Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 469

'Mathletics' -- breakthrough use of stats to bet on hoops, football, baseball

Mathletics -- How Gamblers, Managers, and Sports Enthusiasts Use Mathematics in Baseball, Basketball and Football by Wayne Winston ($29.95, hardbound, 358 pages) could be the best book ever written on the subject for people who love to crunch numbers before making a bet...read more

Going for casino gambling's gold

The Olympics of 2008 are long, long gone and largely forgotten. Those athletes who ran; who swam; who dived; who launched various objects into the air; who jumped; who fired guns; who shot arrows; who fenced, biked, volleyballed, baseballed, basketballed, rowed, played polo, canoed and rode horses; those who tumbled, danced, swung on high bars, played table tennis, weightlifted, wrestled and those who punched each other in the face, have now all returned to their homelands; some of them ecstatic with gold, silver and bronze medals to show the rewards of their efforts to their awed countrymen; while most of the other competitors having little tangible to show for their efforts but the certain knowledge that they tried their best and have nothing to be ashamed of...read more

Playing Baccarat the "EZ" Way

Even if you're a regular casino player, baccarat is an easy game to ignore simply because it does not have the high profile presence on casino floors as games like blackjack, craps and roulette. Is baccarat a game for millionaire jet-setters, or does it have a place in the scheme of things for average players? In some gaming jurisdictions around the country, including Northwest Indiana, the game is a huge attraction and a major source of casino revenue. Many average casino-goers who have no experience playing the game wonder if it's worth playing, or even fun to play...read more

Why systems fail

A reader who picked up on something I'd written about the Martingale wagering system e-mailed for a little clarification. "You said that the Martingale runs up against maximum bets," he wrote. "Does that mean a system that doesn't rely on increasing wagers can work? "What if I'm playing craps? A 12 should come up once per 36 rolls, right? So what if I've counted 18 or so rolls without a 12? On the average, it'll show up sometime in the next 18, right? I understand that it's not going to work every time, but with 30-1 payoffs, you have to have an edge, right?" Wrong. It's a common enough misconception that long streaks have to end soon, that the streaks somehow change the odds of the game...read more

How do you calculate slot club cash back percentage?

Can you tell me what I have to divide to figure the percentage payback of a slot club? Let's say, for example, you get 2 points for each dollar you put in the machine, and you need 1,000 points to receive $1.00 back. How do you determine that equation? I thank you for your insightful articles. Jason Dear Jason, Thanks for the kind words about my columns. In your example you said that you need 1,000 points to get $1 back...read more

ESP and betting

Dear Frank: Hello. First of all I would like to ask you to have the patience of reading this e-mail until the end. I will start with a short background of mine. I've started betting on soccer games almost 10 years ago. I believe that by now I got to a level when I could call myself a professional in this field...read more

How can slots be random and pay back a set percentage?

Sir, Love your articles and read them all. My question is, and I know you have heard it before, but how can the RNG be what it is and yet the casino knows exactly what the payback is, 97.8, 98.6, 95.5, etc. over a certain period of time? How can something be random all through its play and still know what to hold for the casino's percentage? I have a hard time understanding how this could be...read more

Father-in-law wins big playing wrong game

I've written about my 91-year old father-in-law Pete's adventures in video poker before. He is a converted slot player whom I taught video poker on my computer using commercially available video poker training software. He also brings his video poker strategy cards with him to the casino when he plays, just in case...read more

Crazy gambling letters from nutty people # 10

Dear Mister Frank Scobelette: I fellow the advice of if you see a horn you bet a horn at craps. I think this is good advixe since a horn is a horn is a horn if you didn't know it Mr. Frank Scobelette. You can't blow your money on a horn because this thing repeats itself all over the game and when it comes up you have to jump on it to make a lot of money...read more

Questions from Readers

It's a good time to answer some questions that readers have been kind enough to send along. "My wife and I are going to Vegas in November and would like to play some blackjack. We are both novice players and are looking for a recommendation on a good blackjack book." – Chris Many outstanding books about blackjack are available...read more