BLACKJACK TOURNAMENT E-BOOKS BY BJI AUTHOR KEN SMITH! How to Win EVEN MORE Blackjack Tournaments - Volume II... only $14.95. Ken Smith's second e-book on tournament blackjack contains more of his winning strategies that have made him one of the best tournament blackjack players in the world. Or, purchase both Volume I and Volume II together for $24.95... over 15% off! NEW! Read how Ken used skill to win a recent blackjack tournament. Get his books and you could too!

For a free brochure call: 1-800-944-0406 or write: Paone Press, Box 610, Lynbrook, NY 11563. His websites are www.goldentouchblackjack.com, www.goldentouchcraps.com and www.scoblete.com.

Best selling gambling author, editor of this newsletter, and blackjack expert Henry Tamburin has been playing craps with Dominator, Golden Touch and Frank Scoblete for a few years now and he’s seen the economic potential in dice control. He’s been in on some of their monsters – those 50 plus hands – and he’s gone from a skeptic to a believer. As have Stanford Wong, Jean Scott, John Grochowski, Dr. Don Catlin, Linda Mabry, Gus Rose and a host of other gambling writers who used to be skeptics and are now believers.

Well, Henry finally received his wife Linda’s permission to take the Golden Touch Craps dice control course, which he did in November of 2005 in Tunica, Mississippi. Henry told Linda that he would take out the garbage forever more if she would let him spend a weekend learning the "craft." She let him go.

Henry was one of 50 students who took that particular class but he was one of the shinning lights.

It looks to Frank that Henry will have a good throw once he works on one serious quirk in his hand. For some reason when Henry moves his thumb inside his palm, his fingers split apart – they actually pop apart. Now this isn’t good for the three-fingered dice control grip (which is the premier grip for most people) as it makes it difficult to get your fingers evenly spaced across the front of the dice. After the Saturday class, Henry’s hand was killing him and he wondered if he shouldn’t switch to a two- or one-finger grip.

At dinner he showed the instructors how his hand was weirdly formed and how it popped when he brought his thumb in. Everyone was sympathetic to his plight and all tried to come up with ways for him to avoid having to use the three-fingered grip.

Frank was very sympathetic to his plight too. "What? You’re nuts! Go with the three-fingered grip and your hand will get used to it. Put up with the pain for a few days and it will go away."

Well, it didn’t take a few days. On Sunday, Henry said that his hand felt much better and that most of the pain had gone away overnight. His throw was looking very good too.

To prove his point, that Sunday afternoon Henry Tamburin put on a display of shooting that had the class of 50 students cheering and clapping. Golden Touch likes to end the two-day dice control classes with a no-sevens contest. You get the dice; you roll until a seven comes up. We count the rolls. The person who has rolled the most numbers before that dreaded "devil" shows his ugly face wins the contest. The winner gets a First Place Plaque and a cash prize.

The all-time record for the no-sevens contest set in class was 39, set by Arman "Pit Boss," who is now one of our great Golden Touch instructors. Pit Boss set his record in April of 2003 and while several student shooters have made it into the 30s during the contest, no one has been able to bump Pit Boss’s record off the charts.

Until now, that is.

Henry Tamburin rolled a spectacular 45 numbers before that miserable 7 reared itself, breaking Pit Boss’s record by six rolls. Henry’s no-sevens record was only 11 rolls behind Dominator’s in-casino record of 56 rolls, which was set in Canada last year.

Congratulations go to Henry Tamburin who won the Plaque, the money, and the right to take out the garbage for the rest of his life!

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You can read about the Golden Touch World records, including the Captain’s 147-roll hand at www.goldentouchcraps.com/worldrecords.shtml. Want to learn dice control from the masters? Get a copy of The Golden Touch Dice Control Revolution! by Frank Scoblete and Dominator.

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We’ve decided since many of our Golden Touch Craps dice controllers are now Speed Counters subscribing to this site, we are going to give a quick rundown of the craps games as well. We haven’t played in all the casinos in AC so we would appreciate it if you could email Frank with the table minimums, the odds bets, and anything else you think we might want to use (table lengths very helpful – if you just say "big" we will assume 14-feet as they are at Borgata). If you send us info we will give you a free month on our members-only board. Email address is fscobe@optonline.net.

All the ratings of casinos are based on the blackjack games.

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If you’re going to play blackjack, why not play with an advantage? Golden Touch Blackjack will give you the easiest method for getting an advantage at the game. You’ll learn it in 10 minutes, practice for two days, and be able to go into the casino and have a verifiable edge! Learn Speed Count and the new optimum basic strategy in this class. Go to www.goldentouchblackjack.com. Call 1-800-944-0406 to sign up or for more information.

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Our Readers Write:

Hi Frank,

 I just wanted to let you know that I went to Bally's and Trump Taj Mahal last Thursday and found that your rating for Taj Mahal was totally overrated.  Yes, they have a lot of games but I found the dealers and pit bosses to be very impersonal.  They also have purposely made it very tough for counters there by making the viewing area of the playing cards very small and colored in a lot of yellow so that it matches the table colors more. 

In addition, we waited over an hour for a waitress to come by for a drink.  Also, playing perfect basic strategy, I lost over $1300 there in 2 hours betting an average of $20/hand and they won't even give me a free room there.  Penetration was 75%

Bally's on the other hand is the exact opposite.  Dealers and pit bosses are very nice for the most part.  We had penetration sometimes of 80% and there are $5 tables there in the early morning.  Later when they were going to raise the $10 table to $15, they kept it at $10 just for us.   

Hope this helps,

Ben

Dear Frank and AP:

You nailed down the ranking of both Borgata and Taj Mahal in Atlantic City as the two best to play blackjack in. My wife and I just came back and the games had about 80 percent penetration, no heat, friendly dealers and pit crews. We played at $10 tables at both properties. Both places are a little tight on the comps for $15 players but that is to be expected in Atlantic City.

Keep up the good work,

John P.

Dear Frank and the beautiful AP:

I stopped by Claridge to play and left in 15 minutes. I can understand why it is one star. The place has gone downhill since Bally’s took it over. The Sands is a dump as many of your readers are aware. I enjoyed Bally’s and Wild West and both properties went pretty deep in the cuts. Hilton is overrated by you though as I didn’t find any penetration past 75 percent.

Yours truly,

Lopez

Here are our ratings for December 2005.

BALLY’S PARK PLACE: The casino is getting good reports from players, although we haven’t seen much change. Many more carnival games here now than ever before. No mid-shoe entry in high roller room and on a few of the main $50 tables in casino, otherwise you can usually Wong here if you wish. Mixed reviews about how deep the penetration is. For craps players, this is a good casino for the game. There is one 5X odds table, usually a $25 minimum; the rest are 2X odds. Crews are friendly. Tables are somewhat high so short shooters get your platform shoes. There are many more carnival games than ever before. Looks like Three-Card Poker rivals blackjack!

BORGATA: This is still one of the two best blackjack houses in Atlantic City. The place is always hopping and the crowd is young, vibrant and looking for dates. Penetration on all the 6-deck games varies between 75 and 85 percent so you can get some good games here. Craps has long tables, 14-footers, and very bouncy, although there is talk of two smaller tables - somewhere. Great casino for Golden Touch Blackjack.

CAESARS: No change since last issue. Excellent restaurants. Cheerful place and worthy of the name it bears. Hotel/casino rating is A. They are going deeper. You can expect about 80 percent penetration with most of the dealers. The main floor of eight-deckers has some of the upper-limit tables ($25 and $50) with no mid-shoe entry. All the games in the high roller pit are also no mid-shoe entry with $100 minimums. Table game action has improved and that is very noticeable in the blackjack pits – which are all 8-deck games. Six-deck games in high roller room have 80 percent penetration, as do the eight-deckers on the main casino floor. Good casino for Golden Touch Blackjack. The craps games here are good with 12-foot tables and friendly crews. The tables are a little high so smaller controlled shooters should wear their "special shoes."

CLARIDGE: The saddest thing about Claridge is that we have to receive a number of letters telling us that our one-star rating might just be too high. Craps players are furious with this place as the pit has made craps onerous to play. Sad fate to what was once one our favorite casinos. Blackjack games have about 70 percent penetration.

HARRAH’S: No change from last issue. Harrah’s knows how to treat its customer base and it shows. Excellent property, good rooms, good views, good staff in all areas. As a corporation Harrah’s is doing something right! Harrah’s has maintained a great corporate image and deservedly so. Hotel/casino rating is A. In the casino you will find very friendly dealers and pit personnel. Penetration now ranges in the 75 percent area. Resplitting allowed except aces. No midshoe entry. High roller room is 6-deck action, the rest of the casino was 8-decks. Play here and at Showboat and your play counts all across the nation. For those of you who like to go to Vegas you can get some good comps from your AC action in the desert! A room that would be discounted for $80 in AC would be free in Vegas based on the same play – this is not official but based on our calculations of the offers we’ve received. Good casino for Golden Touch Blackjack. Friendly crews and decent tables at craps. We haven’t played there but reports are good. But we must warn you, this is a big slot place too.

HILTON: Heading downhill as the cold weather comes into the Queen of resorts. Penetration is dealer dependant, but has gone down overall. Resplitting allowed except aces. High roller room is 6-decks, rest of the casino is 8-decks with a few $25/$50 6-deckers on occasion. No mid-shoe entry on the six-deckers. Pits have been quick to jump on suspected counters, so be wary. High table minimums, especially on weekends, a lot of $25 tables, rare $10 tables. Penetration about 75 percent give or take. Good casino for Golden Touch Blackjack. For craps, we are dealing with 14-foot tables and a couple of 12 footers. Casino is dark. This place needs a buffing.

RESORTS: Some contradictory reports on this place but we found it to be the same as last issue. Resplitting is allowed at all tables. Casino also offers multiple-action blackjack and Spanish 21 at $10 minimums. But Resorts has brought in those single-deck zombie-fied blackjack games too. Avoid the single-deckers. Good casino for Golden Touch Blackjack. Excellent place for craps. Mostly small tables, with some games 5X odds. Last we were there, the high roller room had two 10-foot craps tables that were open on the weekend.

SANDS: Right next door to the Claridge and connected by a walkway, the Sands has many different carpets on the first floor which is indicative of the many faces this place has had over the years. Some people still like this place. We don’t. Blackjack games are typical of the lower level of Atlantic City – about 70 percent penetration. Loud music on the first floor makes this place unbearable.

SHOWBOAT: No change from last issue. The table game area has shrunk considerably. Good casino-hotel. Excellent blackjack in high roller room and sometimes the game is just $25 minimums. The penetration is about 80 percent now. A game worth looking at. Rooms are all full-sized and spacious; suites are great. Hotel/casino rating is A. Resplitting now allowed up to three hands. No mid-shoe entry. Eight-deck games have 80 percent penetration and allow mid-shoe entry, although there is not that many tables available. We remember when this place had great table-game action. Can now find $25 games in high roller room at those very good 6-deck games. You can get great deals in other venues by using your card, as it’s a part of the Harrah’s Total Rewards program. Good casino for Golden Touch Blackjack. Craps is fine here too. All the tables are now 12 footers. There are 5X odds on all tables.

TROPICANA: No change from last issue. The biggest moneymaker in AC. Hotel/casino rating is A. Blackjack games have actually improved here. The main floor now has 6-deckers with mid-shoe entry allowed on almost all of them. High roller room is 6-decks with no mid-shoe entry. Penetration is about 75 percent on all games. Big improvement here in all areas of play. Craps tables are 12-footers. Good casino for Golden Touch Blackjack.

Three Stars: * * *

TRUMP MARINA: Six-deck games in high roller room and 8-deck games on the main floor have penetration of 70-75 percent mark, but you won’t find any dealers going much deeper. Games are mostly $15/$25 and up, especially on weekends. No mid-shoe entry on the 6-deckers but you can jump in and out on the eight-deckers. Craps tables are 12-footers with 2X odds. Haven’t played here in years.

TRUMP PLAZA: Some of our Golden Touch craps players love this place and think we are too hard on it. The 8-deck games have penetration ranging from 70 percent to 75 percent on all, depending on the dealer. No midshoe entry on eight-deck games outside high-roller pit but you can find $25 (a few) to $50 minimums on these. Allows resplits, except aces. Most eight-deck tables are $10 and higher. High roller room is 6-deck games. Craps tables are 12-footers. Very friendly crews. Good casino for Golden Touch Blackjack.

TRUMP TAJ MAHAL: Despite the letter above, we still think this is the best Atlantic City has to offer. We find it hard to believe that this casino is having economic difficulties, as it is the best place to stay and play in Atlantic City. It has the best casino and the best hotel too. Rooms are all clean and well attended; the building and casino are light and spacious. The staff in all areas is terrific. This is the place to stay. Hotel/casino rating is A+. Despite the fact that they have brought in those 6/5 single-deckers, this place is now tied #1 for blackjack (with Borgata) in Atlantic City as well. We are becoming patrons of the Taj because their dealers and crews are so friendly and professional. Good game with 75-80 percent penetration (even saw some 85 percenters!), dealer dependent. You can find 6-deck games with $25 minimums right outside the high roller room. In the high roller room all games have $100 minimums. Excellent casino for Golden Touch Blackjack. This is the best casino for craps in AC as well. All 5-X odds tables and one 20X odds table. The crews have been universally pleasant. Tables are all 12-footers. In our estimation, this is the number one craps and blackjack casino in Atlantic City.

WILD, WILD WEST: No change from last issue. All 8-deck games. This is a part of Bally’s Park Place. Penetration is about 75-80 percent on all games. Good place for Golden Touch Blackjack. For craps this is a fun place to play with one 5X odds table. Crews are very friendly.

THE BEST BLACKJACK IN ATLANTIC CITY: Taj Mahal and Borgata

The Best Craps in Atlantic City: Taj Mahal

The Best Hotel/Casino in Atlantic City: Taj Mahal