Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 165

Tipping dealers

Many of my colleagues in the gaming world will say you are wasting your money tipping dealers. They claim dealers are only the messengers and they can’t affect the hand, roll or the spin of the wheel. They say it can only have a negative effect on your overall win-rate, and therefore you shouldn’t tip.Over the years I found many reasons you should tip dealers and in a good number of cases I have improved my win-rate by doing so...read more

Triple zero roulette

QUESTION: On a trip to Las Vegas at the Excalibur Casino I was looking, I noted the numbers on the roulette wheel were in a different order than I was use to. To my surprise when Ilooked at the top of the number board I saw three zeros at the top, 0, 00, and 000!I never saw that before so I asked the dealer if that paid off at different odds since there were more possible outcomes...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: How many hands between royals on a machine?

Question: When a person hits a royal flush, how long will it take that same machine to hit again? Answer: The machine could hit another royal flush on the next hand or it might take 40,000, 80,000 or 100,000 hands to hit another royal...read more

Gambling and the Law: The power of television

The more things change, the more . . . What? They remain the same? They change?One of the last book stores in Los Angeles recently closed. And record stores are just as rare.This doesn’t mean that people aren’t buying, or at least reading, books...read more

Doctor Ego and Mr. Id

Just about everyone knows the Robert Louis Stevenson story of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Jekyll, a mild-mannered, logical doctor, gives himself a formula aimed at bringing out the being deep inside him, in short the basest, most vicious, sexually propelled, avaricious creature that he believed was within us all...read more

Some new video poker games

Video poker is one of the most interactive casino games around. It keeps players involved with draw or hold decisions on every hand, and it keeps you in the game with frequent payoffs – given expert strategy, nearly 45% of hands are payers in 9/6 Double Double Bonus Poker.But it’s the big jackpot hands, royal flushes and high-paying four of a kinds, that amp up the excitement factor...read more

Odds bets at craps

Hello Jerry,Enjoy the craps articles by you, Frank and others on Casino City Times. Have read many of Frank's books. I have played craps for many years, 5 count, dice influence (at least try!) and all sorts of other ways of try to get ahead.The one thing that still gets and puzzles me is how adding odds behind a pass line bet lowers the house advantage from 1.41% to say under 1.0 % or even less.To me, it seems the pass line bet is two distinct phases.The come out when the pass line has the advantage for me but just at even money...read more

Changing blackjack basic strategy

QUESTION: You’ve said of several different blackjack hands that the statistics of basic strategy are a little different depending on the composition of the hand. A hard 16 isn’t exactly the same hand if you have 10-6, 9-7, 8-8, 6-7-3 or 5-3-2-5-A.What about hands where the basic strategy chart says to make some play all of the time, but the dealer’s up card differs? Surely 10-7 against a dealer’s 6 is different than 10-7 against 10, but we’re told always to stand...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: More frustrating video poker situations

Question: As to errors on ticket redemption machines: I have only had one. It was at Hollywood casino Tunica for $300. They checked the machine and it reported amount dispensed. I would be careful not counting your money. I count mine before I walk away from the machine...read more

How many and which bets to make at craps

Now to the important stuff – what bets should you make and which bets should you avoid? In short, how should you play a savvy game of craps? How do you become a tough out for the casinos?Here’s how:• Use the 5-Count on all shooters (this technique is explained in Chapter 6 of Casino Craps: Shoot to Win!).• Make only bets that come in with house edges under 2%.• Understand the mathematics of the game in terms of what the house edge actually means in terms of dollars and cents.• Use little tricks to get more in comps than you deserve.• Play within your bankroll limitations.• Create a 401G account (this is a gambling account separate from your normal bank accounts).The best betsThe top-of-the-line bets are not hard to figure out – on the right side are the pass line and come bets with full odds; on the dark side/don’t are the don’t pass and don’t come bets with full odds.If I bet $10 on the pass line or come with no odds and you bet $10 on the pass line or come with 2x (or more) odds, our expectation is to lose 14 cents for those $10 bets...read more