Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 255

Deal Me In: Smart gambling takes the day

Dear Mark: I just wanted to say thank you. My husband and I just got back from Las Vegas where we played blackjack. We would never have known about the now common payoff of 6 to 5 without your column. We played at Treasure Island, which did pay 3/2 on multi-deck...read more

Even money — NOT

I don’t do a lot of backtracking and explaining past columns. For the most part, they can stand on their own, and when readers e-mail me to say they didn’t understand a point, I try explanations via e-mail rather than readdressing the topic for all.It seems I had one column a few months ago that was so widely misunderstood that I figured I’d best circle back around...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Predicting a slot machine's performance

In one of your replies, you mentioned that it is a mistake for a player to use the past performance of a machine to try to predict future performance, as in a "hot" machine. In the next sentence you state that if you are playing a "hot" machine you will play it until it stops being "hot"...read more

The trip from hell

FROM ROLLO: Help me Frank! I was on a cruise ship for seven days and played craps each night. I was playing with a bunch of “shakers and fakers” as I like to call the ones throwing the dice everywhere and making field and hard ways bets. Then at the end of the table stood the darksider, making don’t come bets and pressing all the odds...read more

Blackjack versus video poker

QUESTION: If I’m in a casino that has $10 blackjack tables with a half-percent house edge, and $1 9/6 Jacks or Better, which also has a half-percent house edge, which should I play?ANSWER: That depends on a number of factors, including what you want out of the play experience...read more

Why can't I get a royal?

I received an e-mail recently from someone bemoaning the fact that he never had a royal flush even though he had played video poker for many years. Here's his story:"I play video poker a lot and I always look for the machines with the best return when I play...read more

Deal Me In: Chance, not persistence, determines the winning spin

Dear Mark: Please help me save my marriage. A while back, my wife and I were in a local casino in Reno. She was playing Megabucks. We were there for about two hours, and she had about $350 invested in the machine. I was tired and told her I wanted to go, so she reluctantly cashed out the remaining $50 she had in the machine, and we headed to the casino cage to cash the ticket.After getting cash for the ticket we headed for the door...read more

Hitting that 12 against a dealer's 2 or 3

On a crisp November morning, I stopped into a casino near my home, found an empty seat at a $10 blackjack table and did my level best not to get drawn into the argument that was raging.A two-against-one discussion was going on with two players joining forces against the man sitting at third base...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: The best way to play free slot play

Enjoy your columns. Thanks for the work. I can't believe some of the stuff, such as the $660 voucher from New York. No way to make this stuff up. Serves him right for trying to be a bit dishonest. Thanks for the kind words about my columns. Last week I posted a letter from a player in New York who enlisted a stranger to cash his ticket for him...read more

Setting things straight

BILLY: I heard, actually I read on a craps website, that there is something called the “craps community,” which I guess means there are huge numbers of avid craps players who know each other. Is this true? How do I join a craps community?FRANK RESPONDS: There are approximately one to 1.5 million craps players in the United States and Canada (info from Harrah’s survey)...read more