Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 585

Should I play a machine that has just hit?

My question is about the bingo slot machines used in Oklahoma. They say they pay on bingo numbers only, but it will appear as a normal line pay. On these machines you have to play with a player's card. Your money is actually on the cards...read more

The Secrets of Getting FREE Gambling Junkets

Pssst... Wanna know a secret? How about the secret of getting free gambling junkets? Junkets, along with comps, provide a lot of free services to the crapshooter. For example, you can get RFB (room, food and beverages) from both junkets and comps...read more

Slot Player Advice

Today's wide selection of slot machines is a far cry from the machines of a few decades ago. What began as a relatively simple and purely mechanical machine has been transformed over time into a highly sophisticated device. With the new technologies come new variations...read more

One word that assures a happy marriage

Dear Mark: I'm hoping you can settle an ongoing discussion (argument) my wife and I have. When playing a video poker machine that pays even money for both a high pair and any two pair, she will keep both pair and draw one card. Her reasoning is she is looking to draw a full house...read more

Those Pesky Low Pairs in 9/6 Jacks

Whenever I play 9/6 Jacks Video Poker I am always troubled by three things: Missing them seems to be my most frequent error. They seem to occur with a greater frequency than I would have guessed. Even though they are listed quite high on the strategy table, they seldom seem to lead to anything useful. I'm going to try to address these three issues and, hopefully, bring some light to bear. The first point is simply carelessness...read more

Part One: Dum-Dum on Math and Trends

His name is Dum-Dum, a name he gave himself on my private web site The Craps Club at www.goldentouchcraps.com. He came to the site to discuss his various views on casino gambling and to explain to all and sundry that he was one of the most knowledgeable gamblers in the world, having been personally taught by some Internet dice guru and some author who knows more than even him. In just about all his gambling theories, Dum-Dum is wrong -- sometimes he's a little wrong and sometimes he's a lot wrong...read more

Heartland Poker Tour Holding a Hot Hand

The World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour are the established "big dogs" in tournament poker circles with high profile presence on cable television and the biggest name players shooting for multi-million dollar pots. Poker, however, is a game that appeals to everyone, and sensing that even amateurs would relish the opportunity to play for high stakes, Todd Anderson and Greg Lang founded the Heartland Poker Tour two years ago. Their objective was to devise a structure that would give average poker enthusiasts the chance to compete for six-figure pots and still keep the buy-ins affordable. They obviously played their cards right...read more

Who Owns a Casino Chip?

When you win a casino chip at the tables, who owns it? Do you? If you give it to a friend, does he or she then own it? In Nevada, the chip remains property of the casino, which poker pro Nolan Dalla found out to his detriment recently when he tried to cash a $5,000 chip at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Poker pros who play for high stakes frequently use large-denomination chips as their medium of exchange...read more

Playing it smart -Should you take down craps bets on which you have an edge?

Craps players who wager on Pass and Come can increase or decrease the amount they "take" as Odds during the point phase of a roll. But they must leave the initial "flat" part of the bet as-is. Solid citizens who wager on Don't Pass and Don't Come can change what they "lay" as Odds and also lower or remove their flat bets...read more

How many stops on a slot reel?

Hi, John, In the old standard three-reel Double Diamond slot, how many symbols and blanks are there on each reel? There must of course be at least one Double Diamond symbol on each reel. Do you know how many of each symbol there is on each reel? I know there are many different machines, but I mean for the old standard 25-cent one that's been around for many years. With the above info, I can at least learn the odds of hitting each pay line if it is truly random. Sincerely, John Dear John, Most slot machines have 22 stops on each reel, usually half symbols and half blanks. Unfortunately, knowing how many times each symbol appears on the physical reel tells you nothing about the likelihood of hitting any particular winning combination. Slot machines use virtual reels to determine the physical stop that will land on the payline...read more