OddJack Gambling Guide on the 2008 NFL Football Season, NBA Basketball, College Football, March Madness, Boxing, Soccer, WSOP and all Sports Betting Picks, Tips, Odds and Lines

EDITOR’S NOTE: Please welcome Mr. Seth Edward O’Neal, the latest jackass to join our crew. His first assignment? Help ya’ll win at blackjack. Go easy on him mmmkay?

Blackjack is one of the most popular table games in every casino. And yes, with blackjack being as popular as it is today, there are already a number of books telling you what you should do to rule a blackjack table.

But as good as those guys are, blackjack is STILL a game of luck. That means, it won’t matter if you know every single tip in the book. It’s casino gambling, a game of chance, and I surely won’t be one of those people telling you that if you follow my stuff, you’ll be a blackjack champion in every Las Vegas Casino for sure.

I can’t do that. But I’ll certainly HELP you become one.

First thing you should do is set yourself a limited bankroll amount that you are prepared to part with in the session that you are playing. Even if you are doing well, discipline yourself not to keep on going, make sure you stop while you are ahead. Everybody knows that.

DO NOT reinvest your winnings back into the game. Not only will it confuse you how much you’ve already won but it will also leave you with nothing once you step out of that casino.

Yep, NBA Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley has a huge gambling problem.

Charles Barkley, you know him, he entered the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers, made a career playing for the Phoenix Suns and tried to salvage what’s left of it with the Houston Rockets.

Now, he’s a stupid TNT broadcaster who challenges 60 year old NBA referees for sprints, bad mouths some of the best NBA players today like Kobe Bryant and Yao Ming, eats a lot of donuts thinking it helps him to get fit and has one big gambling problem. Especially whenever the fat bastard visits Las Vegas.

Yep, that’s Sir Charles Barkley for ya’. And yep, his problem with Las Vegas gambling, or any sort of gambling for that matter, is as hopeless as a Shaquille O’Neal free throw.

Barkley admits he has a gambling problem. He also confessed that he already lost $2.5 million. And mind you, he lost that kind of money in a span of six fucking hours. I don’t know whether to call Barkley one ballsy sonuvabitch or just incredibly stupid.

‘’It’s a stupid, bad habit. I have a problem,'’ Charles Barkley said of his gambling. ‘’But the problem is when you can’t afford it. I can afford to gamble. I didn’t kill myself when I lost two and half million dollars. I like to gamble and I’m not going to…

Las Vegas abounds with teacher-student scenarios, many with spanking involved.

However, if your kind of playtime involves betting, at least learn the games before throwing yourself at the tables. Off-Strip or on, numerous Las Vegas hotel casinos offer free blackjack, craps, roulette, and poker lessons, among others. Pole dancing and strip poker lessons, too, but we’ve reserved those for another time.

Las Vegas casinos with gambling & poker lessons

Barbary Coast lessons: craps. Master the betting strategies and then show off at the four craps tables of the quaint, 30,000 sqft casino. With the money you’ve won, feast like royalty at the swanky Drai’s restaurant, by celebrity restaurateur Victor Drai.

Circus Circus lessons: poker, blackjack, craps, roulette. Expect no child’s play at some 75 gaming tables in three separate casinos, at a cumulative 107,500 sqft. Hone bluffing at 9 smoke-free poker tables, mostly low-limit, with a free mini-buffet nightly.

Excalibur lessons: poker, blackjack, craps, roulette. The well-attended card room has 20 smoke-free poker tables. Offering daily lessons, it sports a friendly vibe suited to poker beginners. The 100,000 sqft casino has 83 gaming tables where to check your talents.

Gold Coast lessons: craps. Most frequented for its bingo room, the 120,000 sqft casino has gaming tables perfect for testing the waters. Spend winnings at the…

November first. Day of the Dead in Mexico, death day at Stardust Las Vegas Resort & Casino.

This is the day some observe All Souls’ Day, others, Día de los Muertos. In Las Vegas, it is the day Stardust sees its dreariest, gloomiest Halloween: the calendar date when the casino hotel, after operating for close to 60 years, is scheduled to stop taking all reservations, carrying on with prior commitments until imploded early next year. Stardust is ghost-like from here; it’s the beginning of the end.

Was that name doomed from the start? What games of chance will be lost to us, now that owner Boyd Gaming is gambling away this Las Vegas institution in favor of a new $4 billion megaresort befitting the Strip?

Bustling and spread out across the ground floor, Stardust Casino is no doubt the highest-traffic area at the hotel. Other than convention spaces bringing equally steady business, the gaming spaces teem with the most customers. People saunter nonstop on the red carpet, and you wonder how, within 85,000 sqft; the new Echelon Place replacing Stardust will offer a 140,000 sqft casino.

A thing of note about Stardust Casino is, many say, its gamblers look more Downtown than Strip. As far back as I can remember, the most I see here are over-45 geezers…