Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 153

Money Key to Video Poker

Video poker strategy often is about winning the most money rather than winning the most hands.That’s a point I’ve often stressed, usually making an example of a hand that includes a low pair and an unpaired high card. In most games, the low pair brings a higher average return even though the high card brings more winning hands.A Michigan reader wrote to ask just how far we would go in pursuing bigger payoffs...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: What does "free play" mean?

Question: What does the term "free play" mean? Answer: Free play is the new name for what used to be called bounceback cash. When I first started going to the casinos in Atlantic City, they would send players coupons that could be exchanged for cold, hard cash at one of the coin redemption booths...read more

Let's play baccarat

There are two baccarat games played in casinos: big high-roller-room baccarat and mini-baccarat, with mini-baccarat being the dominant of the two.Baccarat is perhaps the most accessible of all the table games because it is, when you play it correctly, betting on the equivalent of a coin flip.The full-blown, high roller room game, where the players get to deal the cards and the game moves along at a snail’s pace, will usually be $100 minimum games...read more

Beating craps

QUESTION: I’m just learning craps and really like it a lot. One of my friends put me onto it, and he’s been a big help in learning.I’ve been trying to think of ways that might help my odds a little, and thought about placing $12 on 6 and betting $3 on 7...read more

The Big Six wheel

The Big Six wheel has been given various names over the years, including Money Wheel, Dice Wheel, Wheel of Fortune, Big Wheel and Lucky Wheel. Regardless of the name, it’s a large, normally six-foot vertical rotating wheel that came from American carnivals and has been adapted by many casinos worldwide.There are a number of variants of game that divide the wheel itself into a different number of segments, use different symbols in the segments, and have different odds if a symbol is selected...read more

The biggest changes

Asked the biggest change I’ve seen in my 30-plus years on the casino scene, I recently told a reader that the expansion of legal gambling beyond its Nevada and New Jersey homes has to be No. 1.But there’s been a revolution in the games we play, too...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Turning free play into real cash

Question: On the rare occasion that I win a decent free play bonus, what strategy would you recommend to turn as much of it into take-home cash as possible? Answer: A very timely question. A few months ago I earned $1,000 in free play in a promotion, and last week I won $1,000 in free play in a tournament. I think it's important to remember that playing free play is a one-off situation and the long term does not apply...read more

Numbers, numbers everywhere

I’ve been writing gambling columns for Casino Player for almost 30 years. I’ve always tried to make my columns clear and understandable. I think I succeeded (I hope I succeeded).But today’s column is different. It might be confusing. You might think it is brilliant or idiotic...read more

Double Double Bonus poker: Question 1

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.All the answers in this series are based on the following pay table...read more

Blackjack Bob's latest

My latest chat with Blackjack Bob came at a good time. He’d just had a big win at the tables, and he had an interesting time at Three Card Poker, too.Let’s turn the conversation inside out and look at the Three Card Poker before turning to Bob’s blackjack exploits.“The day had gone so well, I decided to lock up my $650 profit and walk away...read more