Every casino player (or just about every one) knows that the house has a mathematical edge on the games being offered. The edge works consistently. That is why the “house” over time will come out the winner in human versus house competition. 

That time period could be short, medium, or long but it does come eventually or, yes, it can come right now. You could lose your first bet and never get a winning history in your ledger.

Players who are not aware of this fact are asking for trouble because they don’t know what is really happening when they play the casinos’ games. 

Only a few players (make that very, very few and they are far, far between too) can get the edge over the house by skill as opposed to by luck. Skill can last; luck is ephemeral. Anyone can get lucky in the casinos.  

However, there is another ingredient in all casino games that most players tend to overlook and that is the pattern of how a game plays itself out. Does roulette play itself out the same way that blackjack does? Maybe and maybe not. And what about all those other games, too? What’s with them?

So, let’s take a look at the patterns of some of the games and what you can expect if you play them.

[Please note: Many players do not understand how to translate the house edge of a game into cold, hard cash. If the house edge is 10 percent that means the player will lose 10 percent of all the money he or she wagers. So, you bet $100 and the expected loss over time will be $10. Some games have low house edges and some games and bets in some games come in with outrageously high house edges. Players should know which are which. Those edges are cash to the casinos!]

Roulette

This is one of the oldest casino games and it has been a favorite of players all over the world since the late 1600s – and it is a real (real!) favorite of casinos all over the world too. If you were a farmer, roulette would be your cash cow.

There are three types of roulette games found in casinos today. From best to worst, they are the single-zero wheel (0) which is called the European/French game with a house edge of 2.7 percent; the double-zero wheel (0, 00) which is called the American game with a house edge of 5.26 percent, and the newest one which I call the “Yuck” triple-zero wheel (0, 00, 000) which has a 7.69 percent house edge.

There are 36 numbers on a wheel (1-36) along with those zeroes. The payout of a single number hitting is 35 to 1 on all the above games. You have a one in 37 chance to hit a single number on the single-zero wheel; a one in 38 chance on the double-zero wheel; and a one in 39 chance in the triple-zero wheel.

If you want to bet just one number, you will have many long losing streaks; after all you have all the numbers on which you aren’t wagering hitting as often as the one number you want. The wait for a hit could be almost interminable.  

Now, some players decide to bet straight-up on multiple numbers, which is called “inside” betting, and this increases their chances to get a hit. Of course, more money is usually being bet to go with those multiple numbers. The pattern is that you’ll have more hits but you will ultimately lose more money because you are probably betting more money.

Interestingly enough, there are other bets at roulette that can change the above pattern. These bets won’t change the house edges but they will give you more numbers that can hit without having to make multiple bets. On such propositions as the dozens, the columns, the inside combinations, the even-money bets of red/black, high/low, and odd/even, a single player bet can cover many numbers.

The more numbers you are covering, the better chance long losing streaks won’t occur. Of course, a single-number wager brings in 35-to-one, while the multiple-number proposition bets bring in far less money. 

The higher the payout, the better chance for a long losing streak. The bets covering more numbers will mean far fewer long losing streaks. Those are the two extreme patterns for roulette, longer losing streaks with bigger wins or shorter losing streaks will smaller wins. The player chooses what the player wants.

And, yes, some players bet all over the place. They are not restricted to one or the other types of bets. They “have at it” so to speak. The pattern for these players is simple – they are all over the board and so are their wins and losses!

The players can take their pick of however and whatever they want to bet and enjoy or cringe at the pattern or patterns they have selected. That’s the game.

Blackjack

This popular game is today’s favorite casino table game by a wide margin. Every decision that a player makes against the dealer’s face-up card impacts how the player will do at the game. How the player plays will dictate how well or how poorly such a player will do. That’s a short and sweet point of it all.

To be good at this game requires knowledge of basic strategy, which is the computer-derived strategy for the play of every player’s possible hand against the dealer’s up-card. It is one of the few games that some small number of players can actually beat if they know how to count cards. (How many players can do that? Not many. But some!)

Blackjack surpassed craps and roulette in the rankings in the mid-1960s with the publication of Edward O. Thorp’s famous card-counting book Beat the Dealer. That book stimulated players to give this game a try. Indeed, few players could learn to count cards but the game became a hot item and still is.

Blackjack does have some wrinkles that make it an interesting enterprise for players and for writers such as me. One is the simple fact that the casino wins approximately 48 percent of the hands while players only win about 44 percent of the hands (with 8 percent of the hands being pushes – meaning draws). I’ve rounded the percentages here to make them easy to remember but they are reflected of the game’s dimensions.

First off, players who enjoy parlaying their wining bets are looking to take a beating because adding your previous win to your current bet faces that 48 percent probability of a losing hand. Parlaying might seem good in games where the decisions are really close to 50/50 but this is not so in blackjack.

If you don’t play correct basic strategy you can increase the house edge over you four-fold or more.

And what is the edge the house has over a basic-strategy player? It is a mere one-half percent (maybe a little more, or maybe a little less, depending on the casino’s blackjack rules). A half percent edge is good; the best in the casino!

Sadly, if you play at an empty table or with one or two other players, again you can be asking for trouble as you will be playing far more hands than if you played at a full or nearly full table. A standard rule of casino play is that the more decisions you experience the worse it is for you and the better it is for the casino.

You also have blackjack players who enjoy playing two (sometimes three) hands. Unless such a player is a seriously expert player, all those extra hands mean extra money for the casino. It is hard enough to win when you play perfectly; it is almost impossible to win when you play foolishly. Take that to heart.

Too many players think a lot is good; a lot is not good unless that is how you describe the money you just won at a game. Few players will be in that situation too often if they play poorly. If you want to say the words “a lot!” then play perfectly. You must play perfect basic strategy if you want a good shot at winning at this game.

A big negative that many blackjack players face is the self-reputed blackjack “expert” who tells everyone how to play his or her hands. These “experts” are usually wrong in their advice as they do not actually know basic strategy – they may even poo-poo it as being for “math heads” or “math boyz.” (Sorry, there is no use of “math girlz” by the expert BJ fringers. Negative equal rights have not yet hit the blackjack tables.)

Even if you are winning the “experts” can take away some of the fun of the game and, oh no!, these experts seem to enjoy long playing hours and at times are hard to escape. During the week, you can usually escape them if they come to your table because you can scoot away to other tables but weekends can be tough. The crowds might make it impossible to escape the “experts” and also to play at almost empty tables. Those who can play during the week are the lucky ones.

Craps

This is the most exciting game in the casinos – craps players will certainly maintain that. I don’t disagree with them. When a table gets hot because some shooter is hitting number after number, your juices flow, as do the juices of just about everyone at the table. It can become a wild time!

Craps is a communal game, too; most players sharing the desire for the shooter to hit their numbers and everyone else’s numbers. Look at the table – it looks like a primitive altar where sacrifices were routinely made. And what do we craps players offer up to the gods of chance? Our money!

Craps tables can become loud, louder, and loudest with players exclaiming, shouting, applauding, howling, and slapping fists and fives. You might even see some (overweight) men bumping bellies. It can also become deadly as a morgue if shooter after shooter sevens-out and everyone loses.

Craps has many, many dangers in the game’s wagering structure. It has a cornucopia of bets, yes, but most of these go from bad to simply awful; bets that can soak players to their very core and do so on a regular basis. Why players make such bets is hard to fathom when the best bets give a player a good chance to win on any given session. [For the complete 888casino craps strategy guide, click here.]

Just watch a game and you will be amazed that almost every player at the table will be betting three, four, five or more wagers. There does not seem to be much discrimination between a good bet (and there are some) and a rotten bet among many craps’ players.

Craps came to the fore during World War II when this river and city game hit the armed forces. My first experience of the game came in Atlantic City alongside those World War II veterans. (Oh, how I miss them!)

Baccarat and Mini-Baccarat

These are two games with the same bets and the same house edges but one is a magnificent game and one can be a player head-pounder. Why so?

Baccarat was usually a high-roller room game, played on a large table with sometimes six casino personnel working the game – well dressed personnel at that; tuxedoes for the men and cocktail dresses for the women. Most players were indeed high rollers. Playing it was going into another world. James Bond’s world.

The game was slow; players even got a chance to deal the cards. (They could not decide what to do with the hands as all decisions were preset but still, dealing was a fun thing!)

Two great bets with a house edge in the low 1 percent range. There was a third bet, a terrible bet called the “tie” which could strangle you if you made it a part of your play.

The game could hurt if things went south but that was usually a slow-moving bad streak.

And then came mini-baccarat – a game that is as fast as lightning. Where baccarat might have had 40 hands an hour (with many ties), playing mini-baccarat can zoom up to 150 hands (or more) an hour. It also has many side bets and propositions that are absolutely not worth making. And fast dealers too!

Here is a game where speed is a true detriment for savvy players. Fast is good for the casino; slow is good for the player. Memorize that.

If you can afford and find a real baccarat table, play the game. If not, only play maybe one-third of the hands at mini-baccarat.

All the best in and out of the casinos!
 

“My new article is titled ‘Slot Machines: the Power and the Glory.’ How do you like that?” I said to my wife, the Beautiful AP.

She said, “That’s kind of a religious quote. I think that might offend some people.”

I said, “Please, please, this is a site where intelligent people enjoy playing and reading about casino games. My article really tells the story of the rise and conquest by the slot machines, from those one-armed-bandits of the late 1800s in the saloons and bars to today’s amazing machines that dominate the casino industry; the land based, the ocean based, and Internet based just like the 888casino. Slot machines are the true power of the casinos. How the slot machines run, why people love playing them.”

She said, “They are the power, correct, but I’m not so sure, maybe your editor is squeamish.”

I said, “Now 888 isn’t going to hire a drooling dope to be editor of this site. Come on the power of the machines has made casino playing a world-wide phenomenon. It is all over most of the world. The casino culture has spread throughout almost everywhere. That is solely based on those slot machines. Maybe 70 to 90 percent of any casino’s revenue will come from those machines. Worldwide! I’m talking worldwide.”

She said, “Okay, okay, I like the idea. What the heck!”

Now, if my wife the Beautiful AP likes an idea I know it is a good idea because of the fact that I have written 35 books, over 6,000 articles, appeared on some television shows, consulted on movies, and wrote a couple of plays all with her encouragement. She is one smart woman. With her support, here comes “Slot Machines: the Power and the Glory.”

The Glory

There is a delicious feeling of accomplishment when you hit a decent jackpot on a slot machine. Even small wins can make players feel good about themselves. The machines are always there, in the casino, on the Internet, in some saloons and stores, just waiting for you to play them.

They beckon to the players. They call to them. They entice them. They seduce them. “Play me. Play me. Oh, please, play with me.” 

Unlike table games, where you have to deal with the other players and the dealers – and people can be, well you know this, people can be people – slots are not judgmental; they accept you for the person you are. They are willing to give you a chance at money flowing into your purse or pocket. They don’t care if you win. (They also don’t care if you lose.)

A Short History of Slot Machines

Slot machines arrived on the scene sometime in the late 1800s. The first named one was the Liberty Bell created by Charles Fey.

San Francisco became the center of this slot surge in machine gaming at this time. 

The first slot machines were simple contraptions. They were just mechanical devices, with three reels, that showed players they had won pieces of candy, cigars, and other things that could be then bought back by the owners of the bar for money that they gave you for the candy, cigars, and other things you had won and this was not considered illegal. Very clever! Of course, players could win nothing as well.

Yes, in the past gambling was considered bad, a serious sin, and something that had to be shunned and something a good person should stay away from. You never had Las Vegas gambling nights at churches as you do today (yes, today’s version of a Las Vegas night didn’t really exist way back when but you get the idea).

Those slot machines spread throughout the country – from San Francisco to New York. Politicians and other decent people (politicians? oh, come on now) went on the attack. There are some great photos of our moralizing politicians smashing slot machines wherever they cropped up in the country. There’s a great video of New York City’s Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia smashing a bunch of these evil machines before having them thrown into the river.

In several decades the machines became electro-mechanical slots run by (obviously) electricity. These machines were able to give out higher pays because they had more stops and they paid mostly in cold, hard cash. There were a lot a fruits and vegetables on the faces of the reels, too. I guess you could say they were vegan slot machines You obviously didn’t want to get lemons but some of the other fruits were real treats.

In World War II and beyond, the slot machines had a rightful place in any place that called itself or was called by others a casino – or saloon. 

When Vegas started to become world famous, slot machines were the province of women. (“Honey, I’m gonna play some craps. Here’s a few bucks. Go play the slots.”)

The post-war slots were all able to play different denominations of money and however many coins that they could handle and return. Most were able to play one, two or three coins at a time. More and more players started to play these games, even men, those early few men who were being lured away from the table games.

And these machines were pretty fast too. Casinos could make much more money from them.

New types of machines entered the fray as well; most notably video poker machines in the 1970s that simulated a poker game – well, kind of simulated a poker game. These still have a small segment of the machine-play market.

The biggest advancement in slot machines was the arrival of the computer-generated slots. Today these are the market for slots. They almost seem magical. (For more on the history of slots, click here.)

Today’s Machines

Our modern world is a world run by computers. We all know that fact. Even the computers may know that. 

Indeed, the talk in knowledgeable circles is that computers are actually starting to think on their own and will (or now have actually achieved) some kind of consciousness. There is even talk that our computers might attempt to destroy us in a few years. Great, that’s surely not what we need; human life is hard enough as it is for many people. What we don’t need is to be characters in a real-life Terminator movie, although there are Terminator-themed machines. 

Slot machines run by computers come in all types and varieties. There can be three-reel machines (a few) and machines that can give the player dozens of reels and images and types of games. Players have a forest of machines they can prance through.

You can play games based on cartoons, movies, television shows, science fiction, comics of all types and books of most types. You like vampires? Fine. Suck on these machines. Mummies? Go back to ancient Egypt with our pyramid machines. You want to fight a movie star boxer? Come and challenge him or her. You can even take a trip on the Titanic. (Seriously, can anyone expect to win on the Titanic?)

You have video slot machines that range from penny machines to hundreds-of-dollars machines. There are mega-slot-players who need a casino employee to be with them at all times to record these players’ wins that are over the $10,000 mark which must be reported to the government. Yikes, we’re talking big bets here.

[Please note: Words sometimes don’t tell the full tale of the slot-machine stories of today. A slot machine that is often called a “penny machine” or “nickel machine” can have so many options that players are actually playing a machine that is almost costing them a dollar or more a decision. This is something of which to be aware; the machines can be more expensive than you realize. “Nothing is but what is not,” as Shakespeare’s Macbeth said, applies to many of today’s slot machines. Macbeth’s statement certainly applies to the slots so keep that in mind as you choose which machines you wish to play.] 

The Computer Rules the Machine-scape

Today’s slots are nothing like the good old days. The machines are ruled totally by a computer chip that decides everything that will happen. The outside of the machine and the displays the players see are just there to look like something the player can relate to since very few players can relate to algorithms, which are the true nature of the slots.All symbols you see on the machines – be they people, cartoon characters, the outrageous symbols, and even the “whatevers” – are merely what you see. They merely tell the player what fate had in store for him or her.

The outside reality of the machine actually means nothing. The winning and losing spins or decisions are created within the computer mind and that mind tells what symbols to appear, disappear, and announce whatever the inner mind decides what the player should experience by such an announcement.

The RNG Ain’t Just All

Many slot players know about the RNG (the Random Number Generator) which is the mind within the machine that dictates what’s coming up next and next and next after that. This brain within the machine has no feelings, it just picks number sequences that relate to the things a player will see on the machine’s outside.

The RNG is supposed to be random but, in fact, the real term for the RNG is not actually the random number generator but the pseudo-random number generator (PRNG). We cannot actually program randomness but we can get close; so close that humans can’t really tell what’s happening inside a slot machine.

And that little bugger (I hope the RNG doesn’t mind me calling it a bugger) is working 24 hours a day. Yes, every second of every hour of every day, those “random” sequences are occurring even if the machine isn’t being played. Correct. Just look at that forlorn machine in the dusty corner and it is actively processing and processing and processing those number sequences. These flash by in split seconds and they are not predictable by any outside means.

There is no way for a player to guess with accuracy what’s coming down the pike. All of our guesses are just that – out of the blue guesses. We must hope that our good luck wins out over the machine because we do not have the math on our side of slot-machine play.

Slot Machine Systems

Most casino players have preferred ways to wager their money. Systems galore dominate the world of the casinos. Every player seems to have one or some or many ways to play their preferred games. 

Most of these systems are a waste of time and have no influence on whether you become an ultimate and ecstatic winner or a forlorn and sorrowful loser. Nothing really works in the long run and usually nothing works in the short and medium run either. (Okay, some few exceptions to that.)

Casino players are vying with the ancient gods for good luck in order to come out ahead. The gods on Mount Olympus generally win and in the long run – well, you know the answer to that. The casinos’ math lasts but luck is ephemeral. But we all hope for such good luck.

[Please note: I do know a story of one player, way back maybe 20-30 years ago – maybe more – who was able to duplicate the algorithm on a certain machine and he won a fortune before he was imprisoned for cheating. This may have occurred in Canada. Is the story true? I don’t know but we can always hope. After all, hope springs eternal as hope was the only good thing that came out of Pandora’s opening of the box.]

The Glory of Winning on the Slots 

I am going to share a little secret with you – people who have winning trips, even winning days on the slot machines, think it is something special that they did to make them win. They are not only happy that they won money, which they obviously are, but they are convinced that their luck had something to do with their inner being, their inner state, their inner self.  

Winning players often feel glorified. They experience such glory and are delighted by it. 

The slots have that ability to make us feel such glory and that might be one reason inveterate slot players love to play them. That is their real power.

All the best in and out of the casinos!
 

Many video poker players are aware that pay tables vary based on the type of game. Many video poker players know that the pay table for a specific game can also vary. They also know that most pay tables can be identified based on two lines in the pay table. These two lines are the pays for a full house and a flush. They represent the x-for-1 pay amount. For example, if a full house pays 8-for-1 and a flush pays 5-for-1, the pay table is commonly referred to as 8/5.

At one time – years ago – there were very few different video poker games. Jacks or Better was among the earliest video poker games available. Pay tables in the early video poker era tended to be quite generous. Almost all Jacks or Better games paid nine coins (yes, coins. Early games only took coins or tokens) for each coin bet for a full house and six coins for each coin bet for a flush. 

As video poker (virtually all of it was jacks or better) became more popular, casino management began to tinker with pay tables. The early tinkering only affected the full house and flush pays – and virtually always resulted in a reduction in the pay.

Some of the players who played on a somewhat regular basis noticed the reductions. Since the changes only affected the full house and flush, they were able to refer to the pay table in an abbreviated fashion. Those original Jacks or Better pay tables that paid 9-for-1 for a full house and 6-for-1 for a flush were referred to as 9/6. A 9/6 jacks or better pay table was also referred to as “full-pay” since it was the original pay table the paid 99.54 percent with perfect play. Virtually all other pay tables paid less than that.

Inexperienced players quickly pick up that a 9/6 pay table is the best because, after all, it is full pay. What these inexperienced (and some not so inexperienced) players sometimes do not realize is just because the pay table shows nine credits per credit played for a full house and six credits per credit played for a flush does not mean the return of the game is 99.54 percent. It could be higher, but most likely the return is lower. It all depends. 

This article explores several 9/6 pay tables and the games they belong to. It also shows the game names, returns, and variance for each of them. In each case, the 9 and 6 refer to the pays for a full house and a flush, respectively. Continue reading to make sure that when you play video poker you are, indeed, playing the game you think you are.

Please keep in mind that almost all wild card games such as Deuces Wild require more than just two lines of the pay table to define it. For that reason, wild card video poker is not included in this article.

Contents

1. The complete original Jacks or Better pay table and subsequent variants
2. Double Bonus Poker 9/6 pay table
3. Double-Double Bonus 9/6 pay table
4. Other video poker games having 9/6 pay tables
5. Some potentially great 9/6 pay tables that you will (almost) never find
6. Sometimes even a game labeled Jacks or Better is not Jacks or Better
7. The importance of checking the entire pay table
8. Summary

1 – The Complete original Jacks or Better Pay Table & Subsequent Variants

As stated in the introduction, the original Jacks or Better pay table returned 99.54 percent. This pay table also has a very low variance – among the lowest available. This is another reason why a 9/6 pay table is sought out.

Here is the entire pay table:

9/6 Jacks or Better “Full-Pay” – Payback: 99.54 Percent, Variance 19.5

Notice the highlighted rows. Each column shows the same pay per coin – 9-for-1 for a full house and 6-for-1 for a flush. 

As the years went on and casino management became more influenced by accountants, pay tables were altered to reduce the return (to help the casino’s bottom line). In today’s casinos it is rare to find a pay table as shown above. One of the most common Jacks or Better pay tables on casino floors today is the following:

8/5 Jacks or Better “Short-Pay” – Payback: 97.29 Percent, Variance 19.3

This is the 8/5 Jacks or Better pay table. Notice that the highlighted rows pay 8-for-1 for a full house and 5-for-1 for a flush. Notice that each of the other pay lines are the same as the 9/6 pay table. Also notice the return has dropped by two-and-a-quarter percent. The variance has also dropped a little.

This pay table has been included just to show that the minor changes can make a big different in return. This is why players look for a 9/6 pay table.

Other Jacks or Better pay tables can also be found. They include 9/5, 8/6, and 7/6. None of them match the return of the original 9/6.

2 – Double Bonus Poker 9/6 Pay Table

Double Bonus Poker was introduced a few years after Jacks or Better. It gives players a bit more excitement by bumping the pays for hands containing four of a kind. Here is the “full-pay” version as it was first introduced.

10/7 Double Bonus “Full-Pay” – Payback: 100.17 Percent, Variance 28.3

This original version actually came with a player advantage. Of course, the casinos did not realize it at the time. The paying public was also unskilled at properly playing the game to get the advantage. Casinos still made money off this game – for a while.

Here is what most of the 9/6 Double Bonus pay tables look like now: 

9/6 Double Bonus “Short-Pay” – Payback: 97.8 Percent, Variance 30.8

Notice that this 9/6 pay table returns approximately the same as the 8/5 Jacks or Better pay table – about one and three fourth’s percent less than 9/6 Jack or Better. The variance also increases to about one and a half times that of Jacks or Better. Truly, this 9/6 pay table is not a good one. 

3 – Double Bonus Poker 9/6 Pay Table

Double Bonus Poker was introduced a few years after Jacks or Better. It gives players a bit more excitement by bumping the pays for hands containing four of a kind. Here is the “full-pay” version as it was first introduced.

9/6 Double-Double Bonus – Payback: 98.98 Percent, Variance 42

The return of this 9/6 pay table is better than the previous one. It returns almost 99 percent of the players money with perfect play. It is not as high a return as 9/6 Jacks or Better, however, and the variance is more than double.

In the past there were some 10/6 versions of the pay table. It returns 100.07 percent with nearly the same variance as the 9/6 pay table. It is virtually nonexistent in today’s casinos.

4 – Other Video Poker Games Having 9/6  Pay Tables

The previous examples were for games that are generally available on today's casino floors (or online). There are several other video poker games that also have pays of 9-for-1 for a full house and 6-for-1 for a flush. I will not post the pay tables as these casino games are not all that common. I you happen to find one and want to know the entire pay table, return and variance, the information can be found by Google the game. Here is a brief look at some of them.

Bonus Poker Deluxe

This game differs from Bonus Poker in that it pays the same for all four of a kind hands – normally 400-for 5 (80-for-1). The 9/6 version of the pay table returns 99.64 percent and the variance is 32.1. Bonus Poker Deluxe with a 9/6 pay table has a very good return – even better than 9/6 Jacks or Better, but it is very hard to find.

Triple Double Bonus

This game is like Double-Double Bonus. To add excitement for the player, it pays the same as a royal flush – 4000-for-5 (800-for-1) for four aces with a 2, 3, or 4 and 2000-for-5 (400-for-1) for four 2s, 3s, or 4s with an ace, 2, 3, or 4. It returns 98.15 percent and has a huge variance of 100.1

Double Aces and Faces

This game is like Bonus Poker but pays double the amount for four aces or faces (kings, queens or jacks). The return is only 97.97 percent and the variance is 30.3.

Triple-Triple Bonus

This game is like Triple-Double Bonus but four aces with a 2, 3, or 4 -or- four 2s, 3s, or 4s, with an ace pays the same as a royal flush – 4000-for-5 (800-for-1). It returns 99.74 percent. Not a bad return if you can find it and afford the astronomical variance of 133.

5 – Some Potentially Great 9/6 Pay Tables That You Will (Almost) Never Find

Not all 9/6 pay tables are bad. Some can be very good. There are certain video poker games where a 9/6 pay table would produce a player advantage. Should you ever find one in a casino, you may want to consider playing it. Here is a list of the games. In each case, a 9/6 pay table is a great play (assuming all the other pay lines are normal).

• Bonus Poker – 9/6 returns 101.4 percent with a variance of 22.1
• Super Aces Bonus – 9/6 returns 102.1 percent with a variance of 62.9
• Super Double Bonus – 9/6 returns 100.8 percent with a variance of 37.6
• Super Double-Double Bonus – 9/6 returns 101.9 percent with a variance of 50.6
• Triple Bonus Plus – 9/6 returns 100.9 percent with a variance of 43.9
• White Hot Aces – 9/6 returns 100.7 percent with a variance of 43.4
• Aces and Faces – 9/6 returns 101.5 percent with a variance of 21.1

Do not expect to find any of these, but if you do, consider giving them a try.

6 – Sometimes Even a Game Labeled Jacks or Better is Not Jacks or Better

Sometimes even seasoned video poker players have an off night. I have seen video poker players I know well sit down at a video poker game labelled “Jacks or Better” on the lower front glass, check the pay table and see the desired 9/6 pay lines, and begin to play. However, it was a multi-game machine and the game that was on the screen was not Jacks or Better – it was Double-Double Bonus. 

It may not always be bad, however. A friend of mine did the same thing and ended up hitting a royal within the first few hands. Do not expect that to happen to you. Make sure the game on the screen is 9/6 Jacks or Better if that is the game you want to play.

7 – The Importance of Checking the Entire Pay Table

Not only is it important to check the screen to make sure it is the correct game, checking the entire pay table is also important. Even though the full house and flush pay lines are normally the only ones changed, that is not always the case.

Any of the pay lines can be changed. Sometimes the royal flush or straight flush pays are reduced. Sometimes the four-of-a-kind. Sometimes the straight. Any of the pay lines can change. The only way to be sure you are playing the game (and pay table) you want is by checking the entire pay table.

8 – Summary

At one time Jacks or Better was the only video poker game on live casino floors and the 9/6 pay table had a great return and many video poker players knew that.

• With the introduction of multiple variants of video poker, 9/6 pay tables were no longer necessarily good.
• A 9/6 pay table on other games can be good, but more often it is not so good.
• Make sure the game you are playing is the one you want to play by checking the name of the game on the screen, and check the entire pay table to make sure it is the one you want.

It is important to be observant to get the return that is expected. Make sure that you are
 

Video poker players draw more four-of-a-kind hands with Jacks, Queens, Kings or Aces than with 10s or lowers. That works to player advantage in Aces and Faces, a new game growing in popularity in online casinos.

The game is a close cousin to Bonus Poker and sometimes is called Bonus Aces and Faces. It's not one of the more common games in live casinos, but is finding a niche among online players.

Like Bonus Poker and Jacks or Better, it pays 2-for-1 on two pairs compared with the 1-for-1 on most other non-wild card video poker games such Bonus Poker Deluxe or Double Double Bonus Poker. If you bet five coins in Aces and Faces and get two pairs, you get 10 coins. In Double Double Bonus, you just get your five coins back.

Also like Bonus Poker, most four of a kinds pay 25-for-1, or 125 for a five-coin bet, but there are four sets of premium quads. In both Aces and Faces, you get 80-for-1, or 400-for-5, when you have four Aces.

But in Bonus Poker, the other premium hands are four 2s, 3s and 4s. Draw any of those quads, and you're paid 40-for-1, or 200 coins for a five-coin bet. In Aces and Faces, that 40-for-1 payback comes on four Jacks, Queens or Kings instead.

That makes a difference in the overall payback percentage of the game. In 8-5 versions, in which full houses pay 8-for-1 and flushes 5-for-1, Bonus Poker pays 99.17 percent with optimal strategy. In Aces and Faces, the return steps up to 99.26 percent.

The Pay Table

Three pay tables have been spotted in play for Aces and Faces. They vary only in their return on full houses. The highest-paying version pays 8-for-1 on full houses, while others pay 7-for-1 or 6-for-1.

Let's look at the 8-5 pay table in detail.

8-5 Aces & Faces

With that pay table, Aces and Faces pays 99.26 percent with optimal video poker strategy. If full house pays are reduced to 7-for-1, the return is reduced to 98.10 percent, while with 6-for-1 payoffs, the return is 96.96 percent.

As in most video poker games, there is an incentive to bet five coins built into the pay table. Royal flushes pay 250 coins for a one-coin bet, and nudge up another 250 for each coin wagered up to four. But when you bet the fifth coin, the royal takes a giant leap by an extra 3,000 coins, from a four-coin wager return of 1,000 to a 4,000-coin jackpot.

Because of that, your average return is highest when you bet five coins.

Frequency of Winning Hands

The most common paying hands in Aces and Faces are pairs of Jacks or better,  just as in all video poker games that start the pay table at a pair of Jacks.

But the biggest share of the return comes from two pairs. That 2-1 payoff makes a huge difference in Aces and Faces, Bonus Poker and Jacks or Better, and makes those games less volatile than other video poker games.

With optimal strategy, players average a pair of Jacks or better once every 4.6 hands, compared to once per 7.7 for two pairs, 13.4 for three of a kind, 89.2 for straights, 92.1 for flushes, 86.6 for full houses, 632.8 for four 2s through 10s,  1,703.7 for four Jacks, Queens or Kings, 5,106.1 for four Aces, 9,433.2 for straight flushes and 40,249.3 for royals.

Two pairs account for 25.9 percent of total payback, with 22.3 from three of a kind, 21.5 from Jacks or better, 9.21 from full houses, 5.4 from flushes, 4.5 from straights, 3.95 from four 2s through 10s, 2.4 from face-card quads, 1.99 from royal flushes, 1.6 from four Aces and 0.5 from straight flushes.

Bonus Poker Comparison

In Bonus Poker, where the 40-for-1 payback is on four 2s, 3s or 4s instead of Jacks, Queens or Kings,  those quads pop up an average of once per 1,896.2 hands. That's less often than the once per 1,703.7 for four Jacks, Queens or Kings in Aces and Faces.

There's nothing in programming that would make face cards come up more often than low cards. The difference in quad frequency is entirely because of player strategy.

Dealt a hand such as 4 of hearts, 5 of diamonds, 8 of clubs, 10 of spades and Jack of diamonds? The best strategy would be to hold the Jack of spades and discard the other four.  There are many possible winners, but key is that you could easily pair up the Jack for a high-pair win. With 178,365 possible draws, 44 result in four Jacks as well as one each with four Queens or four Kings.

Dealt the same hand with a 2 of diamonds instead of the Jack, there would be nothing to pair up for an instant win, so optimal strategy is to discard all five cards. With a full redraw, the number of possible draws soars to 1,533,939, with only 43 of them being four 2s, 3s or 4s. 

You get the 40-for-1 bonus pay on these hands once per 3,877.5 draws with the Jack, but only once per 34,862.2 complete redraws,

Other scenarios contribute, but strategies on such hands lead to drawing the bonus quads more often in Aces and Faces than in Bonus Poker.

Strategy Tips

Compared to the basic game of Jacks or Better, with its 25-for-1 payoffs on all four of a kinds, Aces and Faces pays more on quads. However, the difference isn't large enough to drive strategy changes as it does in games such as Double Double Bonus Poker.

Nothing in the Aces and Faces pay table requires extreme strategies. Optimal strategy for 8-5 or 7-5 Aces and Faces is the same as that for 8-5 or 7-5 Jacks or Better or Bonus Poker.

Here are some basic video poker tips on Aces and Faces strategy:

• We don’t do anything special to chase the bonus four of a kinds in Aces and Faces. The bonus payoffs aren’t large enough to start holding Aces in preference to other high cards or to break up two pairs or full houses.
• Flushes pay 5-for-1 on all versions of Aces and Faces. That means we don’t chase straight flushes or flushes as often as we do on 9-6 Jacks or Better, or on any video poker game where flushes pay 6-for-1 or higher.
• Low pairs are more valuable than four-card straights, but not as valuable as four-card flushes. They are more valuable than individual high cards or multiple high cards of different suits. So dealt a hand such as 6 of diamonds, 6 of hearts, 8 of spades, 10 of clubs, King of hearts, the best play would be to hold the two 6s. 

Keep in mind that even with a 99.26 percent return on the 8-5 pay table, Aces and Faces gives an edge to the house.  When the big-paying hands come, you can have winning sessions either in live play or at an online casino, but sometimes the big winners don't happen.

Still, Aces and Faces is a low-volatility game that can give you a good run for your money. Good luck, and have fun!

Among blackjack variations that are rising in popularity in online casinos, Super Fun 21 Extreme has intrigue written in its very name.

What's Super Fun about it? What's extreme?

Super Fun 21 Extreme is a variation on Super Fun 21, a blackjack-based game that has been available since the beginning of the 2000s. The "super fun" part comes in offering players extra chances to double down and incorporating the late surrender rule.

In standard blackjack, you may double only on the first two cards. In Super Fun, you may double after any number of cards. Surrender isn't common in standard 21, but when offered, you may surrender half your bet after the first two cards instead of playing the hand and risking it all. In Super Fun, you may surrender after any number of cards.

The tradeoff is that most blackjacks pay only even money instead of the standard 3-2. The exception comes if both blackjack cards are diamonds. Then it pays 2-1. 

Super Fun 21 has made its mark mostly in live casinos. The game, distributed by slot machine giant Light & Wonder, is finding its niche as an online blackjack option. 

SUPER FUN 21 EXTREME RULES

Blackjack is at the base of Super Fun 21 Extreme, with players starting with two cards and the dealer with one face up and one face down.

After the initial deal, you may hit, stand, split pairs or double down. Late surrender is offered, which means that after a check to see if the dealer has blackjack, you may give up half your bet instead of playing out a weak hand.

Beyond that is a set of special rules that make up the "extreme" part of the game.

• Blackjacks pay 5-2. That's more generous than the 3-2 on standard blackjack or the 6-5 on that gives the house an extra edge on some games. It's far more generous than the even-money payoffs on most blackjacks in Super Fun 21, and even better than the 2-1 on Super Fun diamond blackjacks. If you bet $10 and are dealt a blackjack, you win $25. With 3-2 pays, you'd win $15.
• You may split any pair up to three times to make a total of four hands – and that includes Aces. Including Aces makes this extreme. In standard blackjack, you may split Aces only once, and you receive only one more card to go with each Ace. Super Fun 21 allows you to split again if you're dealt another Ace to make a new pair, and split a third time if yet another Ace gives you another pair.

Not only that. After splitting Aces, you may continue to hit the hands. In standard blackjack, if you draw a 4 to go with a split Ace, you're stuck with a soft 15.  In Extreme, you can hit again to try to improve the hand. You can even double down after splitting Aces when the situation favors it.

• You may double down on any number of cards, even if you've already doubled. That means you're allowed to double multiple times on the same hand. If you bet $10 and are dealt 5-4 against a dealer 6, you might double down by making a second bet equal to the first. Now you have $20 on the line.

In standard blackjack, you'd receive just one more card on your double, so if you were dealt a 2, you'd have an 11 that could win only if the dealer busted. In Extreme, you could double again by betting an additional $20, so you'd have $40 at risk but a favorable situation with 11 vs. 6.

You can double up to three times, so your $10 wager could grow to a total of $80 if the situation and your bankroll can handle it.

• Late surrender is offered after any number of cards. If you're in a tough situation such as holding hard 16 when the dealer has a 10 face up, you may surrender half your bet instead of playing out the hand. Bet $10 and surrender, and you lose only $5.

The "late" part refers to the dealer checking for blackjack. With an Ace or 10 up, the dealer must check for blackjack before players take action. A dealer blackjack stops play, and you may not surrender. 

However, the Extreme version allows you to surrender with any number of cards. At standard tables that offer surrender, you may surrender only after your first two cards. You may surrender a hard 16 consisting of 9-7, but not one consisting of 8-5-3. At Extreme, you may surrender that 8-5-3,  or even a four-card hand such as 6-2-4-4.

INSTANT WINNERS

There are three types of hands in which you win instantly, before the dealer plays out the hand, unless the dealer has blackjack.

• You win the 5-2 payoff on blackjacks unless the dealer also has a blackjack in the first two cards. Then you push, although promotional material from Light & Wonder says each individual casino has the option of paying those hands.
• You win even money on any non-doubled hand with six cards totaling 20 or less.
• You win a 2-1 payoff on non-doubled hands totaling 21 with five or more cards.

The latter two rules, sometimes called "Charlies," are not standard in blackjack and make this game even more extreme.

THE TRADEOFF: HOW THE HOUSE GETS AN EDGE

All the above rules are so favorable to players the house would lose money without an adjustment. In Super Fun 21 Extreme, that adjustment is that if the dealer busts with 22, all player hands still in action push instead of winning.

Imagine you stand on hard 18 and the dealer must hit 15. If the dealer draws a 7 for a total of 22, you'd win when playing standard blackjack, but just push and get your bet back in Extreme. 

Pushing on dealer 22s adds 6.9 percent to the house edge. In blackjack, where the entire edge against a basic strategy player is measured in tenths of a percent, that's enormous. It's enough for a standoff against all the positive Extremes.

With all that taken into account, a basic strategy player faces an edge of 0.95 percent in a six-deck game, compared to 0.62 percent in a standard six-deck game in which the dealer hits soft 17.

STRATEGY ADJUSTMENTS

The main rules blackjack basic strategy players must consider when adapting to Extreme are doubling multiple times and the six cards of 20 or less and five-card 21 rules.

Never make bets you can't afford, but when doubling down, let basic strategy be your guide. If doubling down would be the best play after two cards, it's also the best play after three cards. Should you have a rare 11 after five cards, though, such as 2-3-2-2-2, don't double. Take the sixth card and you're guaranteed even money with 20 or less and get 9 or lower, or you'd win 2-1 on the six-card 21 if you draw a 10.

Taking advantage of the Charlie rules sometimes means taking hits when you'd normally stand.

Here are some situations for extra hits when six cards totaling 20 or less brings an automatic payback:

For hands not listed, stick with basic blackjack strategy. 

PRECIOUS DIAMONDS SIDE BET

When you make your initial wager, you also have the opportunity to make a Precious Diamonds side bet. It's a wager that your first two cards will be a blackjack with the Ace and a 10-value card both in diamonds.

It pays 250-1, but there are no other payoffs. The house edge in a six-deck game is 25.5 percent, making this a wager strictly for jackpot hunters. 

You get a far better deal on the basic game of Super Fun 21 Extreme, with its house edge of less than 1 percent for those who play an adapted basic strategy. You can find standard blackjack games with lower edges, but whether you find super fun in the special rules is your call

QUESTION: Okay, I have been reading you for several decades but I want to know what I can do to become a better player than just the idea that I have to play the right strategies. I play blackjack, craps, and roulette in that order. They are my favorite games. I don’t want to count cards or control the dice or look all over the world for biased wheels and the like. So, what do I do? I love casino playing, so educate me, Frank, can you do that? I wouldn’t mind winning is all I am saying. Educate me.

Frank:  No, I can’t. The three methods of getting a real jump on casino games, card counting at blackjack, dice control at craps, and finding biased wheels (or “off” wheels) are the only real ways to get an edge over the casinos. 

How many players can do that? Mostly an infinitesimal few or none at all. 

The technique of card counting has been around since the mid-1960s thanks to Edward O. Thorp who developed it and wrote a now classic book about the subject (Beat the Dealer). 

Players flocked to the game of blackjack during that time period because they thought it was a beatable game. It really wasn’t. If you don’t play basic strategy and don’t count cards correctly in a real casino, you can’t win in the long run. 

Oh, yes players are still flocking to the game. It is now the number one table game in the casinos, having surpassed craps long, long ago. 

How many of those original players and all the players since those original players have successfully navigated the card counting terrain? Think of a million and more players year after year playing blackjack? Very, very few of them can ever beat the house. 

Card counting is not an easy skill to master and the casinos are not in love with the players who demonstrate such skill. One expert blackjack player I knew once told me that you play blackjack against the dealer but poker against the pit people and the “eye-in-the-sky.” There is a lot of truth to that.

While card counting is not illegal, private businesses have the right to refuse service to customers if they so choose and card counters are merely just such customers. 

Some casinos tell the card-counting customers to play other games but not blackjack or they instruct them to leave the premises immediately. Some states do not allow the casino to ban card counters but the casinos can tell such players they can only bet “X” amount of dollars. Card counters can’t win if their betting choices are limited.

Can you learn card counting? Probably with hard work and dedication. Will you if you do not commit to it fully and unequivocally? Not at all. Most card counters are somewhat obsessed to playing in such a way. Could anyone become so obsessed? I don’t know.

So, what should you do? Learn basic strategy and don’t vary from it. If you can’t memorize it then bring a basic strategy card to the table and refer to it. 

And play the best blackjack games you can find with the best rules – but, sadly, it is harder to find the best blackjack rules today in most casinos. Search for such games and good luck to you. You might find such excellent games on the Internet casinos.

Control your betting amounts. Play at full or nearly full tables so you play a reduced number of decisions. The fewer hands you play, the better it is for you. That is, by the way, the opposite of a card counter who is looking to play as many hands as he or she can. When you have an edge you want to exploit that edge!

That’s about all I can say for someone who does not want to take the card-counting step.

Now craps. A great game and maybe the most exciting game in the casino. Anyway, I think it is the most exciting game and so do many players. 

For many years it was the number one game in the house but blackjack surpassed it because of Thorp’s book.

Craps cannot be beaten except if a player can influence (sometimes called control) the dice. Influence and control are merely synonyms. The main idea is that a player can change the odds of the game because of his or her method of throwing the dice.

With proper craps betting strategies, meaning making the lowest house edge bets, the player certainly has a chance to beat the casinos. Too many would-be dice controllers make the stupidest bets and think they can overcome the odds on those bets. They can’t.

Too many dice controllers are just gamblers pretending to be dice controllers – these folks are legion and they are long-term (and short- and medium-term) losers. 

Even today’s dice control classes celebrate their students who win outrageous bets as if they won those bets not because of blind luck but because of skill. Dice control cannot be learned in a day, a weekend, a week or less than a month – in fact, it is more like many, many months of hard work. 

Think in terms of practicing for six months or more and making only the lowest house-edge bets. Craps players, who are overwhelmingly gamblers, would find that difficult indeed.

Dice control was created by the late Atlantic City legend, the Captain, and he and "the Arm" and Jimmy P. were the only three players I met pre-2000 who could control the dice. Since then? A small few … a very small few. And plenty who think they can do it but can’t. 

Best betting at craps: So, you are not going to become a dice controller, you’ve stated that. Good. Honesty is a great policy when you risk your hard-earned money at gambling. Now what should you do? How should you bet? What is your philosophy of playing craps?

First off, and let me get this out of the way right away, do not, I repeat do not make any bets with edges over 2 percent. Correct, almost all bets at craps are bad bets, worse even than some slot machines grinding away at slot players’ bankrolls.

It is nutty that so many craps players make so many awful bets. How can they have any chance to beat the game when they just throw their money away? 

Make a list of all the craps bets that players can make and you will see that an amazing number of them just plain stink. You even have some that are coming in at 20 percent or more mark and many more scratching that 15 to 20 percent mark. Yes, these are slot machine edges and they cost the players making them to go down the drain.

Okay, two things: make pass-line bets and take the odds when the bet is on a number. Come bets are good too. Make them and also take the odds when they are on a number. You can also place either the 6 or 8. 

What have you got here now? The pass-line and come bets come in at 1.41 percent against you. That means over some time (little, medium, or long) you will lose $1.41 per $100 wagered – that’s about 14 cents per $10 wagered. The odds are just toppers to those bets and they have no house edge. You can make them if you want as long as you can afford them. You are better off with higher odds and lower pass-line and come bets.

The place bets of the 6 or 8 come in with house edges of 1.52 percent or $1.52 per $100 wagered or 15 cents per $10 wagered. These are good bets in the casino scheme of things.

And what about the darkside bets, those bets called “don’t bets” where you are rooting for the 7 to appear during the point-cycle of the game, in which case that will end a shooter’s roll? Do you want to be a darksider? The house edge is about 1.36 percent or a loss of $1.36 per $100 wagered. That’s quite good.

A drawback here. The other players might hate you and show their disdain for your method of darksider play. (Some can get obnoxious too.) If that doesn’t bother you then feel free to go with the darksider wagers and to heck with the other players – who, by the way, are called rightsiders. Darksiders are also called “don’t” players.

And that, my friend, is almost that when it comes to betting craps. Making the other bets is a waste of time and a serious waste of your money.

Now, do you want the ultimate radical way to play craps? Here goes: only make one bet! Do not go on multiple numbers as almost all other craps players do. This will cut your losses tremendously.

Your third game, roulette has been number two or three for centuries – actually number one for more centuries than not. 

The game means “little wheel” and was created by scientist, philosopher, and theologian Blaise Pascal who was looking to discover a perpetual motion machine. He failed in that (as have all other researchers) but he did hit upon roulette which may wind up lasting perpetually in the world’s casinos. 

When the game appeared in casinos in the late 1600’s, it became a smash hit. Players loved it and many couldn’t stop playing it – until, of course, they went broke. Noblemen were the worst of all because they had enough money to play and play and play until…they had little money left.  

Playing roulette is the ultimate numbers game with bets of all sorts that deal with numbers – colored numbers, high and low numbers, individual numbers, groups of numbers. Players have so many, many options at this game it is a wonder they can make any decisions at all.

There are now three types of roulette games out there in the casino world.  The single-zero games (0) which come in with an edge of 2.7 percent; the double-zero game (0, 00) which comes in with an edge of 5.26 percent, and the triple-zero game (0, 00, 000) which comes in with a 7.69 percent house edge.

[Please note: The various roulette games also have names associated with them. The single-zero game is called the European or French game. The double-zero game is called the American game. The triple-zero game is called “why would you ever play this game?” Interestingly enough, the American game was created in Europe and the European and French game was created in America. The triple-zero game was created where Satan lives.]

The payback on a single-number winner is 35-to-1. That is for all the games. Note how awful the triple-zero game becomes because of such a winning payout. 

The potentially bad thing about roulette is the fact that if you bet just one number you can go through a long, long losing streak. That can be a downer to many players not only because it costs them a lot of money but because the game starts to get annoying.

The best bets to make are the even-money bets. There are only three of these bets: the red/black, the odd/even, and the high/low. They are called “even-money” because they pay even-money, not because they are 50/50 propositions. 

In fact, the casinos will win more of these bets than will the player. For example, in the double-zero games, the casino will win 20 times and lose 18 times. 

The house edge remains the same for the players who make these bets but the losing streaks are far less severe than they are in the “let us pick a single number in honor of grandma’s 100th birthday.” To me, preserving money is a key staple of gambling.

Oh, yes, there are many other bets too but you are in decent territory making the even-money bets your main wagers. Losing streaks stink.

You are better off playing at a full or nearly full table because you will face fewer decisions. More decisions are better for the casino because it has an edge. If you have an edge? Then you’d want more decisions. That is a simple rule.

Finally, are there “biased” or “off” wheels today? Probably not. The roulette wheels are seemingly perfect, at least the relatively new ones. So, gamble on them cautiously.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

Gambling is a great leveler. Whether rich or poor, famous or anonymous, we all like to have a little something riding on the turn of a card or the outcome of a sporting event. In that regard, celebrities are just like the rest of us – albeit, to a degree. They like to gamble, they deal with ups and downs, they do everything in their power to win. 

That said, things get different when you factor in sums on the line and notoriety attached to their wins or losses. Wagers are eye widening and reports of money on the line make headlines. Here then are some of the world’s most famous people who like to gamble big, what they play and how they handle outcomes.

BEN AFFLECK

The media loves writing about Ben Affleck grabbing coffee or enjoying dinner with J-Lo. So, when he plays blackjack – with her at his side or solo – everyone takes notice. And that would include casino surveillance snoops. 

Such was the case in 2014 when he got backed off from the high-limit tables at the old Hard Rock (now known as the Virgin) in Las Vegas, where he was supposedly spreading from $100 to $10,000 per hand in a double deck game. 

Unless you’re terrible, the casinos will take notice. Apparently, he is not terrible. He was card counting and winning. Underscoring that celebs in casinos really are like the rest of us, he was asked to stop playing blackjack. 

More recently, in 2021, Affleck was spotted firing it up at the high limit tables of Wynn Las Vegas. If dealers love him more than casino enforcers do, it’s because he’s what’s known as a George (Vegas lingo for a generous tipper). On one occasion, he is said to have tipped out most of his Hard Rock winnings. Another time, it’s been alleged, he and Matt Damon wrapped up a Mirage session by giving away money to fellow gamblers. Nice guys!

ASHTON KUTCHER

Watch an Ashton Kutcher movie, and it would be easy to wonder whether or not the actor is as goofy in real life as he often is on screen. In Las Vegas, that definitely is not the case. 

In fact, he’s made a killing by wagering on NCAA football. But it’s more complicated than that. Kutcher is not lucky, he’s smart. Or at least smart enough to align himself with the right people.

As Kutcher told Esquire magazine, “I used to place bets for the largest national sports betting syndicate in America. I basically just placed bets for half a season. We cleared like $750,000 in four weeks of college football.” 

Soon after going on the massive heater, he found himself persona non grata in sports books. Despite the rebuffing, and not hinting at whether or not he still gambles in Vegas, Kutcher said, “It was pretty fun … but they eventually caught on.”

TIGER WOODS

Tiger Woods is not the kind of guy who’s going to play low-roller blackjack. It’s been reported that he has a $1 million line of credit at the MGM Grand’s ultra-luxe Mansion – and that was a number of years ago. It might be even higher today. 

Phil Hellmuth, a sometime blackjack compatriot of the golf superstar, once told me, “Tiger is excellent at blackjack. He bears down a little bit, pays attention and plays perfect basic strategy. He takes his losing hands well and doesn’t get upset, though you do see that extra bit of focus at times. 

“I remember having a 13 against the dealer’s 2 and not being sure what to do. Tiger immediately told me to stand – and he was right. It’s the correct play” – unless one is card counting, like Affleck, and the count is -1 or lower, which would command hitting. “I said, ‘Aren’t you supposed to be a dumb golfer?’ He cracked up. I remember that Tiger won big that night. I’m not going into the number. But, if I say big, of course it was six figures.”

CHARLES BARKLEY

The former NBA star’s gambling habits are all too well known. He’s never hidden his gaming proclivities, nor did Wynn Las Vegas when the joint sued him over a $400,000 marker that went unpaid.

Barkley settled up with the Wynn and had to fork over an additional $40,000 to the Vegas District Attorney’s office (amazingly, the DA there has a division devoted to collecting unpaid markers and receives an extra 10 percent for its trouble). 

Barkley has come clean about having lost $1 million over the course of a day on at least 10 different occasions. Conversely, on the more positive tip, he won the same sum five or six times. He’s described his gambling as a “bad habit,” but vowed that he will not stop doing it because it’s “my life and it’s my money.”

Fair enough, though there was at least one instance when his breakneck wagering caused a pro golfer to cry. Such was explained by Andres Gonzales on the Golf magazine podcast Subpar. Gonzales, a PGA tour pro, was alongside Barkley in a casino, and, as he put it, Barkley was “putting 10 grand down on a blackjack table.” Then he’d be “turning around, putting 10 grand down on craps … he was stressing me out, man.”

That led to a panic attack and tears for Gonzales. Barkley, always hungry for action, tried convincing Gonzales to golf against him for money. Gonzales did not elaborate on his response, though the terms would have been characteristically terrible for Barkley: he wanted just one shot per side.

FLOYD MAYWEATHER

They don’t call the bling-loving boxer “Money” Mayweather for nothing. 

According to Bleacher Report, he’ll routinely walk around with $60,000 cash on his person (often in a backpack) and has been known to load $1 million into a duffle bag. That’s probably a good thing, as Mayweather has been said to play the highest stakes blackjack that casinos will allow. But his gambling in the pit pales alongside his sports wagering. It’s alleged that Money bet millions on the Denver Broncos to beat the Seattle Seahawks in the 2014 Super Bowl. Denver lost and so did Mayweather. 

But don’t feel too bad for the multimillionaire pugilist. Via non-Super Bowl bets, Mayweather is said to have cleared $200,000 on the Seahawks and another $626,923 on the Broncos, proving that, for some of us, everything comes out in the wash. 

Daily Mail reports that he had one month that yielded $4.7 million in sports betting profits. Then there was the time that his NBA and boxing smarts resulted in a windfall of $827,000 – and he didn’t even need to enter the ring.      

As Mayweather put it during an appearance on ESPN Radio, “Everyday, you have to find one [game] that you truly believe in … and that’s the one you load up on.”

Even for us nickel-and-dime gamblers, Floyd “Money” Mayweather’s words of wisdom serve as sound  advice.

Most iGaming players are familiar with traditional online casinos. Licensed online gaming platforms require real money deposits for real money gaming, with real money rewards. However, there are alternative options available to players in the form of sweepstakes casinos and social casinos. There are clear distinctions between various online casinos, which we will examine in this blog post.

Introducing Sweepstakes Casinos 

Many folks use the terms sweepstakes, lotteries and contests interchangeably. There are nuanced differences between them. Traditionally, sweepstakes refer to a giveaway with a randomly selected winner. With sweepstakes, no money needs to be spent directly upfront – no purchase is necessary for winning – and no skills or strategies are needed to win sweepstakes. But that's the traditional sense of the word, and it's slightly different with sweepstakes casinos.

Think of things like the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes – a case in point. Randomly selected winners have their prizes delivered to their homes. With sweepstakes casinos online, players participate in classic slots, video slots, jackpot slots, card games, table games, live casino games, keno and poker games using in-game currency known as sweeps coins or gold coins (GC).

This is an important distinction. For one thing, you're not using £, $ or € to gamble with. Your stake – your bet – is usually in Gold Coins. Sometimes, sweepstakes casinos use Sweeps Coins.

Owing to the non-gambling style nature of sweepstakes casinos – no real money is used for gambling games – they enjoy widespread legal status across the United States, except for Washington state. However, players must register and purchase Gold Coins to play sweepstakes casino games.

You simply wager with a different type of in-game currency. It's not necessary to provide banking information to the sweepstakes casino online during registration. That's why it is vital to carefully screen sweepstakes casinos and pick only credible operators from the list.

Why Sweepstakes Casinos over Traditional Online Casinos?

Sweepstakes casinos are popping up all over the place, which cuts both ways. For one thing, it makes online casino games accessible to many more players worldwide.

On the other hand, they are not all created equal. The proliferation of sweepstakes casinos is because no expensive gambling licensing and regulation is required – these are readily available in gambling-restricted enclaves. That's because they are defined differently. Sweepstakes casinos are known as social casinos, where the point is to have fun – not to gamble. No real money is required to play, and no real prizes are up for grabs.

It's worth noting that sweepstakes casinos are different to social casinos in one important way: sweeps casinos online offer players a chance to win real money, while social casinos are all about fun-play entertainment.

While playing free sweeps casino games, you can win real money using sweep or gold coins during sweepstakes sessions. You don't bet your money on the uncertain outcomes of card games, table games, dice games, or live casino games. With social casinos, only GC's are used – gold coins. No sweeps coins are at stake because you can't win real money or real prizes with social casinos.

Let's clarify this a little better:

• Sweeps Coins are only available as bonuses or free rewards, but here's the kicker – they can be redeemed for real money. That's why sweeps casinos are preferred by people who want to play casino games online and win real money. It's a roundabout way of playing for real cash and winning real money, much like the pachinko parlors across Japan. Sweeps coins cannot be purchased but can be held until a sufficient number is available for exchange.
• Gold Coins are typically gifted to players as part of a signup package or a welcome bonus stop. You can always purchase additional gold coins through the shop at the social casino. You can use these gold coins to play social casino games.

Naturally, there are advantages and disadvantages to sweeps casinos and social casinos. Whether you're playing with sweeps coins or gold coins, it's important to pick wisely. There are loads of Vegas-style online casino games to enjoy, with real cash prizes up for grabs.

Suppose you cannot register at a traditional online casino due to licensing and regulations in your country, territory, or jurisdiction. In that case, you can try to register and play at a sweepstakes casino, but not in all areas.

What Sort of Deals Are Available to Players with Sweepstakes Casinos?

One operator differs from the next, so weighing your options is important. Welcome bonuses include GCs and free sweepstakes coins in varying amounts. You can also enjoy crypto-style free chance attractions, free spin offers, free sweeps coins, and more. You can typically play various online casino games, such as classic slots, video slots (Megaways, Hold & Win), card games, table games, live dealer games, keno, and others.

Pick a reputable sweepstakes casino. Your next point of call is a quick & easy registration. Think about your preferred casino games, the welcome bonus package, and mobile access. These are important considerations for a sweeps casino.

Now, claim your welcome bonus. Remember, GCs and sweeps coins are available – you may need to use a promotional code to stock up. While most games tend to be slots, you can use your welcome package on various casino games.

Here's where things get interesting – you must purchase additional gold coins. This can be done through an online mail request or by getting them through the online store. Daily challenges, offers, and rewards may be available to boost your stash of gold coin cash. Now, with sweeps coins, you can redeem them for a cash value if you choose not to play sweepstakes casino games. That's the kicker.

Since these are social casino sites, you will find many available options to choose from. It's best to connect through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X.com, etc., to stock up on gold coins. That's part of the social gaming experience. When you buy gold coin packages, you get a set value with the gold coins you purchased. Use these gold coins to play sweeps games.

Collecting Your Sweepstakes Prizes Online

Recall that games played with gold coins don't yield redeemable prizes, but sweep coins do. The best part is that sweeps coins can be exchanged for cash. Like a traditional online casino process for depositing and withdrawing in financial transactions, sweeps withdrawals require verification.

That's because KYC (know your customer) policies, antifraud measures, and secure banking are sacrosanct. You will need three critical pieces of verification to process a sweepstakes withdrawal (redeem sweeps coins) of your winnings via bank transfer, PayPal, Skrill or NETELLER.

• Verified ID document (driver's license, passport, ID)
• Proof of Address (utility bill, phone bill, bank statement)
• Financial Service Information (credit card, check, bank details)

Mobile casino players are an increasingly important segment of the iGaming scene. HTML5-compatible sites are a must for players. Various sweeps casinos feature proprietary gaming platforms and native (dedicated) apps for players on Android smartphones and tablets, iPhone and iPad devices.

FAQs

What are Sweepstakes Casinos?

Sweepstakes casinos are online gaming platforms where players can enjoy casino-style games without using real money to gamble. Instead, they use in-game currencies like Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins, with the latter offering the chance to win real cash prizes through sweepstakes mechanics.

How do Sweepstakes Casinos differ from traditional online casinos?

Unlike traditional online casinos that require real money deposits for gambling, Sweepstakes Casinos operate on a no-purchase-necessary basis using virtual currencies. This model allows them to offer legal casino-style gaming across most of the United States, excluding a few jurisdictions like Washington state.

Can you win real money at Sweepstakes Casinos?

Yes, players can win real money at Sweepstakes Casinos using Sweeps Coins, which can be obtained as bonuses or rewards and then redeemed for cash. This provides a unique way to participate in casino games and potentially win real prizes without directly gambling with real money.

What types of games can you play at Sweepstakes Casinos?

Sweepstakes Casinos offer a wide range of casino-style games, including classic slots, video slots, jackpot slots, card games, table games, and sometimes even live dealer games. These games use Gold Coins for regular play and Sweeps Coins for the chance to win real money.

How do you collect winnings from Sweepstakes Casinos?

To collect winnings (redeem Sweeps Coins for cash), players must undergo a verification process similar to traditional online casinos, including providing a verified ID, proof of address, and financial service information. This ensures adherence to KYC (Know Your Customer) policies and secures the transaction process for redeeming cash prizes.

When we think of bingo, we normally consider it to be a game played by old ladies in church basements. It doesn’t come anywhere close to being the sort of chancy activity that people who visit gambling cities such as Las Vegas will go out of their way to engage in.

At least one casino boss is trying to change that. Jonathan Jossell, CEO of the Plaza Hotel and Casino in downtown Vegas, not only holds high stakes bingo tournaments on a regular basis, but he even built a special ballroom – complete with computer terminals and cell-phone charging stations, large enough to accommodate 280 gamblers – designated as the Plaza’s Bingo Hall, dedicated exclusively to the playing of this game. 

And what a game it is: In the Plaza’s Bingo Hall, an event known as Super Bingo offers $160,000 in prize money. Players who fill in all 25 numbers on their cards, competing in the Super Coverall, win $50,000. It pays well because the odds of someone hitting the coverall are long – with 54 numbers called and 600 cards being played, the likelihood of making it is 3.21 percent. But longshots are the draw of Las Vegas, and people play Super Bingo with the dream of cashing in on the usually elusive outcome.

Bingo at The Plaza

While The Plaza is a great spot downtown – with a cool steakhouse, known as Oscar’s, done in collaboration with former Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman; a cocktail lounge with live music called the Sand Dollar and all the games you will find in any Sin City casino – big-time bingo serves as a point of differentiation. 

“We have the only bingo game in downtown Vegas, and there is no bingo on the Vegas Strip,” Jossell tells me (for what it’s worth, there are other off-Strip, locals-oriented casinos that feature bingo, but the Plaza seems to be pushing it harder than most). “It’s a great amenity. We sometimes have 800 people here playing Bingo.”

For the uninitiated, Bingo is a simple game that is not unlike keno. With both endeavors, numbers, chosen at random, are called out or posted electronically. You win money by having those numbers on your card.

The big difference is that in keno, players choose the numbers they want. In bingo, the numbers are chosen for you and placed on a square of paper. As the numbers are called, you mark them off with an ink-filled dauber. To increase the likelihood of hitting your numbers, you can play multiple cards in bingo and keno.

What happens when a player makes five bingo numbers in a row? They shout out, “Bingo!” Then the round ends, and they get paid off.

Big-Time Bingo

At the Plaza, the crowd of players redefines what you might think is typical for a game like bingo. People come from places as far-flung as Hawaii and Canada to play the Plaza’s big tournaments and Jossell maintains that his games are not the exclusive domain of oldsters.

“In recent years,” he told Forbes, “the game has been attracting a variety of new players, including many millennials. So, the Plaza put a renewed emphasis on it.”

To make sure that the bingo faithful get the point, Jossell hired the best caller in the game. He keeps the bar open with cocktails flowing for those who are in action (plus free doughnuts and coffee for the early arrivals).

Jossell even brought on a so-called bingo ambassador, in the personage of Reyz Ungos. He functions as a sort of host for the players, making sure everyone is comfortable, greeting regulars by name, helping those who are unsure of what to do. As far as the last point goes, though, one would be hard-pressed to not know what to do in a bingo game.

Bingo Odds

One thing that ardent players may not be aware of is the fact that bingo is actually a pretty fair gamble. The odds are better than much of what will be found on the live casino floor. The house edge is thin and there is money to be won. So much so, in fact, that bingo can be a loss leader for casinos. But Jossell has good reason for keeping the game going and putting money into it.

He doesn’t necessarily run bingo games back-to-back. In fact, there is often a couple hours of downtime between games. That allows time for customers to eat in the Plaza’s restaurants (Hash House A Go Go is a favorite) and gamble in the casino. Luring people in to play bingo and benefiting from them blowing money on slot machines is a pretty good deal for Jossell

If there is an advantage play here, it is to stick with bingo and to not dig into pockets for spins of slot machines or sessions of three card poker. 

Bingo History

When bingo first appeared, nobody was taking it all that seriously, strategizing for edges. It was invented in Germany and known as beano. Numbers were pulled from cigar boxes. Whoever managed to have five numbers in a row, of course, shouted out “Beano!”

Prizes were as modest at the game itself. Rather than receiving cash, winners left with kewpie dolls. 

Beano came to America in the late 1920s, was renamed Bingo and became a staple of churches and synagogues. Growing up in New Jersey, I worked the bingo game in the synagogue that my family belonged to. Paid in tips, I was a teenage waiter, bringing coffee, donuts and Kosher hot dogs to players. I’m not sure who won what there, but I do remember leaving with pockets full of quarters. 

That’s how it was until the 1970s, when Indian reservations began putting on higher stakes bingo games. Steve Wynn’s father made money running bingo halls and exposed the future casino magnate to the possibilities of earning big bucks by promoting gambling. Vegas got the bingo-bug long after the arrival of Wynn. 

Right now, Jossell and his crew at the Plaza are enjoying their bingo moment and hoping that it will keep growing and keep attracting new players.

“Everyone thought it was a dying breed, but we are revitalizing it,” Jossell tells me. “Everything that is old eventually becomes cool again.”

I am guessing that almost all casino players have a method of betting, even those few who just throw out their money willy-nilly wishing and hoping for some blind luck from the non-existent gods and goddesses of such luck. That’s a system, although an uninformed one. 

Sadly, those divine beings of luck departed long ago and they included the Greek and Roman civilizations whose many citizens hoped there was something more to existence than just the plain-old existence they experienced in their daily lives.

Most other players will play some aspect of a set method or several methods of them. They too probably think that somehow or other these methods will lead to long-term wins and not just simply good luck tonight. Hope is eternal. Players want their hopeful anticipation to be realized. Some players still don’t know how the casinos get their edges over these hopeful players and they think everything is luck, luck that can be (at times) counted upon.

If you flat bet, meaning make the exact same bet for the exact same amount time after time, the casino edge will slowly wear you down. Oh, yes, you will win some, lose some, but in a short or medium or long time, you will lose a given percent of all the money you wagered. That’s the way it is. Lady Luck? Ultimately she is nowhere to be found. She will not belong to the player. 

The casinos do not rely on luck. They make their profits not from wishful gambling, but from solid math and probabilities. 

[Please note: People are superstitious and even sometimes casino people are superstitious. The famous tale of the super-evil-unlucky craps table at Caesars Palace tells us such a story. You see, this table was a seemingly long-term loser. Day after day, night after night, the super-evil-unlucky table kept losing. Finally, the casino manager decided Caesars was getting killed by Brutus the table and had the table removed, brought to the rear of the property, chopped to shreds with the shreds finally being burned to cinders. The new table? Wonderful because it won what it was expected to win over the right periods of time.]

Positive Progressions: The Paroli 

Many players are not just satisfied with a win, especially if it is small or, worse, trivial. They want to go up and up and maybe up some more. The most typical way to go up and up is to increase one’s bet after a win. Doing so is called a positive progression because the player is ahead when doing this.

The classic system in doing this is called the Paroli Betting System or the Paroli. It is more often called the parlay method of wagering where the player doubles his or her bet three times before going back down to their initial bet. Thus, bet $25, win, now bet $50, win, now bet $100, win, then go back down to $25 and start all over again.

The parlay can be for more steps or it can end at the usual three and the player then stays at his original bet until he or she decides to parlay some more. 

The parlay can also be for less money. The player could put (let us say) $10 or $15, more, or less, on his or her original bet. The player makes the choice of how to play his or her parlay.

The Anti-Parlay

Yes, there is such a thing as the Anti-Parlay where the player increases his or her bet after a win (or two) and then decreases his or her bet below the original bet. 

Some roulette players like to do this on an early win in order to stay in the game longer when the inevitable losing streak occurs. Savvy roulette players know that long losing streaks can occur when they bet only one or two bets directly on a number or two.

They think of the anti-parlay as a safety measure.

The Spread the Wealth Paroli

Some blackjack and Pai Gow Poker players enjoy playing more than one hand, thinking that such a technique increases their chances to win. This is called the Spread the Wealth Paroli. The assumption is that the more bets, the better the chance to beat the house and win some money.

Well, does it do what these players think it does? Yes, it can at times win the player money, maybe even a lot of money. Hot streaks can occur on both hands or three (or more!) hands. That’s the good news. But…

The Bad News Folks

The bad news is that the house edge is working on all the money being wagered. It doesn’t matter if you are only betting one bet, no matter how low or high that bet or those bets, you can trust that the casino will be extracting its percentage over time. 

What that time is can be questioned of course.

Some players can fall into a hole right away and never see the light of day or the bright lights of the casinos because of the fog of losing bing-bam-boom, just like that. 

All the Paroli systems are (now do you want to hear this?) losers. You cannot overcome house edges with betting styles. I’d like to put the word “period” at the end of the last sentence but that would be rubbing it in. 

Hey, who knows, maybe there is a magic craps table out there, or a bent and broken roulette wheel, or an unlucky dealer or ... come on, just play smart and give the casinos your original bets and let that be that. There is no magic coming your way over any lengthy period of time.

All Paroli betting techniques are based on initial positive results. The player wants to increase his or her wins and starts moving the bets skyward. That will ultimately end in losses or reduced wins. Let that be a warning to you. Although I am thinking you already know this.

Negative Progression Systems

There are some betting systems that are geared to getting you out of losses that you have already suffered. I wish I could tell you that these negative progressions worked but they don’t. Still, they might be fun to play for a short while if the amounts wagered are reasonable for a player’s bankroll. That statement is also true for the positive progressive systems as well.

The most famous negative progression system is the Martingale, named after a person that history has forgotten but whose system has soldiered on and might continue to soldier on through, perhaps, the ages.

Many casino players believe that they have discovered this system, especially those who are relatively new to casino games. I know I did. 

I figured I was a genius for coming up with this idea for beating the casinos and I played the system on my very first trip to Atlantic City way, way back when. I played it at the now long defunct Sands, which was across the street from where I was conceived (the Claridge) way, way, way back when. I knew nothing about casino play because I was in Atlantic City to learn about craps for a play I was starring in.

By the way, my playing that system had nothing to do with the Sands closure. Seriously, had everyone played my way the Sands might still be around.

Here Is the Martingale in its simplest form: You make your bet and you lose, then you double your next bet and you lose and you double the next bet. Like this; you bet $10, lose, then you go up to $20. Yes, at first this sounds like a negative Paroli play. Is it?

It’s not.

Let us say you now lose your $20 wager and you go to $40. Lose that and you go to $80. Notice we are always doubling the previous bet because a win will return our initial bet and the $10 win. 

The idea is that sooner or later you will win back everything you lost and wind up ahead of the casino. Brilliant! (Yep, I really thought I was brilliant coming up with this system as do all the other casino players who also thought they invented this system. Ah, the arrogance of youth! I really thought this method could guarantee a win.)

In about six, seven, or eight plays you will be betting as follows: $10, $20, $40, $80, $160, $320, $640, or higher if the casino lets you. As you can see the escalation is quite heavy and quite dangerous and will result in a severe loss.

And what are you betting that $640 (or higher) to win? A mere $10! You are chasing a $10 win by betting a total of $1270! Losing that much money can be overwhelming.

Truth be told. My Martingale went the whole route on the second day of my visit to Sands and I got clobbered – I lost all that money in order for me to win a mere $10! 

I learned my lesson by actually experiencing the horror of it all. It wasn’t until I started to read books and articles about casino play that I learned the Martingale has hurt many a player through the centuries. Yes, centuries. I was just one of the shell-shocked crowds of the down and out that have trundled as losers who used this method of play.

Scattered Martingale

There is no law of nature that says you must play the Martingale as written about above. You can tweak it and bet a negative progression in any manner that you choose. The same actually goes for the Paroli positive progression. You are after all the commander of your own fate…well, kind of.

The key to the Martingale is not what game you are playing or what bets you are making but the increase in those bets as you go through a hopefully short losing blip in your play. 

One method that some players like is the Scattered Martingale. You are increasing your bets in a negative progression but you are not playing the same bet each time. You are reorganizing the Martingale to your liking.

When playing roulette you might bet the red of the red/black bet and it loses; there is no reason to double up the bet on red. Jump over to black or high or low or odd or even with your increased wager. You are still playing the Martingale but it is not based on the same propositions time and again. You are allowed to jump what bets you make. The Martingale is a money betting system, not a what should you bet system.

However, I would not recommend doing a negative progression on inside bets that pay multiple monies since the payouts are not one-to-one. I would not recommend betting Martingales on most card games.

You could also go game-to-game making one-to-one (or almost one-to-one) wagers. Lost a $10 bet at roulette? Jump over to craps and play a place bet of 6 or 8 for the next higher amount. You can go from a $10 bet on red to an $18 or $24 bet on either 6 or 8. The increase in the bets might be more in this case but you are walking on the Lady Luck’s tightrope anyway and you are challenging fate and you should be aware of that.

The Grand Martingale

Do you love danger and you are not afraid to jump up and off a high mountain playing a Martingale that is more dangerous than the traditional one? Well, the Grand Martingale might suit you.

The grandness of this Martingale is its precipitous skyward thrust. You bet your $10, lose it and then go to $25, lose then go to $60. You can use whatever increase in bets that you desire but (of course) you will hit the table maximum much quicker. 

However, if you get in positive territory your wins will be for more money. 

Obviously, the Grand Martingale can be far more dangerous than the traditional one but it is skydiving for any Martingale player. Enjoy the fall!