Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 197

Ask the Slot Expert: More reader comments about whether edge sorting is cheating

A few more reader comments about the Phil Ivey edge sorting case. See my last two columns for details about the case. It seems to me that a big red flashing light should have been making the dealers' and the pit boss’s heads spin the minute someone asked for a specific brand of playing cards and then requesting a specific placement of the cards and the ability to use same cards in the following shoes of play...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: More reader comments about whether edge sorting is cheating

A few more reader comments about the Phil Ivey edge sorting case. See my last two columns for details about the case. It seems to me that a big red flashing light should have been making the dealers' and the pit boss’s heads spin the minute someone asked for a specific brand of playing cards and then requesting a specific placement of the cards and the ability to use same cards in the following shoes of play...read more

Getting comps

In the next few issues, I will give you excerpts from my book “Casino Conquest.” These will give you the full ins and outs of the casino comping system. Here goes:By now, everyone going to casinos will know something about comps. Table game players dutifully hand in their cards to the floorperson, who either swipes them in the computer or records the names on a piece of paper, and when these players are finished with their play they either ask that floorperson or pit boss for a comp or wait until their trip is over to see what the casino can do for them.In slot machines, it is even easier...read more

The baccarat alternative

Baccarat is more popular among big bettors than average players, and I don't hear from baccarat players as often as I do from those who play blackjack, video poker, slots, craps, Three Card Poker, roulette or Mississippi Stud.Nonetheless, at an early March dinner party, a friend of a friend told me he was exploring baccarat as a blackjack alternative."I've been a blackjack player for longer than I can remember," said Alex, a fellow in his late 50s who can remember almost as far back as I can...read more

Winning at blackjack

Mathematically, we know casinos should win from 0.5 to 0.8% at the card game of blackjack.However, when reviewing public records for Nevada casinos, we find they are winning 12 to 14% against the average blackjack player. Public records in Atlantic City, New Jersey indicate casinos are winning 14 to 16%...read more

Video poker flushes and keno history

QUESTION: You've fielded questions about video poker strategy when you have both low pairs and high cards. My question is about flushes.Do you always hold four cards to a flush, even if the non-suited card is a high card? What if the card is an ace in Double Double Bonus, where four aces get you 2,000 coins? What about a flush with a low pair?When do you break up four parts of a flush to hold something else?ANSWER: I'll use 9-6 Double Double Bonus Poker as an example, since part of your question had to do with aces and DDB.Four cards to a flush ranks high on the strategy table among non-winning hands...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Readers weigh in on Ivey's edge sorting case

Last week I posted an article about how Phil Ivey and his partner used a technique called edge sorting to win about $20 million playing baccarat and Punto Banco, a game similar to baccarat. Ivey lost both of the court cases related to his winnings, one filed in New Jersey and the other in the United Kingdom...read more

Advice needed and given

FROM NOT-KING-COLE: Do you have any wild ideas about gambling? I’m looking for a real escape. I mean it, I don’t mean just following the math of the games as you do but something really weird and wacky that is perfect for a night at the casino...read more

Keeping current on blackjack

In the last few weeks, while I was focused on new slot games, a number of blackjack questions piled up. Let's try to answer a few.What do you think of the side bet that pays 10-1 if you push the dealer? This one pops up from time to time under different names...read more

Be selective in blackjack games

Back in the good ole days, there wasn’t a lot of rule variation from one blackjack table to another. Nowadays that’s changed. Not only will you often find a different mix of blackjack playing rules from one casino to another but quite often in the same casino you’ll find a myriad of different blackjack games.The problem is this: Some blackjack games are very good, while others are terrible...read more

Baccarat card counting and craps 'put' bets

QUESTION: Tell me something about the tie bet in baccarat. It seems to me that there must be some cards that make ties more likely, and that if you count cards there must be situations where the tie becomes a good bet.Do you have any tips on when to play the tie bet?ANSWER: Most casinos pay 8-1 on tie bets when the dealer and banker hands have the same value...read more