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Best of Frank Scoblete
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Gaming Guru
Take your losing like a chump3 December 2013
So the exchange went like this: You send us non-American-workers and we send you non-worker Americans. I thought of that as a fair-trade, kind of like the odds bet at craps. The non-working Americans will fit right into these poor countries perfectly because then there is probably no work to be had which is what they like. The non-American-workers will fill the bill here by working, paying taxes, becoming citizens and not feeling entitled to anything other than a shot at the American dream. I was taken to task for such thinking. I was called cruel for suggesting that our welfare recipients should be forced to work even though they are able-bodied. How dare I have that kind of attitude? Welfare recipients have the right to choose whether they work or sponge. Anyway that was the counter-argument. Which brings me to casino gambling. I have the same cruel attitude when it comes to games of chance one can play in the casinos. I am annoyed by players who do not play the correct strategies at the games; players who ultimately cost themselves a lot more money in losses than they need suffer. Casino gambling does not require the intellect of an Albert Einstein or Stephen Hawking to understand the proper way to play the games. You just have to understand which are the good bets and which are the bad bets. So what is the formula? Simply this: The house edge and the speed of the game determine which of the games to focus on and which are the games to avoid. Take baccarat. There are three bets at this game, the Player bet (house edge of approximately 1.24 percent = expected loss of $1.24 per $100 wagered); the Banker bet (house edge of approximately 1.06 percent = expected loss of $1.06 per $100 wagered) and the Tie bet (house edge of 14.4 percent = expected loss of $14.40 per $100 wagered). Right off the bat you know that the Tie bet is a sucker bet because the house will drain you of your money in short order. Now we have to take into consideration the speed of the game – how many decisions do you face in an hour of play? In the high-roller room at the traditional baccarat table of 12-14 spots, the game is quite slow – maybe 40 decisions per hour. Betting on either Banker or Player, this game will be a close contest owing to the low house edges on those bets. But there is another kind of baccarat game, mini-baccarat, which is played on a table similar to a blackjack table. This game has the same rules but is lightning fast. You can face upwards of 150 decisions per hour. Now, even with a low house-edge, the mini-version of baccarat becomes a far more dangerous game. Given a player who can afford $100 minimums, which table would be best to play $100 per hand? There is no question as to what the answer should be. And what about craps? The same holds true for this game. There are a few excellent bets at the game (the pass line with odds; the don’t pass with odds; the come with odds; the don’t come with odds; the placing of the 6 and 8; the buying of the 4 or 10 for $25 or $50 if the commission is paid on wins only) and a multitude of bad, awful and horrendous bets at this game that can come in with percentages from 9 percent to 17 percent and sometimes more (that horrendous Fire Bet that is over 20 percent). Still, go to just about any craps table in America and what will you see? Correct; you will see players make all the worst bets at the game. Why do they do this? You can read this website and issue after issue great gaming writers steer you in the proper direction concerning what games to play and how to bet them. There are literally hundreds of good books on the games but still, players just seem to want to throw their money down a rat hole. So, am I supposed to have sympathy for these players as I am supposed to have sympathy for able-bodied people who refuse to work? I think not. Like able-bodied welfare recipients, the players should play the game correctly, just as those recipients should get their butts off the seat and look for a job. The casinos do not exist to give you their money. They offer you choices – some are decent choices, some stink. No casino player should choose the choices that stink. They should always work hard to make the right choices. Frank Scoblete's newest books are CONFESSIONS OF A WAYWARD CATHOLIC and SLOTS CONQUEST. All available from Amazon.com, or at your favorite bookstore, or by mail-order by calling 1-800-944-0406. Join Frank on his website at www.frankscoblete.com. This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net. Recent Articles
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