Gaming Gurus: LatestFrom Our Strategy Experts

Casino Friends

CINDY: There are some friends that we have gone to casinos with but these aren’t the friends we are writing about in this article.ABBY: No. We aren’t talking about friends from the neighborhood or former school chums that you get together with occasionally...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Video poker deja vu all over again

Question: Can you explain how continuous card shuffle machines work? I like playing 3-card poker. One casino has a shuffle machine and the other has a dealer shuffle the cards. I am wondering which has the best odds for the player? Answer: Continuous shuffle machines (CSM) don't actually shuffle the cards, at least not in the sense of having a little hamster inside who takes half the cards in each paw and does a Bridge Shuffle...read more

Don't Call Me Chicken!

Marty McFly (brilliantly played by Michael J. Fox) in the wonderful movie series “Back to the Future,” got to travel in time, both to the future and the past. He also got very (as in very, very, very) annoyed with anyone who would say or suggest he was a “chicken” of any kind.Calling McFly a chicken was an open and direct invitation for him to do something stupid...read more

Top 10 new online slots for August 2022

The World Series of Poker came and went during the summer months in Las Vegas and we saw Espen Jorstad take down the $10,000 Main Event title and haul in $10 million. While this tournament was happening, online providers and developers continued to announce new slot games for players.Here, we take a look at 10 new online slots since our last edition earlier this summer.10...read more

Nothing Odd About "Odds" Bet

QUESTION: I was looking at a chart of the craps house edge for pass plus odds. The edge keeps getting smaller the more odds you bet, so 0.8 percent with single odds, 0.6 percent with double odds and so on, all the way down to 0.02 percent with 100x odds.How high would the odds bet have to be for the house edge to hit zero? Would the edge disappear at 200x? 500x? 1,000x? I recognize that if you bet $10 on pass, a 1,000x odds bet would be $10,000.Players couldn't afford it and the house wouldn't want to fade it...read more

Playing Different Denominations of Video Poker

In previous decades, video poker machines had one game and one denomination, for example, Jacks or Better at 25-cents per credit.In those days, play was straightforward.1) Find a machine with the denomination that has your preferred game and suits your bankroll.2) Verify the pay table is decent.3) Play the game.Those days are long gone.Casinos today have a large collection of different types of video poker machines...read more

Casino City’s Friday Five: Massachusetts sports betting and the return of NFL edition

Last night, the National Football League officially began its 2022-2023 season with the Hall of Fame preseason game. The Las Vegas Raiders defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 27-11 and the season is now underway.We have some NFL future bets to look into for this season, but before that, we have more top stories in the gaming industry to cover...read more

Final Words on Bankroll

ABBY: Blackjack is an interesting game. If you are a $10 player your average bet will not be $10. You will have hands where you double your bet, split pairs, double down on splits and so on. Your average bet will be more than $10. If you play two hands, which I don’t recommend, you are betting more than $20 per hand.At a full table, and I recommend you play at a full table to reduce the number of decisions you face and that you use the blackjack “basic strategy,” you will get about 60-70 decisions...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: A quick take on a new Quick Hit machine

Someone was playing my favorite Quick Hit Blitz machine. No problem. I'll play my favorite Quick Hit Reel Boost machine. Uh oh. That machine is in use too. What to do? I could call it a day and try again on my next free play or point multiplier day...read more

Chicken Crossing the Road

I do love those old “chicken” sayings. Here’s one of my favorites:Question: “Why did the chicken cross the road?”Answer: “To get to the other side.”Yes, dopey at many levels but there is an element of truth in it. To get somewhere you want to go, well then, you have to move in that direction...read more