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Alan Krigman Gaming Guru - Page 11  How different are your strongest and weakest blackjack starting hands?5 December 2011
The strongest playable blackjack hand is 20 versus eight-up. Ignoring rounds in which the dealer has a blackjack, your expectation by standing with this combination is to win an average of 79.1 cents per dollar bet. Many players would assume a 20 to be their best total but would suppose it would be most favorable against a six, the card on which the dealer is likeliest to break. ... (read more)
Who should craps buffs thank or blame for too few or too many sevens?28 November 2011
Craps aficionados know – or should – that the chance of a seven showing on a toss is one out of six. There’s no great mystery to this probability. It follows from the totals on the faces of two balanced dice. Here are all the possible combinations: 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 2-6, ... (read more)
How do the gurus decide what's the best way to handle a video poker hand?21 November 2011
Everyone who plays the machines fantasizes about hitting a jackpot (name somebody who doesn’t). Most don’t actually expect it to happen, but still nurture the thought that it could.
Pretend you’re at a jacks-or-better video poker game with the following return schedule: royal – 800, straight flush – 50, ... (read more)
Is it preferable to spread or concentrate your bets at craps?14 November 2011
Losing in the casino is bad.. A close second at craps, frustration-wise, is waiting and not winning while everyone else is racking up the chips on dice totals you haven’t covered. Which is why most titans of the tables put money on multiple, complementary propositions at the same time. Not as hedges, another ... (read more)
How does volatility affect your chances of gambling success?7 November 2011
Casino games are biased toward the bosses. Not because of the odds against winning particular bets, but by the offset between those odds and the payoff for beating them. Except in the occasional cases where the offset is implemented as a fee or commission, players rarely notice the edge when they’re ahead or falsely attribute their poor performance to it when they’re behind. ... (read more)
Why slots that look identical may differ greatly31 October 2011
Everyone knows, or should know, the returns for bets they make in the casinos. On propositions that win, lose, or push, earnings are fixed multiples of the money at risk. On those with diverse possible outcomes, such as video poker hands or reel-type slot machine symbol alignments, returns follow predetermined schedules based on results obtained.
... (read more)
How does edge affect your chance of winning at roulette?24 October 2011
The chance a roulette wager will win or lose on any round is determined solely by the number of positions on the wheel and how many of them are covered by the bet. Money “straight-up,” on one spot, at a 38-position double-zero table has one way to win and 37 to lose, so the odds to be overcome are 37-to-1. ... (read more)
How does edge affect your chances of winning at blackjack?17 October 2011
Conventional wisdom among civilians not inducted into the rites of the casino realm is that the house always wins. The ostensible rationale involves the bosses having an edge in the games they run. The part about having an edge is true – except, of course, in instances like blackjack with card counting where diligent enough players can get an advantage. ... (read more)
What does edge cost you per hour at craps?10 October 2011
Typical craps players out for the fun, excitement, and camaraderie of the game give little thought to the house advantage on the various bets. They put their pelf on propositions that seem to be hitting, their favorite or lucky numbers, or whatever lets them madly toss chips on table and bark orders at dealers they think make them sound like wiseguys straight from Damon Runyon stories. ... (read more)
Can you make big bucks at the casinos starting with a small bankroll?3 October 2011
You can make big bucks at the casinos working from small bankrolls. But no matter what strategy you follow attempting to do so, you need a stroke of luck because the more profit you demand, the less you’re apt to succeed. There’s no getting around the laws of the universe.
Some folks try betting on low-probability high-payoff longshots at the tables. ... (read more)
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