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John Grochowski Gaming Guru  First Royals14 August 2022
By John Grochowski If you play video poker often enough and long enough, even big hands like royal flushes run together. After millions of hands and dozens if not hundreds of royals, frequent players don't remember them all. But some hands are special. They are clear as day in memory even if they happened decades ago. Video poker veterans shared some of those memories. Paul: Doesn't everyone remember their first royal? I sure remember mine. It was right at the beginning of the 1980s, before there were casinos all over the place. I was on my third trip to Las Vegas with some friends. We were all mainly sport bettors, and on this trip we went for the first weekend of the NCAA basketball tournament. I played video poker the previous two trips, so that is what I did when taking a break from watching games. My buddy Jack stopped by to commiserate. I went to Ohio State, and I had to get away to blow off some steam after the Buckeyes lost to James Madison. I had an Ace, Jack and 10 of clubs, and while he was standing there, I drew the King and Queen. Wow! I got all light-headed, butterflies in the stomach. My heart probably skipped more than one beat. The pain of the basketball loss was pushed into the background by the thrill of the slot attendant counting out $1,000. Who could ever forget that? Artie: My No. 1 memory isn't a royal flush. It was five Aces. For many years, I lived outside Philadelphia and used to go to Atlantic City about once a month. The best video poker games were Joker's Wild where you got the big jackpot on five Aces. I drew the five Aces probably 15 or 20 times, but one really took the cake. I held nothing but a Joker. On the draw, boom! The four Aces! That was a beautiful $1,000 surprise. Sandie: This was really cool. Not a royal flush, though I've had lots of them, but cool nonetheless. I was on the last day of a three-day trip for a conference. I was going to meetings by day and playing by night. Not too late, mind you. There was actual work to be done early in the morning. The gambling hadn't gone well and on the last night, I was down about $800. The conference was over. I could relax and enjoy, but the money was a problem. I tried some quarter Multi-Strike Poker in Double Double Bonus Poker. I got all the way to the top hand where winners are multiplied by eight, and I was explaining to a colleague about how even small winners were nice with the multiplier, then the big one hit. The deal brought two Aces, which I held. The draw was magic with the other two Aces and a 3. With single pay, that's 2,000 coins. At 8x, it's 16,000. On my quarter machine, that was $4,000. Even with taxes, I went home happy for sure. Tom: The really memorable royal was the biggest: $20,000. I usually play quarter games and my royals are $1,000, but I was on a bachelor party trip and everybody was a little loose with the money. I'd won some playing blackjack and some more on $1 video poker. Then I said: OK I'm going for it. I'm putting $1,000 in $25 video poker. A thousand dollars is only 40 hands. It could have been gone in a flash. But on the fourth hand I was dealt four high spades and got the 10 on the draw. That was 10 years ago and I think I'm still in shock. 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. Nothing Odd About "Odds" Bet7 August 2022
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 ... (read more)
Zappit31 July 2022
My old card-playing pal Blackjack Bob is a Midwesterner through and through, and online casinos remain illegal in his home state. So when visiting relatives in New Jersey in June, he took advantage of the chance to check out a few sites. He found a blackjack game he'd never played and it intrigued him enough to play a short, low-stakes session. ... (read more)
Number of Starting Hands in Blackjack24 July 2022
QUESTION: I was talking with my dad, who taught me how to play blackjack, and we were wondering how many different starting blackjack hands you could get. ANSWER:. That depends on how you look at it. If you consider all hard hands with the same two-card total as one possible hand, there are 34 starting hands. ... (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 |
