Gambling.Now!

When to Double Down

The reason why the Doubling Down option is such a good lies in the fact that it is a good chance to increase your profits when you are sure to have a stronger hand with one extra card or are confident that the dealer will bust. The reason many players prefer to Double Down on 9,10 or 11 is because all the decks have a high percentage of 10 valued cards, and thus the extra 10 will sure make such a hand a very strong one. Moreover, in case you choose to Double Down depending on the dealer face up card (when the dealer has a high probability of busting) will increase your chances to win and therefore get larger payouts. The most important thing the player must remember is that when choosing to Double Down the player not only increases his bet and gets one more card, but the fact that the hand automatically atands and nothing more can be done. The basic Blackjack Tips for when to Double Down include:

Hard hands

• Player‘s hand – 11
  Double down if the Dealer’s hand is not an Ace
• Player‘s hand – 10
  Double down if the Dealer’s hand is not a 10 or Ace
• Player‘s hand – 9
  Double down when the Dealer’s hand is not a 3, 4, 5, or 6

Soft hands

• Player‘s hand – Soft 17 or 18
  Double when Dealer’s face card is a 3, 4, 5 or 6
• Player‘s hand – Soft 15 or 16 (Ace with a 4 or 5)
  Double when Dealer’s face card is a 4,5 or 6
• Player‘s hand – Soft 13 or 14
  Double when Dealer’s face card is a 5 or 6

When to Split a Hand

When the first two cards dealt to the player are a pair of the same rank, he may choose to split them in order to make two separate hands. However, this option is not always advisable as some of the pairs make a strong hand when not split or a too small value when split. Moreover, the value of the dealer face up card has a great influence upon the decision on whether to split or not to split. Nevertheless, there are still such hands that can never be split as there are those that should always be split. Here are the basic Blackjack Tips for splitting hands:

• Player‘s hand – Pair of Ace’s
  Always Split
• Player‘s hand – Pair of 8′s
  Always Split
• Player‘s hand – a Pair of 2′s or 3’s
  Split against Dealer’s 4, 5, 6, or 7
• Player‘s hand – a Pair of 6′s
  Split against Dealer’s 3, 4, 5, or 6
• Player‘s hand – a Pair of 7′s
  Split against Dealer’s anything less than an 8
• Player‘s hand a Pair of 9′s
  Split against Dealer’s 7, 10 or Ace

MOBILE — A statewide poll of Alabama adults found a majority support gambling if it generates money for schools.

The survey by the Press-Register and the University of South Alabama Polling Group showed 36 percent support gambling that benefits education and 19 percent support gambling regardless of the purpose. That total of 55 percent compared with 44 percent who were opposed. The remaining 1 percent were unsure.

Some lawmakers have suggested the Legislature look at expanding and taxing electronic bingo machines in the session starting Feb. 3. The machines are already available in several Alabama counties. They look like slot machines, but players compete against each other rather than against the house.

Keith Nicholls, director of the USA Polling Group, said the survey numbers indicate there is no consensus about gambling in Alabama.

Legalizing more gambling in the state would require voters to approve a constitutional amendment in a statewide referendum.

Nicholls said the voters’ rejection of former Gov. Don Siegelman’s proposal for a state lottery in 1999 showed that gambling opponents are more likely to turn out than supporters.

“A lot of these people would be even more strongly opposed to casino gambling,” he said.

Gov. Bob Riley has taken a hard line against expanding gambling, but Alabama legislators are facing a second year of having to cut education spending due to declining tax revenue.

The Legislature and the governor cut the state education budget to about $6 billion this year from $6.7 billion last year. Fiscal experts predict it could drop to $5.7 billion next year.

“It’s a serious problem that we don’t get any state revenue from bingo,” said state Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, who heads the Senate’s education budget committee.

The Alabama Education Association, one of the state’s most influential lobbying groups, has called for a state tax on electronic bingo. The tax would apply to the bingo halls in Macon, Greene, Lowndes and Walker counties, as well as the Country Crossing resort being planned for Houston County.

But it would not apply to the Poarch Creek Indians‘ operations in Montgomery, Elmore and Escambia counties, including the new Wind Creek Casino in Atmore. The Indians’ operations are not subject to state taxation.

Jeff Emerson, the governor’s communications director, said he suspected the gambling poll would have shown less support if it had included questions about the detrimental effects of gambling, such as increased crime and bankruptcies.

The random telephone poll was conducted Jan. 12-14 with 430 adults statewide. It had a sampling error margin of plus or minus 5 percentage points.