Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 370

Casino Marketing Misses the Mark

Marketing at some casinos is missing the mark badly and I wonder if they will ever learn. Recently, I saw a television ad for a casino while I was traveling on business. I won't say which casino it was or where it was located, but that hardly matters...read more

New cards at a blackjack table

Players are at a disadvantage when new playing cards are brought into a blackjack game. This is because new cards come in a predetermined order directly from the card manufacturer. The decks are usually arranged ace through king, king through ace and so on...read more

From goon to moon on the good ol' Top Deck

Dear Mark: I saw a guy outside the Cal Neva and he said it was his last day of pitching cards as he fanned a deck towards the moon. Something about the primates on the upper deck! Randy S.It has been just a day short of a quarter-century since I dealt my last hand at the Cal Neva, but thank you, Randy, for allowing me to reminisce on some of the great times I had in gaming.The upper deck reference is the Club Cal Neva's Top Deck: If I penned a narrative about the cast of characters who haunted the Top Deck 24/7, most would believe it couldn’t be anything but fiction...read more

Leaving After a Win

The other day I was sitting around with a few of my friends and the conversation turned to superstitions and any personal idiosyncrasy we have when we are gambling. One of my friends brought up the subject of whether it was better to leave a slot machine after winning a sizeable jackpot or to "play off" the winner and leave after a losing spin...read more

A shuffle through the gaming mailbag

Q. I have just recently started playing video poker. I have one question that I can't find the answer to. When I am playing regular slots and I hit a generous payout I usually move to another machine. I know that slots are really just luck of the draw and use RNGs, but I have yet to see two large payouts in a row. So, when playing video poker and I hit for a full house or better, do I stop playing that machine and move to a new one? Or should I put back my winnings into the same machine? A...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Slow machines in a slot tournament

John, I’ve been playing the slots for decades and have been in more slot tournaments than I can remember. For slot tournaments that are time-based rather than credit-based (most of them I think), I have always thought, “He who can hit the spin button the fastest generally gets the most spins.” The more spins you get, the better the odds of getting more 7s or whatever symbols the tournament machines use for the higher wins. I recently played in a 10-minute slot tournament in Laughlin and experienced the “slowest” machine I ever played...read more

EZ Baccarat makes baccarat even easier

Baccarat always has been among the easiest casino games. It's a guessing game. Does the banker hand or the player hand come closer to a total of 9? You can bet either side, and you have no decisions to make after you place your wager. After the banker and player hand each receive two cards, the totals determine whether a third card is dealt on either hand...read more

April showers

I think every student in the English-speaking world knows the following proverb: "April showers bring May flowers." Wiktionary.com explains this proverb as follows: "April, traditionally a rainy period, gives way to May, when flowers will bloom because of the water provided to them by the April rains...read more

Progressives Can Turn Negative Video Poker Positive

Progressive jackpot Video Poker offers opportunities to play an otherwise negative expectation game as a positive expectation game. As the jackpot grows, so does the overall return for the game. For every approximately 1600 credits the jackpot rises, the return rises just under one percent...read more

Surrendering at blackjack

More and more casinos are offering the player option of "surrender". This is a very good move for the player. For example, if you were holding a hand totaling 16 and the dealer showed a 10 up card, you have a 77 percent chance of losing that hand...read more