For many players, the prospect of winning together is part of the fun in playing craps, and most players bet with the shooter. But some players simply want the best odds for their money, and in craps, that comes with betting opposite the shooter.

Wager including don't pass, don't come, lay bets or don't place bets are collectively known as the "Dark Side," and those who make them sometimes are called "wrong" bettors as opposed to "right" bettors who bet with the shooter.

If anything, playing the Dark Side is easier for online casino players than for those who play craps at live casinos. Online craps players don't have to endure taunts or glares from those betting the other way.

"Right" and "Wrong" bets are almost, but not quite, opposites. There are adjustments so the house still has an edge. 

Here's a house edge comparison:

Note that on buy bets and lay bets, two edges are listed. On those wagers, the house collects a 5 percent commission in exchange for paying your winners at true odds. The higher house edge is in play if the house collects the commission on all bets, while the lower edge comes at casinos that charge the commission only on winning bets. 

You can see many Dark Side bets have lower house edges than the corresponding with-the-shooter wagers. There are exceptions. Don't place bets on 6 or 8 have a slightly higher house edge than place bets.

Let's look at how all that works for each Dark Side wager.

DON'T PASS

Don't pass is essentially the opposite of pass, one of the fundamental bets of craps. A betting sequence starts with a comeout roll. A don't pass bettor wins if the roll is 2 or 3, pushes on 12, and loses on 7 or 11. A pass bettor wins on 7 or 11 and loses on 2, 3 or 12.

If the roll is any other number, it becomes the point. If the shooter repeats the point before rolling a 7, the Dark Side bettor loses and the pass bettor wins. If a 7 comes before the shooter can repeat the point, the don't pass bettor wins and the pass bettor loses.

All winners are paid at even money. Win a $10 don't pass bet and you keep your wager and are paid $10 in winnings.

You can see the bets are exact opposites except that pass bettors win if the comeout is 12 and don't pass bettors push.

If the Dark Side won instead of pushing on comeout 12s, don't pass bettors would have an edge over the house of 1.41 percent, the same edge the house has over pass bettors.

If that were the case, there would be a flood of money bet on the Dark Side, casinos would lose money and they wouldn't be able to offer the game. So that small adaptation gives the house 1.36  percent edge on don't pass that's just slightly smaller than the 1.41 percent edge on pass, and the games go on.

The entire house edge against don't pass bettors come from the comeout roll, where there are three winning rolls (the one way to make 2 and two ways to make 3) and eight losers (six ways to make 7 and two ways to make 11).

Once there is a point, Dark Side players have the edge since there are six ways to make 7, only five ways each to make 6 or 8, four ways to make 5 or 9 and three ways to make 4 or 10.

For even more strategy tips, check out 888casino's compete craps strategy guide.

DON'T COME

The Dark Side opposite of come, don't come is played the same way as don't pass, with the same house edge. The only difference between don't pass and don't come is that you can make don't come bets on rolls other than the comeout. The shooter's next roll after you make a don't come bet becomes the equivalent of a comeout. 

The 1.36  percent house edge makes don't come and don't pass among the best available bets either live casinos or online craps. Players who like working against more than one number at a time often follow a don't pass bet with a couple of come bets.

LAYING ODDS ON DON'T PASS OR DON'T COME

Pass and come bettors are given the opportunity to take free craps odds. They can back their pass or come bet with an odds bet that is paid at true odds of making a point: 6-5 of if the point is 6 or 8, 3-2 on 5 or 9, or 2-1 on 4 or 10.

Don't pass bettors are allowed to lay the odds instead. Dark Side odds bets are paid at 5-6 on 6 or 8, 2-3 on 5 or 9 or 1-2 on 4 or 10.

Imagine you have a $10 don't pass bet and the point is 4. You may lay odds by making a $20 bet. If the shooter rolls a 7, you win $10 on the don't pass bet and $10 on the odds bet.

Most casinos allow you to bet in multiples, so that with double odds on a $10 don't pass bet you could bet up to $40 for the chance to win $20, and so on.

Those odds reflect the true odds of winning. There is no house edge on either taking odds for a pass player or laying odds for a don't pass bettor.

The best way to use lay odds is to reduce your don't pass or don't come bet to the minimum and put the rest of your normal bet in laying the odds. That minimizes the amount you expose to the house edge that derives from the comeout and maximizes the amount in no-edge lay odds.

House edges on the combination of don't pass or don't come decrease from the 1.36  percent base to 0.7 percent with single odds, and the edge continues to decrease with double odds or more. That's a little better than the pass or come combo, where the edge decreases from 1.41 percent with no odds bet to 0.8 percent with single odds and lower with multiple odds.

DON'T  PLACE OR LAY BETS

These are ways to bet against a single number, just as place or buy bets are ways to bet on a given number. Not every casino offers both ways to bet against a number. Check the rules online or ask a dealer at a table if you're unsure if your preferred method is available.

On either, you win if the shooter rolls a 7 before the number you bet  against, and lose if the shooter rolls the number before a 7. In all cases, 7s are more frequent rolls than the available numbers: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10. Dark Side bettors win these bets more often than they lose, so payoffs and/or commissions are adjusted to give the house an edge.

With lay bets, winners are paid at true odds, meaning Dark Side bettors must bet $12 to win $10 when wagering against 6 or 8, must bet $15 to win $10 against 5 or 9 or bet 

The key variable is whether the house charges the commission on all bets or only on winners. Lay bets are a much better option if there is a commission only on winners, though the house edge is never as low as it is on don't pass or don't come. 

Either way, the best lay bets are on 4 or 10, where you win twice as often as you lose. House edges with a commission on all bets are 2.44 percent on 4 or 10, 3.23 on 5 or 9, or 4 on 6 or 8. With a commission only on winners, edges drop to 1.67 percent on 4 or 10, 2 on 5 or 9 or 2.27 percent on 6 or 8.

Don't place bets offer a way to bet against the numbers without paying a commission. Instead, payoffs are adjusted. Instead of the 1-2 true odds, don't place winners on 4 or 10 pay 5-11. Instead of 2-3, payoffs are 5-8 on 5 or 9, and instead of 5-6, payoffs are 4-5 on 6 or 8.

House edges are 1.82 percent on 6 or 8, 2.5 percent on 5 or 8 or 3.03 percent on 4 or 10. On 5 or 9 and 4 or 10, you get a better deal on lay bets if commissions are charged only on winners. Look before you leap.

A FINAL WORD

The lowest-edge Dark Side options are don't pass and don't come, especially when combined with laying odds. But beware. This isn't a route to instant riches. There's a good shot to win, but the house still has an edge.

Learn even more about playing dice with these craps tips.

If you’ve ever wondered whether there’s a way to win big playing slot machine games then read on. This article explores the possibilities and provides top jackpot tips when playing slots. 

Evolution of slot machine games

At the time of writing, slot games have been in existence for at least 130 years. Since the invention of one of the first slot machines in 1894, the game has evolved into a multi-billion-dollar industry. 

Whether in bars, pubs, cafes, or amusement arcades, slot machines – also known as fruit machines in the UK – are highly popular gambling games. 

Advanced slot machines are found in land-based casinos. New video type games are loaded into the digital software, and the evolution of this technology has been continuing since the 1990s. 

Most sophisticated physical slot machines are found in land-based casinos. But in the 21st Century, there’s no doubt that online casinos offer a wider selection of slot games with more ways to win. 

Has slot game technology made it harder to win?

Slot machine game technology has improved the way games are offered to players and the way payouts managed. The rules of slots have changed, but is it harder to win?

In a way yes, because jackpots are much bigger, and so, more people chase the thrill of winning big slot jackpots. The profits casinos make from slot machines form a major part of the income their business generates. 

Can slots be beaten using strategies to help you win?

I’m not really a slots man but do play from time to time. I’ve witnessed people winning big jackpots and this got be wondering whether a slot strategy could be employed to increase a player’s chances of winning. 

I’ve been researching whether slots can be beaten using strategies for several years. Whilst I’m no slot-game-ologist, the short answer is in two parts as follows:

1. A player presses the button, and the machine does the rest. If you win a slot jackpot it’s all down to random luck.
2. In deciding whether any strategy could be formed, that might work to increase the chances of winning slot jackpots, I considered the following:

• The type/name, age and popularity of slots game being played.
• Max slot jackpot amounts offered: unlinked slot machines.
• Progressive slot jackpots: linked slot machines.
• Bet size and changes to bet size during slot machine play.
• Manual button pressing vs. Auto spin.
• Days and times slot jackpots could be more likely to pay out.

Slot machine gameplay: online slots vs. land-based slots

In trying to work out if there’s a way to win slot jackpots more often, it’s important to consider the differences between online and land-based slots.

In the US, the stake per spin can be many thousands of dollars. High rollers in some well-known land-based casinos do sometimes bet extremely high stakes when playing slots. 

But it’s more common for pro slot jackpot chasers to bet one to a few hundred dollars per spin. Yet most slot players bet 50 cents to $5 or $10 per spin. 

In the UK, new gambling regulation (planned to start in September 2024) will limit the online stake per spin to £5 for players aged 25 and over. And £2 per spin for those aged 18 to 24. The average max jackpots on progressive slot machines in land-based casinos is currently £20,000. 

While mega jackpots in the US can run into millions of dollars. The higher the jackpot, the lower the probability of winning.

Stake per spin or bet size is one factor that could see you winning a slot jackpot sooner or losing more of your bankroll. It’s a tricky one to assess. 

Since big slot jackpots are often won with low stakes, typically 50 pence/cents, players should consider the disadvantage of staking more (or max bets) on slot games. Moreover, if there’s a strong possibility (as there appears to be) of being unsuccessful in landing big slot jackpot wins.

Evidence of low stakes over max bets to land big slot jackpots can be seen when, "must be won" progressive jackpots are close to paying out and end up being won by players opting for minimum stakes per spin.

Random number generators in slot machines

Both land-based and online casinos use random number generators (RNG) to determine when a jackpot is paid.

It thus makes sense that 50 pence/cents slot game spins could increase your chances of winning a jackpot purely because the RNG is making more decisions. 

Of course, people do win jackpots, but since there are many more players than actual jackpots paid out, it’s possible you can play slots for many years and never win one. 

This is why it’s important to look for top jackpot tips for slot machine games that could help land you a big win. Thus far my top slot tips are to:

• target progressive jackpots that are close to the max.
• betting minimum stakes per spin. 

Wide choices of slot games online

The slot game options are limitless when playing in an online casino. While slot jackpots can just drop or show up on screen without the need of symbols, online jackpots tend to pay following the outcome of bonus wins. 

Higher stakes are rewarded with higher payouts in online games. This is also true on some land-based slot games where bonuses are the key to winning. 

Many online slot games offer promotions such as free slots and loyalty programs. These can come in handy if you’re a long-term slots player hunting for big jackpots. 

Payout percentages for online slots vs. slots in land-based casinos 

When it comes to the Return to Player (RTP), online slots are slightly better – giving back a ballpark estimate of 95% to 98% compared to a lower 85% to 95% in land-based slots. 

Slot games with a higher RTP is favorable to player’s bankrolls. This metric reveals what percentage of all staked funds are statistically returned to players over the long-run.

Online casinos don’t have physical machines. So operational costs are lower. 

Best slot games by high RTP

Below is an example of some high paying RTP slot games: All the following slot games pay between just over 95% to just over 96% RTP:

• Labyrinth of Egypt
• Top Spin Snooker    
• City life      
• Freaky Fruit       
• Euro Reels      
• Adventures in orbits       
• Ultimate universe       
• Cash Pigs      
• Knights and Maiden

House edge for slot games

The average house edge for slot games is an astounding 5-15%. Seasoned gamblers avoid slots for this very reason. Though slot players still hope for big jackpot wins. 

The advantage slot players have over players of casino table games is it’s easier to set a daily/weekly spending budget. At least then if you don’t ever win big you know what you stand to lose. 

In his book, “Beat the Slots’’, Martin Jensen says that while the house advantage stands, in attempting to land big jackpot wins, players can try different techniques.

Popular and older slot games vs. newer slot games

Can some slot games guarantee more wins than others? Some of the most popular slot games are:

• Starburst
• Bonanza
• 88 Fortunes
• Cleopatra and more

While these games are highly popular, they’re not necessarily the best-performing. Popularity doesn’t have a bearing on the rate of winning. The RNG algorithm has the final say. Some of the top new slots for 2024 include:

• Power Stacks poker
• Super Bowl jackpots
• Mystery of the Lamp

With advancing technology, these new slot games have interesting features, but jackpot payouts are still random. Older and unpopular slot games maintain an appeal to some players. Some of these games include: 

• Double Diamonds
• Enchanted Unicorn
• Triple Diamond

They say old is gold and that rings true with older slot games too. Your chances of winning a jackpot on older slot games is random like popular and newer games. Older slot games can still payout big jackpots. 

Slot game tips: what to look out for in your hunt for jackpots

1. Look for slot games with higher payouts – Games with payout rates of 95% to 98% not only give you a better chance of winning, but also minimize the house edge!
2. Bet maximum stakes – If you're looking to win big, you must play big. Betting the maximum stakes may give you a better chance of winning the jackpot. But not on every slot machine as previously mentioned.
3. Participate in promotions – Free slots (also known as sweepstakes casinos) are quite popular today, and taking part in giveaways can be a huge advantage that could lead to winning big. 

5 powerful secret slot game tips revealed 

1 – Playing slots just at the right time

Because a slot jackpot payout is determined by the RNG – unbelievably, the time factor does come into it. Is there a right or wrong time to play slots? 

Slot jackpots can trigger when there’re lots of players and when there’re hardly any. Yes it’s random, but let’s look at the evidence. 

Playing slots between the hours of 6 pm to 10 pm on weekends, especially on Fridays, is considered the luckiest window to target slot jackpots. The theory is that casinos are busy, and increased deposits trigger more payouts. Players have won slot jackpots from 5 pm to 6:30 pm before the crowds turn up to play. 

2 – Increasing stakes to try and trigger a slot jackpot

You could try starting with the minimum stake and gradually increase stakes. But betting larger amounts doesn’t guarantee you a better shot at winning a big slot jackpot. And you might consider changing games and starting over with minimum stakes if the slot machine doesn’t pay.

3 – Slot machine payouts

Not all slot games are created equal, some tend to payout more often than others. Yes, the slot games you play matter. Legacy developers like NetEnt and Microgaming are the go-to options if you're looking for a fair game. But be sure to verify each game's published figures before playing.

4 – Slot machine volatility

The frequency of a slot game to gain wins based on its programming is slot machine volatility. The input is fixed and cannot be reverted. Slot volatility can be classified as high, medium, or low volatility.

Opting to play older slot machines could form part of a good slot jackpot hunting strategy, due to their high volatility. John Robinson, author of, “The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots,” recommends finding games with high hit frequencies.

5 – Give the slot machine a rest

There are two parts to this. First, you need to consider whether you’re going to press the spin button to start each game or select the auto spin option. I’ve read studies that say allowing several seconds between spins could trigger a jackpot win. 

When you wait before starting the next spin you’re allowing the RNG to rest. 

Some experts say that using auto spin isn’t wise because the RNG goes into a kind of ride over mode; or (override); meaning it overlooks paying out a jackpot. You might think this theory sounds crazy, but some slot players believe it works. And it doesn’t seem as crazy as those women wearing heavy makeup who rub screens during a spin.

The second aspect to allowing time to pass between games, is to change the game on the same machine. Of course, if you’re playing online slots, then, you could view it as if all games are within one big machine. Whereas in land-based casinos, you’ll find individual slot machines—though many of these machines are linked anyway. 

Sometimes, starting a new slots game can trigger a jackpot win because of the way the software interacts with the games RNG. 

Top jackpot tips for slot machine games conclusion

Casino slot games are fun, but it’s hard to win a jackpot. You can’t use skill or read patterns as some players do in blackjack, roulette, and baccarat. 

The best you can do is continue to research and implement jackpot tips into your bespoke slots strategy to try and win slot machine games. 

It’s still possible, that in tweaking a slots strategy (that you put together) you could win a decent amount and more than once. And if you're lucky, you might just win a huge slot jackpot!

Q&A: Top jackpot tips for slot machine games

Is there a sure way to win a big slot jackpot? No, some strategies might increase your chances of winning, but all wins (including jackpots) are determined by randomness.

How can you win consistently on slot games? On certain slot games, by increasing your stake after losing several spins could trigger bigger payouts. 

What are the best slot games to play? The best slot games are those with a high Return-to-player (RTP). Games like, City Life, Mega Joker, and Double Diamonds have over 95% RTP.

Is it better to play online slots or land-based slots? Online casinos have a higher RTP than land-based casinos, but it’s harder to win jackpots online. Online slots have more frequent smaller wins and the advantage of not having to travel to a casino. 

Can you tell when a slot machines is going to pay a jackpot? Slot machines use Random Number Generator (RNG) to determine the outcome of each spin. There’s no sure way of knowing when or what slot machine or game will payout a jackpot. But linked progressive slots with jackpots that "must be won" and are close to or on the jackpot max is a giveaway sign someone will win soon.

Do you prefer traditional paylines, ways-to-win slots where symbols don't have to line up, or no paylines at all where each symbol is a winner? Do you like regular free-spin bonuses, or do you like the hold-and-respin features?

Regardless of your likes and dislikes, slot machine designers and manufacturers are sure to have something right up your alley. Working year-around to appeal to all kinds of players is what they do.

You can see that in four new slot games that are finding homes at online casinos. Online slots offer players increasing variety in gameplay, bonus features and wager sizes.

Let's take a look at these four games new to the online slots world.

Bloomin' Bunnies

 A little gardening can make your bankroll grow a graphically lush game from Light & Wonder.

With five reels each three symbols deep, Bloomin' Bunnies is a 243-ways-to-win slot. Instead of traditional paylines, payoffs come on three or more matching symbols as long as they are on consecutive reels starting from the left.

A gorgeous garden awaits you with pink, purple and yellow flower buds that can bloom with a boost from a watering can. Other symbols include frogs, caterpillars and snails along with a bunny that serves as a wild symbol and is one of the keys to winning.

Gameplay is divided into sets of five spins. You can win with any matching symbols, but your chance at big wins depends on landing flower buds and watering cans on the reels.

If you get a watering can, it sprinkles any buds on the screen for that spin, and they open into lovely blooms. The open blooms display prizes that you can win only if you land a wild collect symbol on the fifth spin of the cycle, or if you're lucky, during free spins.

 The wild bunny can appear on any of the first four spins to enhance your chances of landing a winning combination. On the fifth spin, the bunny becomes the wild collect symbol. 

Should you upgrade all three buds into flowers within a five-spin cycle, you launch a free spins round. That's where you have your best shot at big wins.

During free spins, the only symbols are the flowers, wild collect bunnies and the watering cans. The flowers display either a credit award, a jackpot or a number of additional free spins. The watering cans are multipliers during the free round, multiplying the awards on the flowers by two, three or four. 

No matter what the flowers display or how many times they're multiplied, you win only if a wild collect bunny appears on the same spin. 

The free spins and wild collects occur often enough to keep you engaged, leaving Bloomin' Bunnies an entertaining, fun game with a decent shot to win.

Ritual Respins

Lightning Box Games has carved out a reputation for designing fun-to-play slot games, and Ritual Respins is filled with eerie entertainment. The game has five reels, each three symbols deep, and is a 243-ways-to-win slot without traditional paylines. 

Screen background is a magical temple with the Baron – a grinning skull-faced figure in a purple suit with a feathered top hat – off to the side. Reel symbols fit in with a spooky theme. Voodoo dolls, skulls holding candles, magic books with a five-sided star symbol, and bottles of potions are among the regular symbols.

A mystical-looking woman with a snake draped around her neck serves as a wild symbol. She, along with cauldron symbols, a second chance symbol and a treasure chest are the keys to your biggest wins.

When three cauldrons land on the screen, it launches a hold-and-respin bonus. The Baron adds credit award displays to each cauldrons, and the cauldrons lock in place and reels spin for the chance at more cauldrons. If you go five spins without adding cauldrons, the round ends and you win the awards displayed. As long as you keep adding cauldrons, the number of remaining spins resets and the round goes on.

If a treasure chest lands on the screen during the feature, you win the credits displayed while the Baron applauds. Remaining spins reset to five and the round continues until you run out of spins or fill the screen with cauldrons.

There's a second way into the bonus event. Sometimes when you have two cauldrons on the screen, a second chance symbol will appear. When that happens, the cauldrons lock into place for one spin. If a third cauldron comes up on the second-chance spin, you advance to the hold-and-respin event.

Hold-and-respin is one of the most popular features in modern slots, and Ritual Respins gives it an eerie, fun spotlight.

[Note: For more information on some of these slot terms and features, see the 888casino Slot Machine Guide.]

Hollywood Queen

High 5 Games puts a touch of glitz and glamour on Hollywood Queen, set in a movie-making golden age. It has six reels instead of the usual five, and each reel is four symbols deep. With that setup, there's a high payline count, with 466 lines. 

Movie cameras serve as wild symbols, and they can sometimes come in stacks. Stacks of wilds can lead to wins on multiple paylines, something you're going to want to see for wins worthy of a star.

The highest-paying symbol is a platinum blonde actress with a string of pearls around her neck. Other featured symbols include three actors, one leading man with dark hair and a mustache, supported by a fellow in a brown suit and glasses and a Hollywood heavy who sports a beard while wearing a dark suit and hat.

Lower payers include the usual A, K, Q and J, along with a 5 – High 5 Games always includes that 5.

Other special symbols include stacks of film reels that can lead to jackpots, and a classic blue limousine. Land three or more limos on the reels and you go to a free-spin bonus event.

In the free spins, the limos are replaced  by added movie camera wilds. While the regular wilds come in stacks, the converted limos do not. They're single symbols marked with a left-pointing arrow, and can come up only on the third, fourth or fifth reels. When they do, they expand horizontally to the second reel, so if you get one on the fifth, you'll have wilds on the same line on reels 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Most wins are of the low-paying A-K-Q-J-5 variety, and this is a higher variance game than Bloomin' Bunnies or Ritual Respins. You can get some Hollywood-blockbuster wins, offset by frequent losing streaks. 

Fishing for Cash

There are no paylines, nor is this a ways-to-win slot. There are few paying symbols, and you're going to see a whole lot of spaces occupied only by a sea-plant background. Yet there is a lot happening in this High 5 game.

Fishing for Cash is played on five reels that usually are five spaces deep. With extra bets in a Power Spins feature, you can grow the reels to seven, eight or nine spaces deep for extra chances to win. Betting 15 times your base wager takes you to seven symbols deep, with eight for 30 times or nine for 45 times. 

And there's also a "Spincrease" feature that increases the value of winners as you play. A meter to the left of the reels is marked in percents. Each spin adds a percentage to the meter, and each time you reach 100, the payoff on winners rises. 

To the left and right of the reel grid, animated fish illustrate the underwater theme. On the reels, broad-leafed sea plants grow as background. 

There are only three paying reel symbols: three different fish. But each fish is a payer by itself. You don't have to line up matching fish or land multiples on consecutive reels. Each fish displays a credit award, and any fish on the reels pays its designated amount.

Other symbols include free spins, wheel spins and jackpot symbols. You can win one, three or five free spins, and as with the fish, it takes only one symbol to bring a round of freebies. It's the same deal with wheel spins. One wheel symbol brings a spin of an on-screen wheel for credit awards to pad your bankroll.

Five jackpots are built into the game with the smallest, the red jackpot, available only on the first reel. Jackpots are of increasing size as you move toward the right, with a green jackpot symbol for reel 2, blue for 3, orange for 4 and the biggest, purple for the fifth reel.m As with all other winners, it takes only one symbol to win a jackpot.

Given all those features, your highest payback percentages come when you've bought the Power Spins and have played enough to increase winners to maximum value. A game that starts at a base return of 90 percent can grow to exceed 96 percent. Be aware that even at maximum value, the house has an edge. Have fun, but don't overbet your bankroll.

Years ago, only one video poker game was available in casinos – Draw Poker. It was the same game as today’s Jacks or Better. Since that first video poker game was introduced dozens of other video poker games have been developed and installed on casino floors.

Players who are new to video poker can become confused as to which game they should choose to play. In fact, the question, “which video poker game is the best for me to play” is one of the most common questions asked.

It would be great if there was a simple “one size fits all” answer to that question. Unfortunately, the real answer is “it depends.”

This article explores the characteristics of video poker games and attempts to match them to the personality traits of players. 

Which is the best video poker game based on your personality? Read on.

Contents

1. Player personality types described
2. Risk averse personality video poker games
3. Moderate risk tolerant personality video poker games
4. Thrill seeker personality video poker games
5. Factors that affect game selection regardless of their personality
6. Summary

1 – Player Personality Types Described

Just as in all aspects of life, the personalities of players help define what they like, what they don’t like, what bores them, and what excites them. It also defines levels of excitement or boredom they will tolerate. 

Three general categories of casino player personality types are defined below, along with a brief description. Keep in mind that these are general categories. Although you may not cleanly fit entirely into one of these types, hopefully, you can see where your personality generally fits.

Risk Averse personality

• These people like to know where they are going and what is going to happen. 
• They do not like surprises.
• While they enjoy wins, losses scare them much more than the opportunity for a big win excites them.
• Their motto could very well be, “Better safe than sorry.”
• They are quick to leave the game when things are not going their way.
• They have the least “gambling” instinct of any gambler.

Moderate risk tolerant personality

• These people also do not like to lose, but realize that losing is also a part of the game.
• They enjoy a surprise every so often and are willing to gamble a bit to get a nice surprise win.
• This is likely the most common personality of casino and online gamblers.
• They will continue playing for longer periods even though things are not going well, but will stop once they reach a preset loss limit or other trigger to stop playing.

Thrill seeker personality

• These people are playing for the adrenaline fix. 
• Losses do not mean very much to them.
• They are seeking the thrill of the big win.
• Although many of these players have good self-control, they tend to continue to play until they are out of cash – and sometimes even head for the ATM when they run out.
• These are the gamblers the casinos love.

2 – Risk Averse Personality Video Poker Games

Risk averse video poker players want life to come at them at a steady pace. They are not fans of thrill rides. Nor are they fans of speed and other seemingly dangerous activities. At an amusement park, they prefer the merry-go-round or the “lazy river” inner-tube ride to a roller coaster, or the "Scrambler."

Risk averse personalities look for a smooth ride, devoid of twists and turns and peaks and valleys. When it comes to video poker, they prefer games that have a low volatility – sometimes called variance.

Some of the games having the lowest variance (in lowest to highest order) are:

• Jacks or Better ≈ 19.5
• Bonus Poker ≈ 20.7
• Aces and Faces ≈ 20.7

[Note: Variance values throughout this article are not rounded up. They also may vary depending on the pay table of the game being played. That is why the “≈” (approximately equal to sign) is used.]

Players of these games will have the usual streaks of wins and losses. This is the case with any games based on a random occurrence. These streaks will be as mild as they come in video poker – which is exactly what risk averse players are looking for.

3 – Moderate Risk Tolerant Personality Video Poker Games

Those who are moderately risk tolerant tend to find the lower variance games mentioned in the previous section boring. 

In each of the casino games mentioned, there is only one winning hand that can be considered a “jackpot” – the royal flush which pays 4,000-for-5. The royal flush occurs only once in roughly 40,000 hands, on average, depending on the game.

Moderate risk takers need more excitement. They want more frequent jackpot-sized winning hands. They will settle for more frequent “mini-jackpot-sized” hands of around 800-for-1 or more. They know their ride will be more wild – their bankroll will drop more quickly, but the more frequent jackpot and mini-jackpot wins are worth it to them. They are willing to pay the price in higher variance.

Video poker games that are geared to this personality type include the following (in lower to higher variance sequence):

• Deuces Wild ≈ 25.5
• USA Poker ≈ 25.8
• Double Bonus Poker ≈ 30.0
• Double Aces and Faces ≈ 30.3
• Deuces Wild Bonus ≈ 32.0
• Joker Poker ≈ 32.8
• Super Bonus Deuces Wild ≈ 36.4
• Super Double Bonus ≈ 38.6
• Deuces Wild Double Bonus ≈ 40.5
• Double-Double Bonus ≈ 42.0
• Double-Double Aces and Faces ≈ 42.6
• White Hot Aces ≈ 43.8
• Triple Bonus and Triple Bonus Plus ≈ 44.9

There is quite a range of variances in this list. It is the longest list of games for the most common type of video poker player. It allows risk tolerant players to pick the level of risk that they will tolerate.

4 – Thrill Seeker Personality Video Poker Games

Thrill seekers are not satisfied with one jackpot and one or two mini-jackpot sized hands. They want more frequent jackpot-sized and mini-jackpot wins. They will have severe bankroll fluctuations to achieve these multiple large wins. They know it and they don’t care.

Here is the list of games offering multiple jackpot and mini-jackpot winning hands listed in lower-to-higher variance sequence.

• Super Double-Double ≈ 50.9
• Super Aces Bonus ≈ 63.2
• Triple Double Bonus ≈ 100.11
• Royal Aces Bonus ≈ 184.1

These are astronomical variances, but they offer several chances at BIG wins. That is what the thrill seekers seek – the thrills of big wins.

5 – Factors That Affect Game Selection Regardless of Their Personality

In the previous sections, variance and jackpot sized hands were the only considerations. There are other, general considerations that apply to all video poker players – regardless of their risk tolerance. Let’s take a look at some of them.

A major – perhaps THE major consideration when choosing a video poker game to play is its return. At one time the majority of video poker games on the casino floor paid 99 percent or higher. Those days are long gone.

By carefully looking, players can still find video poker games that return nearly 99 percent, if not more. But players must look for these games. Most video poker games on today’s casino floors (or available online) have returns in the 97 to 99 percent range. Return can make a huge difference in results.

A 1 percent reduction has a major impact. Consider a quarter player. Each hand costs $1.25 (5 times the quarter). It is very easy to play 500 hands per hour. 500 hands at $1.25 per hand amounts to $625 in bets. One percent of that is $6.25. This may not seem like a lot, but over time, it adds up.

Another consideration is the denomination being played. Players must play a denomination that is in line with their bankroll. There are articles on this website that discuss proper bankroll size. If in doubt, check them out.

Also, be aware that each game – and potentially each different pay table of that game – needs a different playing strategy to get the best return. There are also articles on video poker playing strategy available on this website. Check them out if you feel you need more information.

This article covered variance of single-play games. If considering playing multiple line games, be aware that for each additional line played, the variance increases. Increased variance requires an increased bankroll size. As an example, 9/6 Jacks or Better single play has a variance of 19.51. Here is what happens to the variance as the number of plays increases.

The variance increases dramatically – as do bankroll requirements. Keep this in mind if you are considering playing anything other than single-line video poker.

By following the guidance contained in this article, you should be able to determine the perfect video poker game for your personality type.

6 – Summary 

• Video poker comes in many different flavors – meaning players of many different personalities can find a game to their liking.
• Whatever the risk tolerance, there is a video poker game available for it.
• Variance determines how severely bankroll will vary during play.
• Higher variance means a higher bankroll is required.
• Return, denomination of the game, bankroll, and proper playing strategy are all also necessary in order to produce the best results.

Today in 2024, artificial iintelligence (AI) and machine learning are hot topics. Week by week, AI systems are becoming increasingly powerful. But can the casino game baccarat be beaten using artificial intelligence? 

Question Leading to Research: The Power of AI Playing Baccarat 

I decided to spend a few months conducting extensive research, to find out whether artificial intelligence (AI) can conquer random outcomes. Can AI select significantly more correct random outcomes than some of the best baccarat players in the world? 

Introduction to AI and Baccarat: Can Baccarat Be Beaten Using AI?

AI is reshaping the casino realm in real-time. You no longer need to rely on sheer luck or the practice of trial and error to bag wins. Although complex, AI models can extract a chunk of data and determine the probabilities of selecting correct outcomes.

Is it possible to find patterns, by looking at baccarat outcomes, to help guarantee a win for every baccarat shoe you bet on using AI?  This article explores advanced AI models that aims to change the way gambling works.

Baccarat Gameplay Rules

In baccarat strategy, the banker or Player are the hands on which you can decide to bet. The other possible outcome is a tie of the two hands. My AI systems research focused on Banker and Player outcomes and disregarded ties. 

A casino dealer draws two-to-three cards for both the Banker and Player hands. The winning hand will score 9 or as close to 9 as possible. If the sum of the cards is greater than 9, the last digit of the total becomes the score. 

The hand with the highest value wins – except if there’s a tie result. 

• Scores range from 0 to 9.
• Ace is worth 1 point. 
• Ten and picture cards (J, Q, K) are each worth 0.
• Cards 2 through 9 are worth their face value.
• One or both hands will receive a third card depending on the drawing rules.

 

Baccarat House Edge vs. Winning more Correct Decisions 

Before I get into the role of AI, we need to grasp how mind-bogglingly difficult it is to win betting on baccarat outcomes over the long-run. While the decision is a simple one – bet on Banker or Player – the game is structured to profit the casino house edge. 

The house edge on the Banker bet is 1.06% and 1.24% on Player. That house advantage means the odds are stacked against baccarat bettors in the long-run. 

But unbelievably, the truth is, the house edge isn’t the biggest obstacle standing in the way of a player’s ability to win on every baccarat shoe. In baccarat, all the money staked on wrong decisions, over the long-run, is the expected value the house edge profits from. 

Those simple decisions, whether to bet Banker or Player – coup after coup – is the inherent challenge, we as baccarat gamblers face. 

But if we can nail it, if we can get more decisions correct, (assuming the amount wagered remains the same for each decision), we can win regardless of the house edge. The house edge only takes advantage when we fail to win more outcomes than we lose.

The Math of Trying to Win Playing Baccarat 

It's a mathematical reality, that no betting system can consistently win over time. The randomness of baccarat outcomes causes uncertainty for players to make correct decisions. And any one pattern is difficult to follow because it can continue to evolve into many diverse types of patterns. 

It’s impossible to predict the outcomes of any one coup, due to the uncertainty fueled by the nature of randomness. You wouldn’t want to bet your house on it! 

I’ve watched punters walk up to baccarat tables, lay down huge sums on one outcome. What happened after that is mere hearsay. 

The Power and Abilities of AI Models Used on Casino Games  

Artificial intelligence works within computers to mimic the behavior of humans and systems, but with more accuracy and speed. Most experts in the field are confident that AI can play casino games better than most humans. The common consensus is that AI only needs data. 

But AI lacks the creative intellect humans have. While AI can keep up with the latest available information, (for what that information is worth) the basis of the information is limited to the data already known. 

Machine learning (ML) is one of the most important algorithms employed, which shall be covered later in this article. Various experts have conducted tests using AI systems on casino games including baccarat. Without referencing too much data, the results are good—but not perfect. 

The Math Fueling AI Baccarat Predictors

AI baccarat predictors are still in their infancy. Not all models are created equal. Finding the Right AI Model to beat baccarat is a process of elimination. The following are statistical techniques that can go into the decision making used to decide; Banker or Player:

• Regression analysis: Identifying correlations between bet types and outcomes to predict future results.
• Bayesian probability: Adjusting odds based on previous win/loss streaks and outcomes.
• Regression to the mean: Anticipating extreme results will revert towards the average.

How good AI is to win more baccarat outcomes is determined by the person who develops the AI system. So, can an AI system win significantly more baccarat outcomes than the best human baccarat players?

The AI mathematical tools used are factors that’ll have a bearing on whether AI can beat baccarat. But such AI mathematical tools are far from perfect. 

Can Machine Learning Tools Beat Baccarat? 

Machine learning can evaluate millions of variables and techniques extremely quickly. ML algorithms could isolate the best baccarat prediction strategy.

My research took me deeper into the power of AI models, which can enhance the learning tools to beat baccarat, such as the following ones:

• Deep learning neural networks: Attempting to mimic the human brain's decision-making processes at scale.
• Evolutionary algorithms: "Survival of the fittest" approaches that iteratively improve and test new prediction strategies.
• Hybrid techniques: Combining multiple AI disciplines to counteract their individual weaknesses.

Can Machine Learning Models Be the Key to Beating Baccarat?

As mentioned earlier, Machine learning (ML) is one of the most prominent algorithms used to power AI systems. To predict potential outcomes, a method known as ML regression is useful in this case. 

ML involves a subset of algorithms able to process large datasets fast. Whereas humans can only sort out a limited amount of data in a limited number of scenarios. 

ML regression depends on three major factors: variance, bias, and error. And these are the sources of errors in a predictive model. The possibilities are endless, but don’t get too excited since its not likely that a feasible Baccarat AI betting strategy has been developed just yet.

Do Experts Believe AI Systems Can Beat Casino Games Like Baccarat?

Experts say AI and ML will be invaluable predictive tools for game analysis, risk assessment, and strategic decision-making. However, some experts believe ML can’t combat the problem of the “randomness of outcomes.” 

One possibility is using the Monte Carlo and Las Vegas algorithms to help ML predict more correct outcomes by randomization techniques. 

Put to the Test, Can AI Systems Beat Baccarat? 

Most casino AI systems are industry secrets. However, the field of AI is also rapidly evolving, and the creation of new models is an active process.  To examine how AI systems operate, you must examine the few available ones in action. Researchers have conducted studies on beating the odds using ML. The research involved the following:

1.  Data acquisition: Thousands of baccarat games were historically analyzed and fed into the models.
2. AI training: The models are trained with different machine learning models. The underlying patterns are used to make predictions on future baccarat outcomes.
3. Iteration: The results are repeated over time to improve the models.

In certain scenarios, with tight bet win/loss boundaries, it was found the models could reliably prevent serious losses through more conservative betting approaches.

This demonstrated the value of AI assistants making human-aware recommendations, versus attempting to replace human decision-making entirely. AI systems can’t beat baccarat because ML can only give hints to humans betting on baccarat. 

Though this is not to say that ML can’t predict more correct outcomes than humans. But it should be noted that AI can’t predict every outcome in a Baccarat shoe correctly. 

However, ML can stick to a strategy of selecting likely-correct-outcomes. In turn this could help baccarat bettors win in the long-run. Though at the time of writing, I’m not aware of a super AI predictor that can guarantee wins. But existing ones can be a potential solution for better decision-making.

Is AI Better Than Humans to Beat Baccarat? 

The house edge keeps casinos on top. We know this. But in terms of predicting more correct outcomes, AI systems have an edge over humans. 

The game of baccarat is likened to flipping a coin. The bettor has a 50/50 chance of selecting the correct outcome. In using a fair (unbiased) coin, there’s no sure way to predict outcomes. 

AI can analyse and model the mathematics of randomness much better than humans. The only advantage AI has over humans is its speed in analysing statistical models. Other than this, there’s no clear advantage.vAs it stands, the best AI system:

• can’t alter the house edge
• win every baccarat outcome or majority of outcomes in a shoe

So, AI is only slightly better at prediction than humans. AI and ML prediction software might tilt the odds in your favor, but they won’t guarantee to overcome the house edge, or guarantee to gain a profit on each baccarat shoe bet on. 

The Future of AI Baccarat Predictors

While today's AI baccarat tools exhibit potential, any fully developed AI baccarat predictor is far from being able to be correct enough to guarantee profits. 

The role of AI used in gaming is only just beginning. As models grow more sophisticated, the line between human and machine mastery will further develop; better, more powerful AI baccarat predictors. 

In the future, AI Copilots could inform human players what decisions to make: Banker or Player. And this could well include how much to stake. This would make for the ultimate competitive edge. 

And if AI can master the problem of randomness and correctly predict most outcomes, then most casino games, including baccarat, are at risk of becoming extinct. 

For now, though, in 2024, baccarat remains an enthralling game of chance where the house reigns supreme. Savvy baccarat bettors would be wise to treat any current AI predictor as a supplementary tool, not a silver bullet. 

However, the relentless march of progress ensures this landscape won't remain static forever.

Advantages of an AI system in Baccarat

• Speed: AI can analyze vast amounts of data much faster than humans, creating a better chance for you to win.
• Modeling abilities: Using the right data and algorithms, AI systems can be trained to simulate potential outcomes. 
• Adaptability: This is a huge plus for AI systems, because of inherent randomness in the baccarat gameplay. Switching to different strategies in real-time is a game changer.

Disadvantages of AI Systems in Baccarat 

• AI systems can’t overcome the house advantage.
• Can’t guarantee wins on every outcome or majority of outcomes in baccarat shoes.
• Casinos have measures in place to prevent users from gaining an upper hand. AI models could be considered cheating by land-based and online casinos leading to bans.
• AI systems can be utilized by casinos to detect AI prediction software and countermeasures can be taken.

Conclusion: Can Baccarat Be Beaten Using Artificial Intelligence?

AI does have a place in the future in terms of how Baccarat is played. Advanced tools are being developed and the percentage of correct baccarat predictions should improve over time. 

However, AI systems are not a magical crystal ball, and they have their own fair share of flaws. They can’t guarantee a win on every baccarat outcome or to win the majority of outcomes bet on in a shoe. At best, AI systems can follow a defined strategy and help players to stack more winning chips. But the advantage; the casino’s house edge still stands. And, as I write, there’s no way around this. 

Future progress in AI systems may overcome this Achilles Heel, and cause to make the house edge, not to disappear, but to be ineffective. But that remains to be seen.

AI Strategies to Beat Baccarat: Questions and Answers

1. What does an AI system do in Baccarat? AI systems help predict outcomes by employing machine learning and statistical models to compute the probabilities of the game.
2. Can AI systems beat the house edge in Baccarat? No, while they are impressive in predicting some outcomes, they can’t win the majority of outcomes in a baccarat shoe. And can’t overcome the inbuilt casino’s house edge. 
3. Are AI systems better than humans in playing Baccarat? AI systems are unmatched in the ability to process large datasets and compute the outcomes, thus they’re slightly better than the best baccarat players.
4. How advanced are AI baccarat prediction systems? The AI models are very sophisticated and pretty accurate, but still have a long way to go. However, they still produce errors.
5. What is machine learning, and can it help humans to beat Baccarat? Machine learning is a subset of AI that attempts different techniques, in the fastest way possible, to determine the best option. It's still not perfect and can’t guarantee to win most outcomes in baccarat shoes.

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