TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Download Blackjack Strategy Chart for Double Deck Game
• Double-Deck Rules & Playing Strategy
• Double-Deck Card Counting
• Summary

One of the questions I often get from blackjack players is this:  My favorite live casino just installed a double-deck blackjack game. What changes do I need to make to my playing and betting strategy compared to a six- or eight-deck game?

I’ve had a lot of experience playing all of the above games, but my favorites were the single- and double-deck games. Toward the end of my playing career, I stopped playing single-deck games when the casinos began shorting the payoff on blackjack hands (from 3-2 to 6-5). My main focus, thereafter, was double-deck games, and I’ll explain below what changes you need to make when switching from a six- or eight-deck game to a double-deck game (both for a basic blackjack strategy player and card counter).

DOUBLE-DECK RULES & PLAYING STRATEGY

I’ll assume that the six- or eight-deck game allows doubling after pair splitting (DAS) and surrender is not offered. I’ll cover the strategy changes for two scenarios: when the dealer must stand on soft 17 (S17) or hit soft 17 (H17).

If Playing Rules are S17 and DAS 
The playing strategy changes that you should make when switching from a six- or eight-deck game to a double-deck game with the above rules are as follows.

•    Double down hard 9 against a dealer deuce
•    Double down hard 11 against a dealer ace.
•    Split 6-6 against a dealer 7.
•    Split 7-7 against a dealer 8.

If Double Deck Playing Rules are H17 and DAS
If the double-deck rules specify that the dealer must hit soft 17 (H17) rather than stand (S17), then you should include these three additional changes to the above S17 strategy.

•    Double down A-3 (soft 14) against a dealer 4.
•    Double down A-7 (soft 18) against a dealer deuce
•    Double down A-8  (soft 19) against a dealer 6

You’ll be facing the lowest house edge by incorporating the above in your playing decisions and playing all your other hands accurately. (House edge is –0.18% for S17/DAS and –0.38% for H17/DAS.)

Tip: Before you jump in and start playing any double-deck game, make sure you check the blackjack rules and the payoff for a blackjack. For example, some casinos are paying only 6-5 for a blackjack (instead of 3-2). Others don’t allow doubling down after pair splitting. (These are horrible games that should be avoided.) Play only double-deck games where a blackjack is paid at 3-2, you can double down after pair splitting (DAS), and ideally, with S17. (If the playing rules specify H17, that’s acceptable, even though it is not as favorable as an S17 game.)

Note: For the complete basic playing strategy charts for a double-deck game with S17 and H17, see Chapter 3 of my free Ultimate Guide to Blackjack.  

Card counting in a double-deck game requires several changes to your betting strategy. The reason is there are two primary differences in counting a double-deck vs. a six-deck game:

•    the true count tends to rise and fall more frequently, and
•    you’ll be playing more hands where you have the edge.

Card counters have to be patient when they play, say, a six-deck game because it often takes several rounds after the shuffle before the count goes sufficiently positive, meaning the edge swings in their favor (and the counter will increase his bets). Sometimes the count will never get positive during the entire six-deck shoe. However, on the bright side, once the count goes positive it tends to stay positive for several rounds allowing the counter to fire away with big bets.

When you play a double-deck game, the true count is more volatile. It can quickly go positive after a round or two but just as quickly fall into negative territory. You’ll also be playing more hands where you have the edge so you don’t need as big a bet spread as you would for a six-deck game. (This is why card counters need a bigger bet spread in a  six- or eight-deck game; they need to bet a lot more when they have the edge to compensate for the more frequent hands they play where they don’t have the edge.) For example, you’ll need a 1‒10 or 1‒12 bet spread to get a respectable edge in a six-deck game; however, for a double-deck game, a 1‒6 or 1‒8 spread often will suffice.

Penetration, or the percentage of cards dealt until the shuffle, is very important in double-deck games. Many casinos instruct their live dealers to place the cut card at 50%, meaning that, after one deck is played, the decks are shuffled. A double-deck game with 50% penetration is less profitable for a card counter then a similar game with 60% to 75% penetration (1.2 to 1.5 decks played).  Therefore, if you are a card counter, you need to be sure the penetration is greater than 50%. 

Here’s another tip I used that can come in handy when you are counting a double-deck game. Because there are only 104 cards in a double-deck game, just a few extra cards that are put into play before the cards are shuffled can significantly increase your advantage. Therefore, if the count is positive and you know that the next round will be the last one before the shuffle, spread and play two (or three) spots. You’ll be playing more hands where you have the edge in the game while consuming more of the undealt cards, which results in deeper penetration (advantageous for the play of the additional hand or hands). (However, don’t use this ploy at the end of every positive deal, because it will attract too much attention from pit supervisors.) 

I played mostly double-deck games with good rules and deep penetration during my playing career. They were profitable for me but you must be discreet with your card counting and betting. (For details on camouflaging your card counting skills, see Chapter 10 in my Ultimate Guide to Blackjack.)

Roulette is a game of numbers with three colors thrown in; red, black and green (sometimes the color blue substitutes for green). Players can bet on one number and on as many as 37 numbers in the European game and 38 numbers in the American game. They can also bet on the propositions of red or black, high or low, odd or even.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• ROULETTE HOUSE EDGE
• OUTSIDE PROPOSITION BETS
  • COLUMN BET
  • DOZENS BET
  • ODD OR EVEN BET
  • RED OR BLACK BET
  • HIGH OR LOW BET
• EXCEPTIONS
• SURRENDER
• PRISON
• SUMMARY

The European game of roulette, called the single zero (0) game, has the numbers 1-36 with every other number colored as red or black and with one single number, the 0, colored green or blue. The American game of roulette, which is the most popular roulette game in the world, has the numbers 1-36 in either red or black, and a zero (0) and double-zero (00) in green or blue.   

[Please note: Strangely enough, the American double-zero game (0, 00), which is the most popular in the world, is not as good a game as the European single-zero game (0). The American game is almost twice as tough to beat.]

While the game of roulette is somewhat leisurely in the average number of decisions played each hour, the house edges are somewhat challenging.  The American game has a house edge of 5.26 percent, while the European game has an edge of 2.7 percent. Translated into money, the American game costs the player an average of $5.26 per $100 wagered, while the European game comes in with an average loss of $2.70 per $100 wagered. Given a choice, the roulette player should play the European game.

Saying something has an average loss of “x” amount for $100 wagered does not mean that for every $100 wagered the player is out “x” amount. It means that over time the losses will average as “x” amount for every $100 wagered. Players can win; they can lose, and they can break even on any given session.

[Please note: In 1958, the “Jones Boys” won $32,000 at roulette in Las Vegas. Many players have won more than that because a large win can also mean the player might be betting a large amount.]

First let me give you how the edges at the game are determined and then I’ll take most of the bets and we’ll see how these fit right in with the overall house advantage. 

Interestingly enough, there is one option at the game that can give players only half the house edge at roulette at some casinos at some bets. I’ll get to these later in this article.

The American double-zero wheels have a 38 number game for the players. On average each number should appear once every 38 spins. In a fair game, meaning a game where the casino has no edge whatsoever, a win for the player should return $37 for every $1 wagered. The player will, however, lose $37 and thus the game is an even contest. 

An even contest cannot be a long-term win for the casino, so the payback for the game is altered to give the casino a 5.26 percent edge. How is the payback altered? For every one-dollar wagered, the casino will only award a win of $35 on a number instead of $37. That $2 difference gives the casino its edge. Just divide 38 numbers into 2 and you get 5.26 percent.

[Please note: The Pierre Basieux Team won $153,000 in Bad Wiessee. Germany in 1981]

Some players consider that 5.26 percent edge as a tax the casino charges the player to play. Calling it a tax is fine with me. Whatever a player wishes to call it simply means the casino actually takes away money from a player’s payout in order to pay its bills. I guess even casinos have bills.

The European wheel operates the exact same way with one major difference. It has only 37 numbers. So instead of paying the player $36 for a winning bet of $1 in a fair game; it pays $35 and keeps $1, making the edge 2.7 percent. Just divide 37 into 1 and it equals 2.7 percent; an average loss of $2.70 per $100 wagered. Those darn taxes!

When a player bets directly on an individual number or directly on more than one number, such a bet is called an inside bet or a straight bet or a straight up bet. The more money bet this way means all that money is subject to the house edge. It doesn’t matter if you are betting $50 on one number or $50 spread out on five numbers, the house edge relentlessly grinds away at that $50.

[Please note: In 1873, Joseph Jaggers won $325,000 in Monte Carlo. Imagine what the inflation rate of that amount would be!]

You can also bet inside by putting a single chip on a line that incorporates two or more numbers. In this way you do not have to bet more money to cover more numbers. The house edge remains the same for these bets. Here are some inside bets of this type:

The Split Bet: If you want to bet two numbers just put your chip(s) on the line between those numbers. A win pays 17 to 1. 

The Street Bet (also called the side bet, the trio, or the 3-number bet): Yes, this bet has a lot of names but they all mean the same thing; you are betting three numbers. You put the bet on the outside line that contains the three numbers on which you wish to wager. A win pays 11 to 1.

The Corner Bet (also called the square or the 4-number bet): Bet is placed on the square where all four numbers meet. A win pays 8 to 1.

The Beast Bet (also called every dirty name in the book!): Here you are betting that the first five numbers will hit. This bet (hold your breath!) has a 7.89 percent house edge and can only be found at the American game. A win pays 6 to 1 and perhaps proves you’ve lost your mind. Do not bet this monster.

The Line Bet (or the sixline bet or 6-number bet): You’d think this bet would be called the half-dozen bet. The roulette payout is 5 to 1.

[Please note: In 1951, the Helmut Berlin team won $420,000 in Mar del Plato in Argentina.]

These bets can be found along the outside of the main layout. You are betting on a proposition that contains many numbers. The house edge remains 5.26 percent for the American game and 2.70 percent for the European game. There is one (beautiful) exception which I will get to in the end. This exception gives the players a big, big break at the game of roulette.

You are wagering that one of the columns of numbers on the layout will have the winning number. You place your bet at the bottom of the column that you think will win. A winning bet is paid 2 to 1. Each roulette column has 12 numbers. The 0 or 00 are not a part of either column so if either one of these two show the wager is lost. 

The bet is whether one of a roulette dozen numbers on the layout will hit. These are not a dozen consecutive numbers on the wheel; they are strictly layout numbers. You place this bet on First Dozen, Second Dozen or Third Dozen. You can bet two of the dozens. The payout is 2 to 1. Again the 0 or 00 will cause your bet to lose.

[Please note: The roulette wheel and the roulette layout are two totally different things. The numbers on the wheel are not in order, in fact most of the numbers are directly across from each other, as in 2 is across from 1, but the layout has the numbers in numerical order. Strange as this seems, some roulette players are not aware that the wheel and the layout handle the numbers differently.]

This is another even-money bet that you can pick the color of the number that will hit. There are 18 black numbers and 18 red numbers. Again, if the 0 or 00 hits, the bet is lost and this factor maintains the house edge.

On all the even-money bets the player has 18 ways to win and 20 ways to lose in the American game and 18 ways to win and 19 ways to lose in the European game.

[Please note: In 1971 Richard Jarecki won 1,280,000 in Monte Carlo and San Remo.]

We saw that the beast bet of five numbers at the American game (0, 00, 1, 2, and 3) came in with a ridiculously large 7.89 percent house edge – an average $7.89 loss per $100 wagered. Otherwise all the house edges on all the bets at the American game and the European game remain the same. But there is a good “however” to this fact. Some casinos offer you a better game on the even-money bets, a far better game than normal. In fact, a game that allows the percent of the house edge to be reduced in half.

There are some casinos offering the American 0 and 00 game that will take only half of your losing even-money bets should the 0 or 00 be the decision. That means a $10 bettor will only lose $5 on the even-money bet.

Is this a good thing? It sure is. The house edge is reduced from 5.26 percent down to 2.63 percent! 

You might have to ask the dealer if this bonus is available at their casino. Most of the time you will not see a sign indicating the casino offers surrender. So ask! Playing roulette on the even-money bets with surrender is the only way to go at the game when this option is available.

The European single 0 game has its own version of surrender titled en prison which also cuts the house edge in half. If the 0 comes up and the player’s bet loses, the bet stays in the box for the next decision. This bonus cuts that 2.7 percent house edge down to 1.35 percent. Now the even-money bets at the game become some of the best roulette bets in the casino.

Just as with the surrender option at the American roulette game, it would be foolish not to wager exclusively on the even-money bets at the European game. Again, you’d have to ask if the casino allows this bonus.

[Please note: If you are a high roller, it is possible that the casino might allow you to play those even-money bets with either surrender or en prison. Casinos will sometimes make special exceptions for the high rollers. Indeed, some casinos will offer to give back half of a high-rolling player’s losses.]

Roulette is certainly a numbers game and the biggest numbers are how much money you have as a bankroll and how much money your betting levels are. You must stay on top of your wins and losses and never bet over your head when the enthusiasm and thrills get to you.

[Please note: From 1986 through 1989, the Billy Walters Team won $4,810,000 in Las Vegas and Atlantic City.] 

All the best in and out of the casinos!

If you like to go to casinos then you know it can be a lot of fun, especially when you get on a hot winning streak.

And, while it's always more fun to walk away as a winner, unfortunately, that doesn't always happen. Of course, many people will just chalk up their losing sessions to the old adage "the casino always wins," but smarter casino players know that phrase isn't necessarily true and that there actually are ways to get more value for your gambling dollar and also to increase your chances of winning.

Let's take a quick look at eight ways you can accomplish this with your casino play:

TIP 1: PLAY THE RIGHT GAME

Most casino games require luck for you to be a winner. Examples of these would be: slot machines, keno, roulette, craps, baccarat and most novelty table games, such as let it ride. However, there are some casino games that have an element of skill. Examples of these would be blackjack and video poker.  Players who know how to play their hands properly, will achieve a better return on these games, in the long run, than players who guess how to play their hands.

TIP 2: USE THE CORRECT STRATEGY

You can get a better return by playing a game of skill such as blackjack or video poker but, as mentioned above, you can only achieve that higher overall payback percentage (in the long run), if you use the proper strategies.

For blackjack players you need to know basic strategy. Computer simulations of millions of blackjack hands have been made and it turns out that there is only one mathematically correct way to play your hand in any given situation. All of these possible situations have been combined into a basic strategy chart for blackjack and you should memorize this chart so you know how to play your hands properly. The chart will tell you exactly what you should do with your hand based on the total of your first two cards and whatever up card the dealer is showing. These basic strategy charts are widely available for free on the Internet. Just do a Google search for "blackjack strategy chart" and you will find numerous sites where you can download them for free.

 

 

The strategy chart may change slightly, depending on the number of decks used, and the particular rules of the game, so make sure that you use the correct chart for the game you want to play. By following the correct basic strategy, you can lower the casino advantage from as high as two percent to less than one-half one percent.  And, this strategy would also apply to blackjack games played at Internet casinos.

Video poker players are in a similar situation because, once again, there is always only one mathematically correct way to play your hand in any given situation. And, naturally, there is a strategy chart that will show you how to properly play your hands. For instance, if you are dealt 2-3-4-5-5, should you keep the four card open-ended straight (2-3-4-5)? Or, should you keep the pair of 5's (5-5)? Well, the strategy chart will tell you which choice will give you the highest expected return and that is how you should play your hand. No guessing on your part, just follow the chart!

Keep in mind that the video poker strategy can have major changes, depending on the game you are playing, such as jacks or better, double double bonus, deuces wild, etc.  However, once again, these video poker strategy charts are widely available for free on the Internet. Just do a Google search for "video poker strategy chart" and you will find numerous sites where you can download them for free.

Just make sure that you use the correct strategy chart for the particular video poker game you want to play. And, these strategy charts would also apply to video poker games played at Internet casinos.

TIP 3: TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE CASINO COMPS

"Comp" is short for complimentary and it means anything that the casino will give you for free in return for your play at that particular casino. You've probably heard stories of "high rollers" in casinos who bet thousands of dollars per hand and get treated to a huge assortment of lavish freebies, such as: luxury hotel suites with butler service, delicious gourmet meals prepared by private chefs, an endless supply of the finest champagnes, private jet transportation, and more! Not many of us will be gambling at that level of play, but it turns out that even low-limit players can also earn lots of great comps from casinos.

Be sure to sign up for a player's club card upon your first visit to any casino so that you will eligible to earn those great casino comps. Your card can then be used to track your play on both table games as well on electronic gaming machines, such as slots and video poker.  The casino will then track how much you have played and they will give you comps based on your level of play. Comps are a great way to, essentially, lessen the casino advantage over you and you should always use your player's club card whenever you play in a casino.

An important final note on comps, however, is that you never want to bet extra money in order to earn extra comps. So, if you're a quarter slots player, don't start playing dollar machines to get more comps. The vest idea is get comps for gambling that you were going to do anyway.

TIP 4: PLAY DURING CASINO PROMOTIONS

Many casinos run special promotions where they give bonus points for earning player's club points. Most will offer double or triple point bonuses as a casino promotion, but some casinos will even go as high as 10 times points on select days. If you can play on these special days you can really rack up points very fast.

Also, sometimes casinos will have gift days where you can get a free gift once you earn a certain number of points on your card. These are also good days to play in the casino, but make sure that the gift you will receive is something that you really want because some might just be totally useless to you. Actually, the best things  to play for are gift cards for gas stations, super markets, or drug store chains. Those are great to get because they will save you money that you would normally have to spend anyway.

Be sure to keep all four of these gambling tips in mind when planning your next visit to the casinos. They will all make you a smarter gambler and help you to have more fun!

It takes multiple manufacturers working year-around to keep up with player demands for new slot games. Regardless of whether you’re playing online slots, or offline, once you’ve seen everything a game has to offer, you’re ready for something new to pique your interest.

Two of the game makers whose creative approaches have enabled them to claim growing shares of the slot business are Incredible Technologies and American Gaming systems.

They came to the casino industry from different directions. Incredible started by making non-wagering video games that proved extremely popular in bars, restaurants and online. Its Golden Tee Golf is the most popular arcade-type game in history.

AGS, meanwhile, was launched in 2005 with an initial goal of serving the Native American casinos in Oklahoma. That required Class II games, which have slot machine graphics and gameplay, but where the internal game is electronic bingo with results determined by a central server.

Today, AGS has grown into a full-service game provider with international scope for its Class III slots, where each game has a random number generator, as well as Class II slots, table games and casino management systems.

Both have intriguing, creative new games on the market, sure to attract the attention of dedicated slot players.

INCREDIBLE TECHNOLOGIES

Clinko: King of Bling and Clinko: Winning Wall both feature the Clinko bonus trigger. A Clinko ball falls from the top of the screen on random spins, drops peg to peg, and if it lands on an icon for a game feature, it could bring pumped up symbols, extra wild symbols or multipliers – all good news for your credit meter.

The first is the latest version of King of Bling, a longtime Incredible Technologies favorite with a nod toward hip-hop. The base game in the really gets hopping in the Pump Up da Club bonus, where players and a DJ can scratch the record for bigger wins. With three progressive-levels, it’s a thrill-packed game.

Winning Wall also has three progressive levels. It adds to the intrigue by enabling you to win on the wall. Here, the Clinko pegs include jackpot icons. It takes only one Minor peg to win that pot, while you win the Major by accumulating two and the Grand by accumulating three pegs.

Fireworks Festival is a 50-line game that makes explosive use of Incredible’s Stack 2 Stack game dynamic. When two stacks of fireworks symbols touch, they pop, bang and sizzle to reveal instant credit awards. Players may also could up to 20 free spins.

The Red Envelope feature offers the chance to win credit awards. When Red Envelopes scatter on the e reels, players may pick all but one, with a prize behind each. So if there are five envelopes on the screen, you have four picks to boost your bankroll.

Sky Dragons starts with a typical grid of five reels, each three symbols deep, but when dragons appear in the sky, they can expand the reels, with 5-by-7 as the maximum. All those extra symbols create extra opportunities to win on a game with three progressives and up to 20 free spins.

Lady of the Tower starts as a 30-line game with four progressive levels, but it can be so much more. As you look up a tower, there are four additional sets of reels. When two Tower Spin scatter on the main reels, they unlock a random number of reel sets – you could get one extra set, all four, or something in between. When all sets are unlocked, you could have 150 paylines working.

That gives you extra chances to win at slots, and in a hot streak sets you up for some incredible boosts to your credit meter.

AMERICAN GAMING SYSTEMS

Capital Gains, a new game in AGS’ Money Charge Jackpot series, is a penny video slot in the 243-ways-to-win format. There are five reels, each three symbols deep, and as long as there are matching symbols on each reel across the screen starting from the left, they can form a winning combination without falling on a set payline.

Players trigger the pick bonus with three or more Bonus symbols, and six or more trigger credit symbols land on the screen, you enter the Money Charge Bonus. 

During the Money Charge Bonus, players win credits and progressive awards. Locked symbols reset the spin counter to three and award all locked prizes, including the chance to win the Major, Minor, and Mini jackpots multiple times during the bonus feature. 

During the pick bonus, players touch to choose and potentially win the Money Charge Bonus or a Free Games Bonus. During the Free Games Bonus, players win up to 15 free spins, and they can win even more free games during the feature for maximum win potential.

Diamond Rush, the latest in the Diamond District game family, is a five reel penny video slot in the PowerXStream configuration. Starting from the left, reels are three, three, four, three and three symbols deep – one extra symbol in the middle reel.

This game takes you on a trip through the dazzling Diamond District, where you’ll anticipate the chance for luck and fortune. Anticipation is high with the Cash-On-Reels concept with credit and progressive prizes on the third reel. The Diamond District Bonus awards credit prizes or one of the three progressive jackpots on reel three with a five-of-a-kind diamond win. 

Three bonus symbols award eight free games. A multi-level linked progressive engages and awards potentially massive prizes. Progressive jackpots can be won during any base-game spin, adding to the excitement.

Fai Cai Shu is a family of Asian-themed games that has launched with four initial titles: Emerald Princess, Eastern Dragon, Spring Lion and Tiger Magic. All are high-volatility, Money Tree games linked through the Jackpot Pick progressive. Throughout gameplay on all four, coin symbols accumulate into a Money Tree, creating anticipation and excitement.

The Money Tree is a symbol of affluence and nobility. It accumulates coins whenever a wild spark animation reaches the tree.

The games all are five-reel video slots, with each reel being four symbols deep. Games have 50 paylines and are targeted for penny play.

Here are a few features in each:

Eastern Dragon: The first game in the Fai Cai Shu family has quickly become a player favorite.  In a free games bonus, three or more bonus symbols award 10 free games. Free games can be re-triggered for extra-win potential. 

Multiplier wilds add to the excitement when they are randomly triggered during base-game play, causing all wilds to turn into full wild stacks.  A three-level linked progressive jackpot creates big win possibilities.

The Jackpot Bonus may be triggered randomly on any base-game spin in which one or more wilds appears. If the bonus is launched, you pick among 12 gold coins until three matching icons have been selected. The match can bring one of the three linked progressive jackpots plus free spins, or simply free spins without the jackpot.

Emerald Princess: Like Eastern Dragon, Emerald Princess features a three-level progressive. You can win eight free spins when three or more Bonus symbols appear. And the Jackpot Bonus, with progressives as prizes, may be triggered randomly on any base game-spin in which one or more wilds appear.

Tiger Magic: Also Asian-themed, Tiger Magic  has three primary features – a Multiplier feature, Free Games Bonus, and Jackpot Bonus, as well as having the Money Tree found on all four games.

The Multiplier feature may be triggered randomly on any base game spin in which one or more Wild Tiger symbols appear. The Multiplier feature will upgrade all Tiger symbols on the screen into 2x, 3x, or 5x Wild Multiplier symbols at random.

Three or more Bonus symbols awards 10 free spins. During the Free Spins, the Wild symbols on the reels will appear as Wild Multiplier symbols. The Wild Multiplier values are randomly assigned for each free spin.

Spring Lion: The mighty Lion is the highest-paying symbol, along with other symbols associated with Chinese festivals and celebrations such as drums, red packets, lanterns, and oranges. 

During base-game play, three or more Spring Lion symbols award 10 Free Games, and the Jackpot Bonus may be triggered randomly on any base-game spin in which one or more Wild Spring Lion symbols appear.

Spring Lion also has the Multiplier feature as seen in Wild Tiger, Free Games Bonus, and Jackpot Bonus as well as the Money Tree.

It can be tough trying to figure out a way to win when betting on Roulette. Game after game you watch as the Dolly Marker is placed in different areas of the betting layout. But knowing where it will be placed over subsequent games is what baffles most Roulette players.

So, what are your options. Well you could try to spot a pattern studying the areas visited by the Dolly Marker on the betting layout; will the next winning number be across to the left or right, up or down or in one of the four diagonal directions or maybe even it will land on the last outcome; a direct repeat number. 

Because of the random nature of Roulette, the task of predicting future outcomes will challenge your intellect probably more than any other casino game. 

A case can be made for sticking to a certain area of the Roulette betting layout or betting around the area of the last outcome or moving as far away from it as possible, or somewhere in between. Whatever you try, the randomness of the game is probably going to get you scratching your head as your predicting juices begin to flow. It’s this challenge what makes the game so alluring. 

But assuming you’re not going to bet on just one number, the game can be less stressful and so more enjoyable if you outlay approximately half the number of chips of a straight up win pay-out. In this respect, I have thought up a system; a Dolly Marker Predicting System, and I’m going to explain how it works and explore its pros and cons.

There are two main predicting methods people partake in when playing live Roulette. 

1. One way is to Place bets on a betting layout in relation to where players believe the ball will land next on the wheel. For example, if a player believes the ball will land close to the right side of the zero i.e. #32, #15, #19, #4, #21… (European Roulette Wheel) those numbers will be covered by chips on the betting layout. Players might also decide to bet on several areas of the wheel and so whatever numbers they choose in their mind by considering where the ball might land on the Roulette wheel this is reflected in the bets they place on the betting layout.   
2. Another Roulette predicting method sees players place their bets in relation to where they believe the Dolly Marker will land next. If you consider the same set of results, for example; #1, #17, #35, #36, #9, #28, patterns formed on the wheel from outcome to outcome are different to those that are formed on the betting layout.

Look at the following two illustrations to see how the moves that form those patterns are different on the wheel and betting layout though based on the same set of results.

 

You don’t want to be considering too many previous outcomes otherwise the crisscrossing that forms these patterns will begin to confuse you and too much information will render the aim of predicting too complicated. It’s important to keep things simple as possible when dealing with a random casino game such as Roulette. Working from the latest outcomes should ensure keeping up with the order of where future outcomes are likely to occur.  

HOW THE ROULETTE DOLLY MARKER PREDICTING SYSTEM WORKS

In action:

If you consider a large sample of Roulette outcomes and apply each one to a betting layout and join the dots, from the last outcome to the next outcome, you can see that patterns don’t last. Though some will last longer than others. But they really don’t need to last because to try and profit from these short-lived patterns you only need to jump on betting them as they are playing-out in forming those patterns.
Using x18 same value chips which is half of a 35-1 pay-out plus 1 chip stake returned, we’re going to concentrate on the last two moves seen on a Roulette layout. 

Let’s consider the first three outcomes that are: #1 followed by #17 then #35 the information we have thus far tells us that the first move from #1 to #17 is a right direction up diagonal by x5 numbers (counting in a straight line which is easier to workout). And the second move is right across by x6 numbers. So, what we’re going to do is take the last two moves into consideration and apply them to the betting layout.

Let’s start with the first Dolly Marker move and apply it. The first move #1 to #17 is right direction up diagonal by x5 numbers. We want to replicate the move in the most logical order possible. It’s possible to move the same up diagonal by x5 numbers move and we would arrive at #33. We’re going to divide our x18 chips placing half in that area. I would cover from numbers #27 to #36 found on the 3rd column, (27, 30, 33, 36) that’s x4 straight up chips staked. And then I’d place #4 chips to cover numbers #26 to #35 of the 2nd column (#26, #29, #32, #35). Total chips staked so far = x8. 

Moving on to the second Dolly Marker move which was #17 to #35 is a right across by x6 numbers. Now we can’t logically replicate this move because there are no numbers to the right side of #35. And we need to count x6 boxes across to the right so even if say we were at #29 because we can’t make six moves to the right, we need to place the next most logical bets. In my view these would be to stick to heading right but begin from the last #35 imagining that the betting layout has no edges, as if the #34, #35 and #36 met up with the #1, #2 and #3 like the continuation of a wheel. So, we’d count six numbered boxes to the right from #35 and so we’d arrive at #17. I’d cover #14, #17, #20 which is one number each side of #17. 

We still have x7 chips left. It makes sense to cover numbers #23 and #24 since these are in our target areas. With the five remaining chips I’d cover numbers, #11, #12, #15, #18, #21.

I’ve highlighted the betting selections below. 

If you don’t want to get too technical about where you place you chips once you’ve ascertained where your target areas are, you could sporadically bet around the two most important numbers you’ve pinpointed; the two target areas. For example, numbers #17 and #35 are the key numbers though #35 causes you to come in counting from number #2. You could bet all around #35 and #17 with straight up, splits and corner bets as in the illustration below.

Sometimes sporadic betting pays off since you might get paid on one or more straight ups, splits, corners. This style of betting is more suited to when a game doesn’t allow enough time to place your bets before the next spin. And if you’re the kind of player that likes to be a bit loose in how you bet.

This is the core of the Dolly Marker Predicting System, it’s about replicating the last two moves and trying to replicate them as close to possible on the betting layout using no more than x18 chips. 

You’re only ever going to be challenged by eight possibilities as seen in the illustration below aside from a repeat. These are:

1.    Right Direction Up Diagonal
2.    Left Direction Up Diagonal
3.    Right Direction Down Diagonal
4.    Left Direction Down Diagonal
5.    Up
6.    Down
7.    Across left
8.    Across right

But using the last two outcomes I see as moves, this will give you a fair roulette odds of tapping into a forming pattern. It’s more prudent to stick to keeping up with the last two moves rather than trying to decide what random area the Dolly Marker might be heading for next. You’ll not always be correct, of course that’s determined by the future of the outcomes which is intrinsic to the randomness nature of Roulette games, however in sticking to a logical format as I’ve explained, even randomness must visit this structure sometimes.   

The only other possibility aside from the eight moves I’ve stated above is that an outcome becomes a direct repeat of the last outcome. So that if #17 was the last outcome, #17 could repeat. In this instance your betting section would be to stake a chip on #17 and around it thereby making up one of your two moves. 

Though on average over many games a direct repeat is unlikely to occur more than 1 in every 36 games. But sometimes repeat numbers show up more often. Just for the sake of it you could cover the last number so that the ‘what if it repeats’ thought doesn’t linger in your mind.    

If the last two moves are the same, then your two betting options can be the same as the last two moves, since if this trend should repeat, you’ll get paid out more given that you’d be concentrating your chips to the area on the Roulette betting layout that is proving to be sticky for the Dolly Marker to revisit.

SUMMARY

The advantages of this Roulette System are that while logical it also has that random element of not being too precise in that areas covered differ slightly and this is because of the limited area of the betting layout. This is important because since Roulette is a random game of chance, having randomness within the logical reasoning ensures that the Dolly Marker doesn’t have a free run of the betting layout on uncovered areas. At least not all of the time. 

 

*Credits for main photo in this article belongs to Eran Alergant

The old poker maxim that you have to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em is much more than a cliché when it comes to Mississippi Stud Poker. It's what the strategy for the game is all about.

Play opens with an ante, then each player receives two cards face down and three community cards are dealt face down at the center of the table.

After that, there are three opportunities to bet from one to three times your ante. Each time you have to ask yourself, "Do I hold 'em and make the extra bet, or do I fold 'em and save my money?"

The object is to finish with a five-card hand of a pair of 6s or better. The dealer does not get a hand, and you do not have to beat the dealer or other players.

If you finish with a pair of 6s through 10s, you get your bet back. With a pair of Jacks or better, the payoff is even money -- you get your bet back plus an equal amount in winnings.

Moving up the pay table, you're paid 2-1 for two pairs, 3-1 for three of a kind, 4-1 for a straight, 6-1 for a flush, 10-1 for a full house, 40-1 for four of a kind, 100-1 for a straight flush and 500-1 for a royal flush.

After you ante and the cards are dealt, you may look at your two cards and choose either to bet or fold. Next, the first community card is turned face up, you again must choose to bet or fold.

Then the second community card is turned up, you have one last bet/fold choice. Finally, the third community card is turned up and the live casino dealer pays the winners.

One key to strategy is to assign points to cards corresponding to their value if paired up.

Deuces, 3s, 4s and 5s bring no payoff if paired up, so for strategy purposes, those are zero-point cards. One-point cards are 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s and 10s -- the cards that will get your money back if paired. Pairs of Jacks, Queens, Kings and Aces bring 1-1 payoffs, so faces and Aces are two-point cards.

When do you hold 'em and when do you fold 'em? Let's check out guidelines for each betting opportunity.

AFTER YOU SEE THE FIRST TWO CARDS, BET WITH ANY OF THESE HANDS:

• Bet three times your ante if you have a pair of 6s or better. That start guarantees you will do no worse than getting your money back, your best play is to bet the maximum at every opportunity.
• Bet an amount equal to your ante if you have at least two points, according the rankings above. Two middle cards, such as an 8 and a 6, are one point each and two points for the hand, so you stay in play. It's also two-point hand if you have a Jack or better along with a low card. However, two low cards, or a low card and a middle card, are not strong enough to bet. Fold those instead, with one exception listed below.
• Bet an amount equal to your ante if you have two cards of the same suit, 6-5 or better. Without both cards being in the same suit, 6-5 is just a one-point hand. However, 6-5 suited opens the possibility of flushes, straight flushes or straights, so it's worth making a minimum bet to see another card. 

AFTER YOU SEE ONE COMMUNITY CARD, BET WITH ANY OF THESE HANDS:

• Bet three times your ante with any paying hand.
• Bet three times your ante with three parts of a royal flush. Even if the cards are not consecutive, three cards of the same suit, 10 or higher, packs a lot of value with possible high pairs, straights, flushes and in some hands, straight flushes as well as the royal.
• Bet three times your ante with three parts of a straight flush with no gaps and 5-6-7 or higher; with one gap and at least one high card; or two gaps and at least two high cards. You wouldn't want to make the 3x bet if you have 6-7-9 suited, because the gap between the 7 and 9 means one of the remaining cards must be an 8 and the other either a 5 or 1 10 to complete a straight or straight flush. With 5-6-7, you could complete a straight or straight flush with 3-4, 4-8 or 8-9.

More ways to make the paying hand means the hand is more valuable with consecutive cards.

• Bet one times your ante with any other three suited cards. This is where a hand such as 6-7-9 suited falls. It's good enough to make a minimum bet, but not the max.
• Bet one times your ante with three parts of a straight and 4-5-6 or better with no gaps, and at least two middle cards or higher if one gap. That means 5-7-8 of mixed suits is playable since there are two cards that could get your money back if paired, but 4-5-7, with only one middle card, is not.
• Bet one times your ante with at least three points. If your hand doesn't meet any of the above criteria, it's still playable with at least three points. Examples include 6-8-10 of mixed suits, with one point of each card, or Queen (two points), 9 (one point) and 3 of mixed suits.

AFTER YOU SEE TWO COMMUNITY CARDS, BET WITH ANY OF THESE HANDS:

• Bet three times your ante with any paying hand.
• Bet three times your ante with any four cards of the same suit. Regardless of whether there are any straight flush or royal flush opportunities, the 6-1 payoff on flushes makes it worth your while to see if the last community card is the same suit or at least matches one of your middle or high cards.
• Bet three times your ante with any four consecutive cards, 8 high or better. The minimum potential straight for a 3x bet would be 5-6-7-8 of mixed suits. There are eight possible cards to complete the straight -- the four 4s and the four 9s -- and you have chance with the 6, 7 and 8 at a pair that would return your bet.
• Bet one times your ante with any other four-card straight. With consecutive cards that are 7 high or lower or with an inside draw such as 6-7-8-10, you don't want to fold, but you don't want to bet he max, either. 
• Bet one times your ante with a low pair. If you've stayed through earlier hands and the best the fourth card brings is to pair a 2, 3, 4 or 5, it's worth a minimum bet to see if the final card brings three of a kind or two pairs.
• Bet one times your ante with at least four points. You know the drill by now. A hand such as Jack (two points), 10 (one point), 7 (one point) and 4 (zero points) gives you just enough chances to pair up for a paying hand to stay to see what the fifth card brings.
• Bet one times your ante with three middle cards and at least one previous 3x raise. Let's say you raised three times your ante with a suited 8-9 after two cards, one times the ante after a 3 of the same suit on the third card, then the fourth card brought a 7 of a different suit.

Your final hand of 3-7-8-9 of mixed suits would ordinarily be a folding hand, but your initial 3x bet means you have an extra stake in the hand. The hand isn't a good one, but over the long haul, it cuts your losses slightly to play the hand rather than fold a hand in which you have so much invested.

Given that strategy, Michael Shackelford calculates the house edge at 4.91 percent of your ante, or 1.37 percent of your total wagers. That makes it one of the better poker-based table games in modern online casinos, and well worth learning when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em.
 

There’s nothing difficult about playing slots. There are no complicated strategies to learn as in blackjack or video poker and no need to choose among wagers with wildly different house edges as in craps.

You don’t even need to learn where to place chips to bet on four numbers instead of six or some other total as in roulette.

Still, a little planning and preparation can help you get the most out of your time on the slot.

A good checklist will include things to do before you log onto an online casino or start a casino trip to play offline. It also will include things to do before starting to play any specific game.

Try this checklist of things to do before you play.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Check Your Bankroll
2. Choose a Slot Game that Fits Your Playing Personality
3. Check the Minimum and Maximum Bets
4. Make Sure You're Choosing the Right Bet Size
5. Scan the Help or Information Menu
6. Extra Bets for Progressives or Other Features
7. Be Sure to Insert Your Player Rewards Card (for Land-Based Casinos)

In online casino, that might mean playing off credits you already have at your chosen casino, or making a new buy-in. Offline, it means loading your wallet with cash or setting in you mind how much to withdraw at the ATM.

Either way, plan a budget for your play and stick to it. If you hit a bad streak and your losses approach your limit for the day, reduce the size of your bets and think about calling it a day.

One thing you should never do is to use credit card cash advances to fund your play. You’re already spotting the house an edge when you play the games. Paying credit card interest rates on top of that makes the winning sessions that much harder to come by.

Use money you can afford to lose and comes from your entertainment budget. Enjoy the wins when they come, but make sure the losses don’t impact the necessities of life.

Progressive jackpots, pick-a-prize bonuses and free-spin bonuses are among the most popular features online and on video slots.

And old-fashioned three-reel slots with no fancy bonuses are still around for players who like all their wins to come on a spin of the reels.

Not every game suits every player’s personality.

• Three-reel slots with no bonuses are the most volatile, giving you the best chance at a big win while carrying the highest risk of burning through your bankroll fast.
• Those who play progressive slots should understand that they get lower returns on the base game than on non-progressives. Part of each bet goes to funding the progressive jackpots, so there is less for wins on the reels.
• Pick’em bonus events usually offer frequent moderate-sized wins. They’re fun to play and emphasize entertainment rather than volatile wins and losses.
• Free spin bonuses bring higher volatility than pick’em bonuses. There is an opportunity for bigger wins, but it’s also possible to win nothing at all on a free spin bonus.

There are other wrinkles such as wheel-spin bonuses, and some games have multiple bonuses of different types. But you can get a head start on the fun if you identify your favorite way to play and look for games that match your preferences.

There’s a huge difference in your wager size if you’re betting a penny at a time vs. a dollar.

But that is just the beginning. You need to know how many paylines there are, how many coins you can wager per line, and whether you have the option of playing fewer than the maximum paylines.

There are single-payline three-reel slots in play in some locations, but online and video slots generally have multiple paylines.

Among the common configurations on slots today are 20, 30 and 40 lines, but if you look around you’ll find 50 and even 100-line games. That doesn’t even touch on 243 ways to win at slots, in which any matching symbols on consecutive reels from left to right can form a winning combination.

Most allow you to bet more than one coin per line. If a 40-line game at 1-cent denomination allows you to bet one, two, three, four or five cents per line, then activating all paylines could mean bets or 40 cents, 80 cents, $1.20 cents, $1.60 or $2.

Also at issue is whether you’re allowed to bet on fewer than the maximum paylines. On older video slots, you can choose to bet on a single payline if you choose. You can play for a penny on some one-cent slots, betting 1 cent on one line.

But an increasing number of games are known as “forced bet” slots in which playing requires you to bet on all paylines. On a 40-line 1-cent force bet slot, you minimum wager isn’t 1 cent, it’s 40 cents. You can bet multiple coins per 40 lines if you wish, but you must play all the lines.

Check all that you before you make your first bet. What is the coin denomination? How many paylines are there? How many coins may you bet per line? Must you bet on all paylines?

One you have all that information, you can choose a bet size that makes sense within your bankroll.

If you put your money in the machine and hit the spin reels or repeat bet button without choosing your own bet size, you might find yourself betting more than you’d like. You might also bet less than you want, and on some machines you might leave paylines uncovered.

Jackpots have been missed because a winning combination came up on a payline the previous player didn’t activate. Make sure you’re getting the conditions you want.

At least half the fun in online and video slots comes through the bonus event, and part of the fun is the anticipation of a bonus to come.

You can’t share in the anticipation if you don’t know how the bonus is launched?

Do you go to a bonus event if three matching bonus symbols land on the same payline?

Or do you get a bonus even if the bonus symbols aren’t on the same line?

And there’s a wild card: You could get a bonus event with a mystery trigger, with the machine surprising you without any bonus symbols as a trigger.

And there’s a wild card: You could get a bonus event with a mystery trigger, with the machine surprising you without any bonus symbols as a trigger.

You don’t want to play a progressive slot without being eligible for the progressive jackpots. Check out the help menu, or at least read all the information on the screen, to see what it takes.

On three-reel slots with a single progressive, it’s easy. You usually have to make the maximum bet to be eligible for the progressive. Since the most common max on three-reel slots is three coins, the progressive formula works well.

On video slots, with many more paylines and max bets in hundreds of coins, casinos and game makers quickly learned that most players wouldn’t be the max, not even for a jackpot chance.

Different ways to award progressives evolved. Mystery jackpots are common. One way to program this is to have a random number generator set a jackpot amount. The player whose bet pushes the jackpot to that amount wins it. Players with different bet sizes can compete for the same jackpot.

Another method is to award jackpots through matching symbols, but to require a separate bet to fund the jackpots. Then players can bet different amounts on the base game, but the same amounts on the jackpot.

Read the help menu before you play to see if a separate jackpot bet is required. Then either make the jackpot bet and give yourself a chance to win big, or choose a different game. Don’t play progressives without being jackpot eligible.

Don’t bet extra for the sake of player rewards, but do take advantage of what the casino offers. Use the card.

When I first started playing video poker some 25 years ago, I knew about the importance of playing with an edge. At the start of my video poker playing career, it was fairly common to find video poker games that had a theoretical return over 100%, especially in the local’s casinos in Las Vegas (and in one casino in Mississippi). Most of the time, my wife and I played a deuces wild game called Full Pay Deuces Wild (or FPDW), which returned 5 coins per coin played for 4-of-a-kind and 15 coins for 5-of-a-kind. By playing every hand accurately, the game had a theoretical return of 100.76% (meaning you had an edge of 0.76% over the casino).

You had to play every hand perfectly so my wife and I learned the video poker strategy for FPDW using a video poker software training program on our home PC until our playing accuracy was virtually 100%, and to be sure we played every hand accurately, we also brought along a strategy card when we played in case we weren’t absolutely sure of how to play a specific hand. I also played another game in Las Vegas that had a theoretical return of 100.17% (known as 10/7 Double Bonus; although this game had a higher variance than FPDW, meaning the ups and downs in your bankroll were steeper and thus required more bankroll). But it wasn’t long before the casinos started downgrading the pay schedules of both games so that the theoretical returns were below 100%. This made us change our focus to not only playing video poker games with the highest theoretical return that were offered in casinos but also with the best Player’s Club benefits to boost our overall return to greater than 100%.

Then along came THE game in a Mississippi casino (circa 2012) that blew me away. This particular casino offered a bank of progressive video poker machines that included 9/6 Jacks or Better (JOB) at a dollar denomination.

A traditional 9/6 JOB game (where the royal flush payout is 4,000 coins) has a theoretical return of 99.54%, which allows you to get over a 100% return if the casino’s benefits exceed 0.5%. But this particular casino had a progressive meter for the royal flush on its machines. If I recollect, it was a 1% meter, meaning the amount of the progressive jackpot for a royal flush increased 10 cents per $10 played. (This means the amount of the royal flush jackpot when playing five coins at a dollar denomination was often in the $4,200 to $4,500 range before it was hit. The latter depends, of course, on how much play the machine gets. I started playing weekly, and on each visit, most of the time the jackpot was in the above range.)

As a rule of thumb when playing progressive video poker games, the theoretical return of a game will increase by 0.5% for every 1,000 coins above the 4,000 coin base for the royal flush payout. For example, if the payout for the royal flush was at, say, $4,200 (dollar denomination), the theoretical return of the game would increase from 99.54% to 100.54% (99.54% + 1.0% = 100.54%.) Bottom Line: Most of the time I played, my theoretical return on the game exceeded 100%. But wait, there’s more to this story.

This casino, like most, had a Player’s Club. On Monday’s, they would have a 24-hour casino promotion where you played a silly game on a kiosk, and if you were lucky you could get up to 7-times points on all of your play for that day. However, if you were in the top tier of their Player’s Club (which I was), you would automatically get a guaranteed 7-times points multiplier every time you played the kiosk game. The result: With a base rate of 0.13%, I was getting another 0.91% return on my play. (The other perk was this: there was no limit to the number of points you could earn on Monday that would be multiplied by 7.)

The points you earned after the 7-times multiplication could not be cashed out; however, they could be downloaded as free play on the same 9/6 JOB progressive machines. This was yet another perk, since some Mississippi casinos during this time started implementing a new procedure where your earned slot points could only be used as free play in slots (i.e., video poker machines were excluded).

Lastly, as I began playing every Monday, I was racking up a lot of base points on my Player’s Club account and was receiving hefty amounts of weekly free play in my monthly mailers. I don’t recollect the exact amounts, but it added roughly another half a percent to my overall return.

There was a limited number of video poker machines that had the juicy 9/6 JOB progressives. (I believe there were a total of eight bar-top machines.) With a potential theoretical return that easily could be 100.2% or greater (depending on the amount of the jackpot for the royal flush and the number of hours you played on Monday to take advantage of the promotion), I knew that other local astute video poker players would be flocking to play these machines. I had to get a seat before they tied up all the machines, so this is what I did.

Fortunately, I had a great host at this particular casino who told me when the casino’s Player’s Club “clock” would start each day. You would assume it would be midnight, but at this casino it was 3:00 a.m. Therefore, for the next several months, every Sunday evening I drove from my primary residence in Alabama to this casino, slept for a few hours in a comped suite, woke up at about 1:30 a.m., checked out, and took a seat at the progressive machines. By around 2:30 a.m., the bank of the machines was filled with astute players. None of us played, we just sat there waiting for 3 a.m. when the 7-times multiplier would be activated. (Some read the newspaper; others ate their breakfast at the machines, but nobody played; we just patiently waited.) When the clock finally struck 3 a.m. on Monday, the automatic 7-times promotion began and all of us started shoving hundreds of dollars into the machines and playing for hours on end. (On most of my visits, I generally played 5–8 hours; sometimes more.)

You may find it strange that I would do something like this every week but when it came to being an advantage video poker player, you often had to take advantage of a juicy game or promotion before it ended. Fortunately, I also hit an inordinate number of royal flushes during the time I played this promotion. (A total of eight royal flushes over a two- month period that began one of the most memorable royal flush streaks I ever experienced playing video poker. I’ll describe this streak in a future article.)

Between the bonus payouts on the royal flushes, and the large amounts of free play I was earning with the 7-times promotion (I often had $500 to $800 in free play each week), I was earning quite an impressive amount of money from this juicy game and promotion. But alas, it all came to a screeching halt when I got a call from my casino host one day.

Up till then, I had been invited to comped golf outings by my host that were held for “high rollers” while I had been playing at this casino. They owned a golf course and these golf outings were something else; free transportation; free breakfast, free lunch; and just about everyone received a cash prize, oodles of free play, or a $100 or greater gift at the end of the tournament. Anyway, my host basically told me one day he couldn’t invite me to any more video poker tournaments, and that I would be contacted by the casino manager for the reasons why.

I knew exactly what was about to go down and it eventually did. The casino zeroed out my player’s club account, meaning I wouldn’t earn any points when I played and I wouldn’t be receiving any more monthly mailings. But what really annoyed me was they also deleted nearly $2,000 of comps I had earned from my account. (I could have filed a complaint to the Mississippi Gaming Commission for this, and based on prior cases that I knew of, they would have had to give me back my comps. But I decided not to pursue this since if I did, I would have been persona non grata in all the casinos in Mississippi.)

I didn’t tell this story to brag of my good fortune for finding and playing this juicy game but rather to let you know that being an advantage video poker player has its risks, and sometimes you will experience what I experienced. If something like this happens, you do what I did: just forget about it and move on to another casino that offers a (juicy) playable game.

What was ironic about the above experience is that a few weeks later, this casino went and severely downgraded all their video poker pay tables (including the former 9/6 JOB progressives) that basically made all the video poker machines in this casino unplayable for smart players. 

Many of the online slots players enjoy come from the same manufacturers that supply games to offline casinos. International Game Technology, Scientific Games, Aristocrat Technologies and others are giants online and offline.

Many of the games are even the same. IGT’s Cleopatra slot has been a hit both online and offline, and Scientific Games’ Jackpot Party variations have followed offline success as online hits.

But online casinos can draw on gamemakers including NetEnt, Next Gen Gaming, iSoftGaming, Blueprint Gaming and others that cater to the virtual world first.

It’s the best of both worlds for online players. We can pick and choose among games developed by a multitude of manufacturers, each of which puts its own spin on the game.

Online casinos don’t have the same pressure for physical space offline casinos have. If a game earns a little less at the start than other slots, an online casino can give it time to find an audience. Offline casinos have to move on in hopes of finding a game that uses the physical space more profitably.

As it turns out, all kinds of games with different features work for online audiences. Let’s take a brief look a three of the games that have turned into online favorites.

STARBURST, NetEnt

With its cut gem symbols, two-way pays and wild respin bonus, Starburst has become a much-played player favorite.

There’s something of an intergalactic look. The five video reels are set against a deep blue background with yellow spots – comets, planets or stars, perhaps – moving and fading in and out.

 

 

Most of the symbols are jewels, giving the game some sparkle. Included are yellow, blue, purple, orange and green gemstones. The bulk of winners are on gem symbols, but the highest paying symbols are bars and the next highest are 7s.

Bars are not black rectangles as on most slots. They’re golden globes circled by a ring, with a spot lighting and moving around the ring. It’s reminiscent of a tiny moon with a rapid orbit. The animated ring also circles the 7s – you know at a glance lining up those symbols bring special pays.

There are only 10 paylines, but they work in either direction. Lining up winning symbols from left to right brings payoffs, but so does lining up symbols from right to left. That gives Starburst win possibilities more like those on a 20-line game than a 10-line game.

It’s bonus time whenever you land a wild symbol on the second, third or fourth reel. The symbols consist of a circle in the center surrounded by wedges of eight different colors. Those are the game’s starbursts, looking like a sun with a multicolored corona.

The Starburst expands so wilds fill all three positions on a reel, then it locks in place and triggers a respin. If you get another wild on a respin, then it locks in place, too, and fills another reel for another respin.

Spins to anticipate are those that bring Starburst on all three of the middle reels. Then you have nine wilds locked in place and the respin will bring no worse than four of a kind wins both from the left and from the right. Matching symbols on left and right then mean two-way five of a kind wins, just the thing to send your credit meter soaring at warp speed.

KING KONG FURY, NextGen Gaming

New this year, King Kong Fury takes you to a land of prehistoric monsters based on the 2017 film “King Kong: Skull Island.” It’s from NextGen, which recently was acquired by Scientific Games.

Fifty paylines cross the five reels, with each reel four symbols deep. Symbols include Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops, a great winged pterosaur and other Mesozoic creatures as well as lower-paying A, K, Q, J, 10 and 9 symbols.

Kong, the great ape himself, is a wild symbol. The wilds come in stacks, and when you land a full stack to fill a reel, it can help form multiple winning combos.

The Mason Weaver character, blonde heroine of the adventure, is depicted against a volcanic background in a symbol labeled “BONUS.” When she appears on the first and fifth reels, it triggers the game’s main bonus, the King of Skull Island Free Spins

Free-spin action starts with the player spinning a wheel to determine the number of free spins and a multiplier. The wheel can award from three to 10 spins, as well as a 3x to 10x multiplier. The fewest free spins you can get are nine – three spins times three – while the maximum is 100 – 10 spins times 10.

Those 100-spin rounds are credit-boosting treasures to remember, but there’s more. Free spins also include the potential for Raging Respins. When a full stack of wild Kong symbols fill a reel, it locks in place for a respin and the potential for more wins. Landing another wild stack brings more locked wilds and another respin.

Both on the main game and during respins, there are two randomly occurring bonus features. One is the Lightning Reel feature. When triggered, it can add up to 15 premium symbols to the reels. Basically, those low-paying card denomination symbols are out and high-paying dinos are in. They won’t necessarily match and for winners, but when they do, they’re bigger pays than the eliminated symbols would yield.

Potentially lucrative is the Kong’s Call feature. Randomly, Kong will call for wilds and up to 12 will be added to the screen. If you get the maximum 12, the middle three reels will be filled with wilds, meaning four of a kind or better with any of the creature or card symbols.

That leaves a feature-packed game that will keep your attention with bonus potential and the chance at huge wins.

MONOPOLY MEGA MOVERS, Scientific Game

Here’s one that’s a crossover between offline and online play that has found a huge following among online players.

Based on the long-popular board game, Monopoly slots have been player favorites ever since WMS Gaming brought out the first games at the end of the 1990s. WMS is part of the Scientific Games family now, and Mega Movers continues the tradition of hit Monopoly slots.

Mega Movers uses five reels, each four symbols deep. Symbols include traditional Monopoly playing pieces including the race card, train engine, top hat, battleship and Scottie dog, and newer symbols in the cat, rubber ducky, penguin and T-rex.

The top paying regular symbol is Mr. Monopoly – the game symbol originally known as Rich Uncle Pennybags. A wild symbol has the yellow word “WILD” with two red dice on top, all on a blue background.

The display during the reel spins is striking. Reels are darkened, and as symbols roll by, some Monopoly tokens are shown as bright white light against a black background. If you land three, four or five of those lighted symbols in a row, you get a spin of a bonus wheel.

There are three different bonus wheels with different prize collections. Three in a row gets you a green wheel, four in a row a yellow wheel and five in a row a red wheel.

If the wheel spin yields “3 wild,” then three wild symbols are placed on the reels before a spin, enhancing your chance of winning at slots. You could also get five, six or seven wilds, or more with a 7+ symbol.

Better yet, you could win free spins, from a minimum of 10 on the green wheel to a maximum of 100 on the red wheel. And you could even win one of five progressive jackpots.

With the Monopoly imagery and the variety of possible bonuses through the wheels, it’s a small wonder Monopoly Mega Movers has been a hit with online players.

Just about all land-based and online casino players have a favorite game or two and certainly just about all roulette players have some kind of system that they play. They might bet certain numbers that have significant meanings to them such as mom’s birthday, the date of their first date, the date of their first kiss, when they think their first kiss will actually happen and so forth. Roulette is a game that has generated many famous systems.

Some players prefer to bet inside directly on the numbers, this is called “straight-up” betting. Others players prefer to bet just the outside proposition bets such as red/black, odd/even and high/low, among others. And some players bet some combination of both the inside straight-up and the outside propositions.

Some roulette players play trend-betting systems where they follow the numbers that have hit and duplicate them in the hopes that they repeat again. Some will play the older traditional betting systems such as the Martingale, the Paroli System and many others. Some players just go with a random selection of numbers thinking randomness will overcome the randomness of the game.

[Please note: Except if there is something wrong or biased with the wheel’s decisions or there is some untoward manipulation by the roulette dealer or the casino of a wheel, roulette is random and in the long run it is (sadly) an unbeatable game. Almost all players know this – I hope!]

SOMETHING NEW FOR YOU

The system I am about to invent has never been used before except for the players who have used it and foolishly think that they invented it themselves. It is a trend-betting scheme but with a twist as I shall show you. Can it beat the house? Please re-read the “please note” paragraph in italics above. Systems can be fun to play but do not hold your breath thinking that they can beat this game in the long run.

The system, which is named (of course) after me, is called Scobe’s Touch and Go Roulette System and it is a simple system to play and it will delight the inside roulette bettor with how the numbers are figured for their bets.

KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE SCOREBOARD

Just about all scoreboards at live roulette tables today will display sixteen or twenty numbers; the majority will show the last twenty numbers that have hit so I will use the number twenty here.

When you check out the scoreboards you’ll note the color of the number hit, whether it is odd or even, and whether it is high or low. What we are looking for in the classic Scobe’s Touch and Go Roulette System are numbers that are right next to each other on the roulette wheel. We are not looking for numbers close to each other on the layout where players bet – these numbers are not the actual order of the numbers on the wheel. The wheel and the layout are two different worlds.

The numbers on the wheel are usually arranged with one numbered pocket and its “neighbor” on the pocket across the wheel from it. So the number 1 is not next to the number 2 but across the wheel from it.

The idea is that the layout’s order of numbers does not match the wheel order of numbers so that combinations of close numbers have to be ferreted out by the players looking directly at the wheel and not the layout. Doing such scanning takes some work and most roulette players and most casino players in general don’t want to do such work. People prefer to work at work and play at play.

[Please note: Here is the actual design of the American double-zero wheel, the most common wheel in the world: Red and black, along with odd and even numbers, alternate with each other and therefore two pockets next to each other will show  different colors and be either an odd or even number. Low, which are numbers one through 18, and high which are numbers 19 through 36, will alternate to a degree but some will be next door neighbors.]

HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU, KID

When you look at the double-zero wheels, here is the arrangement of numbers: 

0*, 28, 9, 26, 30, 11, 7, 20, 32, 17, 5, 22, 34, 15, 3, 24, 36, 13, 1#
00#, 27, 10, 25, 29, 12, 8, 19, 31, 18, 6, 21, 33, 16, 4, 23, 35, 14, 2*

[Please note: Since the wheel is, well, a wheel, the number 2 and the 0 in the above lines are next to each other as are the numbers 00 and the 1. Remember that fact as you peruse this roulette strategy so if a 2 and a 0 hit one after the other then you bet them or if the 1 and 00 hit one after another then bet those two. Obviously the numbers can hit in reverse order as well.]

Now, let us take a look at a scoreboard showing the last twenty numbers that have hit. 

SCOREBOARD NUMBERS ON THE PLAYERS INITIAL ARRIVAL AT THE TABLE:

18
32
4
11
7
19
18
26
13
27
9
10
5
11
2
0
24
00
12
20

So you cash in at the table and check the scoreboard above and now you must decide what numbers you might bet. Which ones are touching is the only question you need to ask. Check the wheel’s numbers and see which ones are direct neighbors to each other on the wheel. I have blackened, underlined and italicized the numbers above that are touching.

HOW TO CONTINUE YOUR BETTING

You now have two doubles going, the 2/0 and the 11/7. You continue to bet these numbers until one of the pair leaves the board. The 2/0 would be the first to go as the 0 leaves the scoreboard first and betting on the 2 stops. As that happens another number appears at the top of the scoreboard. If that number neighbors the second number 32 then those two numbers would be wagered upon. If there are no neighbors as new numbers show there are no bets being made except the bets made before they drop off the board.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Okay, here are some questions that savvy students of mine in a seminar I gave recently have asked about this method of betting. Just about everyone wanted to know if the method gives them an edge over the casino. The answer to that is a solid “no,” as I said early in this article. I wish that weren’t so but it is so. Except for a few games and a tiny micro-percentage of players at those games, betting systems can’t give the players the edge.

Student: You have talked about doubles but there could be three numbers that are neighbors or four of five or maybe more. So what about them? Or are we to just stick with doubles? This could get really expensive in the case of a whole bunch of numbers being neighbors.

Frank Responds: If you find that three or four or more numbers are abutting each other then those are the neighbors. I call this linkage as these numbers are linked together. So you’d bet them all. Of course, you have to have the funds to bet them all. We know that the more money one bets against the house the more money the house edge will eat away at.

Student: When do you stop betting them?

Frank Responds: As each individual number drops off the board then that number is no longer touching so it is dropped. If the numbers are 25, 29, 12, 8, 19 then when 19 drops off the board the bet is reduced to 25, 29, 12, and 8 and so it goes until the only number left is 25 which means no bet is now made only on that number. One-number bets are never made.

Student: In your books and roulette tips articles you preach solid money management techniques which I must say are quite conservative but this system of play seems very dangerous. How do you square solid conservative money management with such a daring attack on the game? You can have a lot of money out there at times. How do you square that with your previous ideas?

Frank Responds: Yes, you can have a lot of money out there. Imagine if you have a four-touch wager and another touch wager of three numbers! That would be seven bets. Or three or four doubles! Yes, in such cases the level of betting would be greater than most players could handle unless they have a plan in mind in such cases.

So first, you have to honestly ask yourself if you can go that way on such multiple-touch wagers. I would split my bankroll up. If I am a $50 bettor, then I’d give myself $10 per number. If I found that I would go over that total amount I’d reduce the next bets to $5 each. Money management is in the hands of the players after all. And, the following is no secret to any of us, if you think you might be betting too much you can always abandon one sequence of numbers. Never be afraid to draw back your bets. 

Student: If you had a sequence of four but you can’t afford to bet all four numbers can you just bet two of them?

Frank Responds: Yes. You always have to be comfortable with your betting amounts. It is no fun to have your heart racing with fear. So cutting up a bet as you suggest is perfectly fine. Safety first!

Student: Do you usually see sequences of three or four or more numbers in a row that are touching?

Frank Responds: Not really. Doubles are far more common. Getting two sets of doubles in a twenty-number list is not strange at all. That’s why you must have enough money to cover the strategy. But those long strings of numbers? Not a big occurrence.

Student: What about the idea of betting numbers on either side of the doubles or triples to extend your range? That would give you far more numbers that could hit. Maybe a more extensive strategy is called for.

Frank Responds: That would be more of a sector slicing type of a system and again it could get very expensive for the player. In the Scobe’s Touch and Go Roulette System, the idea is different than just sector slicing and safer overall so it is far less dangerous to the player’s bankroll. So stick to the system as it is and don’t add to it. We actually don’t want more bets than are called for.

WHY DO WE PLAY SYSTEMS?

No gambling writer in his or her right mind would advocate systems as advantage play ones when they are nothing of the sort. Obviously while I enjoy writing and discussing various systems of play, I do not advocate them as advantage-play opportunities. However, with good money management and a sane application of the systems you wish to play, these can be fun to try. Just don’t lose your rational mind as you play.

The following words are wise to remember: You must be responsible for your money and only gamble what you can afford to gamble.

If a tiny thought in the back of your head says, “Maybe I should quit,” then maybe you should quit. Taking a break from play is never a bad idea. The casino isn’t going anywhere during your break. And when you take that break get out of the casino and do something else; work out, take a walk, people watch, chat with some friends but out of the casino you go.

You can take breaks when you are losing and when you are winning. There is no rule of nature that dictates when those breaks should occur. Use your head!

All the best in and out of the casinos!