Keith Taft

Taking Chances on High Tech

Keith Taft isn’t your typical professional blackjack player. He learned how to count cards through books, and his incredibly high IQ contributed to his success. He found card counting easier when he developed a wearable computer to do the job for him.

Born in 1930 in Cut Bank, Montana, Keith Taft was not exposed to gambling as a child. Such sinful activities were frowned upon by his highly religious family. A bright and capable student who enjoys unravelling problems and mysteries, he completed a physics and music degree and obtained his master’s degree in physics.

His Gambling Career

When he was 35 years old, he inadvertently tried his hand at a Blackjack table for the first time. While on vacation with his family, a new era was about to begin. They stopped at Harrah’s Auto Museum during their visit to Reno, and Taft was given some Lucky Bucks. He converted them into Blackjack chips and won $3.50. Not a bad start. At blackjack en ligne en argent réel many find that its a good place to get into the swing of things with Blackjack.

His next step was to head back to the tables, but success eluded him, and that led him to create George in 1972, a wearable card counting computer. A 15-pound computer, George ran on batteries, and Keith interfaced with it by pressing switches with his big toe. Despite significantly increasing his odds of winning with George, he lost a lot and gave up on computer blackjack technology altogether.

David was the result of Taft’s collaboration with another Hall of Famer, and it was much smaller, similar to a pack of cigarettes. The Taft system was illegal when it was developed in 1980. On the players’ belt was a device designed to watch the dealers hole card. The law eventually caught up with Taft, and he was fined $10 000 and spent 60 days in prison. It was a crafty route to go. Not one you’d find on the best american online casino sites, as it’s more of a possibility in the ‘real world’.

Final Thoughts

Over the following 20 years, Keith Taft continued to play Blackjack and develop more advanced electronics. He was finally inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame shortly before he passed away in 2006.

Ron Harris Ward

Introduction

The Nevada Gaming Commission employed Ronald Harris Ward in the 1990s. This was long before the days of the best uk online casino games, or USA or any other country for that matter. We were in firm ‘bricks and mortar’ territory’.

He was responsible for analyzing and testing the software used by the slot machines to determine if it had any flaws.

It was part of his job to travel around Las Vegas to check the slot machines for errors, which was a tedious but necessary task to prevent cheating.

Slot Machine Programming

His knowledge of the inner and outer workings of the slot machines made him one of the few Nevada Gaming employees who had full access to the secret code that allowed him to reprogram the RNG (The Random Number Generator) of the slot machines.

To be more specific, he reprogrammed the slot machine’s software using EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), which controlled how much money the machine paid out. It also affected the exact time the slot machine would win.

His own microchip replaced the memory in the slot machine’s microchips so that it would pay out when coins inserted in a specific sequence were inserted.

He used three coins for the first spin, two for the second spin, two for the third spin, one for the fourth spin, and so on.

If he inserted the coins in his pre-programmed sequence, the machine would pay him out, and the cameras would not pick up anything suspicious.

He could not, however, do this alone because he is a Nevada Gaming Board employee. As a result, he recruited an old unemployed friend named Reid McNeal to assist him.

Co-Conspirator

Despite making money from playing the games that Ward programmed for McNeal, they grew greedy as a result.

They decided to do a single big payout of $100 000 on a Keno machine, but since the odds of hitting such a jackpot were 230 000, the casino became suspicious. It’s no surprise, as even with todays best online casino payouts, 100k is still impressive.

Mcneal was followed back to his hotel room, where security found Ward and all the evidence. The two were arrested and charged, but Reid got off for giving evidence against Ward.

Ward was jailed for seven years.

Chris Moneymaker

The story of Chris Moneymaker

Chris Moneymaker was the player who won the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event, making him the best-known poker player of all time. A satellite tournament qualified him for the WSOP, and he was considered an unknown contender. However, he was successful in proving that perseverance and hard work would pay off. At both online at the best online casinos usa, and offline venues he excelled and honed his poker skills.

Having grown up in Atlanta, Georgia, he is the middle child of a middle-class family. It was on one of the family’s free vacations that his father worked for a travel agency. Chris had a thrilling gambling experience. They managed to sneak into the cruise ship’s casino and find a slot machine but were escorted out penniless.

What he did in his life

Moneymaker holds both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from the University of Tennessee. He enjoyed playing online poker once a week with his friends in those days but hadn’t thought about pursuing it as a career. As time passed, however, bills mounted, and he began playing online poker. Luckily, he won a satellite tournament at PokerStars for $39 buy-in.

Moneymaker played to lose as he wanted to finish in fourth place for the cash prize. However, his friend convinced him to go first since it would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Moneymaker started the 2003 World Series of Poker and faced 838 of the world’s best poker players with 10000 chips. On that day, he finished 11th with 60 000 chips.

After the second day of the competition, only 111 players remained, including Moneymaker, who sat in 26th place with 10000 chips. Throughout the tournament, Moneymaker just kept winning, and he won 2.5 million and a gold signature bracelet on the fifth day with a great bluff. He’s a worldwide name, and whether you’re a player on the best south africa online casino, or living in the UK, or Stateside, you’ll have no doubt heard of his name.

Conclusion

Today, he serves as PokerStars’ spokesperson and has attracted many new players. The sudden attention poker started receiving was known as the “Moneymaker effect.” This man is a true inspiration and shows anybody anything is possible with a bit of determination!

Sports Betting: More Variety Than You Can Shake a Stick At!

Ever since my cousin introduced me to football at the age of four, I have continued to follow this sport, pouring all my heart into it. As the years went by, I started noticing other sports worth investing time in such as cricket, tennis, and Formula 1. I late realised that, with the knowledge I have of these sports, betting becomes not only enjoyable but also profitable. If you enjoy sports as much as me, you should consider using your knowledge to make a little profit. With hundreds of different markets to choose from, all the power is in your hands! Pick the sports markets you feel most knowledgeable in and enjoy your betting experience with the sports you love the most!

What You Can Bet On

Think about any sport. You can probably make a never-ending list. It is highly likely that for all these sports that you can think of you will find bookmakers ready to give you a variety of options to bet on that same sport. I obviously tend to go for the ones that I feel most knowledgeable in as it increases my chance of winning by a considerable margin. Whilst football is my preference, you can see what markets are being offered by bookies in the sport you feel most comfortable dealing with. This will greatly boost your experience of the sport that you already love! Here I will go through some of the main markets generally being offered in the sports that I follow, which, as I mentioned above, are football, cricket, and Formula 1.

Football Markets

Football is my go-to when it comes to betting and is arguably the most viewed traditional sport all around the world. With years of experience following and practicing the sport, I feel quite confident predicting different outcomes in each game. Here are some of the main markets generally offered by bookies:

  • Team to win the tournament
  • Team to win the match
  • Player to score
  • Player to be booked
  • Both teams to score
  • Over/Under a certain number of goals
  • Number of corners in a match
  • Number of free kicks in a match
  • Number of throw-ins in a match

Cricket Markets

The love towards cricket has reached astounding levels in many places around the world with the sport being considered close to a religion within some countries, such as India. What I really like about cricket is how entertaining it is, giving you quite a good number of hours leaving you at the edge of your seat. It is also easy to notice some patterns that you can take advantage of in markets such as the following:

  • Team to win the game
  • Team to win the tournament
  • Player of the match
  • Best batsman for a team
  • Best bowler for a team
  • Mode of dismissal
  • Number of runs scored
  • Total sixes hit
  • Whether a batsman will score a half-century or century

Formula 1 Markets

For those who love motorsports, Formula 1 is one of the most sought-after sports, renowned worldwide for producing some insanely talented drivers over the years. Some of these drivers also moved on to follow glory in other motorsports such as the Formula E or the Indy 500 increasing interest in motorsports altogether. Here are some of the markets being offered in Formula 1:

  • Driver to win the Drivers’ Championship
  • Team to win the Constructors’ Championship
  • Driver to win the race
  • Podium Finish
  • Driver to win Pole Position
  • Fastest Lap

Choosing the Right Bookmaker

As previously mentioned, there are loads of bookmakers that offer various markets for different sports. This may initially seem like an advantage, but it can soon turn into a daunting decision to make. How can I pick the right one with such a wide range of possibilities? Imagine going to a restaurant and sitting down in front of a menu with a huge variety of dishes all seemingly appealing. It becomes difficult to pick and your eyes just keep turning from one dish to another. Sometimes, a smaller menu may make your decision much easier and ends up being far less frustrating to pick. A quick search through the Internet will provide you with lots of information such as betting sites for UK punters and others. Here I will list a few of my favourite betting operators. You can choose a different one, but these three will guarantee you a good sports betting experience.

Bet365

One of the most important things to look for in a bookmaker is the odds being offered. If we consider the odds of a particular game with one bookmaker and another, the bookie with the higher odds practically guarantees you a higher profit for the same winning outcome. For this reason, I believe Bet365 is a brilliant choice. The odds offered are generally extremely generous and this is not limited to just football but is also true of a huge number of different sports being offered. I would also mention that many matches are streamed live on bet365 which makes your betting experience far more enjoyable.

William Hill

This one is another extremely well-known online sports betting site. William Hill has one of the most user-friendly interfaces that I have seen. It is extremely easy to navigate your way through the site and find the sport and its markets that you are looking for. The clean interface and the lack of annoying advertisements make the experience more enjoyable to me. In addition, you can find a huge number of markets to bet on so you can rest assured you will find markets that tickle your fancy with this bookie.

888sport

This bookmaker also offers a great variety of sports and markets you can bet on and does stream some live matches too. However, another good reason to pick a bookie over another is the availability of bonuses and promotions. 888sport does provide loads of special offers fairly frequently which makes this bookie quite a good option to go for. Having new offers on a regular basis will keep you entertained and increase the chance of a higher betting satisfaction.

If you truly love a particular sport and you are willing to put your knowledge on the line, join the millions of people around the globe in their sport betting online journey and enjoy this fantastic and often profitable experience!