Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 472

Crazy gambling letters from nutty people #7

Dear Mr. Scobolete: I have read each and every one of your books and I enjoyed them each one. You are one fined writer if I do say so myself. But I have one thing I don't like and that is your insistence that math is the most important thing in casino gambling when even a fool knows that short term luck is what makes you a winner...read more

IGT Banks on Core Games to Expand Video Poker Empire

Many gaming device manufacturers have tried but none have been able to make substantial inroads into taking market share away from International Game Technology in the video poker sector. The key to IGT's strategy to expand video poker was when they realized the strength of the core family of games it created, including Bonus Poker, Double Bonus Poker, Double Double Bonus Poker, and Triple Double Bonus Poker. Rather than continue experimenting with gimmicky new themes, some of which were doomed to failure, IGT began developing products that incorporated enhancements to the existing games. What's more, they applied the technology not only to single-hand games, but also its incredibly successful Triple Play, Five Play, and Ten Play formats. The results include Super Times Pay Poker, Ultimate X Poker, Quick Quads Poker, Good Times Pay Poker, Big Times Draw Poker, Random Rewards Poker, and soon to come, Draw Poker with the Dream Card. In addition to capitalizing on the broad appeal that the base games have among video poker players, there is one other important aspect the new games share: They feature bonus payouts that require "buy-a-pay" betting, or wagering one extra credit per hand to qualify. Getting video poker players to feel comfortable betting additional money per hand to fund the bonus aspects of the games was crucial to their success in order to make the units profitable for casino owners. The attraction of getting multipliers and bonus payouts on premium hands apparently is the great equalizer, because the new games are really taking off. With Super Times Pay Poker, players are randomly awarded a multiplier of from two-times to 10-times the standard win. Howard W...read more

Three Card Poker

Three Card Poker has one of the easiest strategies among table games. In the Pair Plus portion of the game, where you're betting that your three-card hand includes a pair or better, there is no strategy at all. Just wait to see what the cards bring. The strategy comes in the ante-bet portion, where your hand has to beat the dealer...read more

Help for a denied jackpot

Hello John, I would like some advice on what to do. My mother was playing on a slot machine yesterday. A dollar machine…betting max bet (so it was $3 a play ). She hit a big jackpot…while betting the max…she couldn't believe it…needless to say overwhelmed with joy and was tearing up…a large crowd of people gather behind her saying "you won you won...its a big one"… she waited for the guy to come over to the machine…he opened it op and told her to press some buttons… (why I don't know) and then said you didn't win and the machine malfunctioned...read more

Bonus Jackpots Keep Slot Players Happy at Four Winds

Bonus slot jackpots funded by a percentage of money that players collectively wager on the machines is a great way for casino goers to reap what amounts to incentive cash rewards. Station Casinos in Nevada introduced the concept a number of years ago at its properties in Las Vegas and elsewhere with something called "Jumbo Jackpots". Four Winds Casino Resort took the concept to new heights in this market when it opened two years ago and introduced W Club Jackpots, a computer-generated program that randomly awards guests on the spot just for playing while using their club card inserted in the machine. Each month, the New Buffalo, Michigan property typically awards well over $100,000 in bonus progressive jackpots via Windfall jackpots (which must hit by $100,000), Medium jackpots (which must hit by $20,000), and Small jackpots (which must hit by $500). Last month, for example, more than $123,000 in cash was awarded to 177 of the property's W Club Members, including three players who won the Medium Jackpot and 67 players who won the Small Jackpot. The success of the promotion prompted the casino to expand the program earlier this year by creating Dollar Downpour Jackpots and Reigning Quarter Jackpots. Whereas W Club Jackpots are linked to every machine on the Four Winds floor, the additions are dedicated systems linked to specific machines: Forty dollar games and forty quarter games each presented in four banks of 10 units. "The proximity of the machines adds excitement because players can see one another and be right there when the progressive jackpot is hit," explained Frank Kennedy, vice president of slot operations at Four Winds. When the computer program randomly generates a jackpot, the winner's machine lights up and locks down...read more

How do you buy a player's don't bet?

Hi Frank: I read about your "Taking over or buying player don't bets" but it wasn't clear to me. Could you give me a example how this works? Nikola Dear Nikola: If the don't player has a $50 bet on the don't pass or don't come and the number is a 6 or 8, many of them will want to take that number down because they think it is a close contest even though they have the edge on the bet at this point in the game...read more

How to Play Let It Ride

The Game Let It Ride was first introduced to the casinos in 1993. Shuffle Master Inc, the company that makes those automatic-shuffling machines, created it. The game is popular because it offers a potential for high payouts. Because the players are not playing against each other or trying to beat the dealer, camaraderie develops among the players creating a fun atmosphere...read more

'Stat Attack' -- fine time-saver to research college hoop angles

Wondering how a pro or college team did as a favorite, dog, as a 20-point favorite on a Wednesday? No worries. Stat Attack's software (it works on both Windows and Mac) should save you hours of time. The Stat Attack Pro Basketball database of games goes as far back as the 1990-91 season and allows researchers to do "team-specific" or even league-wide, conference-wide or divisional searches. How did the Lakers do as a small road favorite against Western Conference teams or how did Western Conference teams do as home dogs against the Eastern Conference? The program will tell you...read more

Crazy gambling letters from nutty people #6

Dear Frank: You are wrong about your thinking in the slot machine area about how to judge a hot or cold machine. There are such things as those of us who play the machines know without a doubt concerning these machines. A hot machine can be determined by watching when others play and if they haven't won that machine is going to get hot because what follows cold? Logically what follows cold is hot as anyone who has studied physicals knows...read more

The Lady Is a Champ at the Poker Tables

Mary Jo Belcore-Zogman, a businesswoman and homemaker from McHenry, Illinois, solidified her reputation as one of the best poker players in the Chicago area with her victory last month in the Tournament of Champions Invitational presented by Rockford Charitable Games Association. She outlasted a formidable field of 40 proven professionals, who boasted combined winnings of around $4 million and included two World Series of Poker gold bracelet champions from recent years. Belcore-Zogman, who is president of All Insurance Services in McHenry, played kitchen table poker games with her family while growing up, but it wasn't until she started watching the high profile tournaments on TV that she developed an interest to play competitively. Her husband, Dan Zogman, began taking the game seriously at the same time, and together they started learning what it takes to play winning poker. Dan's first big score came in 2007 when he won $227,811 in the Heartland Poker Tour tournament at Majestic Star casinos in Gary...read more