Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 671

Downloadable Slot Games

Sometimes technology creates solutions and problems at the same time. So it seems with downloadable slot games, one of the hot areas of focus at the recent Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. Nearly every major slot machine manufacturer was showing downloadable, server-based games, each with its own wrinkle...read more

Do ticket-based slots pay less than coin-based slots?

In Oklahoma the slots spit out tickets instead of money. I have been hesitant to buy any slot books because I doubt the slots are the same. Have you been here and tried these? Seems like they're all set to make the player lose. And if you play the 5-coin machines, you win back 2 coins frequently — but it keeps 3...read more

"Totally Puzzled" Will Keep You Guessing

"It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." * The speaker of that famous quote certainly was not referring to Totally Puzzled video slots. Based on all kinds of puzzles and brainteasers, the game is another excellent example of IGT's ingenuity in creating a slot machine out of just about anything...read more

Blackjack Players Who Know the Least Criticize the Most

I was playing blackjack at one of the local casinos yesterday in their high limit room. There was one other man at the table playing third base. Right off the top of a six-deck shoe, I was dealt 10/2 and he had 10/9 while the dealer showed a 4 for an up-card...read more

Combing out a couple pesky cockleburrs

Dear Mark, I have a couple poker questions that have started arguments at our house poker game. Hopefully you can clear them up for me. Question 1: We had a player, a relatively new guy to poker playing, get excited and show us his pocket cards before we all were allowed to bet...read more

Zooks

My buddy Russ had introduced me to his friend Bill, who was a big shot at the Dunes. After $500 changed hands (half of which I still owed Russ), Bill introduced me to Johnny, the shift boss, and three days later the phone rang. It was Johnny...read more

Bits and Pieces from Indian Country - August 2005

The continuing story of Indian country for this year and maybe next is the "off reservation" debate. Is it possible within the limits of the National Indian Gaming Regulatory Act for an Indian tribe to open and operate a casino on land not part of or contiguous to its federally recognized tribal trust land? The simple answer is no; the land on which an Indian tribe operates a casino under the NIGRA must be part of the tribe's reservation (trust land)...read more

Quicktakes: The month's trends at a glance - August 2005

Sometimes it seems the journalists take pleasure in giving bad news: gas prices, inflation, weather, or gloomy event or trend. They tell a story almost gleefully and in a disassociated manner, telling the rest of us the pain and misery we will suffer, leaving us feeling that the journalists must live somewhere far away that is safe from our troubles...read more

I am a George!

When I was growing up in New York City in the 1960s, the guys in my neighborhood all wanted to have the biggest ***. When they went to restaurants and a pretty young waitress served them, they would make sure she knew all about their big ***...read more

All In -- Fascinating History of Famous World Series of Poker

There have been many questions about the origins of the World Series of Poker, which began at Binion's a generation ago; along with how the game of hold'em evolved from an idea to the most popular card game of the century. Jonathan Grotenstein and co-author Storms Reback, have done a remarkable job of research in writing All In (The (Almost) Entirely True Story of the World Series of Poker (306 pages, hardbound, $24.95), using hundreds of resources, interviews and re-creations of hands and situations. The book is well indexed so you can easily find a name, and there are hundreds who have helped make Binion's Horseshoe event the spectacular it was. I wish it were illustrated...read more