Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 151

Three-Card Poker Play

Three Card Poker has become a casino standard, part of the regular game mix in American gambling houses. Its popularity doesn’t challenge long time player favorites blackjack and craps, but in some states they draw more players than baccarat or even roulette.How good is your shot to win? What is the house edge?Those are questions that need to be answered in multiple steps, because Three Card Poker involves more than one round of betting.The house edge can be expressed as a percentage of the ante that starts either game, or it can be expressed as a percentage of the average total wager, once subsequent bets are considered.Some people refer to these as “house edge vs...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Reconfiguring slot machines

Question: I recently spoke to a fella who used to work both at Vegas casinos and slot machine companies. This person told me that currently casinos can change the payback percentages and/or other parameters of their slot machines from the "back room" without having to manually change any components in the machine (i.e., change the chip) or contact the local gaming commission...read more

Robert Rebels

FROM ROBERT: Hello, with all due respect you have no idea what you are talking about when it comes to proper and winning craps play. What is wrong with $44 inside? It is a great bet. So why aren’t you recommending it more than the Pass Line and the Odds?I therefore surmise that you must work for the casinos...read more

Blackjack Bullies

QUESTION: I’ve always laughed when I read about blackjack players getting angry with the third baseman for not being a team player. I kind of thought those stories might be phony. Nobody could really get that mad about someone making the right play, could they?Well, it happened to me, and it was on a really stupid hand...read more

Deciding when to leave the casino

ABBY: “Always leave when you’re ahead.” That might be the most famous saying or advice given by players and writers about casino games. But does it make any sense? Think about it clearly.CINDY: That advice has superficial logic to it but it can’t stand up under scrutiny...read more

Playing Properly

Casino games have built-in mathematical advantages to the house. With notable exceptions such as counting cards in blackjack or playing expert strategy at certain video poker games, you can’t completely overcome the house edge.But short of learning to count cards or playing video poker at expert level, there are things you can do to make sure you get the most out of what casino games have to offer.Here are a few for starters:BLACKJACK: Everything starts with learning basic strategy...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Losing at server-based video poker machines

Question: My family and I play Double Double Bonus and Triple Double video poker. It used to be sometimes we won, sometimes we lost. The game seemed fair. About two years ago the casino we go to took out the old machines and went to a server-based format...read more

Don't Be a Pig

We’ve just finished Thanksgiving and the Black Friday crowds in every corner of the country have shown once again that mobs certainly act like mobs and not like bright, articulate individuals gathered together to share something they like, in this case enjoying sales at various department stores on a holiday where we are supposed to be thankful for everything we have...read more

Technology Changes Casinos

QUESTION: I was thinking about technology and how some things that were game changing in the recent past have practically been discarded now.Specifically, I was thinking about video recording. When I was a kid, you watched a TV show when it aired or you didn’t watch...read more

Double Double Bonus Poker: Question 3

I regularly receive questions concerning how to play certain video poker hands. A previous article gave some basic information about the game of Double-Double Bonus video poker. If you are not familiar with this game, take a look at it before continuing with this article.The sample hands are all from emails actual that have been received.All the answers in this series are based on the following pay table...read more