Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 546

What's the truth about loose machine placement?

Dear Mr. Robison, All the gaming authors (Scoblete, Tamburin, Grochowski, Renzi, Thomason, etc.) write about placement of loose slots in casinos. However, you say in your book, page 47, that all of a casino's slots in a particular denomination have roughly the SAME payout...read more

Is My Rating Correct?

Dear Frank: I've been playing at the same Atlantic City casino the last two weekends and have done extremely well. Somehow in one day of 1-5 black-chip play, and maybe a net of $8,100, I was bumped from the lowest level card to the super-high level card...read more

The Secrets of the Come-Out

Pssst... Wanna know a secret? How about the secret of making money even before the come-out. Craps pros know a terrific system to make some extra money BEFORE the comeout. It involves placing the 5, 6, 8, and 9 along with a $25 pass line bet to protect you from the seven. Wanna know how the craps pros use the come-out to make more money? Let's find out now how they do it – and how you can do it too. You'll bet $25 on the pass line, place $5 each on the five and nine and $6 each on the six and eight...read more

The Blackjack Dealer Never Really Has a Bust Card Up

The player at third base was dealt 6/2 against a dealer's 4 up. After a brief hesitation, he doubled down. The dealer paused and asked if he was sure he wanted to do that. "Sure, I'm sure!" the player barked back. "What happens if you catch a 2 or a 3?" asked the dealer...read more

Hedging at Craps

Dear Frank: What's the possibilty of playing the don't come bet for $100 and playing only the 4, 5, 9, 10, and matching that on the place bet line? Then, a person cannot lose - either come out even - OR can win either $80 on the 4 or 10, or $40 on the 5 or 9...read more

Readers Take Their Turn to Deal the Questions

"At blackjack, my soft 18 play is to stand against a dealer's 7 or 8, double against 2 through 6, and hit against a 9, 10, and ace. Agree?" - Joe A. Those are indeed the correct plays when holding a soft 18 (A/7), but many times those unfamiliar with basic strategy will give players who make those plays icy glances because they look at the hand as 18 and nothing to mess with. On the contrary, it's a prime opportunity to take advantage of a weak dealer up-card, or attempt to make a good hand even better and go for a win...read more

G2E 2007, part 6: What's new in table games?

For me, no visit to the annual Global Gaming Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center is complete until I've had a chance to check out what's new at Ya Awada's Gaming Entertainment Inc. booth. Awada, a former World Series of Poker no-limit seven-card stud champion, has a way with the tables, designing games that are easy to play and deal, have house edges low enough to give the player a shot to win, yet have enough going on that the casino is going to make enough money to keep the game on the floor. Take Double Down Baccarat, one of the new games at the biggest booth GEI has ever had at the annual gaming conference and trade show...read more

Playing It Smart: The maximum boldness theorem

The "maximum boldness" theorem is a basic law of gambling when you're fighting an edge. Simply stated, starting with a given stake in a particular game, you have the best chance to reach a specified earnings level by making the biggest allowable bets consistent with that goal the fewest possible number of times...read more

Slot jackpot payout procedures

Hi John, I read your letters regularly, but I've never seen this question before. I hit a $4,000 jackpot a few nights ago at an Indian Casino. As the two attendants got written information from the machine, one of them told the other one to draw the exact winning combination shown on the screen on a piece of paper...read more

NETeller, you and the feds

On March 21, 2007, NETeller made a public statement about the funds from U.S. online players that it had frozen. I wrote then that the statement contained both good news and bad. The good news was that NETeller had announced it was going to give back the money...read more