Favorite Games

2 May 2021

By John Grochowski

Different casino games appeal to different personalities and playing styles.

Players sometimes find themselves at a game they don't really like, and they move on.
Recent emails include a couple from players who tried games, didn't like them and chalked it all up to experience.

DIANA: I started as a slot player. My boyfriend kept telling me the tables had better odds, and he was a craps player. He decided to teach me craps.

We practiced with dice at home so he could talk me through pass and how it works.

By the time I tried it in a casino, I understood how pass, come, don't pass and don't come worked perfectly. I even had a rudimentary understanding of odds.

Then we went to a table for real, and it all went out the window. I got flustered and kept asking questions about things I knew. It all moves so FAST!.

My boyfriend said it was first-time jitters and we should try again, so I did to keep him happy.

The same thing happened. I couldn't focus. By the time I remembered what I should do, the shooter was already rolling.

The table was busy and the crew couldn't slow it down just for me. I get that, but I hated it.

I went back to slots but kept it in mind to try a little less hectic table game. Eventually, I landed at roulette. My boyfriend tells me odds are barely better than at the slots, but at least the pace is nice and easy, and I like picking numbers.

RON: I think I talked myself into blackjack, but it didn't work out for me.

The first time my wife and I gambled in a casino, we both started on slots, then we tried video poker together.

Video poker was more up my alley than hers and we settled into a groove that on our trips together, she'd play all slots, I'd play mostly video poker, and I'd slide over to slots so we could play together and catch up on each other's days.

The strategy side of video poker really appeals to me. I like making decisions, and I like my decisions to matter. Maybe it feeds my ego a little when things work out, but I'll tell you, I was thrilled when I knew to break up two pairs in Double Double Bonus and just keep two Aces, and then I drew the other two Aces and a 3 for $2,000. I think I enjoyed that as much as any royal flush.

I wanted to try tables and it seemed to me the natural step from video poker to tables was to play blackjack. There are decisions on every hand there, too, and they make a difference in winning and losing.

I studied online, played practice hands, and learned basic strategy. Then I tried it for money, and it just kind of left me flat. Playing $10 blackjack, I played for about an hour and won $35. I got to double down a couple of times, I got three blackjacks and I won a little money, but it wasn't enough.

What was missing for me was the excitement of bigger wins. So you know what I play besides video poker now? Craps, and I love it. The speed of the game and the chance to win big when the shooter is on a roll give me something blackjack just didn't.

It's as far away from my love of strategy that you can get, but hey, vive la difference.

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