Gaming Gurus: Latest From Our Strategy Experts

Are free odds at the craps table free?

When calculating the house edge of craps bets, it is common to include the odds portion of a craps pass, don’t pass, come and don’t come bets. The base portion of those bets are subject to a house edge of 1.4 percent, meaning that over time the base portion will lose $1.40 for every $100 bet.The odds portion, however, is paid at true odds – assuming the amount bet is a proper multiple...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Casino employees should know what's going on

A panelist at a seminar on giving superior customer service in a casino had this suggestion for casino managers. He said that all employees should know the basic details about an event occurring at the casino. Anyone who wears a uniform or a name tag should be able to answer two of the five W's of journalism...read more

Winning at Keno

A short question from Shirlene.Hi Stickman,How can I win on Keno game?ShirleneHi Shirlene,Thank you for the very short and to the point question. Unfortunately, to properly answer your question, more information is needed. For example, where are you playing keno – live keno in a casino, machine-based keno in a casino, or online keno.Each of these has have significantly different characteristics and conditions...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Video poker suggestion

I hit the Spin button on one of my favorite Quick Hit slot machines. The screen dimmed a bit and shooting stars danced all over the screen. I knew something good was about to hit. Most likely, it was going to be the bonus. But it could also be enough Quick Hit symbols to win one of the bigger progressives...read more

Chasing a video poker jackpot

The selection of video poker games is wide-ranging. There are the basic games like Jacks or Better – the original video draw poker game. These are low variance (swings in bankroll) games. They offer only one huge winning hand – the royal flush.As time went on, game manufacturers added new games that increased excitement by adding additional high paying hands.They developed wild card games such as Deuces Wild that have a higher variance but offer a couple of jackpots – the royal flush and four deuces.Next game manufacturers produced “bonus” games such as Bonus Poker and Bonus Poker Deluxe...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Video poker tournament strategy -- not necessarily based on Expected Value

A friend recently said that she was going to play in a video poker tournament. She doesn't usually play the paytable that was going to be used on the machines, so she said she was going to learn and practice the strategy. Does learning the mathematically correct strategy for a paytable in a video poker tournament make sense? Over the long run, you'll win the most amount of money from a paytable by following the mathematically correct strategy -- that is, holding the combination of cards with the highest Expected Value...read more

Touching chips at the craps table

Hi Stickman,I had something happen to me that last time I was at the craps table. There was a wild shooter who had the dice. He would grab the dice and fire them down the table. They would fly all over the place. On one of his throws, the dice hit the chips I had on the don’t pass line.My question is, is it okay for me to restack those chips? Do I have to wait for the dealer or stickman to handle it? I know they don’t want you to play with your pass line bet during the point cycle, but does that also apply to don’t pass bets?ChuckHi Chuck,Regarding your comment about pass line bets, it is okay to change the odds portion of the bet (but not while the dice are out)...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Video poker progressives

Question: Always choose progressives when playing video poker. Crazy how most people don’t know this. Answer: Well, okay. All things being equal, you might as well play the progressive. The problem is that rarely are all things equal. As I wrote the past few weeks, fantastic free play offers from a casino led to my recent dalliance with 25-cent Triple Play Illinois Deuces with a royal progressive on each hand individually and a separate progressive for a royal on all three. I considered three options for using the free play: NSU, some other video poker, and slots...read more

Video poker game recommendation

From Sarah.Hi Mr. Stickman,I am a new video poker player. Well, I am really just a potential video poker player. I play mostly slots now but friends have told me I should consider video poker because it has a better house edge for me.My question is, what game should I learn first...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Answer to last week's puzzler

Last week I described a decision I had to make while playing video poker. I had very good free play offers at a casino and I was using it playing Triple Illinois Deuces Wild with a separate progressive for a royal on each hand and another progressive for being dealt a royal or drawing to three royals. Even though drawing to three royals is a long shot, I've seen it happen...read more