Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 335

Deal Me In: 'All in' demystified

Dear Mark: At our low-stakes Friday night poker game, we have one player who is adamant that anytime someone has an insufficient amount of chips (money), that person is automatically forced out of the hand. This particular player bullies us with his bankroll, which, from what limited information we know about poker, does not make sense, nor fair to the rest of us...read more

WMS goes for video poker gold

WMS Gaming’s bid to break into the video poker market has gone live. Machines marked “Multi-Game Poker” went onto Las Vegas casino floors at Harrah’s and Caesars Palace in mid-December.I happened to be in Las Vegas at the time, so I went to Harrah’s to check them out...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Would I have won more at a higher denomination?

I love your columns and appreciate the sharing of your knowledge. When the woman [in a recent column] stated that she has better results from "stopping the spin," your answer surprised me. When I see people "stopping the spin," I always think it is more of a superstition than a way to actually control the result...read more

Loose or tight slots: Which makes more for the casino?

You can take a quick look at the slot paybacks in this issue of Strictly Slots to get some idea of which areas of the country have the loosest slots payout percentages and which areas have the tightest payout percentages. You can also go casino by casino in those jurisdictions that report individual percentages.On penny, nickel, quarter, 50-cent, one-dollar and five-dollar machines, the percentages reflect quite a large amount of play...read more

Paybacks at video poker and craps

QUESTION: I know that when I play video poker, I can’t expect the advertised payback percentage every time. Sometimes I’m going to hit some big hands and win, and sometimes I’m going to hit nothing and lose.But on the average, when I don’t hit anything really big, like a royal, what’s a reasonable return to I expect?ANSWER...read more

One Great Video Poker Tournament Strategy

Video poker tournaments provide lots of fun and excitement for its participants.Each video poker tournament can have its own particular set of rules thereby making every single tournament unique. However, the one thing they all have in common is that luck plays a large role in the outcome...read more

Caution is wise in casino play

All year long, I write about casinos and casino games, pointing out what’s new and cool in the games people play and examining the strategies that give us the best chances to win. Early in each year, though, I like to strike a cautionary note...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Stopping the spin does affect future results

Hello John, I don’t agree completely about your reply about stopping the wheels and having no effect on outcome, only speeding up play. Stopping the wheels to speed up play thus creating an outcome that otherwise would not have resulted in the next spin is affecting outcome. Every nanosecond is a different result from the RNG, right? If a machine is playing well, I’ll play it faster for a few spins in the hope that it might result in a better win or at least a winning combination that wouldn’t have appeared otherwise...read more

What is the point of slot play?

I have a neighbor who is a noted physicist, at least other physicists note him. He is a man who scorns casinos and is totally disdainful of casino players and slot players in particular. I am sure most of my readers know someone just like him.The other day I asked him why he was so “perturbed” (his word) about slot players...read more

Double Double toil and trouble

QUESTION: I play dollar Double Double Bonus Poker at a casino that has it two pretty interesting ways. It has 9/6 DDB with three progressives, on the royal, aces with kicker, and aces without kicker. It also has 9/5 DDB with just one progressive on the royal, but it has a $50,000 jackpot for a sequential royal...read more