Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 661

The Ups and Downs of Progressive Betting.

Many table games have 1-to-1 or other relatively low payoff ratios, and correspondingly close to 50-50 chances of success on any coup. But don't plan to get rich in these games betting $5, $10, or $25 round after round -- winning or losing like amounts and waiting for a miracle extended run of hits to break the bank...read more

A Shuffle Through the Gaming Mailbag

There's something that bothers me about video slot machines. They don't have handles. I've been pulling the handle on three-reel games for 30 years, and I hope to keep pulling the handle for a good while yet. I always found I got better results pulling the handle than pushing the buttons...read more

Tops, bottoms and middles

Dear Mark, As a former dealer, were you ever instructed to deal "seconds" to winning players at a blackjack table? Charles L. It's crucial, Charles, that I address the issue of cheating first, then your question regarding seconds. In my 17 years working the Green Felt Jungle, I have never been asked to do the slightest thing that borders on deception...read more

What's a slot machine earn?

I am having a friendly argument with friends about the house take on 25 cent slots. My opinion is that a 25-cent slot played 2 coins (50 cents) at a time played continuously should produce a profit of $75 an hour for the casino. One friend says its more like $20, another says its more like $200...read more

Man with a Plan

I was a man with a plan, a man with a future, a man with the world at his feet. I was a dice dealer at the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas! Man, if my friends could see me now. The Dunes towered over everything in sight like a technicolor lighthouse, and tourists and celebrities alike flocked to the place night and day...read more

Blackjack Odds-'n-Ends Might Help You See the Light

I just arrived back home from a nine-hour blackjack day at four different local casinos. I must've played at fifteen different tables with fifty different people, and you know what? It seemed like they were all the same player. Nearly everybody plays the game basically the same way...read more

Heard It On The River

Is our glass half full or half empty? At this time of the year I prefer to fill my glass with optimism and why not? Casinos are re-opening on the Gulf Coast, the Iraqis have finally voted for a new government which hopefully means that our boys and gals will be coming home, Avian flu seems to have flown away, the Tunica Airport is landing big jets loaded with eager players, a huge development proposed just north of the County line has enormous potential for the whole region and with the economy doing well, we can predict a good year for our casinos in 2006. The New Year will get off with a bang in Jan., as thousands of poker players along with friends and family will be flooding the poker halls at GOLDSTRIKE and GRAND CASINO...read more

What to Expect at a Craps Table

That was rather cruel what I did to you last week, wasn't it? I just left you standing at a craps table, having made a pass line bet and not knowing what to expect next. Well, I'll tell you now what to expect. The stickman passes five dice to the shooter, who selects two...read more

Mississippi on Our Minds

The Tunica casinos are some of the best in the country for playing conditions, game selection, odds and payoffs, types of machines, table game rules, rule variations and comps. This is not an exaggeration but a fact. The best overall gambling in America can be found, ladies and gentlemen, right here...read more

Dark Side of Vegas, Magic, Lying: Three New Titles Arrive at GBC

Three unusual, but fascinating books have arrived at Gambler's Book Shop in Las Vegas: Las Vegas Babylon: True Tales of Glitter, Glamour and Greed by Jeff Burbank (280 pages, hardbound, $21.95); The Glorious Deception (The Double Life of William Robinson, also known as Chung Ling Soo, The Marvelous Chinese Conjurer) by Jim Steinmeyer (481 pages, hardbound, $27) and How to Spot a Liar by Gregory Harley and Maryann Karinch (263 pages, paperbound, $14.99). Burbank, who also wrote License to Steal, which tells the story of some of the most controversial figures ever encountered by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, including cheaters, here concentrates on high profile mobsters, movie stars, entertainers, casino owners, incidents and politicians in 32 juicy chapters...read more