Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 380

A Few Things About Roulette

Roulette is one of the easiest games to learn and play in the casino; it's also considered the oldest casino game. Francois Blanc, the man who put the Monte Carlo casino in Monaco on the map in the 1860s, designed the roulette table and wheel layout we use today in most casinos around the world...read more

How to play straights and pairs in video poker

Most of the hands that you receive in video poker are no brainers in the sense it's fairly obvious which cards you should hold and which ones you should discard. However, there are the not so obvious hands in which you must choose between two possible plays...read more

A shuffle through the gaming mailbag

Q. I was playing three-card poker, and was winning pretty good, and wanted to tip the dealer. I put down an ante bet for the dealer, and had a pair of 6s, so I went to raise both my bet and the dealer's bet. The dealer told me I was not allowed to raise on the dealer's bet...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Is the RNG affected by the amount I bet?

Hello John, Does the RNG operate on the amount you bet per spin or on the symbols? My wife was playing a progressive slot machine the other day and was rotating her bet from minimum to maximum bet. She hit the progressive with a minimum bet much to her dismay and felt she lost out on the $256,000 payout...read more

Martingale losses can be spectacular

The Martingale betting system, in which players double their bets after losses, has a strange hold on a segment of roulette players. I've been warning against the system since I started writing regularly about gambling in 1994, and others exposed the system as a bankroll-eater long before I joined the fray. And yet it's a rare month when someone doesn't ask me about the Martingale, whether by e-mail or in person...read more

The better the name, the worse the bet

Which wagers in the casino have the dullest-sounding names? Why, these are given to the very best bets. It is interesting to note that dull in terms of sound usually means good in terms of house edge. So let's take a look at some of the best bets in the casino, those bets that come in with the dullest sounding names. In baccarat you have the boring-titled bank bet (1.17 percent house edge) and the drab player bet (1.36 percent house edge)...read more

What look like small changes in games can have big monetary effects

Perhaps you’ve noticed marginal differences among nominally similar casino games. Well, caveat emptor – buyer beware. Minor alterations may cause major changes in house advantage, and what seem like attractive features for bettors could well be boons for the bosses. Single- and double-zero roulette offer a classic example...read more

Tossing Aces in 9/6 Jacks

One of the counterintuitive plays in 9/6 Jacks or Better video poker occurs when one is dealt three high cards and one of them is an Ace. The correct play is to just hold the two non-Aces and discard the Ace. When I tell people this they frequently ask me to explain why this makes sense...read more

The 10 Best Casino Gambling Tips

Almost 40 million visitors show up in Las Vegas every year. A little more visits Atlantic City. I don't think too many of them are considered hard-core gamblers. In fact, according to reports from the Las Vegas Visitors Bureau, more money is spent by visitors on eating, going to shows and staying in hotel rooms than on gambling...read more

Texas Hold'em A to Z: Q Is for Queens

Pocket Queens I have a love/hate relationship with pocket Queens. Sometimes they give me great pleasure and shower me with riches and the next time they steal my money and kick me to the gutter. Queens are fickle and you have to play with them cautiously or they will break your heart...read more