I went to the table with the idea that I would play about 100 hours of roulette in about a month or two. I figured this would make a great article for 888, win or lose. I’d spend many a day at the game and in a month or two I’d get to 100 hours and we’d see what we saw.
I would bet $50 per decision to make it interesting. This was a high-end casino in the heart of many other high-end casinos.
The Edge
Now, yes, I am playing a game where the casino has a big edge over me. That edge is 5.26%, a long-term expectation of a loss of $5.26 per $100 wagered.
I would limit myself to those 100 hours but I couldn’t say how much I’d play each day. Some days might be short; some days might be long. True, some days would be winners (I hoped) and some days would be losers (I hoped not.)
Facing a 5.26% house edge my expectation was to lose $5.26 per $100 wagered. I was certainly an underdog in this experiment.
[Please note: My “expected loss” is a theoretical figure. I could lose more than that. I could lose less than that. I could (maybe) win if luck were on my side. I’d need a lot of luck by the way. But the only thing I had to go on was a general average based on the probability of the game and the amounts I bet and the amount of time I spent playing. Casinos base your comps on your expected loss and they will give you back between 30 and 50% of that “expected loss” in the form of comps.]
Now, that is a heck of a lot of money to bet and a heck amount of money to expect to lose. It is what every casino player can expect when playing the “little wheel” which is what roulette means.
Indeed, a regular roulette player could spread those 100 hours that I am imagining over months, if not several years, and the “expected” loss would not seem so formidable. Does it seem formidable right now? So-so.
Living Close to Casinos: Good or Bad?
If you have more than enough bankroll to play with impunity any day, afternoon or evening, then you can probably live inside a casino and not worry much about it.
[Please note: Most of us are not in that territory of bankroll. Can I afford $50 per hour? Yes. My wife is thin and does not eat much so I can cut her food rations down by 50%. Of course, would that be fair to her? Not really. But, still, I like to eat more than she does.
Don’t even think this, my readers. I can’t cut my portions of food! My body calls to me as if I’m Jabba the Hutt, “Eat Frank! Eat Frank! Eat more Frank, eat more, for me, for Jabba. Fill my bloated body up totally, my boy.” I can’t starve myself. I must play without any worry whatsoever. Starving to death while I play 100 hours of roulette is not in my wheelhouse.
What am I to do? What am I to do?
My Lifestyle
I live close to many casinos. Living near casinos is a good and a bad thing. You must have discipline not to, let’s be honest here, go nuts on occasion. That can be a problem for some dedicated casino players. It has not been a problem for me since my first year of playing over three decades ago. I mean, after my first year when I seemed to do everything wrong. Put mildly, I was an idiot way back when.
I can play any day that I want to play. That is great. But I must be mindful of my bankroll, especially playing a game with a high house edge. That’s why I won’t bet more than $50 per decision at roulette.
I am very mindful of my bankroll, having lost an entire bankroll 33 years ago! Nor do I want a fast roulette game. I like it slow in almost every casino game. If I am with a fast roulette dealer, I will sit out some decisions.
Still, I am not spreading that roulette play out over months and months. A bad streak and I could get clobbered. Playing 100 hours in a short period of time at a game with a 5.26% house edge .. is that really smart? Maybe. Maybe not.
I Have a Thought!
Sometimes casinos have a rule variation for the even-money bets of red/black, high/low, and odd/even.
[Please note: These are even-money bets because they pay even money, not because they are 50/50 propositions between the player and the casino. The player will win 18 spins of 38 and the casino will win 20 spins of those 38. Losing those two spins on the green 0 and 00 gives the house its 5.26% edge over the player.]
The green 0 and 00 are losers for the player, but the casino will only take one-half of the even-money bets should either of those two numbers show up. That reduces the house edge to 2.63%. That means a player making even-money bets reduces the house edge in half. This is called “surrender” and now the house has a 2.63% edge. A much, much more reasonable house edge, wouldn’t you say?
The casino where I would be playing does have surrender. Good luck for me because those even-money bets are the only roulette bets I prefer making.
[Please note: The green zeroes used to be thought of as “casino numbers” because there were times in the distant past when any green hit was a loser and the other numbers paid their fair share. Over time, the green numbers became betting choices and lost the appellation of “casino numbers.”]
The American Roulette Game
The roulette game with the two green zeroes (0, 00) has a 5.26% house edge except when the even-money bets have surrender as already discussed. The two-green zero game is called American roulette.
There is another version that is called the European or French game. That game has only one green (maybe blue) zero (0). The house edge is 2.70%. If they give back half the bet on the even-money bets (called en prison in this game), the house edge goes down in half to 1.35% – one of the lowest and best bets in the casino.
Exactly, how does the casino establish its edge on the individual numbers, as opposed to the even-money bets? Easily!
In the American roulette wheel, there are 38 numbers; 1 through 36 and the 0 and 00. Your chance of hitting a single number is one in 38. A true payout for hitting that number would be 37 to 1. The casino would not be able to make any money over time on such a game as it would have no edge over the player. The casino can’t do that and survive. (Look, we players want the casinos not to go out of business.)
The casino therefore pays back 35-to-1 on a direct hit. Yes, it has reduced the payout by two units establishing its edge at 5.26%. Shorting payouts is one way that casinos establish an edge over the players. You’ll find this at craps too.
All the various bets at roulette, those combinations often given French names to make them sound sophisticated when read in a book or article, basically do the exact same thing. The payoff subtracts what would have been winning units in a fair game between player and casino. The edge is always 5.26% on all other bets except one truly lousy bet – the Monster. That bet is a combination of 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3. The edge? Almost 8%!
My Personal Roulette Game
This is the game I will be playing, American roulette. I’ll make even-money bets (I’ll choose red or black) at $50 per decision. With surrender, I can cut all of my expected losses in half! Not bad, right?
Okay, lets now go back over the expected losses, only this time using the 2.63% house edge. I figure I’ll play somewhere between 40 and 50 hands per hour. I’ll count the hands and not go over 50 per hour.
Okay, we aren’t in a horrible situation now, are we? Not really, no, not really.
Truth Be Told
I am having a crisis of conscience at this very minute. Do I really want to bet $50 per decision at roulette in a 100-hour maxi-session? That’s less than a month of playing a game with a high house edge. That’s playing roulette every single day! Four hours (less or more) a day at only one game? One with a somewhat strong house edge?
I don’t know about this any more. It isn’t exactly the money or the time.
I have often played 130 days a year in Vegas and Atlantic City (and other states) over my 34 years of casino play but my games were spread out. And they were played to play the games, not to write a specific article. I’ve never played for comps (although they come) or to impress anyone, be it casinos or fellow and sister players.
Now, what am I doing? Why am I doing this?
I’ve never played roulette every day for four hours for almost a month. The cost of $50 a decision is not frightening if it were taking place over the course of six months or a year. That game would be sprinkled in with other games too; such games as blackjack and craps and Pai Gow Poker and traditional baccarat and some others along with those.
The Real REAL Truth Be Told
Get ready to handle the real truth about this article. I only want to play the games for myself. That should be your attitude too. That’s the lesson here. Certainly, it is the lesson for me.
This is really becoming a money-management article. There is no way I am going to force myself to play 100 hours in less than a month at $50 a decision at roulette or any other game just to write an article.
I play to play. I write to write.
I am a writer first and a casino player second. Yes, I write about events and people in my life in books, articles, television shows, and plays. A lot of it is about casino playing. That’s a big part of my life.
I get my gaming ideas from play (mostly from playing) but I don’t play to get ideas. The ideas come as my casino-playing continues. I play to play.
For this piece, I started at $50 per decision. Went through what it might cost me. Then I “realized” I could reduce the hit on my bankroll by using “surrender.” A 2.63% house edge is not outrageous.
I think what I did is what many casino players should do; they think about costs and betting levels before they decide to play whatever games they want to play for however much money they decide to play at those games. I had an added ingredient here too; I didn’t want to play specifically to write an article. I don’t think I would be my real self playing that way. That has been true of me for all the decades I’ve been a player.
The joy I get from playing is the actual playing, nothing else.
So, where are we? You can go for some hours of roulette play because you would be playing for yourself. That is fine with me because that is what I want to do. Play to play and nothing else matters (other than your money of course).
So much for my experiment.
All the best in and out of the casinos!
