It is no secret that returns from video poker games have been on the decline. Such is capitalism. Casino management wants to make the most profit possible from the gaming floor. Consider the three pay tables shown below. They are for Jacks or Better. They include the full-pay (sometimes called 9/6) as well as lesser paying schedules.

How Are Video Poker Pay Tables Labeled?

In most cases, the pay table that was initially released for a specific game had the highest return to the player. Over the years, as the popularity of video poker grew rapidly, casinos began changing the pay tables to increase their edge. While not always the case, when casino management lowers the return of a pay table, the two lines that are normally changed are those for the “Full House” and “Flush.”

The original Jacks or Better (originally called Draw Poker) pay table paid nine coins for each coin bet for a full house and six coins for each coin bet for a flush. This was considered the “full-pay” version of the game since later pay tables virtually always paid less. The short-cut way to refer to this pay table became 9/6 which indicated the pays for full house and flush. 

Later pay tables for Jacks or Better no longer were 9/6. They were changed to 8/6, 9/5, 8/5, and even lower returns such as 7/5. The 8/6 pay table pays 8-for-1 for a full house and 6-for-1 for a flush. The 9/5 pay table pays 9-for-1 for a full house and 5-for-1 for a flush. In each case, whether it is 7/5, 8/5, 9/5, 8/6, or 9/6, the first number refers to the pay for a full house and the second number refers to the pay for a flush. Normally, no other pay lines are changed.

For each reduction of one coin for a full house or a flush, the return of that game is reduced by a little more than 1 percent – meaning a little more than a 1 percent increase in casino profit. These two pay lines have a big influence on the overall return. The details of the exact reduction in returns are shown below after the images.

What follows are three pay tables – all Jacks or Better – 9/6, 8/5, and 7/5.

JACKS OR BETTER FULL-PAY (9/6)

JACKS OR BETTER 8/5 VERSION

JACKS OR BETTER 7/5 VERSION

At one time, a few decades ago, the Jacks or Better 9/6 version (paying 9 for 1 for a full house and 6 for 1 for a flush) shown in the first image was common. As time passed, the inventory of 9/6 Jacks or Better video poker slowly gave way to the 8/5 version shown in the second image. Today, the 7/5 version of Jacks or Better video poker holds a substantial piece of the casino floor video poker footprint. Many of today’s casinos offer a 6/5 version on the main casino floor and offer the 8/5 version only in the high roller section of their casino.

Let’s look at the effects of reducing the pays for full house and flush by a single credit.

With perfect play (and over time), the 9/6 version returns 99.5 percent of the amount wagered by the player.

The 8/5 version returns just 97.3 percent. By reducing the pays for the full house and flush by one credit each (which doesn’t sound like a lot), the return is lowered by 2.2 percent. The house edge goes from a half a percent to 2.7 percent. 

The 7/5 version of Jacks or Better video poker returns just 96.1 percent of the amount wagered on the game. Lowering the pay for a full house by one additional credit reduces the return of the game by an additional 1.2 percent. The house edge for the 7/5 version of Jacks or Better is 3.9 percent. 

Keep in mind that these percentages are assuming the player plays a perfect game. 

What is Perfect Play?

Perfect play means the player always saves for the highest expected return. Very few video poker players even know what the best plays are, much less are they able to play each and every hand perfectly. Each mistake puts a little bit more of the casino’s video poker pot.

And, even more disappointing, many casinos have even worse video poker pay tables. It is not uncommon to see games returning 95 percent, 94 percent or even less.

Casinos generally have approximately the same return percentages on the same type and denomination of video poker game throughout the casino. If a 25 cent Jacks or Better game on one machine returns 97 percent, usually other 25 cent Jacks or Better games in the same casino will have the same return percentage. The return percentages will generally vary by denomination with lower denominations generally have lower return percentages and higher denomination games having high return percentages.

Even when a casino has consistent return percentages for the same type and denomination of video poker game, each distinct game type within a denomination can have a different return percentage.

A-25 cent single play Jacks or Better game can have a different return percentage than a three-play game which can be different than a five-play game. Each different number of plays could have a different return percentage.

Progressive games almost always have a lower return percentage when the progressive jackpot is at the starting (or reset) value. As the progressive jackpot builds, the return percentage increases. If the progressive jackpot gets high enough, the return percentage can meet or exceed that of a same denomination single play game.

A Look at the House Edges

Let's look at what return (and house edge) percentages actually mean to video poker players.

With perfect play, full-pay (9/6) Jacks or Better games return 99.5 percent of the amount played through the game. For every 100 dollars played through, the game costs the player only 50 cents. How much play constitutes $100? 80 hands at $1.25 a hand on a 25-cent game and 20 hands at 5 dollars per hand on a dollar game amounts to 100 dollars played. Considering the average video poker player completes roughly 500 hands per hour, the difference can really add up.

Compare that to the 8/5 Jacks or Better game which returns 97.3 percent (2.7 percent house edge). For every 80 hands on a 25-cent game and every 20 hands on a dollar game, the player will lose $2.70 on average.

What about the 7/5 Jacks or Better game returning 96.1 percent (3.9 percent house edge) with perfect play? For every 100 dollars played, the player will lose $3.90. That amounts to 19.5 cents on each and every hand for the dollar player.

In many casinos it is worse. A game that returns 95 percent costs the player five dollars for every 100 dollars wagered – that amounts to 25 cents per hand for a dollar game.

Keep in mind that this is the average loss for a player who plays the game perfectly – and few do that. Exacerbating the situation is the fact that it is very common for video poker players to play 500, 600, 800, and even 1,000 hands per hour. At 500 hands per hour, a player playing perfectly on a dollar full-pay Jacks or Better game returning 99.5 percent will lose $12.50 per hour of play on average. 

At the same rate a player on a 7/5 Jacks or Better game will lose will lose $97.50 per hour. That is a huge difference.

Are There Full-Pay (9/6) Jacks or Better Machines in Las Vegas? 

At one time full-pay (9/6) Jacks or Better machines could be found in nearly every Las Vegas casino. The landscape slowly changed. It is increasingly difficult to find these sought-after games in Vegas today.

How can a video poker player locate these full-pay Jacks or Better games today?  Try doing a search of the Internet for “9/6 Jacks or Better Vegas”. You will get some valid results, but this could be hit or miss.

The website "vpfree2" has video poker information for casinos throughout the U.S. It shows video poker inventory for each casino in most gambling venues in the country. The information includes game, pay table, and denomination. It is certainly worth a look.

Full-pay (9/6) Jacks or Better Playing Strategy

If players are to get the most out of their play, they must play the proper strategy. This strategy changes based on the game and pay table. If players are fortunate enough to find a full-pay (9/6) Jacks or Better game, they should play the proper strategy. 

Strategies for several games are readily available by searching the Internet. If playing full-pay Jacks or Better, search for “jacks or better strategy”. Several options will appear. Make sure that they are for the full-pay (9/6) Jacks or Better game as other varieties of video poker also have 9/6 pay tables.

Summary

Full pay Jacks or Better video poker is becoming more and more difficult to find. In today’s casinos, the 8/5 version is usually the highest paying Jacks or Better game that can be found – many times, even at a $5 per credit denomination in the high stakes room.

Spotting the casino an additional house edge of over two percent makes playing 8/5 Jacks or Better a bad idea (in my opinion). A player can make a lot of errors on a 9/6 game and still have the house edge be much lower than that of the 8/5 game. What should a player do?

Many (if not most) casinos that feature 8/5 Jacks or Better as their highest paying Jacks or Better game, also have 8/5 Bonus Poker which has a house edge of just 0.9 percent. The video poker strategy is also relatively simple. It is similar to Jacks or Better strategy so the learning curve is fairly low. Look for these games.

If there are no 8/5 bonus poker games available, check for other video poker variations such as Deuces Wild. With a little searching, most casinos have some sort of video poker game that has a low house edge of about one percent or less.

The house edge is the primary driver for successful video poker play - meaning returning home with the most money. It is next to impossible to have winning sessions when playing games with more than a two percent house edge.

However – and this is a big however – if you have the bankroll to play higher house edge games and don’t get upset with losses, play whatever game you find interesting. It is your money to enjoy spending however you please. Just make sure your bankroll is specifically reserved for casino play and not part of your normal monthly budget.

As long as the player knows what the house edge is and understands what that means to their bankroll, they are going into the casino with their eyes open. They must make sure, however, that when they enter the casino, they have an adequate bankroll and the discipline to not play beyond it. 

It is their money. If they are aware of the cost of their entertainment and can afford the loss, it is their money and their choice.

Play to have fun – however fun is defined.

Online slots and slot machine players love new game experiences, and slot manufacturers stand ever ready to offer them.

New games we can expect to see in 2020 include pop culture themes including the latest Monopoly game from Scientific Games, Jeopardy! from International Game Technology, and The Karate Kid and the Mask from Everi.

 

 

They include games with rewards for small cycles of spins, such as Ainsworth’s Super Lit Vegas and Incredible Technologies’ Happy 8’s. And there are progressives galore, including Konami Gaming’s Ba Fang Jin Bao series.

Let’s check out some new slots to anticipate from game makers in 2020.

SCIENTIFIC GAMES

Monopoly Electric Win$:  No year would be complete without a new Monopoly game, and Scientific Games has come through with a six-reel, 20-line game packed with bonus fun/

It’s available in multiple coin denominations from 1 cent to 50 cents. In addition to your bets on the base game, there’s a 25-credit bonus bet that activates a special Electric Reel.

In the Board Bonus on a supersized version of the iconic Monopoly board, players roll dice to determine a number of multipliers to be added to the board. You have a chance at one of four progressive jackpots or one of six bonuses, all awarded randomly.

In both the Pick and Match Bonus and Community Chest Bonus, players pick for credit prizes. In the Railroad Bonus, a prize train awards credit prizes and a multiplier. In the Dice Bonus, players roll for credit prizes. Lastly, in the Free Spins Bonus, players are awarded 10 free spins, and if a MONOPOLY Electric Win$ symbol lands on the reels, an additional 10 free spins are awarded.
Away from the board, the base game includes an Electric Reel that’s activated by the bonus bet. The Electric Reel can add wild symbols to the reels for power-packed wins. Before a spin, a Hotel symbol may appear in positions on the first five reels. Then if the Light Bulb symbol appears on the sixth reel, it transforms the hotels to wilds.

**Ultimate Cash Spin: The popular Cash Spin game combines with the new TwinStar J43 Motion Wheel cabinet for an interactive game experience. Players can now physically spin the wheel during the U-Spin Wheel Bonus to win free games, credit prizes, and one of three progressive jackpots.

Ultimate Cash Spin is a 30-line game available in denominations from 1 cent to $500 – it’s for low rollers and big shooters alike. The U-Spin Wheel Bonus is triggered by three U-Spin symbols on the reels and awards one spin. If the wheel lands on a wedge with a Diamond symbol, then a spin of the Ultimate Wheel is awarded featuring upgraded prizes, including the chance to win the Grand progressive jackpot. 

A Free Games Bonus awarded by the wheel begins with the player spinning a Free Games Wheel for possibilities that include up to 15 free games with a 2x multiplier.  The U-Spin Wheel Bonus can be retriggered during the free games for big win possibilities. 
Ultimate Cash Spin also includes Cash Spin’s popular Money Bag Bonus, where players choose among moneybags to win from three to 20 times their bets. And if you pick a back with a “+1” display, you win an extra pick along with the credits. 

INTERNATIONAL GAME TECHNOLOGY

**Zodiac Lion: A five-reel video slot on IGT’s Crystal Curve slot cabinet, Zodiac Lion has an unusual configuration on its five video reels. The first, third and fifth reels are four symbols deep, while the second and fourth are five symbols deep.
The result is a 50-line game with a 100-credit wager to cover all lines and bonuses. That’s a $1 wager on a 1-cent game.
During the base game, when a lion symbol appears inside of a frame on the reel, it unlocks the frame and transforms it to a wild symbol. 

The Lion Spin bonus is triggered during the base game when three or more lion spin symbols appear in locked frames, awarding one free spin for every triggering symbol. Once the bonus is triggered, a giant wheel spins behind the reels to award players up to 22 lion symbols per spin for an anticipation-building experience. 
 
 **Jeopardy! High-denomination players get their chance for a credit explosion or implosion through Final Jeopardy in a new high-denomination slot.

Based on the long-popular TV game show, Jeopardy! includes three progressive jackpot levels. You can bet one, three, six, 10 or 20 credits per spin, but it takes at least a six-credit wager to be eligible for the Jeopardy bonus event. Those who bet 10 get four extra paylines and increased Daily Double chances, and if you bet 20, you get even more Daily Doubles and improved chances for a progressive jackpot.

When three bonus symbols appear on an active payline, they trigger the Jeopardy bonus. At the start, five free spins are awarded. During those spins, if a bonus symbol appears, you’re awarded a prize that can include a progressive jackpot, and the number of remaining spins is reset to five.

If three bonus symbols appear on a payline during the event, you advance to Double Jeopardy with increased rewards. Anytime a Daily Double symbol appears in either Jeopardy or Double Jeopardy, credit awards are doubled.

At the end of the bonus spins, you can either keep the credits you’ve won or give them up to play Final Jeopardy. There, you select up to four spaces from the board. They reveal credit values that are added and offered to. You can accept or decline and try again. If you decline, you pick again for a new offer. If you decline that, you can try once more, and the value of your final picks become your prize for the round.

KONAMI GAMING

**Dragon’s Law SeleXion: Two new linked jackpot games feature the iconic long-tailed dragon that captured players’ imaginations on earlier Dragon’s Law game.

In Dragon’s Law Boosted, players have a choice. You can play either the original Dragon’s Law game with five video reels, each three symbols deep, or you can hit the “boosted” button to double the possibilities.

If you play the boosted version, you each reel is six symbols deep for extra chances to win at slots. Dragon’s Law’s random wild feature returns. After a spin wild symbols can appear on top of symbols on the screen. With the boost, Dragon’s Law adds a random progressive that includes a Maxi jackpot that starts at $5,000.

The SeleXion companion title to Dragon’s Law Boosted is Dragon’s Law Rapid Fever, which showcases the popular Dragon’s Law mystery wild. 

Throughout primary play, an activated Strike Zone area is outlined in blue. Bigger bets can expand the Strike Zone from right to left. Randomly during or after any spin, the long-tailed dragon flies down to the reels to scatter wild symbols packed random bonus prizes. 

Prizes include credit awards, jackpots, and wheel spins. All prizes that land within the Strike Zone are awarded, while those that land outside the Strike Zone serve as regular wild symbols.

**Ba Fang Jin Bao: Eight is a lucky number in Chinese culture, and in two new games under the Ba Fang Jin Bao umbrella, the lucky 8sgo down all the way to your wagers. Penny players can make bets ranging from 88 cents to $8.80.

Two themes, Abundant Fortune and Fortune Totems, feature a symbol-driven, four-level linked progressive system. At the top is the Grand jackpot, which starts building from a $10,000 base.

Both themes feature a chance at a progressive jackpot anytime a gold ingot symbol lands on the reels. When the progressive feature is triggered, 12 gold ingots appear across the screen, which players tap to reveal a corresponding progressive jackpot prize. When 3 matching jackpot symbols are uncovered, you are awarded the corresponding jackpot amount. 

EVERI

**The Vault: You’re looking to empty the vault and fill your bankroll in a series of five-reel penny slots featuring three base games in 30 or 40-line configurations. All feature a bank-wide bonus feature and community-style play. 

In an Empty the Vault respin bonus, gold from the vault can give a big boost to credit prizes that are locked on the screen. When triggered, reels will spin in a lock-and-respin mode. Scatter symbols bring the biggest rewards: When three scatter symbols are locked on the same column, they will increase on every following spin. Treasure will fall from the top screen vault onto the locked reels.

In the bank-wide Diamond Rush bonus feature, everyone tries to steal diamonds from other players at the bank and lock them in for Diamond Heist time. The Heist is triggered when a vault symbol reveals a diamond or a diamond plus credits during the Diamond Rush bonus.

**The Karate Kid: A five-reel, 30-line penny game features the Karate Tournament bonus. One large wheel spins to lock in a progressive jackpot tier available to the player. You can win the jackpot by with a reel spin during which the 3 x 5 reel set contains only fist symbols and blank spaces. 

Another feature is the Wild Strike Bonus which is initiated randomly during any spin. During the bonus, the reels split up to six times and add wild reels giving players extra chances to win progressive jackpots.

**The Mask: Movie thrills come through on this five-reel, 40-line penny slot. During the Free Games bonus with Jackpot Wheel Spin, players can land full stack combinations to win instant credit prizes or the special combination to unlock a single spin of the jackpot wheel. The jackpot wheel guarantees a jackpot prize up to the progressive value.

In the Pick Bonus with Prize Jump, players who locate Milo, the Jack Russell Terrier, advance up 10 possible levels to larger prizes with gold and silver keys instantly unlocking credit prizes. Steer clear of the cheese, because finding two cheesy symbols end the bonus.

AINSWORTH GAME TECHNOLGY

**Super Lit Vegas: The latest in Ainsworth’s successful QuickSpin family incorporates a “Persistent State” play mechanic in which players build toward wheel spins in quick, seven play cycles.

While you play, you collect orb symbols.  On the seventh spin, the orbs become wild, so a big orb collection can lead to big wins. If you collect eight or more orbs during the seven-spin set, you get a Wheel Spin for credits – usually in the hundreds, but with a 10,000-credit top.

On average, you’ll win the Wheel Spin once per eight cycles, or once per 56 spins.

In regular play, three “free games” symbols will launch 15 free spins. You can collect orbs throughout event, and on the 15th spin, they turn wild. Players can get the Wheel Spin through the free spins, too.

**Captain’s Quest: With Captain’s Quest, Ainsworth launches an “Ultimate Upgrade” line of games, in which Ultimate Upgrade symbols launch special features.

A 1-cent game with 30 paylines, Captain’s Quest includes the Persistent Play mechanic. You play in cycles of 10 spins.

Each time an Ultimate Upgrade symbol appears, you collect one of five features: Symbol Replaced, 1 Wild Reel, Wilds Added, Extra Lines, or Multipliers. On the 10th spin, all features are awarded into a final spin. Players can collected some of, all of or multiple of each of the features.
Three or more scattered symbols launch free games in which the player can choose one off the five upgrades.

INCREDIBLE TECHNOLOGIES

**Happy 8’s: The number 8 is lucky for players in an Asian themed game that features “Scatter Blast,” where you can accumulate bonuses, progressives and wilds over an eight-spin cycle.

You build up your extras on the first seven spins, and on the eighth, all wilds are released to the 40 line reel set below. That can bring some huge wins on the reels, and any progressive awards or bonus meters that have been filled with their scatter icons are also awarded. Then everything is reset to start another eight-spin cycle.

If three Bonus scatters accumulate within eight spins, then eight free spins are triggered. Any accumulated wilds from the base game are carried over to free spins, where accumulated wilds are active on the reels and shift with every spin.

 All the collected wilds and features carry back over to the base game to finish up any reaming spins in the cycle for even more chances to gather wilds and win progressive awards. 

The 40-line game with four progressive levels is available in 1, 2, 5 and 10-cent denominations, and you can bet 60, 120, 180, 240 or 300 credits.

**Ultra Rush Golden Steed Feel the Rush:  Made for IT’s Infinity Skybox cabinet with three video screens, this 60-line game puts an innovative twist on the hold-and-spin bonus game mechanic. It can be configured for coin denominations ranging from 1 cent to $1.

Ultra Rush Golden Steed has ornate Eastern-inspired symbols to evoke luck and fortune. Three golden medallion scatters trigger 10 free spins with the chance to re-trigger for more free games. 

You also can win the Ultra Rush feature on any spin when six scatter symbols land on either an upper or a lower set of reels. The scatters show credit amounts and remain locked while all the rest of the regular symbols are cleared to reveal new reel sets that have only blanks, credit scatters, and wheel scatters. 

Players begin the event with only three spins but each time a scatter lands, the free spin countdown is reset back to three. Players who fill an entire screen are rewarded a huge credit bonus in addition to the credit amounts collected with scatters. 

On top of that, any wheel scatter symbols are worth a chance to spin the jackpot and progressive wheel.

I was not able to attend this year’s Blackjack Ball because of my wife’s unexpected surgery that occurred the week of the Ball. Nevertheless, my good friends Rick Blaine (co-author of the excellent Blackjack Blueprint book) and Max Rubin (co-host of the Ball) provided me with the details that I used to write this article.

• Click here for part two of blackjack ball 2020

As is always the case, this year’s 24th Blackjack Ball was held at a closely guarded, secret location in Las Vegas. The 103 invited guests, which included some of the most dangerous players from the USA and abroad, gather each year to socialize, cast votes to determine who will be inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame, and compete in a skills competition to determine who will win the title (and bragging rights) for the “World’s Greatest Blackjack Player.”

(Note: Thirteen members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame attended. There is also a waiting list of players who would like to be invited to the Ball. Each potential candidate must be approved by a committee of Blackjack Hall of Famers.)

The event begins with hors d’oeuvres with plenty of champagne (each guest is required to bring one bottle of “premium” champagne), a delicious buffet courtesy of Barona Resorts and Casino (guests also pony up $100 to defray some of its cost), a charitable Calcutta, and the 21-question test and table competition. There is also an after-party where guests can continue to schmooze and exchange casino stories and blackjack strategies until early the next morning.

The list of attendees includes some of the world’s best (and most dangerous) active and retired advantage players, as well as others who have contributed to the craft. Some of the attendees may be familiar to you: Edward Thorp (inventor of card counting); Johnny Chang (MIT Team); Don Johnson (who beat several Atlantic City casinos out of $15 million); and James Grosjean (considered by his peers to be the world’s best and brightest blackjack player).

This year, there were also several invited guests:

•    Jean Scott (recently retired “Queen of Comps,” and author of several popular Frugal Gambling books)
•    Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale (who lost more than $13 million in bets on the Houston Astros to win the 2019 World Series to hedge a potential $20 million loss on a promotion at his Houston furniture store)
•    Todd Dewey (writer for Las Vegas Review Journal, who wrote an article on this year’s Blackjack Ball that appeared in the 3/1/2020 edition of the newspaper)
•    Roger Gross (publisher of Global Gaming Business magazine, the leading trade publication for the gaming industry)

NOMINEES FOR THE BLACKJACK HALL OF FAME

Attendees voted for the following nine nominees. (Note: After you read each of the nominees’ accomplishments, whom would you have voted for?)

CAT HULBERT

Cat was selected as one of BBC’s 100 Women of 2016 – an honor given to “high-profile women from the spheres of entertainment, sport, business and politics.” Chosen for being the first woman to break through the glass ceiling of professional blackjack in 1978, she played on the Czechoslovakian blackjack team in over 300 casinos worldwide. Cat’s aggressive play and fearlessness changed many opinions on the mathematical and emotional capabilities of women to bet it up under pressure.

Selected by Card Player Magazine in 1996 as one of the best and smartest card players in the world, she was one of only eight professional gamblers to be included in Richard Munchkin’s book, Gambling Wizards. Along with teaching a women-only poker class for many years at the Hollywood Park Casino, Cat also wrote Outplaying the Boys, a humorous book and guide for women, published in NYC in 2005, teaching ladies how to become more competitive in life and at the tables.

Cat was featured in LA’s The Daily Breeze and the Sunday LA Times for her top-notch card-playing abilities in blackjack and poker. Also a contestant on Blackjack’s Tournament of Champions, Cat has been a guest on numerous radio shows including NPR, Gambling with an Edge, and BBC’s The Conversation. She is often sought out due to her unusual successful life choices and her mission to change how women are viewed – by men and by themselves alike. On December 7, 2016, the BBC published a biographical article based on her remarkable exploits that claimed to have received a million reads the first day it appeared on their homepage.

MIKE MICHALEK

Mike was one of the earliest card counters to realize that there were opportunities in blackjack beyond straight counting. Credited by many for creating some of the earlier shuffle- and ace-tracking methods, he was one of the very few APs who could walk through a casino, see a game or procedure, and often design unique plays to exploit new opportunities “on the spot.”

When Mike’s name comes up among those in the know, the word “creative” often begins that conversation. As the brain behind many successful sports and blackjack projects, many famous APs relied on the lessons learned from Mike to accumulate massive bankrolls and mostly all of them attribute money they’ve made over the years to his influence. Renowned professional blackjack players including Tommy Hyland, Bill Benter, John Chang, Peter Wagner, Richard Dougherty, and many, many more often pay homage to Mike for taking their games to new heights.

Although Mike has been inactive for more than ten years due to serious health issues, some of his more clever blackjack “inventions” are still being used by talented APs across the globe to harvest money from casinos that continue to remain unfamiliar with the unique playing and betting techniques that he created decades ago.

MARK BILLINGS

Starting in 1981, Mark enjoyed a blackjack career that included many of the usual suspects (counting, shuffle-tracking, etc.). In addition, he traveled the world as one of the early computer players, and was instrumental in pioneering advanced non-counting methods of getting an edge. Many of these exploits are recounted in his book, The Ultimate Edge. Roulette was next, taking over where Doyne Farmer and the Eudaemons had left off and succeeding in a way that had to be seen to be believed. (Book to follow.)

RICHARD DOUGHERTY

Richard has long been one of the blackjack players casinos fear the most ... and most often. Casinos have sent out literally hundreds of flyers, bulletins, and alerts about Richard during his more than three decades as a blackjack “Road Warrior,” and yet he still marches on.

Throughout his long, illustrious and (in)famous career, blackjack has been Richard’s virtually only source of income. No matter how many times the casinos back him off, assault him, and even go so far as to have him arrested for his legal activities, he never stops his relentless attack on their games.

Not only does Richard refuse to be intimidated by casino and surveillance personnel, he’s also “turned the tables” on casinos and extracted hefty scores via profitable lawsuits after suffering through illegal “back roomings” and outright beatings in front of the public on the casino floor on the Las Vegas Strip! As if that weren’t enough to put Richard in the casinos’ crosshairs, as a fearless and fun-loving casino prankster, he’s also pulled off a number of clever and legendary practical jokes that leave everyone (other than the casinos) laughing with glee.

MARIA “THE GREEK”

Maria is the co-founder and one-time manager of “The Greeks” blackjack team. Having quit their day jobs as very successful New York attorneys, she, her brother, and highly respected colleagues formed the largest single group of players in history; at one time she simultaneously managed over 40 individual players. She recruited only the top talent, having the most notoriously difficult set of tests required to pass in order to get onto the team. Additionally, Maria’s team won countless millions utilizing a “slash and burn” technique in which BPs would wade into the middle of a game, often betting 3 x $10,000. Needless to say, each BP didn’t last long, but the enormous bets resulted in some of the largest card counting wins in history.

An extraordinary businessperson, she utilized her business acumen, extraordinarily high I.Q. (even among the best of the best), along with common sense to guide the most successful single card counting team this century.

Along with being a master at sequencing, tracking, and now a high-stakes poker professional, Maria is also the only woman to have ever won the coveted title of “World’s Greatest Blackjack Player” at the Blackjack Ball (even in the days when arm wrestling, chip shuffling, card tossing, and more were among the 11 events at the final table).

ANTHONY CURTIS

Not only is Anthony the most successful publisher of professional gambling books in history, with over 100 titles to his credit (including eight by members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame), he is also unequivocally the most famous gambling expert in the world.

With a career spanning some 40 years as a highly successful professional player in blackjack, casino tournaments (of all stripes), sports, and other forms of gambling, he is also the creator of “Couponomy,” as featured in his monthly Las Vegas Advisor (in print and Internet form). The latter is the most successful, longest running, and ongoing Las Vegas gaming publication ever written and published.

As well as being featured on countless high-profile television programs ranging from The Today Show to 20/20 and more, he has also consulted as a gambling expert for Premium Movies (Disney, Ocean’s 13, etc.), and acted as the “go to” writer and expert for scores of print media companies, including The Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Newsweek, USA Today, The London Times, and more.

NORM WATTENBERGER

Norm is the foremost blackjack software developer in the world today, and his line of Casino Vérité products has come to be known as the quintessential tool for analyzing virtually any problem associated with the game of live blackjack. The incredible graphics and the realism of the practice modes of CV have received the highest praise from the thousands of satisfied customers who have honed their skills on this magnificent product.

Norm has made a great many of his computer studies and applications available free of charge on the internet, and you will be amazed at the sophistication of his analyses as you visit his website at qfit.com. A consummate programmer, Norm is an industry legend who continues to provide computer simulations and studies to answer problems on his blackjackforum.com while continuing his blackjack research. His two-volume Modern Blackjack is perhaps one of the most original and comprehensive treatments of the game in print, and represents hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of computer-generated insights into the game not to be found anywhere else.

BLAIR HULL

Blair was a big player on Frank Salerno’s highly successful blackjack team in the mid-’70s. He began playing solo in 1971 and continued to run his own team in the late ’70s.

In 1977, Blair was intrigued by the financial markets and became a market maker on the Pacific Stock Exchange, where he founded Hull Trading. Using quantitative models, Hull Trading became one of the world’s premier market-making firms, trading on 26 exchanges in nine countries until being sold in 1999 to Goldman Sachs for $531 million. Worth Magazine named him one of “Wall Street’s 25 Smartest Players.”

In 2004, Blair sought the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in Illinois in a race that was won by Barack Obama. He currently serves as manager of Hull Tactical Asset Allocation (HTAA), which uses macro-economic, fundamental, and sentiment data along with machine-learning techniques to predict moves in the S&P 500.

LANCE HUMBLE

Lance (deceased in 2016) was a university professor in Toronto who became fascinated with card counting at casino blackjack in the early ’70s after reading Blackjack Hall of Fame member Edward Thorp’s Beat the Dealer. Lance hired Thorp’s computer whiz, BJHoF member Julian Braun, to devise playing strategies for two counting systems he christened as Hi-Opt 1 and Hi-Opt 2 that Braun also tested via computer simulation, finding them to be quite powerful versus the typical Las Vegas rules and conditions. Lance started selling these systems via mail order in the mid-’70s, at which time he founded the International Blackjack Club and started publishing a newsletter that primarily printed reports from card counters on their experiences and win/loss results in Las Vegas casinos. He also hired BJHoF member Peter Griffin to devise multi-parameter (side-count) tables for his Hi-Opt systems.

Lance is primarily known as the co-author (with Carl Cooper) of The World’s Greatest Blackjack Book, published in hardcover by Doubleday in 1980, with a second edition published in paperback in 1987. Doubleday had extensive distribution and the Hi-Opt systems were soon among the most widely used card-counting systems throughout the ’80s. Because the Hi-Opt systems required a side-count of aces, they fell out of favor with players who preferred the simpler systems, like Hi-Lo. But Lance was responsible for bringing many thousands of serious players into the game in the ’70s and ’80s.

NEWEST INDUCTEE INTO THE BLACKJACK HALL OF FAME

Congratulations to Anthony Curtis for being voted by his peers into the prestigious Blackjack Hall of Fame.

Note: Curtis garnered almost twice as many votes as the second place finisher. The other contenders are listed in the order of votes received: Mike Michalek, Maria the Greek, Blair Hull, Cat Hulbert, Mark Billings, Richard Dougherty, Norm Wattenberger, Lance Humble.

Curtis now joins an illustrious group of blackjack luminaries in the Blackjack Hall of Fame. (You can view the physical Blackjack Hall of Fame at the Barona Resort and Casino, located in San Diego, California.) The up-to-date listing of the members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame (and the year they were inducted) follows:

Al Francesco (2002)
Peter Griffin (2002)
Tommy Hyland (2002)
Arnold Snyder (2002)
Edward O. Thorp (2002)
Ken Uston (2002)
Stanford Wong (2002)
Max Rubin (2004)
Keith Taft (2004)
Julian Bruan (2005)
Lawrence Revere (2005)
John Chang (2006)
James Grosjean (2006)
Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel, and James McDermott, collectively known as the “Four Horsemen of Aberdeen” (2008)
Richard Munchkin (2009)
Darryl Purpose (2010)
Zeljko Ranogajec (2011)
Ian Andersen (2012)
Robert Nersesian (2014)
Don Schlesinger (2015)
Bill Benter (2016)
Don Johnson (2017)
Wally Simmons (2018)
Rob Reitzen (2019)
Anthony Curtis (2020)

CALCUTTA

Next on the agenda was the charitable Calcutta, which is sort of pari-mutuel wagering where the attendees can bet on who they think will win the coveted Grosjean Cup and title of “World’s Greatest Blackjack Player.” Below is the list of the seeds (i.e., THE PLAYERS) where attendees were slotted into an appropriate grouping. The second column (BEST FINISH) shows the results for each seed in previous Balls. Max posted the opening odds of winning (on his overhead slide at the Ball) for each seed, and then started the bidding. (The first row titled THE FIELD is everyone else who isn’t listed in another team.) Attendees in each seed are also allowed to purchase up to 50% of themselves from the highest bidder.

COMPETITION FOR “WORLD’S GREATEST BLACKJACK PLAYER”

The competition for the title (and bragging rights) as the “World’s Greatest Blackjack Player” consists of several rounds, the first being a challenging 21-question written test followed by a series of subsequent rounds conducted on a blackjack table that test the player’s card-counting skills.

(Note: The written test includes a mix of questions on blackjack, gambling trivia, and general knowledge because, as Rubin puts it, “A world-class blackjack player should know lots of stuff because you never know when it might come in handy.”)

Below are instructions read by Rubin prior to reading the test questions. Put on your thinking cap and try to answer them.

Blackjack Ball 2020: Round One Questions

In order to eliminate opportunities for mischief, as always, as you fill out your game card, you must completely answer each true or false question or multiple-choice question and fill in the blank before we move on to the next question. All answers must be marked with dark ink. You cannot change your answer once you have marked your card. If there are any blanks or changed answers when your graded card is turned in, you will be disqualified. It’s happened before, right Anthony? So be sure to complete every answer. One time only ‒ with NO revisions.

Please write your name on your card now to make sure that your pens are working. If they aren’t, hold up your hand and we’ll bring you another one.

Also, those who look at their cell phones for any reason, other than to take an emergency call ‒ in which case we will all wait until that emergency has been dealt with ‒ will also be disqualified from play. You are allowed to use the back of your playing card to calculate your answers.

You may only play with one card and only write on the back of that card. All who haven’t completed their single cards within 45 seconds after the last question has been asked will be eliminated.

Anyone on a team can buy a piece, including if you’re in the field, you can buy a pro-rata share, so EVERYBODY CAN BE IN ACTION.

MAKE SURE YOU PENS WORK. READY? HERE WE GO.

I’ll read each question twice. Ready?

1.    True or False? In his playing career, Hall-of-Famer James Grosjean has had a royal flush ON THE BOARD in Ultimate Texas Hold’Em; five Aces WITH A PAIR in Pai Gow Poker; and suited Quads in a 5-deck Spanish 21 game (meaning his first two cards and the dealer’s upcard and hole card were all the exact same rank and suit). In the past year, Hall-of-Famer Darryl Purpose had five consecutive blackjacks on the same spot in an 8-deck blackjack game. True or False? Darryl’s feat of five consecutive blackjacks is the most unlikely out of these rare hands.

2.    Which of these games that modern blackjack evolved from is the oldest? You may pick one of two answers that are correct.

a)    Quince from France
b)    Vingt-et-Un from France
c)    Treinte y Uno from Spain
d)    Trentuno from Italy
e)    Sette e Mezzo from Italy
f)    None of the above

3.    How many standard clay casino chips would you have to stack to equal the height of a single chip standing up on its edge?
Fill in the blank: _______________

4.    True or False? The “Data on the Nevada Gaming Abstract” from December 31, 2010 and ending on December 31, 2019, spans precisely nine years.

5.    Which one of these businesses was founded as a Playing Card Company?

a)    GLI
b)    Bally’s
c)    Nintendo
d)    Harrah’s
e)    Atari
f)    None of the above

6.    Spell Souvenir.

7.    True or False? In 1910, Nevada passed a law outlawing all forms of legalized gambling. However, in 1915, Nevada legalized blackjack.

8.    Another from blackjack’s Jedi Master (aka James Grosjean): Your aspiring blackjack wizard nephew tells you that for his 18th birthday this Tuesday, he wants to go to the Indigo Sky casino and turn his $5 bankroll into a fortune, without any help from you. He has only $5 on this earth. What additional bad news will you have to tell him about his plan?

a)    The gambling age there is 21, so he will have to find a different casino.
b)    There is almost no chance of finding a $5 table at the Indigo Sky.
c)    Even if he finds a $5 table, he’ll need to give his ID to get a player’s card.
d)    Casino security might ask him to remove his “MAGA” hat at the door.
e)    The Indigo Sky has only slot machines, no table games.

9.    This one could be a little tough for all of you, since by coming to the Blackjack Ball you’re all on your honor to NOT play at Barona. Now, while Barona generally has the most full-pay, pitch 21 games in the world (because they don’t have to worry about your setting up shop down there) and they’ll NEVER rip off their players with those ridiculous 6/5 games, Barona does have a LOT of other different blackjack games, because their players love them. Which one of these blackjack games is NOT currently being played at Barona?

a)    Blackjack Switch
b)    Dragon Blackjack
c)    Down Under Blackjack
d)    Zap it Blackjack
e)    Zombie Blackjack
f)    Double Deck Free Bet Blackjack

10.    True or False? According to several respected publications, blackjack, in which players receive a bonus for having a natural, was invented, named such, and began play on riverboats and Wild West casinos in the 19th century. So according to those publications, the name blackjack and the enhanced 3/2 payout were invented, introduced, and played for the first time within the confines of the current contiguous 48 United States.

11.    This is another Grosjean special: You walk into a Midwest casino and see that every table has a posted maximum of $100. If you knew that your starting two cards would be a suited Ace and King, which game would be worth the most money, assuming you only play the main game, and not the side bets?

a)    6:5 single-deck
b)    6:5 single-deck with “even money” allowed if the dealer shows an Ace up
c)    Three Card Poker
d)    Ultimate Texas Hold’Em
e)    Mississippi Stud

12.    Fact: As of December 31, 2019, downtown Las Vegas had fewer blackjack games of all stripes than they had as of December 31, 2010. Within 50, how many games were lost?

13.    True or False? In Deuces Wild video poker with any pay schedule, you are exactly 10 times as likely to be dealt a wild royal flush (i.e., a royal flush containing one, two, or three deuces) than you are to be dealt four deuces.

14.    In which of the following video poker games would the value of a suited AK be greater than the value of a suited AQ?

a)    Triple Bonus Poker
b)    Triple Bonus Poker Plus
c)    Triple Double Bonus Poker
d)    A suited AK is always more valuable than a suited AQ in these games.
e)    A suited AK is never more valuable than a suited AQ in these games.

15.    This is a two-part question: What are the most points that either a Division 1 NCAA or NFL football team can lose by in overtime? You must have the correct number and league.

16.    True or False? The Silver Reef Casino that offers blackjack in Washington State is geographically north of the Casino de Montreal, in Montreal, and the Woodbine in Toronto.

17.    You are playing head’s up No Limit Texas Hold’Em and are dealt AK of hearts. Would it be easier to flop a set, or flop a 3-of-a-kind from this position?

a)    Flopping a set would be easier.
b)    Flopping 3-of-a-kind would be easier.
c)    They are the same.

18.    Here’s another beauty from James. Although the law was later overturned, in 2010 the Black Hawk city council passed an ordinance banning which one of the following from all its casinos?

a)    Bicycles
b)    Dice games
c)    Smoking
d)    Bets exceeding $100

19.    True or False? The Rolex Pearlmaster Oyster Perpetual Date Just is a lovely watch that will set you back $40,000 to purchase – or what some gentlemen in this room would call a cheap watch. True or False? The numbers on the watch are all typical Roman numerals – other than the twelve, which is replaced by the Rolex logo, and the three, which is replaced by the current day of the month.

20.    You’re a BP in a casino where no one knows basic strategy at all, so cover plays are unnecessary. The dealer has a 2 upcard. You hit your hard 8 and make a 16, and your beast of a hole-card spotter tells you to stand. Which of the following is not true?

a)    The dealer could have a 2 in the hole.
b)    The dealer could have a 9 in the hole.
c)    The dealer could have a 10 in the hole.
d)    As a BP, my job is to follow signals, not try to infer what the hole card is.
e)    They are all true.

21.    And we finish with one last question courtesy of James. Make sure to answer this one and everything else on your card within 45 seconds after I repeat it. Here we go: Assuming the dealer always plays out her hand and you’re playing blackjack on a six-deck, H17 game in which everyone still in action ties if the dealer busts with a 22, within one percent, what are the chances that the dealer will bust with exactly 22? I’m going to repeat the question one more time and then you will have exactly 45 seconds to finish your card. Any blank answers will result in a DQ. I’ll repeat it one more time. And good luck.

Note: You’ll find the answers to the test questions in Part 2 of this article (including the names of the players who had the most correct answers) as well as a summary of the subsequent rounds in the competition for the “World’s Greatest Player,” and who won the competition.

For more details on the background of the Ball, read my article on the 2019 Ball or the section on the Blackjack Ball in my Ultimate Blackjack Strategy Guide.
 

It was in the early 2000s that I first learned about a technique called “rhythm rolling” from my friend and fellow gambling author Frank Scoblete. Frank and I met periodically in Las Vegas when we were both card counting at blackjack. On one of my trips to Vegas, Frank excused himself and said he was going to play craps.

I thought this was odd, especially since Frank was an excellent card counter who had paid for one of his son’s college tuition from his winnings at blackjack. On another subsequent trip to Vegas, he spent more time playing craps than blackjack. I finally asked Frank why he was playing craps. He then told me was winning at craps using a new technique he learned, called “rhythm rolling.” For a split second, I thought Frank had gone off the deep end; nevertheless, Frank began to explain the meetings and playing sessions he had with a man known as the “Captain” in Atlantic City. (You can read about the Captain and his team of craps players in any number of craps books written by Frank.)

To say I was skeptical about someone’s being able to control his or her dice throws is an understatement. I mean the dice have to hit the back wall, don’t they, and when they do, they bounce all over the layout. Naw, as much as Frank tried to convince me that dice control “works” I was still skeptical.

But Frank was persistent and he invited me to a seminar on dice control that was being held at the Best Western Motel on Paradise Road in Las Vegas. The main speakers at the seminar were Jerry Patterson and a man named Sharpshooter. Sharpshooter spoke about the art and science of dice control, including the following topics:  degrees of freedom as they relate to the toss of a pair of dice, how to set and grip the dice, and how to toss them down the table. The seminar was informative but I still was not convinced.

It turned out that Patterson was starting to teach dice control classes to players who want to learn. Meanwhile, Scoblete teamed up with Dom LoRiggio (known in craps circles as the “Dominator”) to form a company called Golden Touch. Along with other hand-picked dice controllers, this group began playing together as a team, and offered intense two-day, hands-on classes to teach players the skills they needed to master to be successful at dice control (i.e., Golden Touch Craps or GTC classes). 

Word about “dice control” started to spread amongst the general public and I was being asked about it from scores of casino players. I finally decided to watch Frank, Dom, and his team play craps to get the lowdown on exactly what they doing. I went with them (over the course of two years) to casinos in Atlantic City, Tunica, Las Vegas, New Mexico, and even Canada, and what I observed was quite amazing. 

 

 

Casinos win at craps because, statistically, the number 7 appears once out of every six throws. As long as a crapshooter isn’t cheating (e.g., using loading dice), and simply flinging  the dice down the table, the result of the toss is random, meaning the 7 will appear once in every six throws, on average, Bottom line: As long as the dice throws are random, casinos win money and players lose money. It’s that simple.

What I observed when the members of the Golden Touch team threw the dice was quite different. On many occasions, I observed the dice being tossed 20 times without the appearance of a 7.  In fact, I witnessed several times monster rolls of 30 throws before the 7 appeared, and in one case, an epic 40-hand roll before the 7 showed. The team was winning a ton of money right in front of my eyes and so was I. (I’m no fool; I only made bets when one of the team members rolled the dice.)

During the period that I was observing the Golden Touch Team play craps, Frank kept bugging me to attend one of their weekend classes. I finally acquiesced and in November of 2005, I attended a class held in Tunica, MS. I was impressed with the skill of all of the instructors and how they mentored all the students (there were 50 in this class) as we practiced the dice control techniques on throwing stations and on regulation-sized craps tables. It was a very intensive weekend involving throwing the dice hundreds of times under the watchful eyes of instructors who mentored you to be sure you were setting the dice correctly, gripping them correctly, and most importantly, tossing them correctly.  Being a successful dice controller doesn’t happen overnight; it takes months of practice; nevertheless, I was surprised that I won their No-Sevens contest at the end of the two days. (This was a contest where each student tossed the dice to see who could roll the most times without a 7 appearing. I managed to win the contest with a 49-hand roll.  I still have a plaque commemorating this feat hanging in my office. )

Nevertheless, being a math guy I wanted more proof that the technique of “dice control” was, in fact, influencing the outcome of rolls. That’s when I asked my partner in the Blackjack Insider Newsletter, Dan Pronovost, to take a look at what these guys were doing. (Dan was another math guy with a lot of programming experience.)  Dan eventually flew to Vegas, and later to Atlantic City, to watch the guys play and to attend the weekend GTC class. Dan was impressed as I was with the way the team was rolling the dice.

To make a long story short, Dan went back to his office to figure out how he could statistically analyze their throws. In order to do this, he developed a unique software program called Smart Craps. Using what Dan called the Pro Test© dice control test, (which is an accurate statistical test for dice control), anyone can determine in several hundred throws whether or not he is influencing the dice enough to give him an edge at craps. (On the GTC shooters that Dan analyzed, the data showed that they were influencing the dice enough to have an edge over the casino.)

Unlike blackjack card counting, which is a mental skill that you must master, with dice control, you have to master a physical skill. That means you have to practice throwing the dice hundreds of hours at home. I purchased a practice throwing station to do just that, set it up in my garage, and began practicing my throws. I had all the good intentions of practicing regularly but with the busy schedule I had (that included lots of travel away from home), I failed miserably in practicing on a regular basis.  (The analogy is learning how to be a good golfer; if you play regularly, you can get to a certain skill level; however, if you stop playing for a few weeks or months and then go back and play, you rarely will be as good as you were before.)

Perhaps one day I’ll resurrect my practice rig (it’s still in my garage) and give it a try again. But be forewarned: based on my experience with dice control, you have to be able to put in many hundreds of hours of practice on a daily basis to be successful at it.

Note: Here is another interesting story on dice control that I will briefly summarize. I once spoke to Stanford Wong (the highly respected blackjack card counter, author, and Blackjack Hall of Famer) about my experiences with dice control, and he was as skeptical as I was about it. I encouraged him to attend a GTC class, which he eventually did. Wong tried dice control (you can read about his adventures on bj21.com, including the famous dice control challenge that occurred in 2004). Later, Wong wrote a book about dice control (Wong on Dice). (Wong’s writing a book on dice control was clearly an endorsement by him that the dice control technique works.)

(Previous to Wong’s book, my wife and I published a book on dice control written by Frank and Dom. It was called Golden Touch Craps Revolution. In the book, we went to great lengths to show in words and pictures the techniques you need to master to be successful at dice control.)

And finally, here's a Craps tip for you: You can read more about dice control in John Grochowski’s excellent The Ultimate Craps Strategy Guide.  

Craps gives you one of the best shots to win among casino games.

When betting pass plus odds or don’t pass plus free odds, the house edge can be measured in tenths of a percent. Even if you don’t bet the odds, casino games offer few better deals than the 1.4 percent house edge on don’t pass or don’t come, 1.41 percent on pass or come, or 1.52 percent when placing 6 or 8.

The best craps strategies focus on the bets with the lowest house edges. 

You can safely ignore one-roll bets with high edges to the house such as any 7 (16.67 percent) or any craps (11.11 percent). You also can ignore the multiroll hardway bets (9.09 percent on hard 6 or 8, 11.11 percent on hard 4 or 10) and the place bets on 4 or 10 (6.67 percent) and 5 or 9 (4 percent).

Combination bets such as the Iron Cross and hedge bets such as combining place 6 and 8 with any 7 don’t help you. The house edge of any combination is a weighted average of the component bets, and the high-house edge portions of combinations undermine your chances to win overall.

 

 

 

Which wagering system you should use depends on your temperament and bankroll. If you can’t stand being alone on the don’t side while other players cheer for the shooter, then don’t pass and don’t come aren’t for you despite the low edge. 

And if you’re short of bankroll, then systems that call for you to make multiple odds wagers are not for you. You could lose too large a share of your stake on a single roll of the dice.

With that in mind, these craps strategies will give you the best shot to win by staying on the bets with the lowest house edges.

DON’T PASS AND DON’T COME PLUS LAY THE ODDS

This will never be the most popular strategy because most players like the camaraderie of betting with the shooter.

But don’t pass and don’t come coupled with laying the odds gives you the lowest house edge among common wagers in the game of craps.

Lay odds are paid at true odds, meaning there is no house edge on that portion of a wager. The house edge for don’t pass or don’t come with lay odds is a weighted average of the 1.4 percent edge on the don’t bet and the zero edge on the odds.

With the common 3x, 4x, 5x odds, the craps house edge on the combination drops all the way to 0.2 percent.

The key is to keep your don’t pass and don’t come bets to a minimum, and to put the remainder of your normal-size wager into laying the odds. With that method, you expose the least money to the house edge on the don’ts, while saving most of your bet for the no-edge odds.

Most craps players like to have more than one number working. In this system, that’s accomplished by following up don’t pass wagers with don’t come wagers, and backing both with available odds.

You’d start with a don’t pass wager. When the shooter establishes a point, lay the odds, then make a don’t come bet. Once the shooter establishes a point for your don’t come bet, lay odds on that and make another don’t come bet, then lay the odds again in turn.

That gives you up to three numbers working at once, all with minimum don’t bets backed with odds.

If the shooter sevens out, all your don’t pass and don’t come bets win. If he makes any of the pass or come points, then you lose on that specific bet and you can follow up with a don’t bet to increase your working numbers back to three.

 

NOTE: For the short-bankrolled, there is nothing wrong with betting don’t pass, laying the odds and stopping there. 

The house edge is the same regardless of how many numbers you have working. Most players find it more exciting to have more action, but it’s always important to avoid overbetting your bankroll.

PASS AND COME PLUS ODDS

This is a favored method for a large number of players because the house edge is very low and it involves betting with shooter. The “win together” feel of a hot craps table can be really special.

The method parallels that of the don’ pass / don’t come method. Start with a minimum bet on pass. When the shooter establishes a point, back your pass bet with free odds and follow with a come bet. Once there’s a point number for the come, back it with odds, then make a second come bet and take odds there, too.

With the common 3x, 4x, 5x odds, the house edge on the pass plus odds and come plus odds combination is 0.37 percent. 

If your bankroll can’t handle full odds but you still want to take advantage of the no-edge odds bet, you can take as little as 1x odds, just matching your initial wager with free odds.

House edges are 0.85 percent with 1x odds, 0.61 with 2x odds, 0.47 with 3x, 0.33 with 5x, 0.18 with 10x, 0.10 with 20x and 0.02 with 100x.

Keep your pass and come bets low and put the remainder of your intended total into the odds.

Here’s an example of why: If you bet $25 on pass or come without odds, then per 100 decisions you have a total risk of $2,500 and an average loss expectation of $35.25. 

But if you reduce your pass and come bets to $5 and put the remainder of you wagers in odds, your risk on pass and come is only $500 per 100 decisions, with an average loss of $7.05. With no house edge, the average expectation on the odds is to break even.

Your average loss is lower when you shift money from pass or come into odds, and you can have a winning sessions at craps with results that aren’t as far above the norm as you’d need with the larger pass and come bets.

PASS, FOLLOWED BY PLACE BETS ON 6 AND 8

Place bets on 6 and 8 join pass, don’t pass, come, don’t come and the craps odds as common wagers with out edges of less than 2 percent.

The house edge of 1.52 percent isn’t quite as good as the others, and since there is no comeout for these bets, it takes fewer rolls to decide them than pass, don’t pass, come or don’t come.

You can’t back place bets with free odds. You make your bet, and if the shooter rolls your number before a 7 you win, and if a 7 comes first, you lose.

Players like to place 6 and 8 because it puts them on the most commonly rolled numbers other than 7.  With the other good bets, you take a chance of the comeout putting on less commonly rolled points – of 36 possible rolls, there are only three was to make 4, three to make 10, four to make 5 and four to make 9, compared with five each for 6 and 8.

The method is to start with a pass line bet. When the shooter establishes a point, it’s up to you and your bankroll whether to back with odds. Regardless, your next move is to make the place bets. If the point is 6, then place 8; if it’s 8, then place 6; if it’s neither, place booth.

Be sure to make your bets on 6 and 8 in multiples of $6. Winners on those place bets are paid at 7-6 odds, but the dealer won’t make change. A $5 bet will pay only $5, but a $6 winner will pay $7.

Players with modest bankrolls like this system because it requires less money up front than three working numbers all backed with odds. If you bet $5 on pass and $6 each on 6 and 8, your total wager is $17. If you bet $5 each on pass and two comes and add in another $15, $20 or $25 per wager in 3x, 4x, 5x odds, the maximum possible outlay is $85 and the minimum is $65.

The house edges of 1.41 percent on pass and 1.52 percent on placing 6 and 8 aren’t as strong as the 0.37 on pass, come and 3x, 4x, 5x odds, but it requires less money on the table.

PLACING 6 AND 8

Some players like to trust in the most commonly rolled non-7s and skip the pass and come bets entirely. This can be an inexpensive system if you make minimum bets on both. The house edge is 1.52 percent,

PASS AND COME OR DON’T PASS AND DON’T COME WITHOUT THE ODDS

This is a low-roller system that can put you on multiple numbers and give you some of the excitement of the top two strategies. 

However, without the odds, you can’t reduce the house edge below the standard 1.4 percent on don’t pass and don’t come or 1.4 percent on pass and come. 

Keep all your bets at the table minimum. If you’re tempted to raise your wagers, consider putting the extra money in odds instead.

However, for short-bankrolled players who hit their limits at table minimums, this is a viable low-cost, low-edge strategy.

“The biggest risk is not taking any risk” says billionaire Facebook entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg. It’s a sentiment probably shared by the British bad boys of gambling, whose famous faces have been seen at roulette tables across the globe. Sure, they might dip into blackjack - but for these celebrities, roulette is the ultimate casino game. Meet the famous roulette players born in Britain, winning all over the world.

HARRY STYLES & ONE DIRECTION

One Direction made their first foray onto the Las Vegas Strip in the summer of 2012, but the trip didn’t quite go to plan for Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik.

First they booked what they believed to be the suite from Vegas comedy The Hangover, but it was only after forking out £16,000 that they found out the movie was actually filmed in LA, where they’d just played a string of gigs.

The boys’ plans to splash their cash in Sin City’s casinos were then scuppered when security recognised them everywhere they went, and they were thrown out for being under 21, the legal gambling age. Perhaps that’s when their hotel choice came in handy after all, as their swanky two-floor suite at the Palms Casino Resort came with its own hot-tub, pool table and basketball half-court.

The boys had better luck making it to the casino tables during a tour of Australia, where the legal age for gambling is 18. Speaking in early 2013 Niall Horan revealed: “We just thought, 'We're 18, this is the first time we've been able to spend a bit of money in weeks because we've been on the road.' I won £100, which seemed reasonable, then I stopped. But I'll have to say 'no comment' about the others.”

With an estimated £20 million personal fortune at the time, it seems that not everyone’s bets were quite as modest. “Let's just say it got a bit ugly and a lot of money was lost. A lot,” emphasises Niall, who admits: “When our management found out, we got a serious dressing down about it."

This wasn’t enough to deter Harry Styles, who was spotted at the roulette tables of the Pearl Room Casino in Perth, just ahead of One Direction’s month long 10-date tour of Australia, in September 2013. The pictures – and video - of Harry Styles playing roulette made international news, and perhaps an even sterner dressing down followed, because if Harry’s had a flutter since, he’s definitely been more discreet.

However, Harry Styles still sports a “17BLACK” tattoo near his left shoulder, and this is said to be because he’s a huge fan of James Bond, who bet on 17 during a roulette game in the 007 film Diamonds Are Forever.

WAYNE ROONEY

Manchester235 which bills itself as a “Las Vegas style casino in Manchester” is the destination of choice for Man United’s top players when they’re feeling lucky. Word has it that a handful of the Premier League football team lost £250,000 between them when they went there to celebrate Rio Ferdinand’s birthday in November 2007, and they were back a month later for their Christmas party organised by club captain Gary Neville. 

A year on, in November 2008, Wayne Rooney lost £65,000 there after scoring twice for England in the World Cup qualifier in Belarus. The England team’s 3-1 win was followed by a flight from Minsk back to Manchester Airport, where they landed just before 3am. An hour later, Rooney walked into the 235 casino which had shown the game on big screens earlier that evening.

Initially happy to chat to people, it quickly became apparent that Rooney was on a losing streak and he joked with the dealer that he must have stepped in something on his way in. Switching from blackjack to roulette, Rooney tried to recoup his losses, but the £80,000 a week striker continued to lose until the club closed at 6am, and he apparently left with a face like thunder.

Speculation has it that Rooney has visited the club dozens of times since, but it was another two hour spending spree in March 2017 that made the headlines when he lost £500,000. Arriving at the casino alone, just after midnight, the then England captain drank beers, as he switched between roulette and blackjack. 

It was the night of United’s Europa League home win over FC Rostov, which Rooney had watched from a box at Old Trafford, due to injury. An onlooker described Rooney as laying down massive bets on the roulette table, and putting a lot of money on red, before leaving the casino at 2am, half a million pounds down.

Rooney has a history of enjoying a flutter, losing around £50,000 in his early days at Everton, and reportedly facing an FA investigation in 2006 when he allegedly lost £700,000 in a secret England dressing room gambling ring. 

PHILIP GREEN

Philip Green is the billionaire businessman behind Topshop, who’s often seen with supermodel Kate Moss draped elegantly on his arm. He’s the father of Made in Chelsea’s Chloe Green who pooled genes with “Hot Felon” Jeremy Meeks to produce a baby called Jayden in 2018. 

When Green’s not on his £100 million superyacht, or his £46 million private jet, he’s often at the roulette table of Park Lane casino Les Ambassadeurs, which is best known as Les A. There, in the grade II* listed building which featured in the Bond film Dr. No, Green’s formidable bets forced London Clubs International (Les A’s then operator) into a profit warning.

Green, who’s rumoured to favour number five on roulette, won an estimated £2 million in one night and at least a further £1 million over the course of a few other nights, in 2004, contributing heavily to the operator’s £8 million drop in profits.

Green’s luck on roulette was his saving grace in 2007 when a blip on blackjack saw him down by £700,000 after playing £25,000 a box. Switching to roulette, Monaco-based Green won back all his money – along with an additional £100,000. Just enough for a down payment on a toy jet for grandson Jayden.

Let us take a look at 20 important and/or interesting aspects of roulette. If you go to just about any casino in the world you will notice roulette tables, often quite crowded roulette tables. Roulette certainly has a fan base.

QUESTION #1: IS ROULETTE THE OLDEST GAME IN THE CASINO?

Frank Responds: It could be, depending on how you define the game. Casinos (by any other name) have existed for a long, long time if we think of these establishments as places where people could wager on games run by “the house” or against each other. Many saloons, rooming houses, restaurants and private homes were used for such purposes. 

I know that people wagered on races between horses and between men. We’ve wagered on fights between animals, and between men, and between animals and men. There is some evidence that both dice and roulette go way back in time. Dice were made from bones as in “roll them bones” and shields or ovals or round objects were spun to glean the will of the gods or just the winning of currency between individuals.

So which came first? Wagering on bones or wagering on shields of one type or another? The absolute truth on this issue may never be fully known.

QUESTION #2: WHERE DID THE MODERN GAME ORIGINATE?

Frank Responds: Most people who study gambling believe that the great scientist, mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal invented the first roulette wheel, though not as a game of chance which it has evolved into today. Pascal probably was looking for a perpetual motion machine and came up with his version as a wheel. While spinning this must have been fun, it was not perpetual motion. 

Pascal is also noted for what is now called “Pascal’s Wager,” an argument for why people should act as though they believe in God. It goes like this: If there is no God but you act as though you believe in such, you give up at most some earthly pleasures. If there is a God then you gain far more than earthly pleasures; instead, you have an infinity of divine joy and the pleasures that come with that. Therefore it is best to believe in God. 

Many roulette players certainly do pray a lot when they play the game so that could be a corollary to Pascal’s Wager!

QUESTION #3: EVEN SO, HOW DOES THE GAME OF ROULETTE WORK?

Frank Responds: The roulette wheel has a series of numbers from one to 36 in addition to one or two (usually green) colored zeroes. I will get to these in another answer. The dealer spins a ball around the top of the wheel and that ball makes its way down the inside of the wheel and lands in any one of the numbered pockets. If the player has wagered on the proper pocket he or she wins 35 times the initial wager.

On the layout of the roulette table will be all the numbers and the zeroes, along with outside proposition bets such as three sets of “dozens,” three sets of “even-money” bets and three “columns” and the like. Players can wager as many numbers or propositions that they want. That is the game as it is presently seen in casinos across the world.

QUESTION #4: WHAT ARE TWO TYPES OF ROULETTE GAMES OFFERED?

Frank Responds: There is the American game which has two green zeroes and there is the European game that only has one zero. Other than the fact that the numbers on the wheel are arranged differently, the game is the same.

QUESTION #5: ARE THE HOUSE EDGES THE SAME BETWEEN THE TWO GAMES?

Frank Responds: No. The European game is far better as its house edge is 2.70%, while the American game has a house edge of 5.26%. That means for every $100 wagered on the European game the expected loss is $2.70. On the American game the expected loss is almost twice that at $5.26.

QUESTION #6: ARE ALL THE BETS AT ROULETTE COMING IN WITH THE SAME HOUSE EDGES?

Frank Responds: No, in the American game there is a bet called the “five number bet” of the 0, 00, 1, 2, 3 which comes in with a house edge of 7.89%. That bet is also called “the monster” because of high house edge that translates into an expected loss of $7.89 per $100 wagered. This is a great bet NOT to make.

QUESTION #7: HOW ARE THE HOUSE EDGES FOR ROULETTE ACTUALLY ESTABLISHED?

Frank Responds: The American wheel has 38 numbers, one through 36 and the 0 and 00. The payout for a winning decision is 35 to one. In a game where the house has no edge, the payout for a winning bet should be 37 to one. Keep in mind that you average 37 losses for every one win. However, to make money (and casinos want to make money) they do not pay that 37 to one but instead short the win by two units thereby making it 35 for the winner. You just divide the 38 into the two units kept by the casino and that comes to a house edge of 5.26%.

Now let us take a look at the European wheel which has 37 numbers, one through 36 and one 0. The payout for a winning decision is 35 to one. In a game where the house has no edge, the payout for a winning bet should be 36 to one. Keep in mind that you average 36 losses for every one win. However, to make money the casinos do not pay that 36 to one but instead short the win by one unit thereby making it 35 for the winner. You just divide the 37 into the one unit kept by the casino and that comes to a house edge of 2.70%.

QUESTION #8: HOW DO YOU FIGURE THE EDGES FOR ALL THE BETS AT THE GAME?

Frank Responds: The same way. Let me take just two examples: You bet an even-money bet and the payout is one to one. You win on one side of the proposition (say, red in the red/black proposition) and you lose 18 when black appears but – and this is where the house gets its edge – if the 0 or 00 shows, you lose the bet. So there are 18 possible wins for the player and 20 possible losses for the player.

Again the casino keeps two units and thus you divide 38 possible decisions into two units and that makes the house edge again 5.26%.

On the European game you have 37 possible decisions and those even-money bets will win 18 times but lose 19 times for the player. Divide 37 into one and you get that 2.70 house edge.

Now let us take another proposition: the dozens bet. Here you bet which dozen numbers will come up. The pay for a win is two to one. There will be 12 numbers that win and that means the player makes 24 units. However, the average number of losses will be 24 one-unit losses. The player breaks even but – and here comes that annoying “but” – the 0 or 00 also causes a loss. Yes, you guessed it, the house edge is still 5.26 percent for the American game and 2.70 for the European game.

QUESTION #9: ARE THERE ANY GOOD BETS AT ROULETTE?

Frank Responds: Yes, if the casino offers “surrender” or “en prison” the house edge on the even-money bets goes down in half, making the American game a 2.63 percent edge and the European game a 1.35 percent edge. The latter bet is one of the best in the casino.

QUESTION #10: SHOULDN’T EVEN-MONEY BETS BE 50:50 PROPOSITIONS?

Frank Responds: They are called even-money because they pay even money, not because the bet is actually 50:50.

QUESTION #11: BUT THERE ARE WAYS TO BEAT THE GAME, RIGHT?

Frank Responds: There used to be ways to beat the game but that was when the wheels were far, far less than perfect. Today’s wheels in the modern casino are random – or as random as we can get them. The old methods of winning by studying imperfections in the wheel will probably no longer work since such imperfections really don’t exist anymore as the new wheels are always checked and the pockets for the ball to land in are quite shallow so the ball bounces quite a lot. The more bounces the harder to determine where the ball will finally land.

QUESTION #12: CAN’T DEALERS CONTROL WHERE THE BALL LANDS?

Frank Responds: That used to be called a “dealer signature.” Maybe in the past this was possible; I doubt it is so today. The young dealers I have spoken with don’t even know about this technique. It is a vintage of the past.

QUESTION #13: ISN’T NUMBER 17 THE MOST PLAYED NUMBER AT THE GAME?

Frank Responds: That’s the myth but no one really knows since roulette decisions worldwide are not recorded and analyzed. Some folks think James Bond called that number in a movie and they play it. We really don’t know.

QUESTION #14: IS IT BETTER TO PLAY THE INSIDE GAME WHERE YOU BET THE NUMBERS
STRAIGHT UP OR TO PLAY THOSE PROPOSITIONS BETS AROUND THE EDGE OF THE LAYOUT?

Frank Responds: If the game does not offer “surrender” or “en prison” the edges will be the same on the inside bets and the outside bets. The only difference you will notice is that your losing streaks will tend to be longer on the inside bets if you are only making one or two at a time but over time, inside or outside, the casino will still have their edge over you.

QUESTION #15: IS ROULETTE WAS THE MOST POPULAR GAME IN AMERICAN CASINOS?

Frank Responds: Blackjack is the most popular game in the casino, followed by craps and roulette. The latter two are probably tied for second place.

QUESTION #16: IF YOU MAKE MORE BETS THAN JUST ONE AT ROULETTE AREN’T YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING A BET GREATER?

Frank Responds: Yes, you will win more decisions but you will lose more money over time. The house edge works on the total amount of money you bet, whether it be one bet or many bets.

QUESTION #17: IF YOU CAN’T REACH AN AREA ON THE LAYOUT WHERE YOU WANT TO PLACE A BET HOW DO YOU GET IT THERE?

Frank Responds: Ask the dealer to place the bet.

QUESTION #18: WHAT’S THE MOST ANNOYING THING AT THE GAME OF ROULETTE?

Frank Responds: Other than losing my money, I find the most annoying thing to be overly aggressive players who knock over your chips in their rush to get their wagers on the layout. The dealers give players plenty of time to wager so aggressive players don’t have to be that aggressive! 

QUESTION #19: AT BLACKJACK GAMES YOU OCCASIONALLY GET PLAYERS WHO KEEP TELLING PLAYERS HOW TO PLAY THEIR HANDS. DO YOU GET THIS AT ROULETTE?

Frank Responds: No. Roulette players tend to stay to themselves. The only time a player might be interested in another player’s bets would be if those were huge ones.

QUESTION #20: I FIND ROULETTE TO BE A DOPEY GAME. YOU WATCH A BALL SPIN AROUND A WHEEL; THAT IS NOT EXCITING IS IT?

Frank Responds: You can take a look at any casino game and boil it down by claiming it is dopey; be it a game with cards, dice, a machine, etc. You can probably take just about anything in life and boil it down to its dopiness too. Different people find different things not dopey. 

All the best in and out of the casinos!

 

There are hosts of ways to play the game of craps. Most of them call for a great number of bets, perhaps using the Pass Line, the Come bets, the Place bets of the 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, and a serious number of Crazy Crapper bets including the Hardways, the C&E, the Horn, the Whirl, the Field, and all the possible combinations of single numbers straight up. In addition, with new “jackpot” type bets such as the Fire Bet, players can have a huge amount of money on the layout.

The more bets you make the more bets you have to hit in order to win and the more money the house edge gets to grind away at. In the game of craps, the house edge almost always wins.

[Please note: My mentor, the legendary, late Captain of craps, named the worst bets at the craps table as Crazy Crapper bets because you had to be crazy to make them. Such are his words to the wise! Follow his advice; you can’t go wrong.]

Go to any crowded craps table in the casino and you will see the layout covered in bets of all denominations. Some of the bets are good, some are decent but most of them are of the avoidable type; as in if you want any chance to come home ahead during any length of time you should avoid making the bad bets right now.

Sadly, the overwhelming majority of players just can’t stop making those bad bets. The game is too thrilling not to go for what these players think of as “the gusto.” Often such players wind up disgusted when the gusto doesn’t appear all that often.

Here are the best bets to make at craps:

RIGHTSIDE BETS

Meaning betting on the shooter hitting numbers and not sevening out in the point cycle of the game.

Some caveats: You will reach $100 far more often by betting the 6 or 8 since you must bet them in $6 increments. So you are betting a dollar more facing a greater house edge. This might not seem like a lot when the bets are only in the $6 range but if you bet much more you can see the impact.

For example, let us take 10 bets: A $60 Place bet of a 6 or an 8 will lose you 90 cents and 10 of these bets, which come to $600, will cost you $9.12; while a $50  Pass Line or Come bet will lose you 71 cents and 10 of these bets, which come to $500, will cost you 7.05. (I’m rounding the numbers.)  The difference is pretty big. You lose about two dollars more. Think of betting in the hundreds per decision – it can get very expensive.

[Please note: The ability of the player to take the odds bets on his Pass Line or Come bets is a great option. The key idea is to make your Pass or Come bets low and to maximize the odds as best you can. This option, properly used, reduces the house edge remarkably for the player.]

THE BEST DARK SIDE BETS

You are betting against the shooter and rooting for the 7 during the point cycle of the game. Dark side players make up a very small percentage of craps players but for comparisons, here are the best Dark side bets.

[Please note: The starred * Dark side bets require a five percent commission to get the house edge as low as it will go. In addition, the house edge on the Don’t Pass and Don’t Come is 1.40 percent if we do not count the no-decisions as a part of the bet. The expected loss would then be $1.40 per $100 wagered.]

The Darkside has a slight edge on the Don’t Pass and Don’t Come. Since I do not count the no-decision bets in the math, the one-tenth of one percent difference is actually not that much. The rest of the Dark side bets go increasingly higher in terms of the house edge. The more a player makes those Dark side Crazy Crapper bets the worse it is for him.

As with the Rightside bettors, it is best to make your Don’t Pass and Don’t Come bets low and maximize the odds as best you can afford. You should avoid the other bets as they are essentially a waste of money. You are looking to win money and not have a false pleasure of seeing your Darkside bets on many numbers.

THE SAVVY RIGHTSIDER

I strongly recommend that all players make use of the Captain’s 5-Count before placing any wagers. By doing so, you will eliminate about half of the shooters from any betting consideration. The 5-Count cannot give you a mathematical edge over the casino but it can get rid of many players and leave you free to bet the ones who make it past the 5-Count. Saving money is a good step in trying to make money. An hour playing the 5-Count will save you about 50 percent of your expected losses. And that’s good!

So making the best bets and using the 5-Count is a great craps strategy.

[Please note: In a future issue I will get into more detail about the 5-Count. However, I have an extensive discussion of it in my book I Am a Dice Controller. To me it is the best technique for deciding upon whom you will wager.]

CURRENT CRAPS CONTROVERSY: THE ONE BET TECHNIQUE

Here is where many of you who are craps aficionados will take issue with me; I recommend only making one bet against one player. If that bet wins, you can make another against this shooter. 

So you have a Come bet on a number and it hits. Now you are given your payout and the return of your bet. You can now make another Come bet. But you only go with one bet at a time. And one more and one more as long as you keep winning that one bet over and over. You are not to mimic the other players who are making many bets.

And here is the next point of possible contention: All your bets must be either a Pass Line (with odds) or a single Come bet (with odds). You are not going to use any Place bets and you certainly are not going to make any other bets such as the Crazy Crapper ones. 

Here is how it will go: When the 5-Count is reached, you will place either a Pass Line bet (meaning the shooter just made his point) or a Come bet. When they get up on a number, you take the odds. If such a bet loses on the first placement (meaning a 2, 3 or 12 rolled), you will replace the bet. You always want one bet going.

Let me do a quick summation:

•    Bet Pass or Come only
•    Once on a number take the odds
•    Shooter hits 2, 3 or 12, replace the Pass or Come bet
•    If shooter hits a 7 or 11, keep the bet up (unless it is a seven-out)
•    If the shooter hits your number then make another Pass or Come bet
•    Always bet low on Pass and Come; take as much as you can afford in odds

WHY ONE BET IS THE BEST BET

Many craps players make a minimum of three bets, while others will go the route, making many bets, usually a combination of good ones and bad ones. Think about this. Is it such a good idea making more than one bet?

It isn’t. 

The casino edge works best over time or number of decisions. Just look around the casino next time you visit and see all those people playing all those table games and machines. All those decisions will put the casino in the driver’s seat. And the more decisions a single player experiences the more likely he will be a loser.

Keeping those losses low can only be done by betting one bet – a good bet! – and thus you will not be giving the casino as much time as you would if you bet multiple bets. 

[Please note: A good rule of thumb is to understand that the number of decisions is the key variable in playing any casino game. One player betting one bet will have very few decisions against the house – meaning his time against the house edge will not be as lethal as the player who makes multiple bets.]

THE ONE BET DARK SIDER

There is a slight difference in my recommendation for one bet on the Dark side. You only make a Don’t Come bet, not a Don’t Pass bet. There is a subtle reason why I recommend this: On the Don’t Pass you can get hammered if the 7 appears over and over, as it sometimes does. The tendency will be to keep putting up more Don’t Pass bets in such a case. (The 11 can do the same thing, although obviously not as often.)

On the Don’t Come if the 7 appears the shooter goes down to defeat and your one bet is the only bet lost. On the appearance of the 11, well, there you have to use discipline not to keep putting up more and more bets should the 11 happen in succession. Give yourself one loss and then do not bet anymore.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RIGHTSIDE AND DARK SIDE SINGLE BETS

The reason I treat the one Rightside bet differently from the one Dark side bet has to do with the nature of the first placement. On the Rightside a 7 or 11 is a winner for the player. He has eight chances to win on the 7 and 11 and only four ways to lose on the 2, 3 or 12. On the Dark side, the very first placement has the house edge written all over it. The Dark sider loses eight decisions on the 7 and 11 but only wins three decisions should the 2 or 3 appear. Remember if the 12 appears it is a no decision for the Dark sider. The Dark sider’s dangerous dilemma is getting by that first placement.   

SO WHAT DO I DO WHEN I PLAY?

The big question I had to answer when I decided to go the one-bet approach was whether I would only make one bet on me. I enjoy shooting the dice and my craps-playing career is defined by my own rolls with some exceptions.

So I decided I’d put my money on myself by starting out with three bets; my Pass Line and two Come bets with odds when these bets were up on a number. You catch my drift; I’m making me the determining factor in my craps-playing career. 

In addition I bet much more money on myself than I do on other shooters. Each of my three bets will be about three times more than I bet on other rollers – meaning I am betting between nine and 10 times more money on myself. If I win I win; if I lose I lose. I don’t blame other shooters for my losses. I try to put my play on me and no one else.

If you have confidence in your shooting ability then you might want to take a page from me – but don’t think you are a good shooter if you’re not. Casino craps play has many people thinking they are better than they actually are. You have to be honest with yourself. One bet on you when you shoot is no sin. If you aren’t a great shooter then treat yourself as you would any other shooter.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

I received an email from a video poker player who asked me this question:

“I can never win at video poker. Are the video poker machines rigged?”

It turns out that the above was not the first, or the last question, I’ll get from players about “rigged video poker machines.” Many players, especially those who play slots, have an uneasy feeling about playing video poker machines. They believe that casinos can somehow rig the cards in a video poker machine to make it harder to get a winning hand. If you believe that casinos can do this, you definitely need to read what I’m about to say about this.

First, let me ask you this question. If we were to play a game of video poker on a kitchen table with a deck of playing cards, how would we do it so that the game is honest? Suppose you make a bet and I take a standard 52-card deck, shuffle it, and then randomly select five cards from the shuffled deck and place them face up on the table. While you are looking at your five-card hand to determine which cards you want to hold, I’ll continue to shuffle the remaining 47 cards in my hand.  Let’s suppose that you tell me that you want to hold the first three cards in your hand. I would remove the two cards in your hand that you want to discard and place them aside, stop shuffling, and give you the top card from the 47-card shuffled deck and place it face up in position four in your hand, and the next card in the my shuffled stacked would be face up in position five in your hand. The hand is over. If your five-card hand contains a pair of jacks or higher poker hand, I’d pay you an amount based upon a pay schedule of winning hands that I would have shown you before we started playing video poker. After I paid you (assuming you had a winning hand), I would collect all the cards, put them in one 52-card stack, and start shuffling them again for the next hand.

I think you would agree that the above procedure results in a fair game because each card in the deck has the same probability of being selected. Furthermore, on your initial hand, if you decided to discarded, say, a two of clubs, there is no way for you to get the two of clubs again on the subsequent draw. In other words, I haven’t rigged the game in any way. 

The way I dealt the cards above is exactly the way the cards are shuffled and dealt in a video poker machine in a casino. In order to emulate the above procedure, video poker machines have a computer chip to simulate the process of shuffling a standard deck of 52-virtual cards, and then randomly selecting the cards for each hand so that each card has the same probability of being selected. (For techno geeks reading this, video poker machines have a random number generator program “burnt-on” the computer chip that does all this.) The computer chip that is in the video poker machines is tested and certified by an independent testing lab to be certain they will do exactly what I described above. Furthermore, state gaming regulations mandate that the programs in video poker machines must operate per the above, and if they don’t, a casino can be fined, or worse, lose their gaming license. (The latter is too much risk for a casino for very little return; especially when they make oodles of ore profit from their video poker machines by legally decreasing the pay table on a machine with no risk.) 

Here’s another fact about video poker machines that is important to understand. The odds of getting any of the winning hands in a video poker game can be calculated with great accuracy since every card must have the same probability of being selected. This means you have the same chance of getting a royal flush in a Jacks or Better machine in casino A as you do casino B, or C, or any casino located anywhere on this planet. (This assumes a random selection of cards per the above.) Since a casino can’t change the odds of getting the winning hands in video poker, the only way they can change the return on their video poker machines is to change the payoffs on winning hands. (That is why it is important that you look at the pay table on a video poker machine for a particular game before you play it.) 

If you are a slot machine player reading this, the symbols you see on a slot machine do not have to appear with the same probability as the cards in video poker must do. For example, the first symbol on the reel of a slot machine could be programmed to appear 0.1% of the time, whereas symbol number 2 might appear 5% of the time (and so forth for the other symbols). In other words, the casinos can alter the odds for the winning combinations of symbols in a slot machine but they can’t for the cards in video poker. All they can do for video poker is (legally) change the payouts for the winning hands.  

Some video poker players believe a machine is ‘rigged” after they play for “a long period of time” without getting a royal flush. The mathematical facts are this: it’s possible to play 40,000 or more hands without getting a royal flush. The average number of royals is one per cycle of 40,000 hands, meaning an average of many cycles of 40,000 hands. In any one cycle you could get more than one royal flush, or none. (I’ve personally played over 200,000 hands without a single royal flush, and trust me, the machine was not rigged.) Therefore, playing for a long period of time is not an indication that a machine is rigged.

Lastly, think about this. If you were the head of a major casino company, would you rig your video poker machines knowing that if you were caught you could face losing your gaming license, be fined, and possibly face massive class action lawsuits by players for fraud? 

The bottom line is this: you can rest assured that video poker games in major gaming jurisdictions are not rigged.