Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 631

Why Gamblers Get Testy when they Lose

Gamblers usually enter the casinos with positive outlooks. The trite "I never take more than I can afford to lose" aside, solid citizens often start with premonitions they're going to win. But, what happens to their attitudes and behavior if they don't? Researchers in Britain are investigating this question...read more

Conservative Play Can Backfire

Being a fiscal conservative when it comes to playing casino games has always served me well, but there are rare occasions when it can backfire. Here's what being a conservative player means to me: If I buy into a table game with $100, my first goal is to win $50...read more

A Shuffle Through the Gaming Mailbag

Q. Playing Caribbean Stud Poker, I had Ace-King-8-5-2, and the card the dealer turned face up from her hand was an Ace. I made the bet, because my Ace matched his Ace. Another guy at the table told me that was the wrong play, that you bet only if one of the other three cards matches the dealer...read more

Bits and Pieces from Indian Country - April 2006

Oregon isn't the center of Indian gaming in the United States, but is very much a part of it. There are 9 tribal casinos with over 6000 slot machines. Indian gaming in Oregon is over 10 years old and any growth will be incremental, achieved through hard work, reinvestment and good marketing - and that assumes the competition remains the same. This month the tribes dodged a competitive bullet when the state rejected an attempt to put a casino initiative on the ballot...read more

Are there multiple RNGs in a multi-denomination machine?

My husband and I go to the Belterra often. They only have two quarter Elvis machines but they were very good, not only to my husband and myself, but to others. One night a man sitting there was very lucky. A number of times Elvis wasn't over the song yet and he would get another Elvis bonus...read more

Quick-takes: The month's trends in a glance – April 2006 by Ken Adams

The feds have a new chairman, but not a new plan; on March 29th the Federal Reserve raided interest rates again - the 15th time in the last two years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is still over 11000 - gaming stocks are generally enjoying the ride with the rest of the market...read more

Origin of "The Nuts"

In poker, "the nuts" refers to an unbeatable poker hand. According to some poker experts, the term originated in the saloons of the old west, where players often bet their horse and wagon. When a player put in a bet of his horse and wagon in a poker game, he was required to remove the nuts from his wagon wheels and place them in the pot, that way he couldn't run off with his wagon if he lost the bet...read more

Avoid Single-Deck 6-to-5 blackjack Like the Plague

Up and down the Las Vegas strip, some single-deck blackjack games are beginning to pop up again. They're often advertised with a beckoning "hook" such as "The good old days are back", or some such thing. There's one huge problem with the game this time around, though, and that is – blackjack pays only 6-to-5 odds rather than 3-to-2! This means if you bet $10 and are dealt a blackjack, the dealer pays you just $12 rather than the customary $15. If that sounds like no big deal, understand that, on average, you'll be dealt a natural blackjack once every 21 hands...read more

The inner charms of Texas Hold'em

Dear Mark, I’m new to poker, so please excuse the two somewhat similar Hold’em questions. When two people both make a flush, and the highest card is shared, is the pot split, or is the tie broken by the second highest card in each flush? Also, if two players have a straight using the same five cards, again, is the pot split, or do you use a sixth kicker card to determine the eventual winner? Ellie N...read more

Machine cycles

Dear John: Thank you for your column. You give so much well-needed advice in the slot machine world!! In one of your latest columns (5/29/06) you talked about feeding a machine that you think is "ready to hit" but doesn't — just ends up taking your bankroll...read more