Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 374

The ultimate gambling math

There are always arguments between those who believe that math controls the long-term outcome of casino games and those who believe something else controls the nature of these games. These "something else's" can be trends, psychic intuitions, psychokinesis and fervent hope, among others. The fact is that no one has looked into the depths of gambling the way I am about to...read more

Full Pay Bonus Poker Is Nearly As Good As Full Pay Jacks or Better

Casinos routinely change their inventory of slot machines. Usually this is done to add exciting new games or to eliminate games that aren't played enough. Video Poker games are also routinely changed. They are moved to different locations...read more

Spanish 21

The game of Spanish 21 was first introduced to Nevada casinos in 1995 by a casino management employee who was looking for a version of blackjack that might increase participation and spice things up with some new entertainment. He developed a variation of traditional 21 using what is called a Spanish deck, which has 48 cards in it...read more

No-hole-card blackjack

In U.S. casinos, the dealer will start a round of blackjack by dealing two cards in sequence to each player and two cards to herself. Before the players act on their hands, the dealer has both of her cards in front of her on the layout. One card is face up and the other is face down tucked under the face-up card (the face-down card is also known as the dealer's hole card)...read more

A shuffle through the gaming mailbag

Q. My dad retired to Vegas and every time I visit him (two or three times a year) we play hours and hours of video poker. We almost always play Double Double Bonus. We play single play, Triple Play or Five Play. I would without a doubt call my dad an expert player...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Can identical slots have different bonus probabilities?

I have two slot machine questions that I've wondered about for some time. It seems like you'd be the perfect person to ask. 1. When slot manufacturers construct the slot games, do they or the casino purchasers determine what the min/max payback percentage figures will be? In the tribal compacts that I've read the minimum payback for "non-skill" slots is in most cases 80 percent...read more

The house has the edge in 21 + 3

Calculating odds in casino games is mostly pretty straightforward arithmetic. There are different degrees of complexity, and there certainly are traps. Goodness knows I've fallen into a few myself. The devil is in the details, and a reader named Jason missed a fine point recently when he e-mailed me to say he thought players have an edge on the blackjack side bet 21 + 3...read more

The misleading language of gambling

Some philosophers have stated that if you don't have a word for something then that something doesn't exist. This may or may not be true. But what about its corollary, having a word or words and expressions for something that doesn't exist? What if that non-existent something makes people do foolish things? Stupid things? Things that will hurt their supply of money? What if the expression is really an equivocation? It means one thing but the reader takes it to mean something else. We can put aside questions of things which may or may not exist that we actually have words for, such as ghosts, angels, demons, flying saucers and aging actresses who don't get facelifts...read more

Three Card Flushes

When playing 9/6 Jacks or better Video Poker it is tempting to hold a three-card Flush. After all there are still ten suited cards in the deck so this seems like a reasonable play. Unless there is a possible Straight Flush draw, however, it is the wrong play...read more

Jest for Fun

A guest checked into a Las Vegas motel and was getting ready for bed when he noticed a small book on the night table entitled "The Bedside Companion." On the contents page was a list of articles to read for certain occasions. "If you are depressed and down in the dumps, read page 37...read more