Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 301

Practicing your craft

If you are a golfer you might have the desire to go a round at Pebble Beach. If you play tennis, maybe Hilton Head would be your hope; or playing a few lines at the Reno National Bowling Center would be fun for bowlers. If you want to gamble, you might want to go Las Vegas, Atlantic City or Monte Carlo...read more

Frequent blackjack questions

Every game has its own list of most frequently asked questions, the things readers ask most often. And the table game that draws the most reader e-mail is blackjack, with some questions popping up over and over.So let’s do a little blackjack FAQ, with a few of the things you ask most.Are fewer decks always best for the player? If all other rules are equal, the house edge is lower if fewer decks are used...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Why do I lose on slots one day and win the next?

I have a question about what has become my favorite slot game, IGT's Ghosts Wild, which I have been playing at the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland. The bonus is eight free spins. My question is this: Is the outcome of the bonus spins set when I hit the button for the original spin (which won the bonus), or when I hit the button to start the bonus spins? Actually, neither...read more

Comps and hedges

FROM MARK: On a recent trip to Atlantic City, my friend and I usually play the same amount. At the craps table, his first bet is $90 each on 6 and 8 $50 each on 5 and 9 and he buys 4 and 10 for $25 each for a total of $330.My first bet is also $90 each on 6 and 8; with $35 each on the 5 and 9 and $10 each on the Hard 6 and 8 for $270...read more

Craps and wild symbols

QUESTION: I need to learn a little something about craps in a hurry, for a work outing. I don’t want to go through all the rigmarole of those bets that take more than one roll. Isn’t there a way to play where I can just make my bet, and it wins or it loses, but then I can just move on? Is there a best way to play that way?ANSWER: There are many one-roll bets in craps, but none of them are among the best bets at the table...read more

Playing 18 in blackjack

There are several ways to get an 18 when you play blackjack. The 18 could be “hard,” meaning the hand either doesn’t contain an ace, or if it does, the ace is counted as one. (Examples are 10-8, 8-5-5 and ace-4-10-3.) Or you can get a “soft 18,” meaning a hand containing an ace that is counted as 11...read more

We all make mistakes

Everybody makes mistakes. Mostly they aren’t too serious, whether it’s forgetting to set the oven timer for the frozen pizza or leaving the inevitable typo for my good editors to fix.The same goes for mistakes at the casino. Most don’t cost you much – you lose one bet and move on...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Slot machines always hit on the last spin?

My rebuttal to a statement that slots always hit on the last spin in last week's column generated a number of responses. Excerpts from some of them follow in this week's column. I like to read your column, but I also disagree with some of the things you report. Like the person who said that many times the big win comes on the last spin, I have been witness to this same thing.....read more

Pro blackjack player? Do casinos want winners?

FROM UNMEN: One of the things you should have included in your “Don’t, Don’t” article is this: “You should not stand in back of someone playing a slot machine and act so impatiently to get the machine. Don’t bug the player.”FRANK RESPONDS: Absolutely!FROM JACQUELINE: I just read one of your articles and can relate to losing and winning...read more

Tight slots and loose roulette

QUESTION: I’ve liked the video slots for a long time now. I noticed right away when that one with the fishing lures (Reel ’Em In) came out on nickels that it gave me a little something back a lot more often than I got on the reel slots. I could keep going and going, where on the reels if I didn’t hit something good I’d sometimes lose my money really fast.With the penny games now, that seems to have changed...read more