Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 245

Ask the Slot Expert: Slot machines with bet buttons labeled good, better and best

Question: I know all about the RNG and slot machines. However, I noticed some machines have good, better and best on the choices. For example, the 30-cent bet will have good on the button. The 90-cent button and above will have better or best on the button...read more

Lights, camera, action!

Let’s go back in time for a brief moment. Recall how the old film crews would have their director shout out, “Lights, camera, action!” and the actors would scurry about their scene and the lighting director would make sure they could be seen and the scene and the seen played themselves out.Jump to our modern-day casinos...read more

The math of the pass line at craps

QUESTION: Can you explain how house edges are derived? Maybe you could walk through the math for the house edge on the pass line as an example of how this is done.ANSWER: I’m going to get more math-y than I usually get in this column, because you’ve picked one of the more involved calculations in craps, because the pass line is a multipart bet...read more

Playing simplified video poker strategy

Many readers are aware of the paybacks of popular video poker games. For example, full-pay Jacks or Better returns 99.54%, full-pay Bonus Poker returns 99.16%, full-pay Double Bonus Poker returns 100.17%, and full-pay Double-Double Bonus Poker returns 98.98%.These returns are calculated based on what is called “perfect play.” Playing “perfectly” means for each hand that is dealt, the mathematically highest paying combination of cards is saved...read more

Casino conversations

The bulk of player interactions in casinos are of the mundane variety – table players talking about where they’re from during a shuffle, or slot players asking if a machine is taken.But with so many players passing through casinos every day, there are bound to be a few conversations that go down a not-so-beaten path...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Do slot machines hit more frequently when I bet more?

Question: Re: the question you discussed about receiving relatively small payouts for a large number of free spins on penny slots. I just returned from a trip to A.C. two days ago and won 80 free spins while playing $1 per spin. My total for the 80 free spins? $36.40...read more

Dinner at eight

Sometime in the mid-1990’s my wife the Beautiful AP and I were in the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas. We were walking from the buffet, full and satisfied after a delicious breakfast, when a somewhat wild-eyed, somewhat disheveled woman stopped us.“What’s today’s date?” she asked.“April 2,” said the Beautiful AP.She shook her head...read more

Cashing in with $20 bills

QUESTION: For one of your columns about things other players do, I once saw a person buy in at a craps table for $10,000 – all in $20 bills!It was just me and another player, in Atlantic City, at the Golden Nugget. The new guy wanted the table for himself and a $50 minimum bet.We were allowed to keep playing at $10 minimum until the counting was done...read more

Canceled playing cards

The playing cards used in casinos today are manufactured to a much higher quality than standard decks sold to the general public. However, since they are used at a much higher rate than cards played at home, they are also discarded at a much greater rate.Some casinos will change a deck of cards every few hours, while decks in a six-deck shoe game for example, might last an entire eight-hour shift.One question that comes up is: How many decks of cards do casinos use? One answer is that the United States Playing Card Company, the largest manufacturer of playing cards in the world, sells more than 20 million decks to casinos each year...read more

Deal Me In: Can a computer beat a game that is built on lost bets?

Dear Mark: A book review in the Wall Street Journal appears to claim that a computer can win at roulette. This doesn't appear to be reasonable, since each spin should be random and the rules of probability favor the house quite strongly with the normal double-zero American version...read more