Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 9

Jacks or Better – 9/6 or 8/5?

Hi Stickman,I read your articles regularly and you always favor 9/6 Jacks or Better. As you mention in your articles, 9/6 Jacks or Better is becoming extremely difficult to find in today’s casinos. Usually, the best Jacks or Better game I can find is 8/5.I know the house edge is higher on this game, but how bad is it?Sam in ColoradoHi Sam,You are very correct, Sam...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Strange video poker story on Jeopardy

Did you hear the following story about hitting a royal flush told by a Jeopardy contestant in her interview segment on May 14, 2025? Contestant: I was really lucky. I was in Vegas with my husband and we were playing video poker at three in the afternoon, empty casino...read more

Question on the house edge of craps don’t pass bets

From Wanda.Hello Mr. Stickman.I have been reading your columns for quite a while and I enjoy them very much.I used to only play slots when I was at casinos. I thought other games were too hard to understand. Video poker requires knowledge about probability of hands occurring when some cards are in the dealt hand...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Players frequently see what they want to see

I was pleasantly surprised to see a trailer for the third installment in the Now You See Me franchise a few days ago. I had heard that a third film was in the works. Now I believe that it is real. In the second film, the Four Horsemen, the magicians who are the heroes of the franchise, have to flee the scene of their latest sting when it falls apart...read more

Are free odds at the craps table free?

When calculating the house edge of craps bets, it is common to include the odds portion of a craps pass, don’t pass, come and don’t come bets. The base portion of those bets are subject to a house edge of 1.4 percent, meaning that over time the base portion will lose $1.40 for every $100 bet.The odds portion, however, is paid at true odds – assuming the amount bet is a proper multiple...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Casino employees should know what's going on

A panelist at a seminar on giving superior customer service in a casino had this suggestion for casino managers. He said that all employees should know the basic details about an event occurring at the casino. Anyone who wears a uniform or a name tag should be able to answer two of the five W's of journalism...read more

Winning at Keno

A short question from Shirlene.Hi Stickman,How can I win on Keno game?ShirleneHi Shirlene,Thank you for the very short and to the point question. Unfortunately, to properly answer your question, more information is needed. For example, where are you playing keno – live keno in a casino, machine-based keno in a casino, or online keno.Each of these has have significantly different characteristics and conditions...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Video poker suggestion

I hit the Spin button on one of my favorite Quick Hit slot machines. The screen dimmed a bit and shooting stars danced all over the screen. I knew something good was about to hit. Most likely, it was going to be the bonus. But it could also be enough Quick Hit symbols to win one of the bigger progressives...read more

Chasing a video poker jackpot

The selection of video poker games is wide-ranging. There are the basic games like Jacks or Better – the original video draw poker game. These are low variance (swings in bankroll) games. They offer only one huge winning hand – the royal flush.As time went on, game manufacturers added new games that increased excitement by adding additional high paying hands.They developed wild card games such as Deuces Wild that have a higher variance but offer a couple of jackpots – the royal flush and four deuces.Next game manufacturers produced “bonus” games such as Bonus Poker and Bonus Poker Deluxe...read more

Ask the Slot Expert: Video poker tournament strategy -- not necessarily based on Expected Value

A friend recently said that she was going to play in a video poker tournament. She doesn't usually play the paytable that was going to be used on the machines, so she said she was going to learn and practice the strategy. Does learning the mathematically correct strategy for a paytable in a video poker tournament make sense? Over the long run, you'll win the most amount of money from a paytable by following the mathematically correct strategy -- that is, holding the combination of cards with the highest Expected Value...read more