Archive for September, 2008
How to win at BlackJack
I’m getting ready to leave Vegas after a conference for work.
I did what most people do, played a few slots here and there and, of course, not winning anything.
So I decided to put all the Blackjack practice and tweaking I’ve done to the test and… Came out $55 ahead. The next day I tried it again and $55 bucks ahead and tomorrow I’ll try it again.
First, don’t play slots it’s 100% chance. Play a table game, others may give better odds, but blackjack is my game.
Here are my tips:
1) LEARN TO PLAY! If you do stuff like hit on 16 when the dealer has a 5 showing, or split 10s… These hints won’t help. There are LOTS of the little cards that show you how to bet. Learn the chart and practice for free on the computer, your phone, online, whatever. Learn the chart!
2) Always have AT LEAST 10 times the amount of the minimum bet.
For instance, if the table is $10 minimum, make sure you have AT LEAST $100.
You’re going to lose some hands, no way around that, you need to have money to float until you start winning.
3) Come up with a betting strategy. DO NOT double your bet when you lose to try and make your bet back. Here’s my method that works well:
- Bet the minimum
- Next bet (win or lose) bet the minimum again.
- next bet, if you won twice, double the bet. If you lost, bet the minimum.
- keep adding the minimum to the bet (if you win) but don’t get greedy, you’re going to lose eventually. I usually keep adding up to four bets in a row, then will reset to minimum bet.
- any time you lose, reset your betting.
For instance, let’s say it’s a $5 minimum and I keep winning hands, here is my betting:
$5 - $5 - $10 - $15 - $20 - $25 - $5
This way, after that second minimum, you’re playing with their money.
If you get a blackjack, count it as a regular win.
4) Dont get scared! Stick to the betting method, even if you’re low.
5) if your money is gone, walk away. You can’t win every single time so only bet with what you can afford to lose and don’t fall into the trap of trying to win it back, save it for the next day or next trip.
6) SET AN UPPER LIMIT! Your lower limit is zero, but make sure you set an upper limit as well. A good rule of thumb is to stop when you’ve won 1/2 the amount you started with.
For instance, if you sit at the table with $100, walk away when you have $150.
Some do not dos:
Don’t get greedy, walk away at your upper limit.
Don’t try to win your money back if you’re out, walk away.
Don’t Drink when playing, I know it’s fun but you’ll start doing dumb things.
That’s about it, again you have to learn to play first. Go find one of those charts.
Good luck! 
I wrote this on my iPhone, so if it needs editing I’ll fix it when I get home.
** update 9/26
Another $50 this morning, that’s 3 days in a row.
Spore by EA Review
[starreview]
First Spore Origins came out for the iPhone, which focuses on the first stage of the full blown Spore.
Then on 9/7/2008 the full blown Mac / PC version was released. Not only is it supported for both Operating Systems, but it’s just one disk that has both versions.
There are several stages that you bring your creature through, from an amoeba to a space faring civilization.
Each stage is a different type of gameplay.
- ‘Cell’ stage - Like an old school arcade game, eat the good stuff and avoid the bad guys.
- ‘Creature’ stage - 3D game (almost a first person shooter). You can make friends or make / attack you enemies.
- ‘Tribal’ stage - Real Time Strategy (RTS) game with limited weapons
- ‘Civilization’ stage - RTS with more weapons, vehicles (air, see and land) and spice mining
- ‘Space’ stage - Space exploration and trading. Again make friends / allies and enemies.
I’ve read some complaints that the different stages aren’t as good as other games that do that type of game. For instance the Civlization RTS isn’t done as well as a full blown RTS game. They’re right, it doesn’t and it’s not meant to be.
It’s important to look at Spore as a whole game, not the individual stages.
The most fun part about Spore is you build you creatures and items as you go.
In the early stages you evolve your creature as it grows to make it more adaptable. In the later stages, you build your buildings and vehicles.
Along these lines, there’s also the Sporepedia. This is an online database of things that other players have built that you can download and use in your game!
For me, I played with the creation tool for a while, but in the later levels I would just go to the Sporepedia and browse through the thousands of creations out there until I found one I like.
This game is a blast as you can follow your creature up through the different layers of evolution and shape the path you want the creature to go down - You can have a peaceful herbivores, war-like carnivores, explorers, etc… or any combination of them, it all depends on your (creature’s) actions.
I personally love the game, the Space stage is my favorite but I really loved all the stages.
This is definitely a game I could see myself playing over and over, creating more creatures and leading them down different paths.
New theme for site
The theme I was using for the site had some issues with the newest version of the blog software, so I had to change it.
I’ve tweaked this one a little big and really like it.
Please let me know what your opinion of it is.
Thanks.
Putting your iPhone in ‘Field Test Mode’
‘Field Test Mode’ on the iPhone can be useful, for most people, for one reason - To look at the true signal strength rather than the graphical display of the bars.
This really comes in handy to see if the new 2.1 firmware actually improves the signal strength or just makes you think it did. 
There are a LOT of other things to look at in this mode, but I won’t even pretend to understand half of them.
To put your phone in this mode, open up the keypad, type the following, then tap ‘Send’:
*3001#12345#*
Below is a shot of what ‘Field Test Mode’ looks like, with the signal strength in the upper left corner:
(Note - these are negative numbers, so the closer to zero you get, the better)
iPhone in Field Test Mode
iPhone 2.1 firmware is out!
Just before leaving the house this morning I hit ‘Update’ in iTunes for my phone and it said the 2.1 firmware was available.
I downloaded it but didn’t install.
Some of the changes in the new firmware
- Improved signal strength
- Wipe of all data if wrong passcode is entered 10 times
- Faster backup times
- Better stability
- Speed improvements
- Push improvements
- Security improvements
- And more…
I haven’t installed it yet so I can’t comment on the update from a personal view, but I’ve been over at the forums on MacRumors and people have mixed reviews about some of these improvements.
There are some people saying that the signal strength hasn’t changed, they just changed the rating.
For instance (this was one example in the forums) if you have 3 bars before the update, you’ll have 5 bars now.. but there won’t really be any reception increase, it’s just visual.
As far as the backup times, stability, speed, etc… From what I’ve read, those have all seemed to have improved significantly.
I have a 1st gen iPhone (waiting for a proper GPS app before upgrading) so I can’t test the 3G stuff for myself, but I will post back with my review of the other changes later today or tomorrow.
One tip I did see is to put your phone in ‘Field Test’ mode to look at the actual signal strength vs just the bars. You may want to do this before and after the update to see if there really is any change.
Please post comments related to your experience with the update.
