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John Grochowski Gaming Guru  The Baccarat Situation17 October 2021
By John Grochowski House edges in baccarat are among the lowest in common casino games. Yet baccarat remains a secondary or tertiary game for most players, if they play at all. Perhaps it's because you have no decisions to make on whether to draw cards. Players like to feel they're in control. There's not even an extra-bet decision to make, as in Three Card Poker and Mississippi Stud. That doesn't mean baccarat is a no-decision game. The decisions come before the cards are dealt. You decide which side gets your wager, whether you switch sides and whether to bet the same amount on each hand. Keeping in mind the house edge is 1.06 percent if you bet on banker, 1.24 on player and an out-of-the-question 14.4 percent on ties, here are some ways players try to get the most out of baccarat.
If winning banker bets were paid at even money like winning player bets, banker bettors would win more money than they lost. Tables would be crammed with sharpies looking for free money until casinos shut the game down. The solution is to charge a 5 percent commission on winning banker bets. If you win a $20 bet on banker, you must pay the house a $1 commission. Your profit on the hand is $19. Some players shy away from banker because of the commission, but it still has the lowest house edge at baccarat. You cut the house edge to the bone if you bet on banker every time.
Many players like to bet on streaks, sticking with one side as long as it wins, than switching to the other after a loss. Streak bettors' goal is to ride a long winning streak to big profits. If long streaks don't come, at least you're on low house-edge bets all the way. There is no way to tell when a streak is coming. With betting the streaks, you just have to take your chances. A streak of five banker wins comes only once per 29.76 trials, and a streak of five player wins averages once per 34.47 trials. When long streaks happen, it means fun and profit. But losses are more frequent.
Using bets on player, bet $20. If you win, bet $20 again, so even if you lose you can do no worse than break even. If you win the second bet, then wager $40, then $60, then $80. After five consecutive wins, roll back to $20 and start over. If you win all five bets in the conservative progression, you win $220 instead of the $100 you'd win if you bet $20 each time. The downside is that choppy results and early losses can leave you worse off in a progression than with flat bets. The result is more big wins offset by a lot more small losses. Look for John Grochowski on Facebook (http://tinyurl.com/7lzdt44) and Twitter (@GrochowskiJ). 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. Single Die Craps10 October 2021
QUESTION: While looking up craps odds online, I found a Canadian site with a reference to Die Hard Craps. Apparently, it's a one-die version of craps. Do you know anything about it, like the odds, payoffs and where I might be able to play? I'm always willing to give a go to something interesting. ANSWER: Your best bet for finding the game might be to poke around online sites. ... (read more)
Card Counting at Other Games26 September 2021
QUESTION: Every gambling writer I've read says that card counting works and those who are really good can turn the tables and get an edge. Why wouldn't counting work in other games, too? Why couldn't you count numbers in roulette, count rolls in craps or count jackpot symbols on slot machines? Why couldn't ... (read more)
Refresher Blackjack19 September 2021
Blackjack Bob's phone call arrived almost as if on cue. "Are you ready to get back to the battle yet?" he asked. I'd been out of action, taking care of personal business for nearly two months. I'd not played a hand of blackjack or video poker, rolled the dice or pushed a slot machine button. But it was getting to be time to get back to business. ... (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 |
