The high tech ways the casinos monitor gambling...
HIGH TECH CHIPS WITH EVERYTHING! Fifty three million Americans (almost one fifth of the entire population) made three hundred and twenty two million trips to Las Vegas last year alone. Almost a third of them played poker at some point during their visit. These stats are widely available to anyone who’s interested but what isn’t so well known is the content of Las Vegas chips. The major casinos are beginning to use RFID chips (Radio Frequency Identification Discs). What does this mean? It means you play your chosen game on “intelligent felt” which can actually “read” the value of the chips you are playing with and pass the information back to the casino’s central control room. At any one time management can find out exactly how much is “in-play” anywhere in their premises. My immediate thought was this is a sort of glorified gambler’s “ASBO” tag. I only discovered these futuristic facts from a fellow passenger having already boarded my homeward bound Virgin jet for Europe. Naturally enough I immediately began fretting as to whether in a moment of weakness I’d used my sleight of hand abilities (usually only reserved for when I’m playing ageing opponents with Stevie Wonder strength eyesight) to pocket a $500 chip as a memento of a particularly enjoyable poker visit. Visions of armed onboard air marshals thrusting barrels of 357 Magnums into each of my nostrils descended on me. Fortunately, it never happened. Honesty has got the better of me in recent years and there was nothing in the slippery pockets of my favourite gaming jacket.
THE “SO WHAT?” DEPT. So why does all this matter? It just struck me that if the technology exists for this to be done, how long will it be before playing cards themselves can be implanted with micro chips that a small device (looking exactly like the kind of MP3 players most of the professional players use during live tournament games) can be used to “read” them? This certainly acts as another very good reason for playing your poker online where properly audited software takes care of the integrity of each game. I’d sooner high tech skills were used in the cyber-context to improve the enjoyment of my poker and not to turn “live” casinos into money monitors.
POKER TOURNAMENT TIP OF THE DAY If you’re a newcomer to tournament play remember the most important part of any tournament is the first half an hour. The number of players drops dramatically during this period so it’s important you play very tight initially. Only play Kings or Aces and don’t be frightened to fold often. You can soon change gears and become more aggressive when the field has thinned out.
