Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 665

Low Limit Texas Hold 'Em Poker Book By Abluencia -- Good Beginner Book

I always like to see something new about poker. I mean a new, clear way of learning a game or how to become a dangerous, competitive (smart) player who understands the basics, develops discipline and stays in action. So it is with the arrival of Low Limit Texas Hold'em Poker (Maximizing Winnings Through Optimization) by Carlos and Carlo Abulencia (288 pages, paperbound, $19.95), which takes a potential player from the basics to more advanced concepts in 13 chapters. Designed for the $1-$2 player up to the $9-$18 game, it contains much about those limits but nothing about tournament play...read more

An Interview with Racing Commissioner Christine White

Recently, I was given the opportunity to interview Christine White, Michigan's Racing Commissioner. Ms. White was appointed Interim Racing Commissioner and took office in January and, thereafter, was officially appointed to the post for a term expiring December 31, 2008...read more

How to Shop Smart for Best Blackjack Games

Because blackjack is the lone casino table game in which skill can play an important role, casinos have done everything they possibly can through the years to re-tool the game in an attempt to neutralize any edge studious players can acquire. If you play the game with any degree of regularity and are serious about keeping the house advantage to a minimum, it is important to scrutinize the rules at individual properties to know exactly what you're up against, to concentrate on the casinos with the most player-friendly rules and avoid those with bad ones. Here are the primary categories for smart blackjack shoppers: TABLE MINIMUM: You have to play at a table you can afford...read more

Alternate Bets with Equal Edge May Perform Differently.

Picture a game like roulette but with 34 outcomes -- 0, 00, and 1 through 32. And think about two types of bets. Straight-up, on single numbers, paying 31-to-1; the likelihood of winning is 2.94 percent (one out of 34). Outside, for instance odd values between 1 and 32, paying 1-to-1 and losing on 0 or 00 as well as on even numbers; prospects of winning are 47.0 percent (16 out of 34)...read more

New Wrinkles at the Tables

The major slot machine manufacturers command a lion's share of the display floor at the annual Global Gaming Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center. But there's plenty to interest table players, too. At the Bally Gaming and Systems booth, I took notice of several blackjack tables, so I stepped up and asked for a demonstration of Bally's MPLite system, designed to recognize chips...read more

Do casinos manipulate slot machines?

Hi, John, Last week my wife and I were up at Mystic, Conn., and we went to Mohegan Sun. Nice place. We played 25-cent slots only. That's all we can do (oh well . . . grind players). I tried to follow all you pros' advice and do one coin at two-coin machines...read more

John Roberts, the Supreme Court, and Me

It was the New York Times calling, wanting to know what I thought of the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court. My first thought was, "Yes!! I've made it!" Then reality struck me, "Wait a minute." So I asked, "Why ask me?" The reporter replied, "You went to school with him for three years." I checked the 1979 Harvard Law School yearbook...read more

Computers Determine Best Video Poker Playing Strategy

Ever wonder how the video poker experts decide on the best playing strategy for any particular game? Yeah, I know, they use computer-derived strategies, but haven't you ever wondered how a programmer tells the computer to go about deriving that strategy? When I first learned to play video poker, I had never heard of Bob Dancer or Dan Paymar or John Grochowski, but I did have a subscription to Casino Player Magazine...read more

Grand Casino Guarantees $60k First Prize in $150k Tournament

It took me several blackjack tournaments to benefit from my egregious mistakes to realize that what I learned playing regular blackjack was not the way to go in tournaments. Little things that you never pay attention to, like making string bets in regular play is not allowed in tournament play...read more

Sovereignty plus federal recognition equals gaming

Dear Mark, I have never been quite able to understand why certain Indian casinos have full-fledged gambling, while others have what amounts to nothing more than a bingo hall. One that I was in recently said they were not allowed to have slots; yet, you could play bingo on a slot machine...read more