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John Grochowski Gaming Guru  Mom and Daughter Penny Slots29 January 2023
By John Grochowski QUESTION: My 80-year-old mom loves the slots and she's been giving broad hints that she'd love a mother-daughter day at the casino. I used to go with her on park district bus trips, but our parks don't do that anymore. The result is that I haven't played in a few years, and I'm wondering what kind of budget I need if I'm going. I was never as big a player as she was, but I could get by on $40 or so to play plus something for lunch. Will that still do? Are there enough penny slots? ANSWER: There are plenty of penny slots. They're the most common coin denominations in casinos. However, if you haven't played in a few years, be prepared for higher minimum bets. It's been some time since anyone made games where you could choose your bet size, starting with a single penny for one payline. Even when you last played, most of those had cycled out of use. Nearly all modern penny slots require you to bet on all paylines. Often, slots have 40 lines or more, making your minimum bet at least 40 cents. I've played in casinos that set machines to require bets of at least two coins per line, hiking the base bet up to 80 cents. On a machine with a 40-cent minimum bet, a $20 bill guarantees only 50 spins of the reel, and 80-cent bets take that down to 25 spins. It's easy to breeze through 20 bucks without ever seeing what a game can do, without ever triggering a bonus event to pique your interest and replenish your credit meter. There are a few things to do to extend play:
QUESTION: Do players get blackjacks more often or less often than dealers? ANSWER: Blackjacks, or two-card 21s, occur with the same once per 21 hands frequency for players as for dealers. There's nothing in the rules or the way the game is dealt that would make any two-card combination come up more or less often for players vs. dealers. Three or more card combos are different. Player and dealer hit/stand strategies are different. Players can turn a soft 18 into different totals, but dealers are required to stand so will always finish with 18. But two-card probabilities are the same for all. 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. What Happened to the Royal Flush?29 January 2023
QUESTION: I was playing 9-5 Triple Double Bonus Poker. Not the top of the line pay table, I know, but not too bad for nickel Five Play game. Four Aces with a low kicker brings 4,000 coins for a five-coin bet. It's as much as you'd get for a royal flush. I was wondering, do you get the Aces and kicker more ... (read more)
Playing Slots with Mom22 January 2023
QUESTION: My 80-year-old mom loves the slots and she's been giving broad hints that she'd love a mother-daughter day at the casino. I used to go with her on park district bus trips, but our parks don't do that anymore. The result is that I haven't played in a few years, and I'm wondering what kind of budget I need if I'm going. ... (read more)
Blackjack Mistakes Made by Great Players15 January 2023
Whether it's due to fatigue, a misread of the cards or just a brain cramp, blackjack players sometimes make mistakes. Even good players sometimes mess up, as highlighted in a recent conversation with my old pal blackjack Bob. Bob brought up a column I'd written not long ago about mistakes increasing with fatigue, then said, "I just pulled a doozy. ... (read more)
Craps SystemsCraps players love systems, trying to mix and match bets in hopes of finding the magical formula that will beat the casino. Just about any system will work sometimes, and when a player wins with a system, it encourages another try, and another, and another. In the long run, of course, the casino comes out on top. ... (read more)Multi Strike PokerIt was a Friday morning in Joliet, and I'd been playing a little video poker aboard Empress II, waiting for the 11 a.m. opening of Empress I and its video poker room. Soon, if it hasn't already happened by the time you read this, Empress' new barge will open, ending such little scheduling inconveniences, but on this day, I found myself passing time with a little quarter Triple Play Poker. ... (read more)Comps - The BasicsA colleague of mine likes to refer to casino comps as "free stuff." And for those who know their basic strategy in blackjack, optimal strategies for certain video poker games and who know how comping systems work, the "stuff" really is free--the value ... (read more)Basic Strategy for Spanish 21In the last couple of weeks, we've looked at basic strategy in blackjack. Sit down at most blackjack tables in any jurisdiction, play basic strategy and you'll narrow the house edge to a half-percent or so, perhaps a little more or a little less depending on house rules. ... (read more)Single-Deck Basic StrategyThose whose casino memories stretch back far enough may recall a time when the standard "Las Vegas Strip" blackjack game was dealt from a single deck of cards, with the dealer standing on all 17s. That started to change in the 1960s as operators grew ... (read more)John Grochowski |
John Grochowski |
