Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 80

First Royals

If you play video poker often enough and long enough, even big hands like royal flushes run together.After millions of hands and dozens if not hundreds of royals, frequent players don't remember them all.But some hands are special. They are clear as day in memory even if they happened decades ago...read more

Video Poker Strategy Charts

Video poker players who want to obtain the best edge possible will practice the game at home on their computer or smartphone. This helps to train them to select the best possible hold for every hand.With practice many players play as high as 99 percent or more of their practice hands correctly...read more

Casino Friends

CINDY: There are some friends that we have gone to casinos with but these aren’t the friends we are writing about in this article.ABBY: No. We aren’t talking about friends from the neighborhood or former school chums that you get together with occasionally...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Video poker deja vu all over again

Question: Can you explain how continuous card shuffle machines work? I like playing 3-card poker. One casino has a shuffle machine and the other has a dealer shuffle the cards. I am wondering which has the best odds for the player? Answer: Continuous shuffle machines (CSM) don't actually shuffle the cards, at least not in the sense of having a little hamster inside who takes half the cards in each paw and does a Bridge Shuffle...read more

Don't Call Me Chicken!

Marty McFly (brilliantly played by Michael J. Fox) in the wonderful movie series “Back to the Future,” got to travel in time, both to the future and the past. He also got very (as in very, very, very) annoyed with anyone who would say or suggest he was a “chicken” of any kind.Calling McFly a chicken was an open and direct invitation for him to do something stupid...read more

Nothing Odd About "Odds" Bet

QUESTION: I was looking at a chart of the craps house edge for pass plus odds. The edge keeps getting smaller the more odds you bet, so 0.8 percent with single odds, 0.6 percent with double odds and so on, all the way down to 0.02 percent with 100x odds.How high would the odds bet have to be for the house edge to hit zero? Would the edge disappear at 200x? 500x? 1,000x? I recognize that if you bet $10 on pass, a 1,000x odds bet would be $10,000.Players couldn't afford it and the house wouldn't want to fade it...read more

Playing Different Denominations of Video Poker

In previous decades, video poker machines had one game and one denomination, for example, Jacks or Better at 25-cents per credit.In those days, play was straightforward.1) Find a machine with the denomination that has your preferred game and suits your bankroll.2) Verify the pay table is decent.3) Play the game.Those days are long gone.Casinos today have a large collection of different types of video poker machines...read more

Final Words on Bankroll

ABBY: Blackjack is an interesting game. If you are a $10 player your average bet will not be $10. You will have hands where you double your bet, split pairs, double down on splits and so on. Your average bet will be more than $10. If you play two hands, which I don’t recommend, you are betting more than $20 per hand.At a full table, and I recommend you play at a full table to reduce the number of decisions you face and that you use the blackjack “basic strategy,” you will get about 60-70 decisions...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: A quick take on a new Quick Hit machine

Someone was playing my favorite Quick Hit Blitz machine. No problem. I'll play my favorite Quick Hit Reel Boost machine. Uh oh. That machine is in use too. What to do? I could call it a day and try again on my next free play or point multiplier day...read more

Chicken Crossing the Road

I do love those old “chicken” sayings. Here’s one of my favorites:Question: “Why did the chicken cross the road?”Answer: “To get to the other side.”Yes, dopey at many levels but there is an element of truth in it. To get somewhere you want to go, well then, you have to move in that direction...read more