Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 220

Is it too much to ask?

I am a calm player; I really am. I’m cool like a Zen monk.If someone is not playing basic strategy at blackjack and making all sorts of bonehead plays, that’s fine with me. His play does not affect me positively or negatively. If some craps player is making the most idiotic bets; hey, it’s his money...read more

Back-to-back wins

I received an email recently from Mark, a video poker player who just found this column recently but who said he’s been skimming an online archive to see what he’d missed.“What caught my eye were some columns you’d done a while back on players who had jackpots close together,” he wrote...read more

What does a dealer do?

The answer to the above question seems obvious . . . a blackjack dealer deals cards. However, when I contacted the person who asked me the above question, I discovered that what she really wanted to know are more details about the job. (The reader lives in a state where demand for dealers has outstripped supply and she is considering a career change to become a blackjack dealer.)To dig more deeply into exactly what a blackjack dealer does, I contacted Nick Kallos, who owns and operates a dealer’s school in Las Vegas...read more

100x odds and touch-screen blackjack

QUESTION: I was wondering about craps tables and free odds. Most of the casinos near me have 3x, 4x, 5x odds. That seems to be standard around here. When I travel, I’ve seen 5x, 10x, sometimes 100x odds.Why doesn’t everyone offer the 100x odds and be done with it? The odds are an even bet, right? The house doesn’t lose money on them, and players have to make the pass and come bets to get the odds, so the house still gets its edge.I mean, if I bet $10 on pass, the house is going to get that same 1.41% of $10 regardless of whether I bet another $30 in odds or another $1,000 in odds.ANSWER: Your point would be valid if all players used the odds as an extra bet and made same other wagers regardless of how much they bet on odds.However, that’s not all there is to it...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: How much to tip for a slot machine jackpot?

Question: When hitting a hand-paid jackpot, what is the courtesy regarding tipping the slot attendant that pays you? Do you tip higher for bigger jackpots? I hit for $1,300 and $8,000 last week and it seemed to me the attendants were truly appreciative of any tip. Answer: Something strange seems to be going on with hand-paid jackpots...read more

Worthy slot writers

I know it is rare for a gambling writer to review other gambling writers, especially since some of these writers write for the same publications (including this one) and some of these writers are friends of his.My answer to the conundrum is this: So what?I enjoy reading other gambling writers, I do, although most of the genre is filled with silliness and poor advice, and nowhere is that more evident than in books and articles about slot machines, the casinos’ golden cash cow...read more

Top 10 most-read columns by Mark Pilarski

To card count, or not to card count? (photo by Bob Owen)You may have already heard the news: After decades of faithful service to the gambling industry, working for seven different casinos and writing informative, entertaining columns, Mark Pilarski retired late last year.For more than 20 years, Pilarski has answered burning questions from readers that covered a wide range of topics — everything from explaining casino odds to expounding on the finer points of going head-to-head against a chicken (more on that later).We'll miss him here at Casino City, where he has been a regular contributor to our Gaming Guru section since 1999...read more

Systems and more systems

It’s not unusual to find a roulette player with a system. It’s less common to find a systems player who wants to coach you in their method just because you happened to be standing next to them.That’s what happened to Rob, who made the table minimum $5 wager on inside bets by putting his chips straddling the line separating 13-14-15 from 16-17-18...read more

Some video poker games earn different players club points

Savvy players like Video Poker because of its low house edge. With some games the edge can actually be in the player’s favor. By including slot club bonus points, even a slightly negative game can become positive.At one time (it now seems like the distant past), when the concept of player’s club points was fairly new, all video poker and slot machine play was given equal points per dollar played...read more

A simple strategy for Caribbean Stud

QUESTION: You never write about Caribbean Stud anymore. Why is that? Also, can you give a strategy for when to bet and when to fold? I mainly play blackjack, but as a second game I like Caribbean Stud when I can find it.ANSWER: Your last phrase, “when I can find it,” is the main reason I rarely write about Caribbean Stud...read more