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Most people are weary about gambling at casinos because they know that the house usually has a strong advantage over the players at the casino. These casinos are in business to make money so they will take any advantage that they can and try to make the most money possible. The odds are always stacked against the players however some games have better odds than others.

Winning Without Cheating at the Casino

Poker requires a great deal of skill and highly depends on your ability to bluff, your interaction with other players, and the skill of the players that you are playing against. There are alot of factors with this game, so I would avoid playing poker unless you are already highly skilled and experienced at this game.

Craps is extremely complicated, but much of the fascination with this game lies in its complexity. In the game, one player, the shooter, throws a pair of dice and bets, along with other players at the table, on specific numbers turning up.

On the shooter’s first roll, the wager also called a pass line bet is on whether he’ll throw either 7 or 11 (a win) or 2, 3, or 12 (a loss). If he hits 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10, that number becomes his point; your original wager is then on whether he’ll roll that number again before he throws a 7.

After making a pass line bet, when a point has been established, you can make an odds bet. You do this by placing another bet equal to one, two and up to ten times the original bet on the point number. The casino will pay true odds on this second bet, based n the probability of the point number coming up.

These true odds bets reduce the house’s edge in craps to less that 1 percent. Next to blackjack played with extreme discipline, this is the best bet you’ll have in casino.

The odds on slot machines are terrible. Many casinos make as much as 90 percent of their profits from slots machines alone. Smart gamblers avoid slots as surely as they do Lotto machines. If you must play slot machines then play the machines closest to the main entrances of the casino with the highest visibility. I worked at a casino for three years and they would put the loosest machines (best odds) in the areas which have the highest visibility so that more people would see them winning good payouts and want to play. It makes sense!

Roulette, in which you’re betting on whether a ball spinning above a wheel will land on a certain number, group of numbers, or color, has a simplicity that makes it a perfect game for anyone wishing to play.

In addition to the numbers 1 through 36, the roulette wheel has the numbers 0 and 00, which gives the house a 5.26 percent advantage on all bets– a significant edge. The odds are totally against you if you bet on the numbers, lines, or edges so ignore the inside areas all together. If you want good odds then bet on the outside. Either on the colors, red or black, or on the numbers odds or evens. This will give you slightly lower than 50/50 odds due to the green 0 and 00.

One trick is to stick to one color, say red. Bet $20 on red, if you win then walk away. If you lose then bet on red again, but this time double your bet to $40. This will make up for the bet you lost $20, the money you are putting down now $40, and give you an additional $20 winnings (original bet). If you win this bet then walk away, but if you don’t then keep doubling your bet until it eventually does hit red which it must sooner or later. If you have a couple hundred dollars in cash on hand you will be buffered and most likely won’t lose.

For example, you bet $20 on red and lose. You double the bet to $40 and bet on red again, you lose. You now double your bet to $80 and bet on red a third time, only to lose again. You bet $160 on red, and win. You have just made a total of $320, which means $20 (1st bet) + $40 (2nd bet) + $80 (3rd bet) + $160 (4th bet) + $20 (winnings) = $320 (total). So even though you lost 3 bets, you still made $20 on the fourth bet. This system greatly reduces your odds of losing.

Most people believe that Blackjack is the easiest and best game to play in a casino and depending on how you play, this can be true.

The object of the game is to take card that bring you close to a total of 21 without going over. Face cards count as 10. Aces count as either 11 or 1. Each player at a blackjack table plays only against the dealer and not other players. If a player takes too many cards and goes over 21, they lose the hand. If the dealer takes too many cards, the players all win. Otherwise, if your hand is closer to 21 than the dealer’s, you win.

You bet your money before you see any cards. In some situations, you can raise your bet after seeing your first two cards. When you win, you are paid 2 to 1. If you get a Blackjack which is an ace and any card worth ten then you win a slightly higher multiple of your bet.

The most popular way to play Blackjack is the so-called “perfect strategy.” Based on the law of large numbers, which states that averages and tendencies gain strength over time , the perfect strategy was derived by computers simulating millions of twenty-one hands. This strategy says if your cards add up to 15 or lower than you need to get hit with another card, if your cards add up to 17 or higher than stand.

However if your cards add up to 16 then things get tougher. If you have 16 and the dealer is showing a ten card then you need to take a hit, however in this situation there is a 75% chance you will lose regardless of what you do because the house has an advantage because the dealer is always the last one to decide on their hand.

If you have a pair of aces or 8’s then you should always split your hand into two hands, this will increase your odds of either winning or breaking even.

Played correctly, this system assures you of being at no more than a 2 percent disadvantage against the casino. In practice, the house wins at a rate ten times higher, because few players follow the perfect strategy perfectly.

Recently websites have been popping up all over the internet advertising forex trading like it’s the hottest online craze since the invention of viagra.

Forex trading is also known as currency or foreign exchange trading and it involves trading one currency for another. This is the largest financial market in the world with an average daily currency trade of US$3.21 trillion. Forex trading is really risky and there are tons of scam forex trading websites that rip people off. Even through legitimate forex trading 90% of currency traders lose money.

So I want to introduce a new type of forex trading where you are almost guaranteed to make money. Sound too good to be true, it’s not.

STEP ONE: Always Buy Low

With this form of forex trading you invest in coinage from other countries that is the exact same size but less valuable than specific American coinage.

These low-valued foreign coins can be obtained at overseas, at some banks, at foreign exchange counters, or at foreign coin stores.

Below are some low-valued foreign coins (worth less than a penny each) that could be used in American vending machines:

American Quarter:

  Icelandic five-auran (worth 0.0008 cents each)
Uruguayan ten-céntimos (worth 0.0046 cents each)
Mexican ten-centavos (worth 0.009 cents each)
Danish fiveore (worth 0.0098 cents each)
Pervuian twenty-céntimos (worth 0.6 cents each)

American Dime:

Trinidad penny (worth 0.0016 cents each)
Malaysian penny (worth 0.003 cents each)

STEP TWO: Always Sell High

These low valued foreign coins can either be used to purchase goods from American vending machines or even exchanged for the more valuable American coins of the exact same size. The coin return button on some vending machines will give you the lowest coin in the internal coin hopper for a particular coin type which is usually different than the actual coins that you had dropped into the machine.

Try looking at the date of a quarter that you drop into a soda machine, then hit the coin return button and wait for the coin to drop into the change return area - look at the date again and you will probably notice that its a totally different quarter than the one that you put into the machine.  These type of machines can be used for exchanging your foreign coins into more valuable American coins.

You could also cash these coins in using Coinstar or Coinmaster at your local supermarket however they charge a fee of 8.9 cents per every dollar cashed in using their machines. They have the option of cashing in your coins for a giftcard for free so this may be a convenient way of exchanging your foreign currency into more valuable American coins.

I would advise against trying to use these foreign coins at casinos since many newer slot and video poker machines have security measures in place to catch people using foreign coins. I would also avoid using these coins at the post office or at other federal facilities.

However, you could even cash these coins in at your local banks. It’s rather easy, take the very cheap foreign couns that are the same size as quarters.  Get a paper coin wrapper. Wrap a few real quarters on the ends but fill the rest of the roll with the cheap foreign coins. Wrap the roll and with felt-tip pen write some phony account number on it to add an element of authenticity. Take the roll of coins into the targeted bank. If you dress like a business person and go at a busy time, especially with the account number written on each roll, and the rolls in a bank sack or your briefcase, the teller will probably give you ten dollars per roll without checking. The only downside to this convenient method is that the entire transaction will be captured by the banks cameras.

Guaranteed Profits

Since the low-valued foreign coins listed above have a value of less than one cent each. You will be making 24-25 cents for every coin that you cash as a quarter and 9-10 cents for every coin you cash in as a dime. A roll of quarters is worth ten dollars each and a roll of dimes is worth five dollars each.

State and Federal Identification cards have come a long way in the last few years. My first driver’s license was a simple laminated photo id card with a holographic glossed image of the state name across a basic paper card with an organ donor stamp and basic name and address information.

 Today state agencies have began using holograms, seals, barcodes, UV markings, and even embedded microchips to prevent people from making fake ids which would allow people to engage in identity theft or give underaged people the ability to purchase alcohol. They have replaced the traditional plastic lamenated paper id card with thermal laminated PVC plastic.

My first fake id card was a New York Drivers license printed on a bubblejet color printer and laminated with textured plastic. It was rather pathetic. I made it myself and the scary thing is that it actually worked some places. However that was back in 1992 and since then bars, grocery stores, and liquor stores have become more strict with checking ids and spotting fakes.

My next fake id card was a Canadian International Drivers License purchased at a photo store on eighth street in Greenwich Village, NYC, it was much better, it was similar to a photo credit card with a photo mounted beneath a thin sheet of plastic and my information typed across the card. Most stores or bars were not familiar with Canadian ID cards so it worked extremely well.

Several companies out there have been fairly successful at improving their fake (novelty) id cards to keep up with the state agencies which every year are adding new security features to their cards. These fake id companies have began using holograms, seals, and barcodes as well. Some of these companies are even able to encode the barcodes on their fake id cards so they register as being an authentic id card and use the proper algorithms for age verification when scanned at a cash register with an id barcode scanner.

There are several companies that sell fake id cards on the internet. Be careful because several companies out there sell low quality id cards which do NOT match the pictures of the authentic looking id cards shown on their website.

Below are a few companies which make top quality id cards that would pass well as being authentic id cards:

Cost $100.00 - http://www.i-d-e-n-t-i-t-y.org/

This site offers US, Canadian and Australian fake ids. The reports have always been outstanding. Every report is that the ids are flawless in every aspect. UV markings and holograms are perfect and the cards swipe correctly when scanned.

Cost $99.00 - http://www.enoveltyid.com/

Long time established provider of US fake id. Always positive reports from customers. UV markings and holograms are perfect and the cards swipe correctly when scanned. Probably the most popular and solid provider online. Close up image of their site of a New York fake id template showing very good quality and many template samples of the novelty id back sides.

Cost $100.00-$130.00 - http://www.theidshop.com/

This site sells top quality, flawless id cards which use UV markings, seals, and holograms. They have fast delivery service and most of their cards are sent out within 24 hours of an order being placed. These cards are the best quality, you pay a bit more for a better card which matches the state operators license perfectly.  They have a 24 hour toll-free number and guarantee their work, if you are not satisfied with the id you can get a full refund within 30 days.

A few additional tips about using fake identification cards:

- Put your fake identification card(s) in a wallet separate from the wallet which carries your real identification card. This will prevent anyone from accidentally seeing your real id card when you attempt to show them your fake id card or vice versa.

- Be sure to put your real first name on your fake id card. This will prevent one of your friends from calling you a name rather than the one that appears on your fake id card. You may decide to use a last name which is different from your actual last name. This is alright.

- If the name on your fake id is different than your real name. Fill your fake id wallet with cards (supermarket savings, credit cards, medical cards, etc.) with the name that appears on your fake id card. This way if someone asks for another form of id with your name on it you can show them one of these items.

- Know the information on your fake id card. Many bouncers will check to see if your id is authentic by asking you your address, date of birth, or even full name. If you can’t answer these questions correctly they will automatically think that you are using a fake id card.

- Make sure that the information on your fake id card is realistic and makes sense! Don’t put your age as 40 if you are only 17 and make sure that your hair and eye color match and the height and weight are in the general ballpark.

Make your own FREE ID Card with our new automated fake ID generation system.

With the holiday season in swing and with tons of people going out drinking at all the hotels, bars, restaurants, and night clubs I have noticed lots of empty beer kegs all over the place.  Many restaurants and bars keep their empty kegs out back between their dumpster and their grease trap.  The kegs are empty, right?  So why not keep them next to the worthless garbage?  

They fail to realize that these kegs have a $10 deposit on each of them and that they can be returned to just about any large beverage distributer for $10 each regardless of whether or not they were originally purchased from them.  So would you leave a stack of $10 bills behind your restaurant near the garbage?  That’s essentially what they are doing.

So it would be really easy for someone to take these kegs since they are leaving them out near the garbage (sometimes even in shared or public areas) and return them at the local beverage center for $10 each.

Another crazy thing is that beer kegs only have a $10 deposit, but they cost about $150 to make and they can be sold at scrap yards for as much as $15-$35.  So it may be possible to actually purchase the empty kegs for $10 each and then sell them as scrap metal for even more money.  According to the beer institute this type of practice costs the industry as much as $50 million a year.

They have even considered raising the deposit amount from $10 to $30 to prevent people from selling their empty beer kegs rather than returning them.  See the following article: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3244421 for details on this.  So it may even make even sense to hold onto these empty beer kegs that are now worth $10 each (deposit value) until this increase takes place and raises the deposit value on kegs to $30. 

I was amazed at the fact that so many bars, restaurants, hotels, and night clubs leave their empty kegs (worth $10 each) near the garbage, but I was totally baffled at the fact that the entire beer keg industry would only require a $10 deposit for something worth as much as $150 and that could be sold elsewhere for as much as $35.  This could totally set someone up to start a business where they purchase kegs for $10 each and sell them for $35 each for a whopping 250% return on each or even as little as $25 each for a 150% return which is still not bad. 

As it stands right now, there is lots of money to be made from the faulty practices and standards with the keg return industry.

Go to all the cellphone stores in your area, sign up all the demo phones for your very own premium SMS text service, and make $9.99 per demo phone!  Find out how.

Every now and then I receive a random text message on my cell phone.  Sometimes it’s a horoscope reading, sometimes it’s a random stock pick, sometimes it’s a weather report and other times its just some advertising spam. 

I initially thought that it was just an annoyance so I would simply either ignore or delete the message.  I bet the majority of people have the same type of reaction in this situation.

However sometimes the messages reoccur and other times they do not.

Either way at the end of the month I recieve my cell phone bill only to find that I have an additional $4.99 charge for a “third-party” service!

I call up my cell phone company and ask them what this charge is for and they tell me that’s it either a subscription or one-time text messaging service.  They go on to tell me that I can’t cancel through them or get a refund because these charges are from a third-party company and not my actual cellphone carrier.

They simply tell me to reply to all further text messages with the words: STOP or CANCEL to prevent these text messages from reoccurring.  This will cancel the service from here on out, but it will not refund any current or previous charges.

So what does this mean?  This means that you will still be charged for the initial text message regardless of whether you cancel the service immediately and that this “third-party” company could be getting anywhere between 99 cents and $9.99 for sending you this single text message.

I checked my previous cell phone bills from past months only to find that there were similar charges those months that I did not even notice! 

Initially this made me angry, but once I thought about this ingenious business model, I immediately wanted in! 

I bet that at least 70% of the people who receive these type of text messages don’t even notice that they are being charged for these extra services and just pay their bills. 

Background

This type of service is known as Reverse SMS billing or a premium SMS service where companies can bill a user through an SMS text.  This even goes beyond just charging for text messages.  Services like PayPay or GPay allows people to send and transfer money via SMS. People can also charge money to their cell phone account with similar types of services.

Where this money goes

I did some research on this type of third-party text message billing and found that these companies make between half to a third of what they bill, the cell phone company takes one-third and the payment gateway service also gets one-third.

So if they charge 99 cents per month and bill 30,000 people they will be making approximately $10,000 per month.

If they bump this up to $4.99 per month they will be making over $45,000 per month.

So how do YOU set up this type of service?

Companies like Telemedia and TextMarks allow people to set up their own text messaging services for free.

Textmarks is the easiest service to use and allows people to set up a keyword for use on their short code of 41411.

You could set up the keyword, MakeMoney, and when anyone sends an SMS text with the word, MakeMoney, to 41411. They would be signed up for your premium SMS service for either $4.99 or $9.99 per month depending what you want to charge for your service.

Now the difficulty is advertising and getting people to sign up for your keyword.  Unless you want to go the spamming route like many companies do.

Bulk SMS messaging

There are services out there like ClickaTell which allows users to send bulk SMS messages to thousands or perhaps millions of cellphone users.

You could also write a web-based application to do bulk PC-to-Phone SMS texting. 

To stop the use of spamming some of the premium SMS services requires all potential subscribers to reply with a “Y” indicating that they actually understand the charges and want to subscribe to the service.  However, this could potentially be countered and defeated with SMS text spoofing or by writing a web-based application to sign people up for your text service regardless of whether or not they have actually willingly subscribed.

Signing tens-of-thousands of people up for your premium SMS service requires a bit work however it could be highly rewarding and bring in thousands of dollars per month.  However there is an easier way to make a couple hundred per month with much less time and work involved.

Bill the Cellphone Companies Back

Go to all the cellphone stores in your area and sign up all the demo phones for your premium SMS text service! 

In my immediate area there are 3 Sprint/Nextel Stores, 4 AT&T stores, 4 Verizon stores, 3 T-Mobile Stores, and 1 Helio Store.  These 15 cell phone stores had a total of 328 active demo phones that I was able to sign up for my $9.99 a month service.

After the cellphone companies take their cut (~33%) and the premium SMS billing gateways take their cut (~33%).  I am left with $3.00 per subscriber, not too bad, but not great.  Better than nothing though!  So with 328 subscribers at $3.00 per month I am making an easy $984.00 per month.  That’s a decent car payment (this may even cover rent for some people)! 

The Process:
1) Sign up for a shortcode keyword.
2) Set your keyword for premium billing (either $4.99 or $9.99 per month).
3) Go to your local cellphone store and use all the demo phones to text your keyword to their 41411 short code.
4) Clear out all inboxed and sent text messages from phones.
5) Repeat this process at more cellphone stores.
6) Wait for them to mail you a check for approx $1.50 per subscriber ($4.99) or $3.00 per subscriber ($9.99). The more subscribers you have the more you make!

I am billing the cellphone companies back and they are paying for it!  I got my
first check last month.

And things are just getting started…

If I head further into the bay area there are hundreds of cell phone stores with thousands of demo phones so my subscriber list is sure to increase!  I can sign up more phones at my leisure.

Also, the cellphone companies get new phones every few months so this would allow me to return to these stores and sign up all their new phones for my premium service.  Things are just getting better and better!

So what is your take on these premium SMS scam ideas?

I almost got a speeding ticket on Christmas Eve while doing some last minute shopping. 

I was going around 70 mph in a 45 mph.  There was a CHP officer hiding off to the side of the road on a shoulder, along an wide open stretch near a busy shopping turnpike. 

This was an ideal spot to catch people speeding.  I must have been stuck between 6 sets of red lights, between about 50 busy stores for over 20 minutes.  I finally made it past the last set of lights and out of the highly congested area, so naturally I hit the gas and took off to make up for all the lost time between the red lights.  About a 1/4 mile down the road there was a CHP officer hiding behind a couple of bushes off the road, it was an ideal spot to tag speeders on radar, because it was really concealed. 

However, this same concealment prevented the officer from being able to pull out when there is a ton of traffic on this road.  So lucky for me there were at least 20 cars behind me which prevented him from pulling out quickly.  So I zipped into the nearest parking lot,  parked my car and went into a store.  The officer found my car and waited.  I took my time in the store, but the officer had nothing better to do either, so 20 minutes later I walked out past my car where the officer was waiting and walked over to Taco Bell.  By the time I finished eating he was already gone!

It’s been a while since I have looked at radar detectors so I looked online and I found a company, Phantomalert, which sells the latest Radar/Laser detectors, GPS radar detectors, license plate photo blocker sprays and covers, and other devices and information on avoiding traffic tickets.

Based on my research I believe that the Valentine One ($399.99) and the Escort Passport 9500i ($499.99) are the best radar/laser detectors out there for the price.

They also make Photoshield covers for license plates to prevent a car’s license plate from being photographed.

This license plate cover can prevent a car’s license plate from being photographed and can save a person from getting a ticket at those red light cameras.

They don’t recommend using these to block toll booth cameras on the Fast Pass Express Lanes.  However they would probably work for that purpose.

They may also work well with blocking the cameras with the Free Parking trick where you park your car, go where you need to go and then get another ticket from the gate as you return to your car.  When you go to pay for the parking, your ticket will only show that you have been parked there for 5 minutes instead of 5 hours (or however long you were actually there).  This only works some of the time.

Today is December 26th, the day after Christmas, the day where the majority of retail stores brace for large numbers of store returns.  People receive presents for Christmas that they do not want, that are the wrong size, or that they already have so they go to the store where they are purchased and then either exchange them or return them for cash. 

Sometimes stores offer a gift receipt, other times there is no receipt, however many high-end retail stores do not require receipts on returns especially for people who have a line of credit with this retail store.

Make a Quick $100 with a little Return Scam

So what if you buy an item from the factory outlet store at a discounted price and then return it to a high-end retail store for full price?

Chelsea Premium Outlets is the largest operator of premium factory outlet malls across the United States.  They have a mall in Petaluma, Napa, and Vacaville in the bay area (just to name a few).  They have high end stores such as Fendi, Nautica, Coach, Calvin Klein, Liz Claiborne, Ralph Lauren, Sak’s Fifth Avenue, Perry Ellis, Gucci, etc and thousands of others.  They offer regular mechandise at discounted prices and frequently have sales on these discounted prices for even more savings. 

Here are some examples:

Polo Black Cologne Set w/4.2 oz cologne and deodorant.
$69.78 retail price
$30.00 factory outlet store price w/40% off sale
——————-
$39.78 difference

Coach Soho Purse.
$289.99 retail price
$189.00 factory outlet store price w/20% off sale
——————-
$100.00 difference

If there are no factory outlets near you.  You can always purchase items from an online store or off of ebay for a discounted price.

The next step is to head down to an expensive shopping district such as Union Square in San Francisco, Times Square in NYC, or even your local shopping mall and then return the merchandise purchased at the outlet mall, online, or off of ebay for full price.

Stores such as Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales, Macy’s, Nordstroms, Filenes, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Sephora have very lenient return policies where they will accept returned merchandise without a receipt and sometimes even without the actual box.  I have only encountered a small amount of questioning and resistence when making these types of returns.  It may help if you show them a charge card from their store especially a high-end platinum card, but most of the time this is not necessary.  They will often make the return without any questions and give you cash.  If they ask questions you can always tell them that you either lost the receipt or that it was a gift and there never was a receipt.

Using this trick you can make a quick and easy $100 or even more!  I made my quick $139.78 today.   Shhh!  Don’t tell them that I told ya, tho.  It’s our little secret, ok?