Video poker is a great game favored by many casino players because:

• It generally has a low house edge.
• It allows players to select which cards to hold or discard, thereby making them active participants in the game.
• Knowledgeable players can: 
  • Determine the game/pay table combination’s average return.
  • Determine the volatility of the game/pay table.
  • Develop a playing strategy for the game/pay table that produces the highest possible average return.

Many players, especially the more inexperienced, will give the casino more of their dollars because they are unaware of certain facts. This article presents several video poker tips that allow players to make the most of their play.

Contents

1. Choose the right goal

Playing video poker can be exciting. Selecting cards to hold makes you part of the game. Many players think that the goal of playing video poker is to win as many hands as possible.

2. Select the best game

There are dozens, even scores of different video poker game variations. Additionally, each different game can (and usually does) have several different pay tables. With so many to choose from, how does a successful player determine the best game – the one that will win the most money for them long term?

There are three major considerations.

• Return – Successful video poker players choose the game with the highest possible return. The higher the return, the better the chance to become a winner – or at least not as big a loser.
   
• Variance – Variance is the degree of fluctuation in your gambling bankroll. Different games and pay tables have variances. Two different game/pay table combinations can have the same return but dramatically different variances.
  
  Variance affects bankroll. Higher variance games require a larger bankroll to weather the steeper bankroll drawdowns of these games. 
  
  Players with smaller bankrolls (or an emotional problem with losing quickly) should steer clear of high variance video poker games.

Roulette is a game of chance, but we are always on the lookout for strategies to improve our odds of winning. One of the most popular roulette strategies is based on hot and cold numbers. But will understanding and implementing it improve our chances of winning?

In this article, I will explain what hot and cold numbers are, and whether betting on them can really help you win at roulette. I will also introduce a new roulette betting strategy that focuses on warm zone roulette numbers, which may increase your chances of winning. 

Roulette can be said to be a sophisticated form of gambling as there are many ways to bet. Plus the total numbers change depending on if you are playing on single-zero European roulette wheel or double-zero American wheel.

Hot and Cold Numbers in Roulette

When playing online roulette, you’ll notice three to five numbers displaying for each of the "hot" and "cold" sections. Hot numbers are the ones that have appeared more frequently, while cold numbers are the opposite.

These numbers are based mostly on the last x00 spins, but it can be a different game number range too such as the stats based on the last 500 games.

At any stage when playing a session of games or when just observing the outcomes you can trust the information about hot and cold numbers. However, this doesn’t mean that:

• You’ll make a significant profit by only betting on any of the hot numbers, considering they have appeared more frequently.
• If you bet on one or more of the cold numbers that any will hit because you bet on them or if they do hit that they will then hit frequently enough to make you money.

Despite the changing flow of hot and cold numbers, the probability of the ball landing in any numbered pocket on a roulette wheel remains the same at the start of a new game and until the outcome is known. This probability includes all numbers, not just the hot and cold ones.

The probability can be determined with the simplified formula: (ways to win) / (ways to win + ways to lose). 

Assuming the single bet scenario, this comes out to be 1/37, as there are 37 numbers on the single green zero European roulette wheel. While on the double-zero American roulette wheel, the total numbers are 38, making the probability 1/38.

So you always run the risk of losing by playing only hot or cold numbers. Or by betting on all the hot and cold numbers. Likewise, opting to play non-hot or non-cold numbers could also result in a loss.

As I wrote at the start, roulette is a sophisticated gambling game. The fewer numbers you select to bet on in pursuit of the higher payout odds, the less likely you are to win.

This is because there will be many more numbers that you have not covered, but they may occur more often than those you've selected, making it a net loss.

When playing roulette games can your win rate improve using Hot and Cold Numbers?

On roulette games conducted on properly balanced wheels (where no obvious bias exists), all numbers will go through hot and cold periods. This is simply the random nature of roulette games.

No specific number should be assumed better or worse merely because the ball lands in pockets frequently and avoids other pockets for what seems like ages.

It's hard enough to find a winning even-money betting strategy, let alone betting on only a few roulette numbers, but that juicy 35/1 payout appeals to our greedy urge to win and increase our chip stack.

Still, information regarding hot and cold numbers is valuable and some of the essentials to bear in mind are as follows:

Cold roulette numbers

Suppose you bet on cold numbers and lose, obviously you’re losing money. But the more money you lose, the greater the urge to increase wagers to mitigate the losses in trying to make a profit in case the cold numbers do hit.

The problem is, cold numbers can remain cold for 100 spins or more. It’s not uncommon to see some numbers not having appeared for 200-plus games in a row. 

If you happen to pick ice age cold numbers, your roulette session is likely to end with losing your entire bankroll and feeling confused and frustrated.

So my advice would be to not rely on cold numbers hitting just because you bet on them. Also, if they do hit, don't rely on them turning into hot numbers. They may hit once or twice and then return to the ice age again.

Hot roulette numbers

Now, if you jump on the hot numbers, there’s no guarantee that they will remain hot. They may not continue to hit or not hit as often as you expect. Remember, the statistics on hot numbers are only based on a certain number of previous roulette spins.

A new sequence of hot and cold numbers is beginning and ending all the time.

Those hot numbers could be turning cold, and as such, they would be in the process of being replaced by a new set of hot numbers. Therefore, I wouldn’t bank on winning by backing hot roulette numbers since the trend is always changing.

Even if you were lucky enough to pick a set of numbers that turned out to be hot, adding up all your wins and subtracting the amount you won per spin may not yield much of a profit after a few hundred games.

For example, let’s say you selected five numbers and bet $1 on each per spin within 300 roulette games. If the ball lands in each of the hot numbers say eight times, at 35/1 plus your 1 chip stake returned per win, you would see a return of 1,440.

How? Take a look: 8 x (35 + 1) = 288 per number. Since all five hot numbers won, 5 times 288 makes the total payout 1,440.

Now factor in your stake of five chips within 300 games and that would cost 1,500, as you can see that in fact you’d be losing -60 chips. So not only do you have to be lucky enough to pick a set of flowing hot numbers, but you'd also have to stop betting when in profit (if possible) at some point before reaching the end of x300 games.

Of course, some numbers can hit more than 10 times within 300 roulette games, but not all hot numbers will, so there will be an average.

This can be determined as the total number of wins for each number, divided by the number of games. And I believe I’ve been fair with eight wins for each of the five numbers in the above example.

You may disagree, however it's highly unlikely that you would be able to select the hottest of the hot combinations, ones that are hitting 12-plus times each within x300 roulette games.

Summary of betting on hot and cold roulette numbers

Some people experience a strong pull to bet on cold roulette numbers because they believe such numbers will begin to hit soon. And there are those who follow hot numbers that are running rich. Both strategies are problematic.

How hot and cold roulette numbers are formed

Firstly, numbers that hit X number of times, above the average within a set number of games (e.g. within 300 games) are hot numbers. And those numbers that have not hit for X number of games within the 300 games range are regarded as cold numbers.

Some examples of hot and cold numbers:

• 17 is a hot number because it has occurred 10 times within the last 300 spins.
• 21 is a cold number because it last occurred 56 spins back.

Secondly, hot numbers that begin to hit a number of times in spurts within the 300 range are regarded as "running rich numbers." Such numbers can include those that have been cold for many spins but suddenly erupt into action.

Example: 10 is a cold number because it last occurred 128 spins back. However, within the last 16 spins, 10 has occurred four times.

Although 10 has only occurred four times within the last 300 spins, because it is now running rich, it can be regarded as a hot number.

Whether it should have more relevance than a number that has already occurred 11 times within the last 300 spins is a matter for roulette bettors and advantage players to determine.

Personally, I believe this could be a sign that such numbers are "the new future hot hitting roulette numbers" that could go on to score eight or more occurrences within the last 300 spins, and could even score within a 12-16 hit range. But of course, there’s no guarantee of this happening.

Likewise, a future high ranking number could be a creeper, hitting on average once in every 20 games. I’d monitor the stats as the roulette games progress and take note of such numbers and the ones that hit a number of times within a limited number of games.

Both hot number types are relevant, but you’re only ever going to profit from the mid to tail end of the streaky runs they make.

By the time you’ve realised that these may be worth betting on – be they slow and steady or frequently hitting numbers within a limited range – there likely won’t be much of an opportunity to take advantage.

In the end, you can’t always rely on random luck to be on your side in the ever-changing world of live roulette games.

Are hot and cold roulette numbers important to consider when trying to win?

On the face of it, with each roulette number possessing the same odds of hitting on future games, a roulette player might want to ignore the data.

They might view the information as a distraction to their betting plans. However, there are many roulette gamblers whose focus is to only bet on hot or cold numbers.

Warm zone roulette numbers betting strategy

An alternative to betting on only hot or only cold roulette numbers is to select a mix of semi-hot and semi-cold numbers. When you play live roulette online, you should look for stats on all of the numbers, from 0 to 36.

There is a high probability that future hot numbers will turn out to be numbers that score within the normal expected range, like midway between the coolest cold and the coolest hot.

These warm roulette numbers represent a fair distribution of occurrences that, in my view, are primed to become key players.

Roulette hot and cold numbers vs. warm zone numbers conclusion

To try and improve your chances of winning on hot and cold numbers, you've got to put effort into deciding what your bet selection should be.

A poorly structured bet selection may serve you well in the short term. But, in my view, a better tactic is to focus on betting on roulette numbers that may be about to hit or have just started hitting.

In this respect, I’d bet on some of the hot numbers and then skip every other number towards the coldest, so that you’re betting on about 18 numbers.

If some of the roulette numbers you pick are not occurring as often as you need them to, you can always replace them with other warm zone numbers that appear to be hitting more frequently.
 

Basic strategy and card counting are the foundation of advantage Blackjack play.  It was the very first approach taken to beat casino games. And it started people thinking about how to attack casino games for profit. Card counting and basic strategy gave the player the tools to take on the casino.  That’s the pure "scientific" part of the game. Winning at blackjack is mostly “science,” but it’s also an art. 

Artful play is an extension of the mathematical foundation. Another artful type of play comes from thinking outside the box. There are a few “artful things” you can do to increase your mathematical edge at blackjack.

Poor Penetration

To a card counter, deck penetration is an important component of a winning approach. The problem is that penetration seems to be growing worse and worse as the years go by. 

Six-deck shoe games are the standard in most casinos today. Some casinos cut off two decks out of the six and others may go down to a deck and a half.  Higher minimum one-bet tables usually cut off a little over a deck. With typical rules, a one to 10 betting spread and a solid counting system like the basic High-Lw system, cutting off an extra half deck will increase your hourly expected win in units

• 1.5-deck cutoff: 1.8 units per hour
• 2-deck cutoff: 1.3 units per hour

Occasionally a player can be stuck at a casino that consistently cuts off two decks. The silver lining is, you don’t have to lose quite the full amount of the difference between that and the 1.5 deck penetration. That’s because poorer penetration lowers your "averaged" bet size and hourly standard deviation that is approximately 7%.

And by shuffling away many of your "would be" maximum-sized bets you are adequately able to handle the swings associated with a 1.5-deck cutoff, then you can increase your betting action modestly and still run the same short term risk of ruin if they’re cutting off two decks.

Trying to upscale all your bets by 7% isn’t necessary here – there’s a more direct way to compensate. You can just keep all your units the same size and use a moderately faster betting ramp. 

In the above example with the High-Low system, the risk of losing a 25-hour trip bankroll of 300 units shrinks from 11.5% down to 10% when the penetration gets worse. But an expected win rate of 1.4 units per hour (rather than 1.3) was later achieved with the same 11.5% risk of ruin by steepening the betting ramp during poor penetration.

With either betting ramp, the lifetime bankroll will have a greater ROR (risk of ruin) since the lower hourly wins won’t grow your bank as quickly. Hence it won’t contain the extra "cover" money to handle the prolonged negative swings down the road.

Playing Three Hands

Anytime there’s at least one other player at the table, and the count is positive, you’re better off playing two hands rather than just one.  When playing two hands each bet should be 2/3 of the bet. However, there’s almost no justification for ever playing three hands. "Almost" is the operative word here.  

There is a particular situation when it’s definitely correct to play three hands. This is when the count is positive and the last round of the shoe is coming up. By betting three boxes in this spot, you’d be sucking one or two extra hands out of the shoe you never would’ve gotten. Since optimal bet sizing is 100% for one hand, 133% for two hands and 150% for three hands, playing three hands will get the most money into action before this positive shoe ends. 

To identify when the last round of the shoe is coming up you need to watch things closely. At the beginning of the shoe when the dealer inserts the cut card, make notice of where it is. By comparing that to the cards in the discard tray when the cut card pops out, you’ll be able to gain a good feel for just which round will be the last. If you think this is the round and you’ve got a positive count, play three hands if you can. 

Camouflage

Many pit bosses will recognize a basic strategy "mistake" when they see one, but very few will know a big mistake from a small one. Those glaring, but small mistakes are the ones you want to make in front of your pit boss and the eye upstairs to put them at ease about you.

Doubling down with 12 against a deuce or a 3 for example is a pretty big mistake. But doubling for "less", say for one tenth of the bet is only one tenth as costly and still makes quite an impression about your play. Particularly when you are betting a minimum bet.

So if you feel the need to lay down some cover and have either of these hands, double it for an extra tenth of a bet. You don’t have to worry about the pit boss not seeing it – most dealers’ will announce your "bonehead" play out loud. The overall cost of this move is about 25% of the extra doubled amount. So when you’ve bet $20 and doubled 12 against a deuce for an extra $2, you’ve just blown 50 cents on average.

Another tightrope an advantage player finds himself constantly walking is the Insurance conundrum. You may have 20 against an Ace up and decline to insure a good hand. Later you may want to insure a 13. How is surveillance to evaluate that?

A way to smooth out this picture is to occasionally insure your 20 in an unwarranted count for say, one tenth of the bet. Later, when you have a big bet up with a weak 13 sitting in front of you, toss a nice round amount out there, somewhere near but probably a little less than half the bet. Appear haphazard and imprecise about both plays. 

What’s the cost? Insuring your 20 in a neutral count costs 8% of your insurance bet. Shorting your insurance bet in a +4 true count costs 2.5% of the shorted amount. So if you insure a $20 bet with a neutral count for $2, that’ll cost you 16 cents. Later, if you get only $100 down on a $250 bet with a +4 true count, you’ve given up 62 cents.

Side Bets & Hand Interaction

Hand interaction is when you double down on another player’s hand, either in partnership with him or entirely by yourself. These interactive doubles usually carry a known edge going in of 5% to 10%.

There’s another related advantage technique that can also improve your EV. That’s making “side bets” with players to your left and right. At many blackjack tables, a camaraderie develops where players behave interactively, i.e., high fiving, etc. This atmosphere lends itself to your making advantageous side bets on four particular hands. They are:

• 19 against a 10
• 18 against an 8
• 10 against an Ace
• 10 against a 10

What these four hands have in common is that the player is favored to win every one of them. Most players don’t think so.

When the player next to you has 19 against a 10 with a $25 bet up and the dealer’s already checked the hole card, ask if you can double it for them.  Make sure you stipulate that a "push" is no bet. If he wins he pays you $10 or $15. If he loses he keeps your bet. You’re giving him the opportunity to hedge his wager with 19 against a scary looking 10, and if they take it you’ll have a 7% edge.

The player’s edge and hence your side-bet edge on 18 against an 8 would be 10%. A player’s 10 against a non-21 Ace has an 8% edge, and a 10 against a playable 10 has a 3% advantage.

Blackjack is a game rooted in mathematical precision. Card counting and Basic Strategy can be solved and results can be confidently evaluated.  As this discussion shows there are additional opportunities that can be had if you can recognize and execute them while playing. These are only a few. How many more can you find? 
 

Change is good. Do you believe that? I don’t. At least not all change.

Now, of course I don’t mean all change is bad but certainly some of it is. I am not completely happy with customer service where you wait, like, a 100 years to be taken care of on the phone or on your computer from medium to large companies. I was on the phone for three hours with social security and my health care plan. I could have been dead at the end of that.

The casino industry has seen many changes over the years, some good, some bad. 

Craps has been a better game now than ever before with multiple odds bets as high as 3X, 5X, 10X, 20X and 100X. The layouts look better too. Sprucy with plenty of eye-popping color. Change has been good for craps. But skip the new side bets. They don’t really help you win over even a somewhat short length of time. The Fire Bet, for example, has a house edge between 20 and 25 percent. That’s worse than the worst slot machines.

Blackjack is nowhere near as good as it used to be when I first started playing over three decades ago. I remember playing great single-deck games and double-deck games in the 1990s with great rules. Even Atlantic City had excellent four-deck games with surrender. 

I remember the great Maxim blackjack game in Las Vegas where they dealt out every card except one. My wife, the Beautiful AP and I spent eight weeks straight in Las Vegas playing that game. 

Looking Back

There was no such thing as a 6:5 blackjack or across the board restrictions of what and when you could double and how often you could split pairs. And automatic shufflers? Yuck! Come on, small breaks in play are good things for players. 

Traditional high-limit baccarat has basically disappeared from the casinos to be replaced by mini-baccarat, a fast, maxi-hit on the players’ bankrolls. It used to be that only high rollers played the game in fancy rooms with dealers dressed to the nines. The players were all (well, almost all) dressed to the nines as well.

Mini-baccarat still has low house edges (except for the tie bet) but the speed of the game is lightning-like and that even makes small edges dangerous.

Video poker is somewhat good at times but it used to have games that a savvy player could actually beat and some that were really close contests. Now, what attracts many players are video-poker games whose names sound quite cool but really aren’t so hot to play. From my vantage point the video-poker games actually seem somewhat stagnant now. I could be wrong here. I also could be right here.

Changes at the Roulette Table

Roulette wheels have come into their own by being computerized, with highly colorized layouts and table areas, and they look (how shall I say this?) snappy! The best roulette games are right now. But (maybe sadly) those old-time advantage plays against biased-wheels are over; those wheels have been buried in the graveyard of the lost world; dinosaur bones of the olden times. 

A perfect wheel for some roulette players looking to get an edge over the game is an imperfect wheel for the casino. Come on, casinos don’t want anything that can go wrong with their games.  Perfect wheels for the casino are not perfect for players, well, some few players looking and praying for an edge. 

Today’s amazingly perfect wheels now rule the “little wheel” world that was created by Blaise Pascal in the 1600s. Today’s wheels are fun to play, yes, and they do look great. The massive scoreboards and the crossover table results that I’ve seen at some casinos are just terrific. Any chance of beating those wheels?

Nah. Most roulette players are not concerned with biased wheels or the like. They enjoy the play on today’s wheels.

And we do have a lot of new games, that we always called carnival games, that often require more than one bet – not usually a good deal. And we now have a whole host of side bets at many of the traditional games that can drain a player’s funds. I’m not so in love with these. Casinos want to win more and more money but players want to lose less and less money. That is a conflict of interest. 

I like casino games that you can play for a while without always getting clobbered. I like the back-and-forth in those games. They always give me some hope that I will win this session. Hope is a key emotion and a key concept in casino play. Yep, therefore I love Pai Gow Poker, a new old game, which is a great game in the casino scheme of things. If you haven’t played it, give it a try. 

And now to slot machines and something new that has started to take over the palaces of Lady Luck with which I am not in love. Here goes.

The Brave New Casino World 

I have nothing against slot machines per se, nothing at all. They are the kings and queens of the casino world and there wouldn’t be a casino world (as in worldwide) without them. Yes, slot play rules. Slot players are the godlike beings of the casino world even if most of them do not know this fact. 

My favorite slot machines? Old timers with real coins. That’s just me. Even with metal discoloration of my hands by the coins when you play those oldies but goodies, it was a fun exercise that did, in fact, need hand-scrubbing when you were finished playing.

But now things are starting to get wacky. How so? Here is a saying that all casino management and players should sing loudly: “Table games are not slot machines!”
 
Listen, I prefer the casino to keep its table games as table games and its slot machines as slot machines. I like the line between the two types of games. I like one area where it is people and people and live dealers with the other area being people and machines. Keep these areas as two separate areas of casino play.

That’s just me. Or is it just me?

I like the ins and outs between casino players and dealers. Human to human contact. I like the ability to reach across the table and lay a tip down for the dealers too. I like to see good dealers handle bad players and bad dealers dealing with everyone at the table. The human story truly exists on real table games. You are playing a game but you are playing a game with real people around you.

Here's my beef. Many more casinos are bringing in machine-games based on table games. In my old neighborhood, there were casinos that had no table games at all; instead the casinos had mechanical or slot versions of just about every table game players might want to play. Some of these even looked like table games as they took up table-game space but there were no dealers; everything was automatic. 

The new table-slot-machine games are not table games. They are just big slot machines. People can sit around a roulette-slot-machine-table-game and have no interaction with other players and since there is no dealer then there is no interesting player and dealer give and take. (If you are cheap, however, you can save on tips!)

Machines replacing people and animals has become the rule of civilization. There aren’t too many blacksmiths anymore and even those old-time automobile mechanics now must understand computers to really understand today’s cars and trucks. In my local supermarkets, fewer and fewer checkout people are needed because the buyers do their own “automatic” checkouts.

That I don’t particularly like. 

The contrapoint to my dislike of machines taking people’s occupations are those web casinos that have real dealers dealing their games. Yes, if you are going to play a table game on the web then make it as real as possible. Some online casinos do that perfectly. 

These games are sometimes filmed as if they are really happening when you are watching and playing them. Some are really happening. That’s a close call between a real table game and a computerized one. Real dealers involved? I like that.

Slot Roulette Table Games

You want your “virtual” roulette game to be exactly what a real game is like – or at least as close as possible. Can you really capture a real roulette game playing this way? I’ll leave that up to you.

What follows is what you should be doing in the virtual game or, again, as close as possible.

The Odds of Winning and Losing and the House Edges

There are two types of roulette games, the American double-zero wheel (0, 00) and the European/French single-zero wheel (0). The American game has 38 pockets, numbered 1-36 with the 0 and 00. The European/French game has 37 pockets numbered 1-36 and 0. 

The payout for a winning pocket is 35-to-1. The real payout in a fair game where the casino did not have an edge would be 37-to-1 on the American game. On the European/French game the payout is the same, 35-to-1, but with only one 0, the true payout would be 36-to-1. 

The American game has a house edge of 5.26%, while the European/French game has a much lower house edge of 2.7%. Chances are that any mechanized slot version of the game would be the American version. Still, some online casinos will offer the French game and if the betting limits are the same as the American game, well there is no doubt which game to play.

[Please note: Here is the first big caution. If the mechanized version is not paying 35-to-1 but something like 34- or 33-to-1 then do not play that game. Of course, if it is paying 36-to-1, jump on it!]

Those of you betting directly or straight up on the numbers, put your chips on the numbers. Obviously, the game would give you how to do this direct-style of betting. 

If you are betting any of the proposition bets the payouts will reflect what the proposition is. For example, the even-money bets of red/black (French: Rouge et Noir), odd/even (French: Impair et Pair), high/low (French: Passe et Manque) you place these bets right on one or two of the three propositions. 

These all pay 1-to-1. They are called even-money bets because they pay even money, meaning 1-to-1. They are not 50/50 bets with the casino. The casino wins 20 times and the player wins 18 times. The house edge is 5.26%. The European/French version is better for the player in terms of the house edge with the casino winning 19 times and the player winning 18 times. These propositions lose if a 0 or 00 is the number. 

On the first, second or third dozen (French: Douzaine), or the first, second or third column (French: Colonne), you will again place your wager exactly on the proposition however the machine indicates how to do this. These bets pay 2-to-1. All lose if a 0 or 00 is the winning number. House edges are the same, 5.26% and 2.7%.

More Possible Bets

Split Bet (French: A Cheval): If you want to bet two numbers next to each other, place your chips on the line between the two numbers. The win is 17 units per 1 unit wagered. 

The Street Bet, or Three Number Bet or “Side Bet” or The Trio (French: Transversal): If you wish to bet on three numbers, place your wager on the outside border of the three numbers. A win pays off at 11 to 1. 

The Corner, the Square, the Four Number Bet (French: Carre):  After three numbers comes? Yes, of course, four numbers! The numbers must form a square. Place the bet at the intersection where all four numbers meet. A win pays 8 to 1. 

The Five Number Bet:  This bet on the 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3 stinks because its house edge is 7.89% – only found on the American game. A win pays 6 to 1. 

The Line Bet, or Six Number Bet, or Six-line Bet (French: Sixain): Split Bet
(French: A Cheval): This wager is placed on the outside borders of six numbers. A win pays 5 to 1. 

[Please note: A word to the wise. Make sure the payouts are the equal to or better than the real payouts at the game. And side bets? I’d skip those.]

All the best in and out of the casinos!
 

Drop in some credits, hit the “spin” button, and if those reels line up just right some winnings may be heading your way. That’s a process slot machine players around the world know well. These gambling devices occupy much of the gaming space at most casinos and have grown in popularity in online casinos as well.

But that wasn’t always the case. Table games and other forms of gambling once delighted eager gamblers with slots seeing a surge in the late 19th Century. And when it comes to the history of gambling, the modern slot machine’s history is fairly young.

Here’s a brief history of slot machines and a look at how they came to dominate the world of casino gaming.

Table of Contents

1 – Advantages of slot machines

When it comes to slots, many players have a similar question: what makes these simple spinning reel games so popular with players? Additionally, what makes them so popular with casino management?

For players, these gambling devices offer a quick way to wager without really needing much knowledge in how to play. Other games like Blackjack and Craps may require more specific insight as well as more interaction with dealers and croupiers.

Slots offer an easy way to play without fretting over how to play. A player can spin the reels, chit-chat with friends, order a cocktail, and have a chance at some nice winnings if lady luck shines on them. They also generally feature a wide range of wagering stakes, meaning a player can also play for a long time at lower stakes (if they don’t spin those reels too quickly).

Players also love many of the themes and technology that come with modern games. The thrill of jackpots is also certainly a nice enticement. Many dream of crashing in on those massive progressive jackpots. Like the lottery, a slot offers at least a dream of that major financial score.

For casinos, slot machines offer a chance for players to wager without needing dealers, pit bosses, or much in the way of humans actually involved with the gaming activities. Slots don’t take coffee breaks, have retirement plans, or need much oversight.

2 – Early days of slot machines

Technology has produced some major changes to the slot machine industry over the last few decades. But those high-tech machines you might play in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, or online are a far cry from early machines. These popular gambling devices have a long history of innovation but have some pretty primitive beginnings.

After immigrating from Germany, Charles Fey invented the first slot machine – named the Liberty Bell in honor of his new country – in 1887. His first mass-produced model featured three vertical reels and might seem pretty dull compared to today’s lively interactive offerings.

But these early slots brought something completely new to the market. The term “slot machine” actually derives from these early machines as well. When playing one of Fey’s machines, a player inserted a nickel in a “slot” to spin the reels.

However, these early machines weren’t always meant for gambling and were originally more of a novelty. Fey’s three-reel machines feature symbols like fruits, bells, and playing card symbols to determine winners. Many of those same symbols can still be seen on modern slots.

On Fey’s machines, the Liberty Bells were the top symbols and seeing them line up correctly could pay out winners in nickels. Other combinations could also reward free cigars or drinks – a bit of a precursor today’s casino “comps.”

The 29-year-old mechanic built the slots in his San Francisco machine shop and placed them in saloons and gambling halls, splitting the revenues with the owners. Unlike today’s slots, these early slots made use of mechanical parts to determine winners. When the reels spun in Fey’s devices, their randomness was based on the parts with in the machine – thus the term “slot machine.”

“His machines were an immediate success, and he couldn’t manufacture enough of them in his small workshop to supply the demand in and around San Francisco,” Scarne’s Complete Guide to Gambling notes of Fey’s gaming machines. “Gambling equipment manufacturers soon discovered this and tried to buy the manufacturing and distribution rights, but Fey refused all offers.”

That may have been a mistake. With limited production capacity, Fey limited the reach of his new technology and his machines remained mostly a California phenomenon.A competitor quickly jumped in  to fill the voids. In 1907, Chicago’s Stephen Harper Mills began producing his own machines – ramping up his own devices with added fruit symbols. The classic bar icons still seen on many slots today were also invented by Mills.

The businessman coined the term “Bell-Fruit-Gum machines” for his devices. To avoid anti-gaming laws, his slots could also pay out in chewing gum. Whether a bar or other establishment wanted to pay out winners in cash “under the table” was certainly up to management.

Many gaming historians believe the “bar” icon was actually originally a chewing gum packet logo from his Mills Novelty Company. When cash became king in the world of slots, the gum packet transitioned to the bar still seen today. Overall, the Bell-Fruit-Gum slots helped Mills’ company become a leader in the industry.

“The Mills Novelty Company, Incorporated of Chicago, was once the world’s leading manufacturer of coin-operated machines, including slot machines, vending machines, and jukeboxes, in the United States,” a site dedicated to the company’s history notes.

3 – Slots see some advancement

When it comes to gameplay, there wasn’t a lot of variety in those early machines. That would change in the intervening decades as more manufacturers added their own twists on these classic machines.

The first multi-game payouts showed up in the 1950s. This didn’t feature the complex software of today to make features like this possible however. Instead, three slots were attached together and worked in tandem. A player could win on each machine individually, but also if three bars appeared on the payout line in any of the machines – still quite a step up at the time that helped advance the slot technology.

Often referred to as “monsters” or “Frankensteins,” these multi-play games didn’t prove popular. Players had to drop a coin in all three machines each spin, which meant quite a bit of work for the multi-pay feature.

What happens when a game doesn’t attract much action and takes up considerable space on the casino floor? They disappear, and that’s what happened to the Frankensteins.

At the same time, slots moved beyond the traditional three reels. Four reels became an option and electromechanical hybrids began replacing traditional mechanical reels. The new option brought faster action and more excitement for players. Slot experts say this also made it less likely for players to manipulate the games and brought about more random results.

Three-line payouts became popular in the 1960s, giving players more ways to win and adding to a game’s excitement. The “hold and draw” feature also became prevalent during this time, allowing slot gamers to “hold” a certain reels. The player could then drop in another coin to spin the remaining reels, allowing for another “chance” to win a jackpot. This was a bit of a forerunner to today’s feature in which certain symbols can “lock” in place while other reels continue to spin.

The 1960s and ‘70s saw more advancement in slot technology and gameplay options. 
Multiple-coin games grew in popularity, allowing players to play at differing stakes – a feature that certainly can be seen at even bigger ranges in today’s machines.

This allowed players to win more money depending on the amount wagered on each spin. Progressive jackpots also became a popular addition during this time, meaning for the first time lucky players could cash in for much larger payday, although those were smaller than today because of limited technology and smaller areas of linked progressive machines.

But the industry was certainly growing and seeing some major changes, attracting plenty of gamblers.

4 – Video and computer technology bring major improvements

Computer technology brought about some major changes in the industry. Developers began incorporating more creativity and even some narrative themes. 

In 1963, the industry saw the first video gambling device when Automatic Blackjack debuted in Nevada. Video was also brought to slots as well around the same time, but those early versions didn’t resonate with players. Perhaps those games lacked on the technology front and just didn’t offer enough to attract players more accustomed to real spinning reels. However, the use of video did become popular in one particular version of slots.

Video poker boomed in the 1970s and ‘80s, as players could play hands via a video screen. The interactivity involved with the games may have helped. Players made their own choices rather than simply seeing the results of a slot spin. Savvy players who used perfect strategy could also greatly reduce the house edge to smaller percentages than those seen on traditional slots.

In 1986, IGT unveiled the first progressive jackpot that pooled games throughout Nevada. This was a major boost to the industry as players could see even bigger jackpots than progressive games up to that time. These jackpots could now reach into the millions, attracting headlines as well as players dreaming of massive payouts.

“IGT’s wide-area progressives combined the instant gratification of slots with the life-changing jackpots of lotteries – a heady combination unimaginable when the first slots were crafted,” David Schwartz notes in Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling.

By the 1990s video slots were becoming more popular and began being seen more and more on casino floors. The first multi-screen game, which is now a regular part of modern slots, was unveiled in 1996. The explosion in slot technology continued in the coming years with even more advanced video, modern sound systems, touch screens, card readers for tracking player points, and more.

The random number generator (RNG) also became a key part of a slot machine. These made use of algorithms to determine a more random spin than traditional mechanical reels. The reels on a slot now simply represent the result determined instantaneously by the RNG.

By the early 2000s, coin-operated machines were being phased out almost altogether. Instead players input bills and casino vouchers into each machine. By the 2010s, players could find complete multimedia experiences when taking a seat at one of their favorite games. Skill-based games were also introduced  after generations of players became accustomed to traditional video and mobile games.

Online gaming also became popular in the 2000s and many countries legalized the practice. Players could spin the reels of their favorite games right on their computer or mobile phones. Free-to-play slot gaming platforms also became popular and remain so today. Slot developers began reaching across three gaming environments with some of the same games: the live casino, online gaming, and social/free to play slot gaming platforms.

It’s now been well more than a century since Charles Fey debuted his first slot machine. He probably had no idea how popular those gaming devices would become, generating billions of dollars in revenue for casinos around the world each year. Slots are now the most popular form of gambling in the world and there appears to be no end for that in sight. 
 

Blackjack at its heart is a game for patient, methodical players with a low house edge and a good shot to win for those who know when to hit, stand, split and double down.

Casinos need to appeal to jackpot hunters too, and that's where blackjack side bets such as Blazing 777 Blackjack or Perfect and Pairs come into play. House edges are higher than on the basic game, but offer the chance at big, quick payoffs.

There are dozens of side bets available. You'll find more of them in online casinos than in live play, but they pop up in the brick-and-mortar places, too.

Blazing 777 Blackjack – often called just Blazing 7s Blackjack – and Perfect and Pairs are seeing increasing play online.

Poker & Pairs

Let's take Poker and Pairs first. It's really two side bets. You can play either, both, or opt to skip them and just play blackjack.

If you make the Pairs side bet, sometimes called "Perfect Pairs," you win if your first two blackjack cards are the same denomination.

A variety of Perfect Pairs pay tables are available, but the one that's riding a wave of online casinos at the moment looks like this.

It's easy to play and deal. You'll have a winner in about 7.5% of hands, with 3,9 percent being mixed pairs, 1.9 percent being same-color pairs and 1.7% being perfect pairs.

The house edge of 3.4% is one of the better deals you'll get among side bets.

The Poker side bet is a three-card poker variation based on your first two blackjack cards and the dealer's face up card.

The pay table looks like this:

There are 22,100 possible three-card hands in which card order doesn't matter. Four are suited threes of a kind, with 48 straight flushes, 48 non-suited threes of a kind, 720 straights and 1,096 flushes.

That's 1,916 winners per 22,100 hands. With payoffs of up to 100-1, a single win can be a bonanza, but the house edge of 10.9% is on the steep side.

Blazing 7s Blackjack

This game plays off Bally Technologies' pioneering three-reel progressive Blazing 7s slot machine that was introduced in the early 1970s. Bally later merged into Scientific Games, now called Light & Wonder, the owner of the 777 blackjack side bet.

Payoffs depend on how many 7s are dealt, but there are multiple versions. In some casinos, it's a $1 side bet.  In others, it's $5.

Like the Blazing 7s slot, the side bet involves a progressive jackpot. It can run into tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on how much play there has been since the last jackpot. A portion of each wager is added to the pot until it's won. Then the pot is reseeded at a rollover amount and begins building again.

Payoffs depend on the number of 7s in a three-card hand. Which three cards depend on which version of the game you play. Most commonly, the three cards used are the player's first two cards plus the dealer's up card. Some tables use the player's first two cards plus a third card if the player draws.

The first method is better for the player. You can't get a third 7 if you don't draw, and that sometimes conflicts with basic strategy decisions.

Either way, there are several available pay tables. Here are three I've seen:

In the first two versions, there is one progressive jackpot, with the top payoff being the full pot and the second biggest payoff as 10 percent of the pot. The third version builds three separate jackpots, with the Mega having the highest starting point, Major the second highest and Minor third.

All pay tables start at 2-for-1 if the three cards include one 7, then increase to 25-for-1 for two 7s and 200-for-1 on most three sevens of mixed suits and/or colors. 

Note that payoffs are "for-1." That means a return of your bet is part of your payoff. If you bet $5 and get two 7s, the house keeps your initial $5 but pays you $10. That's different than a "to-1" payoff as we see on most table games. A basic win on blackjack is 1-to-1, so you keep your $5 bet and get $5 in winnings. A 2-for-1 payoff is the same as a 1-to-1 payoff.

The differences come when three 7s are of the same suit or color.

In one pay table, three 7s of the same color pay 10% of the progressive jackpot, while three 7s of the same suit pay the entire jackpot.

Whenever a pay table includes a progressive jackpot, the house edge is variable. The higher the progressive payoffs, the lower the house edge.

At wizardofodds.com, where Michael Shackelford details the math behind just about any casino game you're likely to encounter, he details how that works.

Inside the Odds

Assume a common six-deck game -- you need to have a multi-deck game to make three 7s of the same suit possible. Next, assume the most common version of Blazing 777 Blackjack, which uses your first two cards and the dealer up card.

Let's use pay table 2 as an example, with Shackelford's statistics. The fixed, non-progressive payoffs on one 7, two 7s, three mixed 7s or three same color 7s bring back to players 48.03% of everything they wager. 

On $1 side bets, each $1,000 in the progressive meter adds 0.52% to the average return. On $5 side bets, each $1,000 adds 0.1% to the return.

So with a $10,000 jackpot, the average return on a $1 side bet is 53.2%, while on a $5 bet the return would be 48.7%.

To reach a break-even point with a 100% average return, the jackpot would have to reach $100,216.92 with a $1 bet or $500,084.62 with a $5 bet.

Numbers vary with each pay table, each side bet and the number of decks used, but you get the idea. The jackpots have to be very large for a side bettor to get a house edge as low as the less than 1% a basic strategy player gets on the main game of blackjack.

And even if the jackpots are big enough for a low edge, the volatility is very high. Big jackpots don't make 7s come up any more often. On average in a six-deck game, you'll be dealt a winner only 14.8% of the time, broken into 14.2 percent for one 7, 5.3% for two 7s, 0.3% for three mixed 7s, 0.07% for three same-color 7s and 0.0015% for three same-suit 7s.

In live casinos, it's possible for card counters to improve their odds by tracking how many 7s have been dealt and betting only when there is a high concentration of 7s to be played. Online play, where fresh shuffles for every hand are common, takes card counting out of the picture.

That leaves Blazing 777s Blackjack as a roller-coaster ride of a bet with high volatility and usually a high house edge. Those who love the steadiness and strategy for regular blackjack will choose to skip the side bet, but those who want a chance at a big payday will take a flier.
 

Spend enough time hanging around advantage players and you hear stories that are fabulous and unforgettable. You might have James Grosjean telling you about the time he discovered hole-carding, or John Chang recounting how he got over on casino security by dressing as a woman, or Kelly “Baccarat Machine” Sun explaining the mechanics of her first million-dollar win. 

Unfortunately, most of us don’t have that kind of access. Colin Jones, founder of the Blackjack Apprenticeship educational site, does. He knows everyone. And Jones got them to tell their best stories in a new book he edited: Tales From the Felt.

Kings and queens of the game – including Richard Munchkin, Tommy Hyland, Max Rubin and Joanna Henderson – recount blackjack experiences that are harrowing and heroic (from Henderson putting her husband in mortal danger to Tommy Hyland showing a New Jersey congressman what it’s like to get backed off in Atlantic City).

As Jones himself puts it in the introduction, “The stories are too good to not be told. Every time I hear a great story from a friend, I want every AP  to hear it.”

Now, thanks to his collection of true recollections, written by the top-ranked APs, we all get to hear them.

Card Counting & Lessons Learned

One of the most touching tales comes from by Brynen T.D. House, the son of a late gambling addict. At the chapter’s start, he was on his way to the same fate as his deceased father – burning through his savings by gambling recklessly without an edge. Then, after a particularly devastating run, he heard about card counting. House began studying, learned to do it, corralled a $3,000 bankroll – and blew it all by over-betting his bankroll and running into bad luck.

Reloaded with $200 from the casino ATM machine, he returned to the table. House kept his betting units in check, watched the count go through the roof and won $7,800 in a single shoe. Over the course of three days, House found himself ahead by $21,000. Then the inevitable happened: He got backed off. 

But that didn’t stop House. There are loads of casinos in the United States. He hit a bunch of them. Within two-and-a-half years of traveling to gambling dens across the country, House managed to recoup half of what his father lost over his lifetime. At this point, he’s surely closer to collecting it all. 

“Card counting has saved me from becoming a degenerate gambling addict,” House wrote in the book. “It has allowed me to think in terms of risk and EV (expected value), both during sessions and in everyday life. Sometimes I wish my father was still here and we could finally bond … I think crushing casinos together would have been the perfect opportunity.”

Staying the Course

Richard Munchkin is one of the sharpest APs in the game – and also one of the most successful. But it did not start out that way. And, had he listened to his more sensible self, he would never be the winning gambler that he is today. Decades ago, when Munchkin was in his early 20s, he card counted for minuscule stakes, worked as a dealer to make ends meet and was lucky enough to meet Alan Woods.

Woods went on to become one of the most successful horse bettors in the world, taking hundreds of millions of dollars out of Hong Kong race tracks alone. Back then, though, Woods merely ranked among the world’s winningest blackjack players.

Munchkin lucked out when a trusting Woods offered to give him and his card-counting pals a $20,000 bank with the idea that they’d play until they doubled the investment and would then split the profits with Woods.

However, the likelihood of reaching that double-up point appeared less than likely. After two months, Munchkin had put in 167 hours of play and was down $15,000. At that point, Woods let the guys know that he was heading home to Australia and would need to break the bank. An embarrassed Munchkin, who knew he was playing correctly but running poorly, apologized for the lackluster result. Woods told him not to worry and assured that “the math would eventually work itself out.”

Munchkin was less certain. In fact, he gave up on card counting altogether and returned to dealing fulltime, figuring it would never work itself out. Then, one of his guys who wound up joining Woods’ team, convinced Munchkin to give it a final shot. Grudgingly, he did.

This second time, the mathematics of card counting functioned as they should. Then, flush with confidence and cash, Munchkin, as he put it in his chapter, “quit the dealing job and never looked back.”

Full Contact Blackjack

Though I’ve yet to achieve the dizzying heights of Richard Munchkin, I have a bit of AP in me as well. For a couple of years I played on a pretty big card counting team and experienced the reactions of unknowing gamblers when I made plays that were correct from a counter’s perspective but appeared incredibly boneheaded to the uninitiated.

I’ve doubled down in seemingly wrong situations (say, with 11 against an ace) and hit 12 against 16, both times because the count dictated that I do so.

But, fortunately, I never had to do such things with a menacing civilian at the table. An AP who goes by the name of “SD1” was not so lucky. In fact, in his chapter, he recounted playing at Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas and being on the same table as former boxer and UFC president Dana White.

A big, strong, intimidating guy, White has a reputation for throwing around his weight. He was betting $25,000 per hand and allowed SD1 to play alongside him. 

But then, with SD1 having two $1,500 bets up while White wagered more than 10 times that amount, the dealer showed a 5. He dealt SD1 a pair of queens on one of the hands. Any basic strategy player would be thanking the lord and staying pat. But, with the true count above six, SD1 knew he was supposed to split.

Getting his nerve up, he did precisely that – and received a pair of 10-value cards. Miffed, White stuck with a couple of stiffs. 

Then the dealer rolled his hole card to reveal a 6. He had the dreaded 11, which could have been a sure road to 21. Of course he hit – and dealt himself a 3. White glared at SD1 as all concerned parties waited to see what would happen next. The dealer unspooled a 10 and busted.

Not sure what to say about all this – and the fact that SD1 splitting queens prevented the dealer from hitting 21 – White simply remarked, “Holy shit.”

Hopefully this will be a lesson learned for uninformed players who see card counters doing seemingly weird – but statistically correct things – and accuse them of, say, altering the rhythm of the cards. Considering that such thinking is pure nonsense, they might do well to acknowledge that sometimes things simply work out for the best and everybody wins.
 

The 1995 epic "Casino" by Martin Scorsese explores the world of organized crime in Las Vegas in the 1970s and 1980s. This gambling movie, which stars Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, and Joe Pesci, recounts the rise and fall of casino CEO Sam "Ace" Rothstein as it examines themes of greed, loyalty, and treachery.

A montage that creates the scene and mood of the story opens the film. With the help of a voiceover from De Niro's persona, who describes the inner workings of the city and how it is ruled by the mob, we see the bright lights and glistening casinos of Las Vegas.

Sam falls in love with Ginger, a hustler, as he starts to transform the Tangiers into a tremendously successful casino. Sam is captivated to Ginger because she is attractive, likable, and cunning despite Nicky and others' warnings that she poses a threat to their business. Ginger marries Sam and joins his company, but her drug use and relationship with Nicky threaten to topple everything.

The historical accuracy and attention to detail in "Casino" are among its strong points. The movie is based on Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal's real-life experiences, who oversaw the Stardust and Fremont casinos in Las Vegas in the 1970s. Scorsese and his team went to considerable efforts to replicate the appearance and feel of Las Vegas at that time, and many of the events and personalities in the movie are based on real individuals and happenings.

The performances in the movie are a further asset. As Sam Rothstein, De Niro excels, giving his signature intensity and attention to the part. Stone portrays Ginger as a complicated woman who is both vulnerable and cunning, which is equally amazing. As the violent and unpredictable Nicky, Pesci, who won an Oscar for his role in Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas," is once more terrifying.

The film also features a fantastic supporting cast, which includes Kevin Pollak as a dishonest casino boss and James Woods as a slimy con artist. As is characteristic of Scorsese's excellent direction, this movie has some stunningly beautiful images and some violent sequences that are well staged.

Corrupting effects of money and power are "Casino's" the main topic. Sam Rothstein is a fictional character who initially presents himself as an honest and morally pure businessman, but who finally falls victim to a life of crime and violence. He is prepared to ignore his bosses' questionable business methods and to turn a blind eye to the crimes committed by Nicky and his team as long as the money keeps rolling in. Ginger has also turned corrupt as a result of her connections to Sam and the mob. She becomes drug dependent and is willing to betray her husband and friends in order to achieve her goals. Her romantic relationship with Nicky also serves as a metaphor for the moral degradation all of the film's main characters have gone through.

The "head in a vice" scene, in which Nicky viciously interrogates a man by squeezing his head in a vice, is one of the movie's most iconic moments. Not only is this moment horrifyingly brutal, but it also demonstrates Nicky and the other characters in the movie's total lack of empathy and compassion. No matter who suffers as a result of their actions, they are prepared to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals.

Essentially, "Casino" explores the evil side of human nature in a strong and captivating way. It is a tale about people who, even at the cost of abandoning their own principles and values, will do anything to obtain wealth and power. The direction is great, the acting is superb, and the attention to detail is astounding. "Casino" is unquestionably worth seeing if you enjoy outstanding cinema in general or gangster movies in particular.

(Note: The abbreviations s, c, d, and h are used to designate the suit of a playing card in this article: spade, club, diamond, and heart.)

When playing Jacks or Better, one of the hands that usually confuse players is when there is a suited high card and a suited 10 along with another unsuited high card. For example, how would you play this hand? 

Jh 3d Qs 10h 6c

You have two playing decisions to consider:

• Hold the suited J-10 of hearts and discard the unsuited Q.
• Hold the unsuited J-Q and discard the 10.

The correct play (the one with the higher expected value, or EV) is to hold the unsuited J-Q and discard the 10. Here’s why.

(Note: The EV is the expected number of coins you will win on a five-coin wager assuming an infinite number of trials.) 

If you use the “Analyze Hand” function in the Video Poker for Winners software to analyze the possible outcomes, the software will generate all of the 32 possible ways to play the hand, sorted by most valuable (highest EV) to least valuable (lowest EV). 

The table below shows the data for the first two rows of this analysis for 9/6 Jacks or Better. Note that the second column in the table contains the EV for the two holds in question, which are 2.49 for the unsuited J-Q and 2.48 (rounded) for the suited J-10. The EVs for both holds are close but you’ll gain a bit less than 0.01 more coins per hand when you hold the unsuited J-Q over the suited J-10.

The data also shows that there are 16,215 outcomes when you hold the unsuited J-Q or the suited J-10. If you look across each row, you’ll see the frequency of each outcome. For example, if you hold the unsuited J-Q, 10,037 times you will wind up without a win on the draw, 5,022 times you will end up with a high pair, 711 times you’ll have two pair, 281 times you’ll have three of a kind, and so forth.

Further Analysis of 10 Combinations

If you compare the outcomes for the unsuited J-Q versus suited J-10, you’ll see that you will get a lot more high pairs when holding the unsuited J-Q. (5,022 vs. 2,847, which makes sense since you’ll be holding two high cards on the draw giving you a greater chance at getting a high pair.)

This greater frequency of high pairs more than makes up for the decreased number of straights (and no chance for a flush, straight flush, or royal flush), resulting in the slightly higher EV for holding the unsuited J-Q over the suited J-10. 

Not all suited high cards with a 10 combination have the same value.

• The suited J-10 has more value than a suited Q-10, which has more value than a suited K-10.
• The suited A-10 has the lowest value; in fact, it’s lower than holding just the ace alone. (Which is why you should never hold a suited A-10.)

The Ace-Ten Dilemma

Many players give me that confused look when I tell them it’s sometimes okay to hold suited J-10, Q-10, and K-10 but you should never hold suited A-10. Their usual response goes something like this:

“They all have the potential to make a royal flush, so what gives?”

The reason that A-10 has such a low value is that you can only make one straight (Ace-high) and no straight flushes; whereas, say, with a suited J-10, you can get four straights (A-high, K-high, Q-high, and J-high), and three straight flushes (K-high, Q-high, and J-high). 

If you look at a 9/6 (or 8/6) Jacks or Better strategy card (or a table of hand rankings), you’ll see the ranking of the different suited high card-10 holdings and two unsuited high-card holdings. Memorizing the rankings for these holds can be daunting.

When I first started playing video poker, I used to refer to my strategy card to be sure I was always making the right decision when my hand contained a suited high card and 10 along with another unsuited high card. Then it dawned on me that for the case of either the suited J-10 or Q-10 along with an unsuited high card holding:

• You should always hold the two unsuited high cards when the unsuited high card in the hand was adjacent to the highest-value card in the high card-10 combination.

For example, if your hand contains a suited J-10 and the other unsuited high card is a queen, you should hold the unsuited J-Q (because the queen is adjacent to the jack). Suppose a hand contains a suited J-10 and unsuited K? Since the king is not adjacent to the jack, your best hold is suited J-10. Get it?

Follow the ‘Adjacent Rule’

This led me to what I call the “adjacent rule” as a simple way to remember how to play J-10 and Q-10 hands. However, the adjacent rule only works for suited J-10 and Q-10. The suited K-10 (and A-10) is much lower in value than the J-10 or Q-10. Therefore, you should always hold two unsuited high cards over a suited K-10 (and you should never hold A-10). 

For example, if your hand contains a suited K-10 and an unsuited Q, you should hold the unsuited K-Q. Likewise, if you have a suited A-10 and an unsuited Q, you would hold the unsuited Q-A.

An Example to Test Out

Try playing these hands using the adjacent rule, or the rules for suited K-10 and A-10 where appropriate, so you see how easy it is to make the right play.

1. 6s 5h 10d Jd Qc
2. 10h Qh Ks 4h 6c
3. Ah 6d Jc 10h 5s
4. Js Kd 7s 3d 10s 

Answers:

1. Hold the unsuited Jd and Qc.
2. Hold the unsuited Qh and Ks.
3. Hold the Ah and Jc.
4. Hold the Js and 10s.

The above strategy can be used for Jacks or Better (JOB) games where the flush pays six times your bet (e.g., 9/6 JOB and 8/6 JOB). You can use the above strategy for Jacks or Better games where the flush pays five times your bet (e.g., 9/5 JOB and 8/5 JOB) with this exception.

• Hold an unsuited A-Q over a suited Q-10.

Today I am going to tackle some casino gaming questions that are frequently asked of me. This is the second of a two-part article.

I will discuss some of the history of the games, how to properly play the games, which games the players might be able to get an edge at. I will cover the basic and most popular games to be found in today’s casinos and online. Usually, the online strategies are the same as the in-house strategies.

CRAPS (Original name: Crabs. After the turn of the 20th century, the name changed to craps.)

QUESTION: So where did this dice game come from?

ANSWER: It is believed that an English game called Hazard may have been the precursor. The dice game that we know today became quite popular in the South and it was called crabs. As the game made its way up the Mississippi toward the Northern states slowly the pronunciation evolved to craps.

QUESTION: Why don’t more women play craps?

ANSWER: World War II saw craps become a favorite game of the military. Military men played the game in every branch of the service. It was not a game played by women (or many women) since women were not as prominent in the armed forces and in the cities women did not hang out in alleys playing craps.

If you watch the early movies that show craps played in the casinos, the men make up almost all the players. Is this true today? It certainly is. 

While more women play the game today, I am guessing they are less than a few percentage points. You can prove this to yourself by walking around casinos where they have steady craps play and you will see men dominate the game – significantly.

If you subtract women who are playing with their male companions, you might find the influence of women to be almost non-existent. Are there many women alone or with women companions playing the game? You can find this out by just looking at the tables.

QUESTION: Is craps a good game to play or a bad game to play? I’ve read different opinions of the game from different writers.

ANSWER: Craps is a great game. Craps is an awful game. Craps can be both of these. The reason is quite simple really; craps has great bets with very low house edges. Make these bets and you have a decent shot of beating the house. You can also apply other techniques that make the game a good one.

However, if you look at a craps layout, you will notice so many bets that have absolutely awful house edges. A good bet at craps can have a house edge of 1.41%, meaning a player’s long-range expectation of losing $1.41 per $100 wagered. Other bets can have a 10, 12, 15 and 17 or more percent house edge. Those high edges are just about impossible to beat in even a relatively short long run.

QUESTION: Why is the game so much fun to play if it has so many poor betting options? What are the players getting out of it?

ANSWER: The game is fun to play, truly fun to play, even for players making poor bets, which is (I’m guessing) the majority of players. The players get to throw the dice to establish and try to hit or miss numbers.  That is active participation. You don’t get that at any other games.

You can hear the cheers coming from the craps tables. You can also hear the moans and groans. The game brings out your emotions in a visceral way. I really don’t know many players who just breeze through a session of craps without some emotional reactions, sometimes big emotional reactions. It’s in the very fabric of the game.

The table itself looks much like an ancient altar where (human) sacrifices were offered up to the gods. These are its primary elements; a call to ancient sensibilities. The ancients wanted help from the gods for various things and craps players want something simpler – money.

Most of the players are betting with the shooter hitting numbers, hopefully their specific numbers that they have wagered, and there is a strong camaraderie among the players at times. 

The few shooters going against the numbers? Well, they are often called darksiders and are generally disliked…or despised. You won’t find many of them at the tables. They are a small, perhaps dying, breed.

QUESTION: So, what bets are the best to make?

ANSWER: If you just go by the house edge on the bets, the answer to this is relatively easy. Bet the Pass Line and back that with odds when it has set up a number as a point. You can become a darksider and bet against the shooter but you have to have the constitution to have most other players dislike you. 

Come bets with odds and that is that.

QUESTION: But you said there were dozens or more bets you could make at the game? What gives?

ANSWER: Sure, a player could easily have a dozen or more bets working at once. Almost all of those bets would be poor choices if you really want to beat the game over any length of time. Craps bets can be good but most are bad to awful. Go to almost any table and you will see what I mean. Craps players are beaten by the game, yes, but they are just as often beaten by their betting choices if those choices give them very little chance to win.

I would also caution players to make fewer bets, maybe one or two, and that’s it. This is a somewhat controversial decision of mine but I stick by it. The more decisions you face against the house edge, the better the chance the house is going to take the money from you. Most players do make a minimum of three to four bets, certainly when they first put bets out. But the heavy players, known as action players, bet an amazing number of bets.

The definition of action player by the casino is a player who bets often and a lot and is expected to lose a lot.

QUESTION: Can a player get the edge at the game?

ANSWER: Now we come to a big, big question. We know that some players can get a small edge at blackjack by using card counting. The answer is yes, there is a way to get the edge at craps, and that is by controlling to some extent the results of the dice throw. The edge you get is also very small. Millions of dollars will not be coming to you as soon as you learn the technique.

Most people who have tried this sink into losses, sometimes big losses. Many of them fail because they don’t change their betting styles; they are gamblers and listen to the voices of other gamblers who pretend to be able to influence the dice but brag about wins they have had when betting the worst bets on the table. If they bet the worst bets, what do you think? Are they really astute players? I think not.

It can be done but it takes a huge amount of practice and proper betting. Low house-edge bets, period. I do not think someone can pick this up in a few practice sessions. Months would be more like it; many months in fact.

So, there is a possible chance that a player could learn to do this. However, most will fail miserably. And that’s a sad fact.

QUESTION: Give us your playing strategy at the game. I know you play the game all over the country.

ANSWER: My play is very simple really. The man who taught me everything I know was the late Captain, a legend in Atlantic City, at least way back when. 

He had a concept called the 5-Count, a way to pick which shooters on whom you would bet. He did not claim these chosen shooters would have good rolls, it just saved you from betting all the shooters. It eliminated slightly more than half of the shooters.

QUESTION: What about just betting every other shooter or half the shooters, you know?

ANSWER: Well, the hot shooters could be in the half you are not betting on if you just arbitrarily pick them that way.

Okay, I use the 5-Count and then I make one bet, that’s right just one bet, if the shooter makes it past the 5-Count. Unless a shooter gets unusually hot, I stick with one bet and one bet only.

QUESTION: And that’s it? Just one bet for one shooter who makes it past the 5-Count. That sounds like a really boring way to play.

ANSWER: Not to me. I will however go up on three bets on me and on one or two other players with whom I’ve played for years. But the average player? Nope, sorry, no dice…so to speak.

However, do not let me discourage you from playing the game. Even with one bet, it’s a hoot and a howl.

I’ll say it again: craps is the most exciting game in the casino.

SLOTS (Slang: the one-armed bandits)

QUESTION: Okay, so tell me something about slots that I didn’t know.

ANSWER: I might not have any information that you don’t know about already. But I’ll tell you what I know in a general way. 

Slots rule the casino industry. They make up easily 60 to 90 percent of a casino’s revenue. Without slots the huge casino industry would probably have remained in a couple of places in the whole-wide world. Go into just about any casino now and you’ll see the unbelievable impact of the machines.

In 1984 slots became the number-one games in both Las Vegas and Atlantic City. That year turned the tide in the casino world. It became the slot world. As more and more casinos were built in locations across the country and across the world, the slot machines became the winning method for getting people to risk their money against Lady Luck.

QUESTION: How do today’s slot machines work? Are they just mechanical machines?

ANSWER: Not really. Although they are machines, in a sense. They are machines run by computer and a program called the RNG, which is the Random Number Generator. The real name is the Pseudo Random Number Generator because we can’t really create true random numbers.

QUESTION: So that means we can really beat these one-armed bandits?

ANSWER: No, not really. The slot machine is picking winning numbers, which translate into winning symbols and the like when a player asks for a decision but those decisions are going on even when the machine is not being played. That’s part of the genius of the slot machines. It plays even if no player is playing.

You will even see casinos now that have few or no table games as the machines can offer blackjack, craps, roulette and so forth. Even video poker games are really slot games.

QUESTION: Okay, if you know the answers to this. Tell me what machines to play then that make it a closer game between me and the machines. Can you do that?

ANSWER: Yes, I can, to a degree. Avoid all progressive machines. That’s right, the machines that are offering wins of extraordinary amounts have the highest house edges. This means they can be 25-cent machines or five-dollar machines. Don’t play them as they take more money from the players.

Play one coin in machines that do not offer more for full coin (or full credit per decision). You are not being given anything of any worth on such machines. One coin.

In fact, I believe in the one-coin approach to all machines because putting in the maximum credits per decision doesn’t really give you very much. You can play three times longer without much damage. Four hours of one credit will save you a lot of money and/or give you more times at the machines.

Play in slot tournaments. These machines are programmed to be exciting and offer the chance to win without much in the way of expense. Perhaps, no expense.

All the best in and out of the casinos.