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John Grochowski Gaming Guru  Craps Betting on the 124 December 2022
By John Grochowski QUESTION: My dad's an old craps player, knows the game inside and out and always sticks to the best bets. He's kind of a dark side player. Doesn't mind if he's the only one on the don't and takes some razzing. We passed halftime watching football on Thanksgiving by talking about bad bets, especially the one-roll bet on 12. It pays 30-1 when the real odds against winning are 35-1. Per 36 rolls, for you to make any money, you have to get at least two 12s. With one 12 or no 12s, you lose. That's simple enough. But we were wondering how many winners above average you needed to win over extended play, hundreds or thousands of rolls. We were too turkey bloated to do the arithmetic ourselves. It was a fun halftime conversation, but we didn't want it to make work! ANSWER: Let's use a multiple of 36 to make this all come out even since there are 36 possible two-dice rolls, with one of the being 12. Imagine you bet $1 on 12 for each of 360 rolls in which every possible combination comes up 10 times. You'd risk $360. On each of your 10 winners 12s, you'd keep your $1 bet and get $30 in winnings. At the end of the trial, you'd have $310, meaning an average result is a $50 loss. If you won 11 times, you'd have $341 and a $19 loss. You start to turn a profit at 12 wins, which would give you $372, or $12 to the good. Two extra winners per 360 rolls might not sound like much, but it's a 20 percent increase on the average 10 winners. Win 20 percent more often on any casino game and you'd like your chances. With more rolls, we can come closer to a breakeven point. At 3,600 rolls, you'd risk $3,600. Average results of 100 wins would leave you with $3,100, a $500 loss. At 116 wins, you'd bet at $3,596, just $4 shy of breaking even. The 117th win would hit profit territory at $3,627. Even more rolls would take you closer and closer to a breakeven point of just over a 16 percent increase in wins and a profit point of a bit under 17 percent. QUESTION: Looking for new, fun games online, I came across Super Fun 21. It's blackjack, but it lets you do all kinds of things like resplitting or doubling down on split Aces. I figured there must be a catch. ANSWER: The catch is that blackjacks pay only even money unless both cards are diamonds, in which case there's a 2-1 payoff. Super Fun 21 has been around for a couple of decades. It pops up in large casinos with big table pits, and it's been adapted online. The short pay on blackjacks is enough to enable a host of positive rules:
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. Goofs and Good Luck27 November 2022
When goofs at games happen, a little luck can go a long way. In the spring, I wrote about Brady, a Deuces Wild video poker player who had a brain cramp. He assumed he was playing Deuces, but the player before him had been playing Double Double Bonus and Brady didn't change games. He held a lone 2 -- a DDB no-no -- but lucked out and drew three more 2s for a 400-credit payoff. ... (read more)
Three-Card Poker Strategy Tips20 November 2022
QUESTION: I have a question about Three Card Poker strategy for the ante-play bet. The recommendation is that you match your ante with a second bet anytime your hand is Queen-6-4 or better. If you have no pairs, flushes or straights, your high card is less than a Queen, or if you have Queen-5-4 or less or Queen-6-3 or less, you fold. ... (read more)
Getting the Edge at Blackjack13 November 2022
On a lazy Tuesday morning, it was time for one of my regular conversations with Blackjack Bob. Bob had seen my column explaining the house gets an edge on banker bets in baccarat and buy bets in craps by charging a commission. It seems Bob had his own recent conversation on the source of a house edge. ... (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 |
