" might cost you more than you think.

Las Vegas Rocks in 2009

There are some great headliners coming to Las Vegas end October / November 2009. Here's just a very quick sneak preview of some of the acts you'll want to see.

U2 - October 23rd at Sam Boyd Stadium Las Vegas
Kelly Clarkson - November 6th at Joint at the Hard Rock Las Vegas
Ray Romano and Kevin James - November 13th and 14th at The Mirage Las Vegas

Have fun, and enjoy the shows! I wish I was there with you!

Free Bingo Daily at Virgin Bingo

Virgin Bingo are offering 3 hours of free bingo each day - for a limited time. And as a special bonus, there's even 5GBP free for every new player! Check out the television commercial below starting Ricardo the Jalapeno - he's hot, hot, hot!

Join Virgin Bingo now, and play your free bingo games whilst the opportunity is there! With completely free bingo, you can't lose. And with Virgin Bingo, you know you'll get a great online experience. Have fun, and may your lucky balls be drawn!

Hooters Las Vegas Rooms For $20

Hooters Las Vegas Casino Hotel are running a fantastic deal at present. Rooms are available at just $20 per night, on many dates until 31 January 2010. And if that's not good enough on its own, they're throwing in the following goodies with each stay:

- $100 Free Promotional Slot Play (must join the Owl Rewards club)
- 2 For 1 Breakfast Coupon at Marinos (tax not included)
- 2 Free Tickets to Todd Paul Show (with a $7.95 drink purchase per person)

I've stayed at Hooters before, back when their casino rate rooms were $89 a night. At that price the rooms felt a bit expensive - but at $20 a night you can't lose!


You must book at www.hooterscasinohotel.com, with a promotion code of TZOOHCH. Please note that I am not affiliated with Hooters Casino Hotel in any way, and I am simply telling you about this great special as a public service. With room rates like this, you can have a great Vegas vacation on a budget - and a good chance to Beat The Casinos!

Slots and Games BIG BONUS

I'm offering a VERY SPECIAL DEAL to all of our readers for THIS month only. There's a new casino on the block from the trusted folks at St Minver, called SlotsNGames. You can get up to £275 of free cash from SlotsNGames in the form of matchplays - and that's a HUGE bonus fund to access. It's one of the very best available bonuses from ANY online casino. But here's an additional reason to join...just from our Beat the Casinos family.

Click on the banner below to visit SlotsNGames. If you join up via our blog by November 30 2009, deposit at least £100 and get your first bonus, and play that combined total through to meet / exceed the playthrough requirements listed on the SlotsNGames website, I'll PERSONALLY give you a cash thank you of £30 - whether you win or lose! I can pay this into your UK bank account, or via Paypal. This gift from me is IN ADDITION to the bonuses the casino is offering you.


Send me an email once you've joined and met the playthrough requirements at davewestlondon@yahoo.co.uk and we can sort out your free cash from me! This extra cash is available from the Beat The Casinos family only - we really help you to Beat the Casinos!

Las Vegas Shows in October 2009

There are some great world class entertainers appearing in Las Vegas, in October 2009. Some of the upcoming entertainers are:

Mariah Carey at The Palms Casino Hotel, October 9th and 10th
Randy Travis at Texas Station Casino Hotel, October 2nd
Kenny Rogers at Buffalo Bills Casino Hotel, October 11th
Howie Mandel at MGM Grand Casino Hotel from October 2nd through to October 14th

Have fun in Las Vegas. I'm jealous - I'd like to be there with you!

Terribles Casino - 5x Points

***Update 20 September, 2009 - I got an email this morning from Terribles saying that they are currently offering 10x points on video slot machines on Sundays. So there would appear to be many great point specials at Terribles!***

I received an email from Terribles Casino Las Vegas this morning (situated at the corner of Flamingo and Paradise), alerting me to the fact they are now offering 5x points on Tuesdays and Thursdays, on most machines. There was no expiry date mentioned, so my educated guess is that this is an ongoing promotion. Points can be used to get cash, gift cards, food and more. Get in quick!