The banker bet in baccarat is a rarity among casino bets, regardless of whether you’re playing online or offline. That doesn’t make it a profitable bet, though it does have a very low house edge of 1.06 percent.

The house gets that edge by charging a 5 percent commission on winning baccarat bets. If you win a $20 bet on the banker hand,  you get $20 in winnings, but you have to pay the house its commission, so $1 goes back into casino coffers.

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But what happens if your bet is less than $20? Then the commission is less than $1. How the casino handles that situation makes a big difference and could send the house edge soaring to 3.36 percent.

Over the years, many casinos have had live baccarat tables with $20 minimum bets, and even had yellow $20 chips for use in baccarat. Other casino games usually aren’t stocked with the $20 chips, nicknamed “bananas” by generations of baccarat players.

The trouble spot comes at mini-baccarat tables, where $10 minimum bets are widespread. Mini-baccarat, played at seven-player tables, usually is found on the main casino floor. Big baccarat, with seats for 14 players, more often is found in high-limit rooms.

Rules at mini-baccarat and big baccarat are exactly the same. You still have a choice of whether to bet on a banker hand or a player hand, and a high-house edge tie bet is available. 

The banker and player hands each start with two cards, and whether a third card is dealt is according to the baccarat rules posted at the table.

With a $10 bet on banker, a 5 percent commission would be 50 cents. That’s fine at casinos that have 50-cent chips or stock baccarat tables with coins to make change. It’s also fine online, where pays in partial dollars can be made electronically.

The problem is at casinos that post a minimum commission of $1. On a $10 bet, that’s a 10-percent commission, and that increase the house edge.

Let’s do a little arithmetic.

With all hands considered, banker wins 45.86 percent of the time, player wins 44.62 percent and 9.52 percent are ties.

If you’re betting banker or player, ties are pushes and you get your money back. Of the hands that are played to a hit/stand decision and money changes hands, 50.86 percent are wins for banker and 49.32 percent are wins for player.

That’s why casinos charge a commission on winning banker bets. Banker wins more often than it loses, and if the bets paid even money with no commission, the house would lose money. 

More than that: The game would disappear. Players would rapidly conclude the banker bet was the only way to go, and the house wouldn’t leave an unprofitable game on the floor.

Let’s run through an example using $10 wagers, first assuming the casino can make change for a 50-cent commission, then for a casino that charges a minimum commission of $10.

Assume you wager $10 per hand on banker for 1,000 hands, for a total risk of $10,000. With a bit of rounding, banker would average 459 wins, along with 446 wins for player and 95 ties.

You’d keep your $10 bets on the 459 banker wins and the 95 ties, for a total of $5,540.

Pre-commission winnings would come to $4,590, upping the total to $10,130. That’s more than your $10,000 in wagers, leading to the commission to give the house its edge.

A 50-cent commission on each of the 459 winners would total $229.50. Deduct that from the $10,130 total, and you’re left with $9,900.50. The house has a $99.50 profit.

If the house has a minimum $1 commission, then everything looks the same until commission deduction time. Instead of $229.50, $459 is deducted from the $10,130 total, leaving $9,671. The house has a $329 profit, more than triple the house take if it could make change for a 5 percent commission on a $10 bet.

Now we can apply the same exercise to the player bet. Any baccarat guide will tell you the player bet, with its 1.24 percent house edge, is one of the better casino bets overall, but not as good in baccarat as banker with its 1.06 percent edge.

No commission is charged on winning player bets. As noted above, player loses more often than it wins, so no commission is necessary to give the house an edge.

So let’s get back to our theoretical 1,000 hands, this time betting $10 per hand on player.

Again, you risk $10,000. This time, you keep your $10 bets on 446 player wins and 95 ties for $5,410. You also get $10 innings for each of the player wins for $4,460. 

With no deductions, the total on your side of the table after the trial is $9,870, and the house has a $130 profit.

Let’s look at all those average loss figures together for 1,000 hands at $10 a hand.  Banker bet, with the nominal 5 percent commission, $99.50. Player bet, $130. Banker bet, with a $1 minimum commission ramping up the effective fee to 10 percent on winning bets, $329.

Losses for a $10 player are more than three times as high if the casino doesn’t make change on the commission compared to the banker bet at the 5 percent rate. And losses are nearly three times as high on banker with the less favorable commission as on player.

If you’re a low roller at a mini-baccarat table with a common $10 minimum bet and a $1 minimum commission, the banker bet is no longer the most attractive bet at the table. Instead, player becomes a better choice.

Your best choice is to look for baccarat tables, online casino or off, where the house will make change and keep the commission at 5 percent for low rollers. But if that option’s not available to you, the player bet steps up as your best option.

Have you ever wondered why blackjack has been the most popular table game in casinos for the past 50 or so years? Its popularity arises for these four reasons.

1. You can reduce the house edge to less than 1%
2. You can reduce your monetary loss by taking advantage of comps
3. Learn when to bet more, and when to bet less
4. You can get the edge in blackjack tournaments by playing better than your opponents play

BOTTOM LINE

So there you have it, four reasons for blackjack’s popularity. Moreover, it is also an easy game to learn, and fun to play. Give it a try the next time you head to your favorite casino. (If you are a novice, I suggest you glance at the blackjack basics in my Guide.)

Today you will meet Roulette Ralph, a part time amateur mathematician, a full time roulette fan and a man who has given the ins-and-outs of gambling a serious consideration in his over 30 years of playing in casinos.

Roulette Ralph enjoys coming up with methods of play that can keep the house edge at bay but that also give players the charge or thrill they desire. After all, players play for just such charges and thrills. If they didn’t get those I am guessing players wouldn’t play. 

I enjoy reading Roulette Ralph’s insights and while I don’t always agree with him, I think what he has to say about roulette has great meaning for players. The bottom line for players is that they pick and choose how they are going to play. Some players follow strict methods and some players just throw caution to the wind and play helter-skelter. In the end it is the player’s choice.

Frank: How did you get the name Roulette Ralph? 

R. Ralph: I wish I could say that my fan club, if I had a fan club, or my wife gave it to me but that didn’t happen. I gave the name to myself. What the heck, I play the game, I love the game and it is a part of my gaming essence. I guess you could use the word “essence” to describe me in relation to the game. Roulette is many centuries old and it has a long pedigree. I like that because in some ways I am a part of history when I play the game.

Frank: Now today you want to take a look at a way to play. What’s is it?

R. Ralph:The Martingale.

Frank: That’s one of the most dangerous ways to play any casino game isn’t it? It gives the player small wins and a tremendous loss that destroys those small wins. It looks like a good system but it isn’t. Unless you have figured out a way to play it that doesn’t clobber you every so often.

R. Ralph: There won’t be any clobbering. As everyone knows, or most everyone knows, the Martingale usually calls for the doubling of one’s bet every time they lose a decision.

If we take a look at the roulette Martingale, we should stick to the even-money bets of the odd/even, the red/black, or the high/low. We know that the even-money bets are not really even-money in their percentage of appearances. The green 0 and the green 00 will sometimes hit and that means a loss on all of the even-money bets. What does that do to the house edge? It makes it 5.26 percent.

Frank: That means a loss of $5.26 for every $100 wagered.

R. Ralph: You bet $10, you lose it, then you go $20. If you win that you are now ahead $10. If you lose the $20 you then bet $40. If you win that you are now ahead $10 because you had previously lost $30. Lose that $40 and you bet $80 in order to win the $10. You would then go to $160 if you lose the $80. You can plainly see that you are going up and up but the win is always $10. 

The increases will stop when you hit the house limit on the amount you can bet on any one decision. That can be seven or eight wagers.

Frank: That happened to me at the old Sands in Atlantic City. I had a couple of days of those small wins and then the clobbering happened. It was a wakeup call to me to forget that system.

R. Ralph: As it should be. You don’t want to have that kind of risk with a hugely bloated bet. Now my method will forgo the escalation to the higher levels of the Martingale but will allow a string of decisions for the player to play. But, and this is a key, it will also cost less money overall than even playing a normal amount per decision. The total of my Martingale is a slim system. 

Frank: I never heard the term a “slim system.” What do you mean by that?

R. Ralph: It means you are paring down what you would bet as a total sum on your method of roulette play.

Frank: Okay, lay it out for us.

R. Ralph: Follow this exactly as I describe it. You cash in at the table, getting your special roulette chips. You will only bet those even-money bets as I mentioned. Let’s make the chips worth $10 each. Try not to look at the scoreboard while you are cashing in.

Once you have your chips, your game begins. Look at the scoreboard from this point now on.From this point, you want to see if any of the even-money bets hit three times in a row. You will hop on whichever it is that has hit. Or you would bet against whichever has hit. You are only going to bet one even-money proposition. If, let us say, a particular color comes up and also a “high” number three times in succession, you choose which one of the two you will bet. You do not bet both.

So let us say that a “red” has come up three times in a row. If you were betting $10 on “black” and using the regular Martingale, your bet would be $40 because you would have three losses in a row ($10, $20, $40). You would now be down $70 because of those three losses in a row. 

Except you actually have not bet anything at all. You are merely using the three hits to determine what to bet from here on in. An appearance of a 0 or a 00 ends the streak and you must start over. You have not lost a cent!

Now, chances are you might not get three hits in a row of any of the even-money bets, so you just wait. Keep this in mind please; even without betting you are still playing the game. You are in the action emotionally just by waiting for the event to happen. As obvious as this is to say, the casino has no edge on no bet wagered.

Okay, now you decide to bet either with or against the “red” even-money proposition after its three appearances in a row. Let us say you decide to bet against it by betting “black.” You put your $10 on “black.”

If “black” hits, you are now up $10. But if “black” loses you bet $20 again. If you lose that you are now down $30. Lose that and you bet $40. Lose that and you are down $70.

Frank: Get us out of the predicament concerning the fact that you also lost $70 on your streak up to this moment.

R. Ralph: You see the original bettor hasn’t lost just $70 because he is still using the traditional Martingale so he has gone $10, $20, $40, $80, $160, and $320 for a total loss of $630! Also he is not wagering only after three hits in a row; he is betting no matter what the sequence is. That makes it a lot more bets over time.

Frank: So what do you do at this point? Do you just keep going?

R. Ralph: No, you are finished for that sequence. You must wait for another sequence of three even-money appearances in a row to start once again. You don’t even look at the scoreboard for the next spin or you go to another table or you just grin and bear it if the streak ends with a “black” right after you took your pause. You are looking to play but at the same time you are also looking to protect your bankroll. 

Frank: Do you have a money-management strategy? You aren’t going to just keep playing and playing right?

R. Ralph: If a player just keeps playing they are asking for trouble. The casino edge is always grinding away. 

Frank: So money management for this method?

R. Ralph: The most you can lose on any one sequence is $70. If you were playing the regular Martingale the loss would be $630 so that becomes our maximum amount we use to play with – no more. But you can bet less than that if you want. You would have to lose nine sequences in a row to lose $630 – and chances are that is a real longshot.

Frank: That could happen though? 

R. Ralph: Oh, yes. It means you would lose 27 decisions in a row. That would be an amazingly bad streak and I doubt that would happen to a roulette player. But it could. Randomness can do some pretty amazing things but losing 27 decisions in a row, well, that would be somewhat farfetched. I wouldn’t discount it on a universal level but I would never bet on it happening in my play.

You can, of course, decide that you will only play a few sequences and that might mean you lose those few. But remember you only need one hit in any sequence to at least feel you are in the game.

Frank: Now some casinos will give you back half your bet if the 0 or 00 hits on an even-money wager. In the double-zero game, also called the American game, that is named “surrender” and in the single-zero or European or French game that is called “en prison.” This will reduce the house edge in half on those even-money bets. The single-zero game has a house edge of just 2.7 percent and that can be reduced to 1.35 percent if it has en prison. That is one of the best bets in the casino. On the American double-zero game the house edge is reduced to 2.63 percent.

R. Ralph: That’s true. It is always best to play at casinos that offer these types of rewards – I guess you’d call them “rewards” because reducing the house edge is always the best thing that can happen to a player. So rewards it is! 

However, even with these if you lose one of the bets in your sequence that sequence is finished. Playing this way will require discipline as the tendency of players is to get fully caught up in the game and sometimes to get so excited they don’t think of the consequences to their money.

Frank: Do you think reckless play is a problem at roulette?

R. Ralph: Absolutely. I think what happens, especially at crowded tables, the waiting to place the bets as the dealers clear the table of the losing bets and paying the winners, leads some players to think, “Oh, maybe I should make some more bets.” It almost becomes automatic. So you have to play just the way I say and do not add any more to the method.

Frank: Are there other types of Martingales that you might discuss, maybe in future columns?

R. Ralph: Yes. But everything I will discuss is discussed with the idea of not costing you too much money to the house edge.

Frank: And what about comps? Are you into getting comps from the casinos? Many players are interested in comps.

R. Ralph: Yes, some players are too much into comps. I am not opposed to getting comps. Why not get them? If the casino wants to give you a free or discounted room and a meal or two or three, that is just fine with me. But I won’t play for comps. They do not motivate me at all. They are just a part of the playing routine of the casinos. They aren’t why I play. I stick to my methods and whatever comps come my way I will gladly take them and thank the casino for giving them to me. But I never play for them.

Frank: Thank you Roulette Ralph. And to my readers: All the best in and out of the casinos!

Pick'em-style bonuses have been an attractive element of slot machines for more than two decades. In the United States, they date back to the launch of Reel 'Em In in 1997.

They add interactivity to the games by making players feel part of the action. You choose icons on the screen to accumulate bonus credits, and that makes you feel as if you have some control of your fate.

Online slots are perfect for the pick'em bonus, and so are video slots offline.  In terms of how to win on the slots, frequency of bonus events and the picks you make go a long way toward determining your results.

But is that control of fate real or illusion? That can depend on specifics.

Once you've made a choice or choices, does the screen then reveal the other possible wins? Then in licensed U.S. jurisdictions, your picks make a real difference.

But if the game just awards the credits you've won without revealing amounts hidden by other icons, it's possible your bonus was pre-determined and your choices were just for show, experience and that interactive feel.

For an example of a game where your choices make a difference, let's look at a long-time player favorite, Super Jackpot Party.

In the pick'em bonus event, disco music plays as you see a screen filled with animated, gyrating, different-colored gift boxes wrapped with bows.

At the center of the screen is a large rectangle where partiers dance to the music. That rectangle is surrounded by gift boxes -- two rows of nine each above the center rectangle, four rows with two boxes to the left of the rectangle and two to the right , then one more row of nine at the bottom of the screen.

When you pick a gift box, it shows either a credit amount, a multiplier to be applied to your next pick, a whack-a-pooper icon where you get a bonus within a bonus that plays like a Whack-a-Mole game, a dance icon that launches an extra bonus where credits accumulate while an animated character dances until he rips his pants, or a party pooper icon.

You keep making picks and your bonus credits rise until you pick a pooper. Pooper's end the round, though even then you get a chance to pick among five party icons to either get one last credit amount or a party saver that extends the bonus.

A random number generator sets the possibilities. It determines what credit amounts or icons are hidden in each gift box.

If you pick a box and it opens to reveal 80 credits, you win those 80 credits and pick again, regardless of how much you've already won. If the box you pick holds a pooper, then, unless you pick a party saver, your round ends. It doesn't matter if the pick is your first or your 20th, the pooper ends it.

Once your round ends, all the other gift boxes are opened to reveal what you would have won had you picked them.

This is important. In slot machines with random number generators -- the kind you see in Las Vegas, most regulated American jurisdictions, most tribal casinos and in online slots -- any advertised prize must actually be available.

If the screen shows a previously unopened gift box to hold a 1,000-credit prize, then that prize must actually have been available. It is illegal to show you that prize if it wasn't there to be won.

The game is showing you the possibilities that were set before you started picking. Your picks actually made the difference in what you won and what you didn't.

What if the machine doesn't show you the unexplored possibilities? Then it's possible that your bonus was pre-determined, because the game isn't advertising any prizes that weren't really available.

We can explore a real-life example here, too. In a long-running game called Outback Jack, three bonus symbols take you a map of Australia.  An all-terrain vehicle goes on a drive to one of six signposts. Each signpost bears the name of a different bonus event, and where the vehicle stops determine which bonus you'll play.

One bonus event is a pick'em called Nippy Surf. A surfer dude stands amid three possible conveyances for a ride on the waves: two surfboards and a big, pink inflated seahorse.

You choose the surfer's ride. The other two disappear, and while the surfer catches a wave, increasing credit amounts change from yellow to red. The longer the surfer rides, the higher the meter and the more credits you win.

Once the waves bring the surfer back to shore, you are awarded the indicated number of credits.

You are NOT shown what you would have won if you'd chosen the other board or the seahorse.

There is no advertised prizes other than the one you won. In such a case, it is legal for your bonus to be predetermined and to have the event play out for show.

That's the bottom line: If you're shown the prizes you didn't win after a round, your choices determined your bonus. If you're not shown what you missed, the prize could have been predetermined.

EXCEPTIONS

All that applies to games with random number generators, and that includes online slots in licensed U.S. jurisdictions.

However, some Class II slot machines and some video lottery terminals may predetermine your bonuses even if they show you all possibilities.

Class II games, used in some Native American casinos, are electronic bingo games at their base. They use slot reels and bonus events as user-friendly interfaces, but your results are determined by a bingo draw on a central processor that serves many games. 

Individual machines don't have their own random number generators and don't drive their own results. Even at bonus time, you get what the bingo draw determined.

"Video lottery terminal" is a catch-all term that can mean different things in different jurisdictions. In some states, VLTs have their own RNGs, and the "lottery" part is simply that they're operated by the state lottery.

But in New York state, results on VLTs are driven by an unusual system. It's as if each machine contains a virtual stack of scratch-off lottery cards, and when you spin the reels, you get the result that's on the next card.

That goes for bonus events as well as reel spins. Your outcome is determined by what's on that virtual card, so bonuses are pre-determined.

But as long as you're playing a slot machine with a random number generator, your pick'em bonus choices make a difference if you're shown all the possibilities at the end. That includes online slots as well as those in licensed casinos from coast to coast. You can be confident your picks matter.

New games are the lifeblood of online slots just as they are for offline slots. Players always are on the lookout for fresh bonuses, fresh intrigue and fresh interactivity, and new online slots are there to give it to them.

Naturally, there is overlap between the online and offline slot worlds, but each has its own needs, too. Some of the hottest online games won't be found offline.

 

 

With that in mind, let's check out four current online player favorites.

The Best Online Slots Are:

• Cash Noire
• Foxin Wins Football Fever
• Wheel of Fortune Hawaiian Getaway
• Sizzling Hot Jokers

Designed for online play by NetEnt, Cash Noire takes you back to the film world of hard-bitten detectives, dames in trouble and crime on the mean streets of the big city.

The lead character is a private detective named Tom Flint, and your task is to uncover the 13 clues that will unravel the mystery of how to get to a free spins bonus.

Besides the detective and the lady in trouble, reel symbols include a bank vault, guns, knives, matchbooks, whiskey, playing cards, a magnifying glass and a snake. The bank vault is a mystery symbol: once you have a screen full of symbols, all bank vaults transform into matching symbols.

It's a five-reel game, each four symbols deep, and it features cascading reels. On any win, the winning symbols disappear, remaining symbols tumble down into vacated spots and new symbols appear at the top to replace symbols that have cascaded.

If new winning combinations form, the symbols cascade again. You don't have to move on to a new wager until there are no winners and the cascade stops.

Each spin features a Crime Zone with three or more adjacent symbols outlined in red. If a winning slots combination extends into the hot zone, you unearth a clue.

If a bank vault lands in the Crime Zone, it duplicates itself onto all spaces in the zone. That creates a block of identical symbols and creates the potential for big wins.

When all clues have been collected and the free spins feature launches, the screen becomes a City Chase Map, dotted with potential chase locations. Symbols that land in the Crime Zone during the chase activate locations and add a multiplier -- the first location activated means wins are multiplied by 2, the second takes the multiplier up to 3, and so on, to a maximum 10x multiplier.

With the multipliers, your win potential is created when you're on the move through the city chase.

BOTTOM LINE

Overall, Cash Noire is a low variance game, filled with frequent small wins for extended play. The entertainment value is enhanced by the thrill of the chase.

This time Mr. Fox -- a wealthy, aristocratic character -- and fox pups are taken to a stadium setting for a football match -- or, as most Americans know it, soccer.

Football Fever has five reels, each three symbols deep and 25 paylines. Symbols include Mr. Fox in a striped referee's short, the fox pups kicking a ball in front of Mr. Fox's mansion, sports cars, a roll of cash, a pot of gold scatter symbol and the common A-K-Q-J-10-9 symbols for low-level pays.

Landing three scattered pots of gold on the reels launches a free spins bonus, where all wins are doubled. The round consists of 10 spins, and it is possible to retrigger the round with more pots of gold during the free play.

The free spins are the main bonus event, but there are plenty of extras during regular play. The referee Mr. Fox can pop up randomly and award you extra cash of up to 50 times your wager. A runaway leprechaun can appear out of nowhere, and catching the leprechaun also brings credit awards that max out at 50 times your bet.

The mischievous fox pups can create extra winners, too. Randomly, they'll pop out from behind a symbol and turn in wild, enhancing the potential for wins. Bigger bets bring the pups and wilds to more reels.

BOTTOM LINE

In all, it's a fun romp with plenty of extras to keep you engaged.

This one's a crossover from the offline world, with International Game Technology bringing its ever-popular TV "Wheel of Fortune" theme to online slots.

Wheel of Fortune slots have been the most consistently popular offline slots since the late 1990s. They usually don't have quite the same appeal online. Part of their offline appeal is the giant mechanical spinning wheel based on the wheel on the TV game show favorite.

Offline, the wheel is affixed to machine tops and can be seen from afar to draw in new customers. Online, there are no passers-by to draw in. Operator needs are different for online casino games.

The Hawaiian Getaway version of the Wheel seems to have bridged the gap. Online slot players seem to love it as much as the offline crowd.

The five reels, each three symbols deep, pay on 25 lines. The lowest paying symbols are A, K, Q and J. Bigger pays come from symbols outlined in white to appear as picture postcards. Those include Surf, depicting a surfer on the ocean, Lava, with a volcano scene, Aloha, with a beach, Hula, with a dancer, Tiki, with a statue, and Wild, with bamboo. A Wheel of Fortune logo is used as a scatter symbol -- winners don't have to line up on a payline.

All symbols are stacked and can fill an entire column. Lining up stacked symbols to win on all 25 paylines is a vacationer's dream.

Several "Moments" give you the chance to win big. The Big Kahuna Moment comes when you match three matching stacks of premium symbols on adjacent reels. Your stacks then lock in place for a respin of other reels with the A through J symbols eliminated. That brings a heightened chance at a big win that could be further boosted by a random multiplier of up to 10 times your win.

The Big Bonus Moment, triggered by at least six scatters, brings a spin of the familiar Wheel of Fortune wheel. You could win credits, free spins, jackpots or other bonuses. One extra-fun possibility is the Pointer Frenzy bonus. That one can award multiple spins of a Jackpot Bonus wheel and a chance to win any of the five jackpot levels.

BOTTOM LINE

There's so much in this game that online players are finding how much fun watching the wheel can be.

Developed by Section 8 Studios for 888 Gaming, Sizzling Hot Jokers has a retro look but with a modern hold-and-respin feature to give you extra chances to win.

It has five reels, each three symbols deep, and 10 paylines. Symbols include classics of the kind we've seen on slot machines for decades. Watermelons, cherries, lemons, horseshoes, bells, 7s and bars are right in the comfort zone for dedicated slot players.

In addition, there's a special symbol: the Joker. With his white-painted face and harlequin hat, the grinning Joker is a wild symbol that appears on reel 2, 3 or 4.

When the Joker appears, he expands top to bottom and holds in place for another respin giving you a fresh chance to build winners around the wild symbol.

If another Joker comes up during the respin, so much the better. With two of the three inside reels now being wild, you have a great chance to win, and both Jokers lock into place for another respin.

If on that second respin the third Joker appears, it locks into place for a third respin. With three expanded Jokers, you're guaranteed wins of at least four of a kind on every payline.

BOTTOM LINE

With only 10 paylines and fewer bonus features than most online or video slots, not every player will love Sizzling Hot Jokers. But when those Jokers come grinning, those who give it a go will be glad they did.

 

*Credit for the cover photo in this article belongs to AP Photo/Wong Maye-E*

Blackjack is blackjack: your goal is to beat the dealer whether you play in land-based or online casinos in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Caribbean, or any other part of the world. However, playing live blackjack abroad in a land-based casino has some differences compared to playing in the U.S.  The following table summarizes the differences. 

• Download Blackjack Basic Strategy Chart

(Note: Peruse the table to compare the differences in rules before reading about the no-hole-card rule, which follows.)

NO-HOLE-CARD  RULE

With the no-hole-card rule, the dealer does not take her second card until after all the players have completed their hand. Some players mistakenly believe this gives the casino an extra advantage because the dealer is less likely to bust when the cards are dealt consecutively, rather than when the dealer’s second, and possibly additional draw cards, are dealt after the players have drawn their cards. 

Mathematically, it makes no difference in the long run whether the dealer takes her second card before players act on their hand, or she waits and takes the second card after the players act. The no hole card, per se, has no effect on the odds of blackjack, or on the basic playing strategy (so if you hold a 16, you play it the same way regardless if the dealer has a hole card or not).

EUROPEAN NO-HOLD-CARD RULE (ENHC)

What affects your odds and your playing strategy in no-hole-card games is when a player loses additional wagers made on splitting and doubling when the dealer’s second card gives her a blackjack. This occurs with ENHC and it increases the house edge by about 0.11 percent (rule dependent). It also requires a modification to the basic playing strategy. 

The following table shows the strategy differences for a multi-deck ENHC game (dealer hits soft 17 and players can double down after pair splitting), compared to an American game with the same rules. Essentially, the strategy changes occur when the dealer shows a 10 or Ace and include:

• hitting a hard 11 against a dealer 10
• hitting a pair of Aces against a dealer Ace, and 
• hitting a pair of eights against a dealer 10 and Ace.

The above modifications to the playing strategy, for ENHC, assume surrender is not offered. In a future article, I’ll explain the strategy changes when the latter is offered.

• Click here to read part 2 of this article

Several years ago, I gave a blackjack seminar in front of an audience of about 100. At the start of my seminar, I posed this question to them. “How does the casino get its edge in blackjack?” 

• Download Blackjack Basic Strategy Chart

A few folks attributed the casino edge to “the poor play of most blackjack players” but that's not what gives them their initial edge. Simply put, the house gets its edge in blackjack due to the “double bust” rule. After I stated this, I could see glary eyes and raised eyebrows from attendees. “Say what?” yelled one attendee.

First, it rather floored me that not one person knew how the casino creates its edge. Nevertheless, I forged on and explained the double bust rule to the attendees as follows.

If a player's hand exceeds 21, he automatically losses even if the dealer's hand exceeds 21 in the same round. This is known as the “double bust rule,” and it is what creates the casino’s initial advantage over blackjack players.

To explain the double bust a different way, I asked the audience what happens if you get 17 and the blackjack dealer gets 17? About everyone yelled, “it's a push.” Then I asked them what happens if a player gets 22 and the dealer gets 22? Is it still a push? The answer of course is no, you lose. I could see a smile on faces of the attendees, as they finally really understood how the double bust works against players.

You might be wondering how much the double bust is roughly worth for the casino. This is easy to determine. The dealer busts on average about 28% of the time. Consider a player who plays his hand exactly like the dealer (always hit 16 or less and stand on 17 or more).  He will also bust 28% of the time; therefore, a double bust in the same round will occur roughly 8% of the time (28% x 28%). Voilà, the casino’s initial advantage over players would be 8% assuming all else were equal. However, all else is not equal and for good reason. 

Historically, when blackjack was first introduced into the casinos in the 1930s and 1940s, casino owners mistakenly believed the game could not be beaten. They understood the basis of their advantage (double bust) but realized their edge was too strong, and reasoned that if players consistently lost, they would stop playing. Therefore, they decided to give players a casino bonus payout for an untied blackjack hand. They also implemented additional player benefits in the way of playing options available only to players (not the dealer), which could reduce the house edge to a level that players would tolerate. The result was a game of uneven rules between player and dealer.

The following table summarizes the differences in the rules between the player and the dealer, and who has the advantage (from Blackjack Bluebook II by Fred Renzey).

If you peruse the table, you'll see that except for acting first, all the other rules favor the player over the dealer. This means a smart player who knows how to take advantage of these rules can significantly reduce that initial 8% disadvantage to less than one percent. Here's how this is done.

The first player perk — paying all player blackjacks at 3 to 2 while the dealer wins only even money with a blackjack — is a gimme and is worth 2.25% in a 6-deck game. Learning when to draw and when not to (as opposed to the dealer who has no playing options) gives the player roughly a 3.25% gain. Likewise, by maximizing your options to double down and split pairs you’ll gain about an additional 1.50% and 0.5% respectively. Surrender, if allowed, gives the player an additional 0.07% gain (assumes surrender after dealer checks for blackjack). Therefore, if you add up all the player gains and subtract them from the initial 8% player disadvantage, you'll arrive at a player disadvantage (or house advantage) of about half a percent without surrender, and approximately four tenths of a percent with surrender. (The previous percentages differ slightly based on the number of decks of cards and mix of playing rules.)  That, my dear readers, is about the lowest house edge you'll find in any game on the casino floor.

The key to whittling down the initial disadvantage is to take maximum advantage of the playing options. You can do this by learning the basic blackjack strategy, which is a set of decision rules that a player should always follow to know when to hit, stand, double down, pair split, and surrender. The basic playing strategy is not based on opinion, common sense, hunches, or intuition; rather it's the computer derived, mathematically correct way to play your hand when the only information available is the cards that comprise your hand and the dealer’s upcard (it does not depend on other player’s cards or previously played cards).  There is only one right play in blackjack and it’s the basic strategy play. Period.

Note: If you want to learn the basic playing strategy for any set of blackjack rules, see Chapter 3 in my Ultimate Blackjack Strategy Guide.
 

I once conceived a method of playing roulette and baccarat in such a way that I thought it would be an enjoyable process for players. First, it would save the player money, always a good thing, because it required some scouting without any play involved, but it would also be interesting and perhaps an exciting betting opportunity.

Most betting systems at casino games are for fun because they cannot get you an edge over the house. But such systems do structure a player’s play over time and are ways to tame the Rodan of randomness. Most people like the sense of order that a system can produce even if the system cannot change the true nature of a casino game.

[Please note: Rodan is a giant monster who appeared in Japanese science fiction movies.It was a really nasty bird.]

Little did I know that this “luck” technique would become the main playing method of a group of players who call themselves the roulette rebels, which is a pretty interesting name.They also use this method, though less often, at mini-baccarat.

I fortuitously bumped into one such rebel on a trip to Atlantic City and he told me about his fellow rebels and also those rebels who were using the same method in Las Vegas. His group of players consisted of three men and two women, the wives of two of the men. 

I had no idea such a group existed. Perhaps they have been writing about how they play on the Internet but I had never read anything from them or about them. It was sheer coincidence that I bumped into one at the tables. I recognized his method of play relatively quickly. That wasn’t hard to do.

I wish I had named it after me (okay, that’s my ego speaking) but what the heck; it is a good way to play, whatever name you call it. I originally called it the Lucky Player technique and that was exactly what it is. You look for a lucky player, make sure that player is winning at roulette and then bet with this player for as long as your series of bets continue to come out winners overall. 

[Please note: You don’t have to win every decision – that is a rare occurrence indeed – but you do want a series of wagers to be successful. Can you lose a sequence? Absolutely. This is not an advantage-play technique but it is a fun exercise in challenging chance.]

SAY HELLO TO MR. WILLIAM DEWITT

William DeWitt was the leader of the group and he was the man I met first. When I saw how he played, I asked him if he was betting with the woman at the end of the table who seemed to be consistently nailing one of her three numbers (I think they were 5, 8, and 30). He affirmed that.

“You know the method?” he asked me. 

“Yes, yes, it seems to be a fun way to play,” I said.

“I recognize you,” he said. “I’ve seen you on television. I didn’t know you actually played in the casinos. Many of the casino writers don’t really play.”

“I play all the time,” I said.

“Well, I read about this method so I told a few friends and we decided to form a team. We would go around the tables scouting out winners and then we would bet on them. It was really simple to do and fun all the way.”

“How much do you bet at roulette?” I asked.

“Inside numbers we bet 10 dollars per number but no more than five numbers, so that comes to no more than $50 per spin. Outside propositions we bet $25 maximum,” he said.

“What if the player is betting more than five numbers?” I asked.

“We either just do five of them or, if we can, we reduce the bet to five dollars per number so we can cover more than five numbers.”

“What about someone playing two propositions? Do you go to $50 on them?”

“Yes, but no more than two bets unless, again, we can reduce our bet to lower than $25 per proposition,” he said. “You don’t really see too many players betting more than two propositions at once who are actually ahead of the house.”

We talked some more and then I inquired whether I could meet the other four members of his team. We made a date to meet for breakfast the following morning at the café. 

This was a Saturday evening and the casino was packed. I usually don’t play on heavy nights. I prefer early weekday mornings and late afternoons when the bus people head home. I am not a lover of the weekend crowds since the tables are usually packed.

Early Sunday morning we met at the café and he introduced the members of the Roulette Rebels: Marilyn DeWitt, William’s wife, an elementary school teacher in New Jersey. By the way, William is a real estate agent, also in New Jersey. David Meyer, a retired salesman, and his wife Brenda Meyer, also a former high school teacher in New Jersey The other member is Kevin McCarthy, recently retired from the airline industry and, as he says, “Ready to fly at the tables!”.

My first question was how long had they been playing in the casinos and then how long have they actually been playing this “Rebel” way.

“I think basically all of us have been regular casino goers for decades,” said Kevin McCarthy. “I’ve played a lot in Vegas but now I tend to stick to Atlantic City which is closer to home.”

“We have been friends for years and one day, maybe three years ago, William came up with the idea of playing this rebel strategy,” said Marilyn DeWitt. “I have been a roulette player all of my gambling life so it was an interesting idea to try.”

“I mean,” said Brenda Meyer, “What the heck? It was as good as any other way to play and so we pooled our money to have a joint bank account and worked out the plan of how to play the game with five people.”

Each one of them expressed a positive attitude towards being a Roulette Rebel. Brenda said, “We had thought of having t-shirts made but then we thought maybe we shouldn’t draw too much attention to ourselves.”

I asked them how they played. Did they all play at one table or did they spread out? How exactly did they figure out on whom to bet?

William DeWitt answered: “We tend to have one or at rare times two players at the same table. But we usually have three of us going from table to table to see if anyone has gotten hot. So we could have all of us playing at different tables. That doesn’t happen a whole lot but having multiple tables happens a lot.”

“We want to make sure,” said Brenda, “that the person has been winning and is ahead at that moment. Just a few wins here and there is not a great thing if the person is losing for their session. Anyone can win a couple of decisions. We want a player who is winning for the session, preferably a decent sized win.”

“Overall winning is the key variable,” said Marilyn. 

“It isn’t really hard to figure out who is ahead for their session,” said Kevin. “You can just ask them like ‘How are you doing?’ ‘Has the dealer been kind to you?’ ‘Would you recommend playing at this table? ’You know, that kind of thing. Players will usually tell you straight out if they have been winning. That’s bragging after all, right?”

“We can also just stand there and watch the game if the casino isn’t too crowded,” said Marilyn. “Crowded tables make it hard for you to get onto them so you want a space or two to be open.”

“Seemingly contradictory to that, the weekends are the best times because the most roulette games are in play,” stated William. “So you want a casino that is somewhat crowded but you also want to be able to get onto the tables where a hot player is playing. It’s a balancing act. There has to be some room but you also want a casino with a lot of players so all the tables are open and available.”

“It’s a bit of a balancing act as Bill said,” stated Kevin. “But it isn’t overwhelming or anything. There aren’t many times we are shut out of a table. Sometimes you can even stand and make bets.”

I asked them if they colored in their chips for roulette chips when they played.

“No,” said David. “We usually use the green chips for outside bets and red chips for inside bets. Sometimes the dealers want us to color the regular chips and that’s no big deal if they want that.”

I then asked about mini-baccarat. It is not their favored game but they do play it occasionally. 

[Please note, if you have never played baccarat or mini-baccarat, there is one thing you should know – many of the players are highly superstitious. If you check out the layout you might find that the place setting for the number four leaves the number four out and skips to the number five. That is because the number four in Chinese is considered unlucky and sounds like the word for death. Superstitious players don’t want to sit in the seat that sounds like death so the casino drops the number four. Also players will sometimes get it into their heads that you are causing them to lose. It is an interesting experience.]

I asked them if they ever had any trouble with superstitious players at mini-baccarat. I related one of my experiences with an intense – okay, a somewhat nutty – player who was cursing me out for playing at her table. This was a game of regular big table baccarat. I’m glad I couldn’t understand what she was saying but she was saying it fiercely.

“On rare occasions,” said David. “Some baccarat players are very antsy I guess you could say. If they are winning and you sit down and match their bets they can get uptight if they should lose a couple of decisions in a row and they then think you might be stealing their good luck. I’m not kidding. If they lose, they aren’t happy and they can blame you. That does happen at times.”

“We tread carefully around these folks,” said Brenda. “We aren’t there to cause a ruckus with other players. We just want to play and have some fun.”

“We tend not to ask certain players how they are doing,” said Kevin. “If we think they will get upset we just watch the game from some feet away to see if any one of them is winning overall. Brenda is right that we tread carefully with some players. This covers all ethnic groups. Some people are just really superstitious.”

I then asked them about their Las Vegas cohorts.

“There are eight players in Las Vegas, two teams of four each,” said Kevin. “When I was travelling with my airline job, I told some friends in Las Vegas about the Roulette Rebels and how we play. A couple of them thought it was interesting and each formed his own team. They even play more than we do as the casinos are right in their backyards. One guy can just roll out of bed and into the casino!”

None of them knew if there were other teams or individual players using this system of play. Interestingly enough, you don’t really see very much team play in casino games of any kind; after all, there is no way to get an edge at most games.

Keep this in mind: while the Roulette Rebels are having fun, they aren’t changing the nature of the game in any way.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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

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

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

DOUBLE-DECK RULES & PLAYING STRATEGY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All the best in and out of the casinos!