GameMaster's Video UPdate and GM's Digital Mailbag

To view, click any active GameMaster's Video Update or GM's Digital Mailbag

Current Video UPdate

GameMaster Video UpDate - for July 08
Update on gaming legislation and gambling and the candidates.

Current Digital Mailbag

Current Digital Mailbag - for July 08
The single-deck game in Atlantic City.

Previous on the Digital Mailbag...

Current Digital Mailbag - for June 08
What about Spanish 21? Count the burn card? What about joining a game in progress?

Current Digital Mailbag - for May 08
What's more important, the counting system OR the rules?

Current Digital Mailbag - for April 08
A GameMaster analysis of max bets and high true counts.

Current Digital Mailbag - for March 08
How can I increase my bet spread without getting heat from the pit boss?

Current Digital Mailbag - for February 08
Blackjack-Cut the size of bet if part of the bankrool is lost? Why the house has an advantage.

Current Digital Mailbag - for January 08
Single-Deck, you're counting, you raise your bet, they brake the deck. Here's what to do.

Current Digital Mailbag - for December 07
GameMaster explains Basic Strategy variations using "Risk-Averse".

Current Digital Mailbag - for November 07
GameMaster analyzes the spread of Poker Robots.

Digital Mailbag...for October 07
What you need to know about Poker Ranking Sites, using data mining softwear.

Digital Mailbag...for Sept 07
Card counting at on-line casinos. One technique that does work.

Digital Mailbag...for July 07
Flat betting and basic strategy for online blackjack. The Stop-Loss/Profit strategy debunked

Digital Mailbag...for June 07
Multiple-Card Soft Hands revealed

Digital Mailbag...for May 07
NLHE "Ring Games?" and GameMaster's Blackjack book recommendations

Digital Mailbag...April 07
The Negative Count and the Positive Count: Ron say's "What's going on?"

Digital Mailbag - March 07
"Atlantic City 6-8 deck", "Lucky Ladies bet"

Digital Mailbag - February 07
"Current BJ News", "Rounding the True Count"

Digital Mailbag - January 07
"Splitting 10s", "Insurance" and "Are they cheating?"

Digital Mailbag - December 06
"Blackjack: One Big Bet or a Bunch of Small Ones?"

Previous on the Video UPdate...

GameMaster Video UpDate - for June 08
New Poker Lesson is previewed. GM gets political.

GameMaster Video UpDate - for May 08
GM gives you the lowdown on the "e-passporte" situation

GameMaster Video UpDate - for April 08
GM talks about the movie "21," points out Team Play resources and gives an update to the Gambling Law.

GameMaster Video UpDate - for March 08
"The Blackjack Diary" goes live, new poker lesson and new info on the gambling bill.

GameMaster Video UpDate - for February 08
Heads-up on "The Blackjack Diary" and the first video book reviews.

GameMaster Video UpDate - for January 08
A new idea for evaluating Blackjack games. WTO rulings are explained. Germany bans internet gambling and GM looks at "Rider Bets."

GameMaster Video UpDate - for December 07
Some notes on Full Tilt also GM's poker player ranking. A look at the Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide, an update on the Poker Payers Alliance and Doyles Room is back online. Nuff said.

GameMaster Video UpDate - for November 07
Here's how the GameMaster see's the new "Step Tournaments" at Poker Stars...plus a Holiday dig for our Blackjack School DVD.

GameMaster Video UpDate - for October 07
Some good changes at UltimateBet.com. Update on Rep. Barney Frank's gambling bill. Rules published for "Unlawful Internet Gambling Act," here's what it means.

GameMaster Video UpDate - for Late Sept. 07
E-Passporte as a gambling payment system. Big Sunday night poker tournament at PokerStars.com. A Dog's Tale: The strange live and times of BoDog.

GameMaster Video UpDate - for Aug 07
Introduction to the new web design. GMO article in "All-In" magazine. Internet Rummy?

GameMaster Video UpDate - for July 07
GameMaster NEWS Feeds are introduced, Senator Barry Frank Gambling legislation is updated and the WTO lawsuit is explained.

GameMaster Video UpDate -for June 07
General update on new elements, new poker article, new Blackjack Tournament School Video Lesson, new Blackjack Advanced Course Video Lesson and a Happy Birthday party.

GameMaster Video UPdate - for May 07
New PRO gambling bill introduced and a introduction to our new Balckjack Tournament School Videos

GameMaster Video UpDate -for April 07
New Single-Deck BJ, a GameMaster Rumor and a Video Teaser for our BJ Tournaments with Elimination Hands series

GameMaster Video UpDate - for March 07
The removing chips trick (from the BJ table) and Poker Player's of America.

GameMaster Video UpDate - for February 07
Monthly article for Blackjack Insider, "Blackjack Bets with a Choice" plus GM is a baby-boomer!

GameMaster Video UpDate - for January 07
"What you can Expect" (BJ Tournaments with Elimination Hands) and "Basic Strategy Variations" for BJ Tournaments with Elimination Hands

GameMaster Video UpDate- for December 5th
"A Basic Strategy Counting Reminder" along with "My Results So Far" (BJ Tournaments with Elimination Hands).

GameMaster Video UpDate - for November 20th
New Poker Lesson "All in on the Flop", "Single-Deck Card Counting?" and "Where I Play"

GameMaster Video UpDate- for November 6th
The Gambling Bill is signed into law, a GameMaster explaination of whats what. A GameMaster Warning.

GameMaster Video UpDate - for October 17th
New Poker Lesson "Short Handed Play", the Continuous Shuffle Maching and the Batch Shuffler and "Counting Occurs from Shuffle to Shuffle".

GameMaster Video UpDate - for October 3rd
Series intro, Hot Blackjack Tournaments, the new All-In Magazine, and a new poker book review "Poker Tournament Formula"

How do they do that?

We have received a couple of questions on how we produce the GameMaster Video Update.
Here is a short look behind the curtain.

Pre-production: Not much. GameMaster makes notes on what he would like to talk about. We kick it around.

Production: We shoot once a month, usually the morning of the first Tuesday. The video shoot takes about 2 to 3 hours, with 2 to 3 takes per-storyline. We use a Canon GL1 (digital video camcorder)on a tripod for lockdown shots and we shoot against a green-screen material on quick-fold stands. This allows us to key the GameMaster off the background and strip in any other required backgrounds and or graphics behind him. Much like the evening news.

Post-production: Our source material is SD NTSC at 720 x 486. We use Avid Express Pro HD for digital capture. Most editing is done with After-Effects 7.0. Rendered out as a QuickTime Animation (highest settings) file and then transcoded and re-sized to a Flash Video File using Sorenson Squeeze 4.0. The finished file is then uploaded to the web site.

Jay Thompson
Creative Director for GMO

The ORIGINAL GameMaster Blackjack School

(The Basic Course) as Video Tutorials are now available FREE on this web site. You can, of course, still buy the best selling DVD, just click on this link or the ad on the left of this page. To view your selected video tutorial merely click on any "Chapter."

Lesson 1: The Basics of Basic Strategy
Chapter 1: Introduction to Basic Strategy
Chapter 2: The Basic Strategy Matrix
Chapter 3: The Basic Strategy Decision Chart
Chapter 4: Using Flashcards - Homework

Lesson 2: Memorizing Basic Strategy
Chapter 1: Basic Strategy Reconstruction Exercise
Chapter 2: Basic Strategy Decision Exercise
Chapter 3: Card Practice Exercises
Chapter 4: Multiple-card "soft" hands - Homework

Lesson 3: Card Counting - The Basics
Chapter 1: Why Counting Works
Chapter 2: Learning the Card Point Values
and the Hi/Lo Count
Chapter 3: The Single Card Count-Down Exercise

Lesson 4: Counting Cards - The Tricks
Chapter 1: Counting by Pairs
Chapter 2: Counting at the Blackjack Table
Chapter 3: Increasing Your Speed
- Practice at Home

Lesson 5: Betting With the Count
Chapter 1: The True Count
Chapter 2: Deck Estimation
Chapter 3: Learning Your Bet Size
Chapter 4: Optimum Bet Size

Lesson 6: Verifying Your Skills
Chapter 1: Multi-card Soft Hands Test
Chapter 2: True Count Conversion Exercise
Chapter 3: The Importance of Penetration
Chapter 4: Basic Strategy Desision Test
Chapter 5: How to Know You're Ready