Blackjack is popular worldwide, and in the United States has ranked as the No. 1 casino table game for more than 50 years. It's also had the reputation as a low house edge game that gives players a great shot to win. That reputation has been eroding in recent years as casinos have adopted rules that increase the house edge. 

Toughest of these is having blackjacks pay only 6 to 5 instead of 3 to 2. That raises the house edge against a blackjack basic strategy player by about 1.4 percent, and that's more than the entire edge on the rest of the game.

In a six-deck game in which the dealer hits soft 17, blackjacks pay 3-2, you can split any pair except Aces up to three times, split Aces only once, and can double down on any first two cards including after splits, the house edge against a blackjack strategy player is 0.62 percent.

Change just one rule and have blackjacks pay 6-5 instead, and the house edge soars to 1.97 percent.

What the house permits double downs only on two-card totals of 10 or 11, as some casinos do? Then the house edge of 0.82 percent if blackjacks pay 3-2 rises to 2.18 percent with 6-5 blackjack pays.

At that level, there are a number of casino games that give players at least as good a shot to win.

Let's explore a few options among commonly available games.

CRAPS

Not every craps wager is as favorable as 6-5 blackjack, but the best bets are worth a long look.

While playing craps, pass and come have house edges of 1.41 percent, and don't pass and don't come have edges of 1.36 percent. Right from the start, that gives you the chance of betting either with or against the craps shooter while getting a better deal than 6-5 blackjack gives you.

If you're sufficiently bankrolled, you can take advantage of free odds and reduce the house edge to less than 1 percent. 

After the shooter establishes a point number, pass or come bettors can back their bet with an additional wager that is paid at true odds. If that additional bet is equal to their original bet, the house edge on a pass¬-and-odds or come-and-odds combination drops to 0.8 percent. If the casino allows the odds wager to be multiple times the pass or come bet, the house edge drops more.

The same goes for don't pass or don't come bettors. They can lay the odds, spotting the house the true odds of the shooter making his point. Laying the odds reduces the house edge on the don't pass-lay odds or don't come-lay odds combos to 0.7 percent or less, depending on the size of the lay odds wagers.

A word of caution: free odds and lay odds have no house edge, but they do involve risking extra money. If you're a $5 blackjack player and move to a $5 craps table, you can bet on pass for $5. However, adding an odds bet means at least another $5 wager. Don't bet more than you can afford to lose, even if it means settling for a somewhat higher house edge.

Place bets on 6 and 8 also give you a better deal than 6-5 blackjack, and there are no extra odds bets to consider.

If you place 8, you're betting the shooter will roll an 8 before he rolls the next 7. Place bets on 6 work the same way -- you're rooting for the shooter to roll 6 before 7.

If you win, you're paid at 7-6 odds, so you always want to bet in multiples of $6. The house edge of 1.52 percent is better than you'll find at 6-5 blackjack tables.

There's an opposite to place bets called lay bets, where you're betting the shooter will roll a 7 before your designated number. The commission usually is the amount you would win if the shooter rolls a 7.

There are casinos that charge the commission on all lay bets made, while others charge only on winning bets.

It's worth checking out. If the commission is charged only on winners, then house edges are 1.67 percent if you lay 4 or 10, 2 percent on 5 or 9, or 2.27 percent on 6 or 8. That edge on 4 or 10 is better than 6-5 blackjack, and the others are in the range of maybes, depending on other blackjack house rules.

BACCARAT

You don't need to know any baccarat strategies. You don't even need to know much about the game, other than to stay away from betting on ties. But baccarat's two main options both have lower house edges than 6-5 blackjack.

Two hands are dealt, one called the "banker" hand and the other the "player" hand. You may bet on either hand, and so may any other players at the table. Hands are played out according to a set strategy. You have no decisions to make.

House edges are 1.06 percent on banker and 1.24 percent on player, making baccarat not only a better bet than 6-5 blackjack, but the best no strategy, no extra bet play around.

VIDEO POKER

Games and pay tables are highly variable, and you do have to learn optimal strategies to get the most out of video poker. But the best games have house edges among the lowest in casinos.

It's even possible for players to claim an edge in some rare games. The 10-7-5 version of Double Bonus Poker returns 100.17 percent with expert play. That's the same as saying a 0.17 percent player edge.

In non-wild card games, players usually differentiate them by looking at payoffs for full houses and flushes, along with straights in the case of Double Bonus Poker. The "10-7-5" in the Double Bonus game above pays 10-for-1 on full houses, 7-for-1 on flushes and 5-for-1 on straights. In 9-6-4 Double Bonus, full houses pay 9-for-1, flushes 6-for-1 and straights 4-for-1.

Those payoffs give us a basis for comparing games. Each 1-unit difference in a full house or flush payoff adds or subtracts just over 1 percent in overall return.

Let's make a list of commonly available games with a payback percentage of 99 percent or greater -- 1 percent house edge -- and another of 98 percent or greater -- 2 percent house edge. 

Any of these may be worth considering instead of 6-5 blackjack. However, understand that video poker players play much faster than blackjack players. A full blackjack table might move at between 50 and 60 hands per hour, while it's easy to play 700 to 800 hands of video poker per hour. Calculate your casino bankroll and risk accordingly.

99-PERCENT-PLUS: "Not so ugly" Deuces Wild (99.7 percent with expert play), 9-6 Bonus Poker Deluxe (99.6), 9-6 Jacks or Better (99.5 percent); 8-5 Bonus Poker (99.2), 9-7-5 Double Bonus Poker (99.1)

98 PERCENT-PLUS: 9-6 Double Double Bonus Poker (99.0), 8-6 Bonus Poker Deluxe (98.5), 9-5 Jacks or Better (98.5); 7-5 Bonus Poker (98.1).

The 9-6 version of Double Double Bonus was listed under 98-plus because its 99.0 is actually a rounding from 98.98 percent.

There are other qualifying games, including high-paying versions of Super Double Bonus Poker, White Hot Aces, One-Eyed Jacks and others. But this list will give you an idea of what to seek in the most commonly available games.

THREE CARD POKER AND MISSISSIPPI STUD POKER

Relatively new, poker-based games usually start with an ante, then have additional rounds of betting after you've seen cards.

In such games, the house edge is evaluated in two ways: as a percentage of the ante and as a percentage of total bets, assuming you follow optimal strategy for the later wagers.

In Three Card Poker's ante-play option in which your hand must beat the dealer, the house edge is 3.37 percent of the ante or 2.01 percent of the total action.

The situation is similar in Mississippi Stud, where the house edge is 4.91 percent of your ante or 1.37 percent of the total action.

If you make a $5 ante in Three Card Poker, your average total wager with optimal play will be about $8.40, and your average loss will be about the same as someone who bets $8.40 per hand in blackjack. 

If you ante $5 in Mississippi Stud, your average total wager with optimal play will be about $17.95, and your average loss will be less than that for someone who bets $17.95 at 6-5 blackjack.

That makes both Three Card Poker and Mississippi Stud viable options to 6-5 blackjack. So are the best bets at craps, baccarat and certain video poker games. 

The choice is yours, but you don't have to settle for a substandard game if a casino pays only 6-5 on blackjacks.

Shockwave Video Poker is a unique style of Jacks or Better video poker. There are two different modes of play – normal and Shockwave. The normal mode is exactly what it sounds like – normal Jacks or Better play. It accounts for well over 90 percent of play. The game operates in normal mode until a four-of-a-kind hit. It then enters “Shockwave” mode for ten plays or until another four-of-a-kind occurs, whichever happens first. And here is where it gets exciting. In Shockwave mode a four-of-a-kind pays the same as a royal flush. The complete paytable information for the 12/8/5 full-pay version is below. There are three different paytables; one for normal mode, one for Shockwave mode and a combined pay table.

Note: the green-shaded cells represent improved pays, the red-shaded cells represent reduced pays compared to standard Jacks or Better games.

Notice the very high return and astronomical variance for shockwave mode. However, the game is only in Shockwave mode for about 9.8 plays once every 435 hands, so the impact on the combined paytable is minor.

Some of the major differences between Shockwave and standard Jacks or Better are:

• A straight flush occurs 15 percent more often but contributes 129 percent more thanks to the hand paying twice as much.
• A four-of-a-kind occurs roughly the same amount, but it contributes 71 percent more.
• A flush occurs 54 percent more often and contributes over 100 percent more.
• A straight occurs 31 percent more often and contributes 62 percent more.
• A hand containing two pair occurs roughly the same amount but contributes only about half the amount of standard Jacks or Better.

When playing Shockwave, the two most noticeable changes from standard Jacks or Better are:

• A hand of two pairs pays even money.
• The excitement of the Shockwave mode.

Several different short-pay versions are available. Due to the return percentages, there are only two of them that I recommend while playing video poker:

• Full-Pay (12/8/5) with a combined return of 99.59 percent.
• Short-Pay (11/8/5) with a combined return of 98.48 percent.

SHOCKWAVE PLAYING STRATEGY

To properly play Shockwave Poker, you want to be aggressive chasing four-of-a-kinds since that starts Shockwave mode. In Shockwave mode you are very aggressive chasing four-or-a-kinds since they pay as much as a royal flush.

The video poker strategy is identical for either the full-pay (12/8/5) or the short-pay (11/8/5) versions of the game. The simplified Normal mode strategy follows.

While that is quite a complex strategy, the strategy for Shockwave mode is simpler.

SUMMARY

The relatively low variance for the combined mode and the relatively high returns for the full-pay version make Shockwave a decent game to play – if you can handle switching strategy during the Shockwave mode. Keep in mind, however, that most of the time you are playing in standard mode which has a house edge of 4.76 percent. Also, you will hit a four-of-a-kind in Shockwave mode only once in every 40-45 times you play it. Your video poker bankroll will be drawn down more quickly. So, if you want to play Shockwave Poker, make sure you have the bankroll and can handle the emotional aspect of losing fairly quickly until you hit those quads in Shockwave mode.

If so, you should enjoy the game since Shockwave video poker adds the excitement of another jackpot-sized winner to the mix without the normal high variance. 

Golfing legend Arnold Palmer once quipped, “It’s a funny thing, the more I practice the luckier I get.” There is a whole lot of truth to what he said. Practice is important in developing and honing any skill.

The greats in sports have rigorous practice sessions. Tennis great Ivan Lendl once said, “If I don’t practice the way I should, then I won’t play the way I know I can.” Another tennis star, Andre Agassi, is quoted as saying, “If you don’t practice you don’t deserve to win.”

A good friend and fellow video poker player and I were talking about our video poker playing exploits. We both keep track of a variety of information during our playing sessions. Our records both include statistics used for supporting gambling wins and losses when reporting to the IRS. In addition, we both keep other information that can be helpful in analyzing our play. This information includes the number of hands played, number of four-of-a-kinds, number of straight flushes and number of royal flushes. In addition I keep track of the number of four to a flush dealt and the number of times that are filled.

According to the video poker software we use, for the game that he plays, he should have been getting a straight flush once every 9,000 hands or so and a royal flush once every 40,000 hands (on average over the long run). Upon reviewing his statistics he noted that he only got three straight flushes and two royal flushes over that last 135,000 hands.

Based on the long-term average, he should have hit at least three royal flushes and 15 straight flushes. Video Poker variance can easily account for the one royal flush that he is down and it could possibly also account for the 12 straight flush shortfall, but that is unlikely.

I told him to try playing a few hands on my video poker training software to see how well he had his strategy down. It didn’t take long before the source of his problem became clear. Whenever he had two or three high cards he would always hold them even though there was a three-card straight flush.

It is true that not every three card straight flush is a better hold than every two high card combination, but by not holding the proper cards he is dramatically reducing his chances of hitting the seemingly elusive straight flushes.

I have a lot of respect for my friend’s grasp of gambling odds and edges and know that he plays very carefully. I am sure he felt he was playing absolutely correctly – even though he was not doing so.

That got me thinking.

I have been playing video poker for years. I play several times a month and am very comfortable with the game. I carry a strategy card with me and look at it when I am unsure of a close call, but that is it. I feel I have the strategy mastered. However, after what I saw with my friend I decided to try my hand at the video poker training software myself. I felt it would be no problem playing about an hour to an hour-and-a-half (at least one thousand hands) error-free.

Was I ever in for a surprise.

To summarize:

• I missed a low pair on occasion when I had a couple of high cards.
• I, too, missed three of a straight flush on occasion.
• I made all the same mistakes my friend made.

It was brutal. It was humbling.

But upon careful reflection, it was also inevitable. My “practice” was simply playing in a land-based or an online casino. I had no way of knowing when I made a mistake unless I happened to catch it myself. The more I played, the less I looked at the strategy card as I was more certain of close plays. Unless I took great care looking at the initial hands that were dealt, I would miss certain card combinations – especially when they were low cards.

It was at this point I remembered a couple of other quotes I have heard (and used). 

• The first is by Ed Murrow. “We cannot make good news out of bad practice.”
• The second is one I use when helping others attain their goals. The great Vince Lombardi said, “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.”

I had not followed this advice in my own play feeling I was too good to bother with training software. Because I played so frequently, I felt that I played perfectly. That obviously was not true. As I played more and more without using practice software, little mistakes crept into my play. Because I was so familiar with the game and the video poker strategy, I played faster. The faster play caused me to miss certain cards that should have been held. My ego kept me from realizing I needed to periodically have practice sessions even though I played regularly.

 

Well no more. From now on my practice will be perfect practice – not just playing in the casinos. By using my video poker practice software to highlight my mistaken tendencies, I can better hone my skills and produce the best results possible. I will use perfect practice to help me play perfectly. In the process, I just might find that I start becoming luckier.

A word to the wise: don’t feel you are too good for practice. You set yourself up for a fall when you do.

Casino gamblers know that the house has the edge on them; lottery players are also aware that the state-sponsored games also have a house edge, although most of these gamblers do not know what those edges are, how they are obtained, or what they mean in terms of the players’ losing expectation.

Most gamblers are in a Random Harvest mode of mind. This brilliant 1941 movie based on the book by James Hilton starred Ronald Colman and Greer Garson. It dealt with a man who was shell-shocked in World War I, having lost his memory because of the various bombings and battles in which he engaged. Such bombings and attacks were accorded the name “random harvest” in that they killed and maimed without deciding who would get hit and who would survive. The random harvest of those bombs selected Colman’s character and dictated the events of his future life.

I think many casino gamblers have a kind of random harvest where past negative experiences are often erased, as Colman’s memory was erased, and such gamblers head for their future casino and lottery conquests thinking their futures will be different.

Most casino gamblers usually have one, some or a few betting systems they play in the hopes they can seduce Lady Luck into granting her favors. Most lottery players either have cards with their special numbers on them (birthdays, anniversaries, dates of significant moments in their lives and so forth) or use random selections of numbers made by the computer that runs the games. Scratch-off lottery players basically use a wing and a prayer in selecting what tickets they will play. 

[Please note: All casino and lottery games are based on randomness and the probabilities inherent in the math of the contest or in the casino and lottery holding back some part of the winning wagers for itself; meaning they “tax” your wins.] 

In the double-zero American roulette game, a payout on a number is 35 to one when the true-odds payout should be 37 to one since there are 38 numbers in total. The casino taxes the player two units on a win by paying 35 to one. 

In craps, the Pass Line and Come bets will win 251 times for the casino and 244 times for the player, while the casino will tax the Place bets just as it taxes the above roulette payouts by returning less than what the winning wager is actually worth.

Now for this article, I will focus my attention on the players who use the random selection principle in playing the lotteries and adapt that playing strategy for both roulette and craps.

An acquaintance of mine, let’s name him Godfrey, has a unique system that is based on random picks that he uses to select other random picks. It is modeled after the computer selected lottery tickets – in short, it is using randomness to pick another randomness. It can go from roulette to craps and from craps to roulette.

ROULETTE TO CRAPS

If you take a look at the double-zero American roulette wheel you will notice 36 numbers from one to 36 along with two usually green or blue zeros. You have the option to bet on these numbers directly or by using some combination of them.

Here is the procedure: You go to the roulette table and record a minimum of 10 individual hits in your notebook or on your phone (if the casino will allow the use of a phone, or if you are playing at an online casino from your PC/Mac). Let us say that the following numbers hit: 23, 35, 26, 5, 12, 8, 7, 19, 0 and 14.

Godfrey tells us to take those numbers and translate them into craps numbers and then go to the craps table and bet these numbers. The craps numbers can be made as single numbers such as 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 but when the roulette number does not translate exactly we take the roulette number apart. That means a 26 becomes a 2 and a 6. You can bet one or both of these numbers. 

We place no bets when the roulette numbers are 0, 00 and 1 as these do not translate into craps numbers and we do not bet the 7 as the house edge is a massive 16.67 percent, an expected loss of $16.67 per $100 wagered. We are still trying to keep the house edge somewhat reasonable.

You will note that for the following numbers: 2, 3, 11 and 12, I recommend the field bet as the house edge is far lower on the field (5.56 percent) than betting these numbers straight up. The 2 and 12 have a house edge of 13.89 percent (an expected loss of $13.89 per $100 wagered) and the 3 and 11 have a house edge of 11.11 percent (an expected loss of $11.11 per $100 wagered). I am trying to keep the house edge on any bet under seven percent.

[Please note: Although there are 36 possible ways the dice can form numbers, craps numbers only go from 2 through 12 because of these different combinations. For example, with two craps dice the 8 is made with a 6:2, 2:6; 4:4, 5:3 and 3:5.]

So let us translate the roulette numbers into craps numbers.

*Field is the preferred bet.

YOUR SCORECARD

You can make copies of the above scorecard and use it when you are playing roulette. Just check the number that has been recorded for the previous spin of the wheel and you will know exactly what to do when you get to the craps tables. The above chart is the basic strategy of the Random Harvest method of betting the roulette numbers at craps. After a while, you will probably have the whole thing memorized as many blackjack players have their basic strategy memorized.

THE ROULETTE SCOREBOARD

The overwhelming majority of casinos today have scoreboards that usually show the last 20 numbers that have hit. If you wish you can record all those numbers and play them. You do not have to play all of them and you can juggle their order if you so wish. 

My opinion is to just use the first 10 numbers and when finished with your craps bets, you go back to roulette and get another 10 numbers. Godfrey claims these numbers are “fresh.” You and I know that there is no such thing as a “fresh” number as these games are stagnant. Numbers are not like fruit on a tree; they may come and go but they don’t grow. The numbers are just the numbers. I guess you could say that the latest numbers are, well, the latest numbers.

[Please note: A player going back and forth between the roulette tables and the craps tables is a smart strategy because it limits your betting and that is a good thing. By recording numbers, you are still playing but nothing can happen to your bankroll when doing so. You want to reduce the shot the casino has against you whenever you can but still feel you are in the game. The Random Harvest strategy allows you to do that.]

WHEN TO QUIT

As with all wagering systems, a player must know when he or she has had enough. It can be a good enough session or a not good enough session or a loss. The thing a player doesn’t want, and that must be avoided if possible, is suffering a big loss. Going home with your money burnt in the awful fires of bad luck is a sad and sometimes devastating experience. 

Do not wait to establish a session bankroll as you start playing. Always know beforehand what you wish to bet over the course of a session. You must ask yourself these questions:

• How long will your session be?
• How much money is the maximum you will spend on any wager?
• What is the maximum you can afford to lose in a given session without suffering angst?

Often the length of a session is determined by time and money. If you lose “X” amount you will quit but sometimes “X” comes early and then you must have the discipline to quit at that point. Do not throw any more money into the game; take a walk, a swim, get something to eat or take a nap.

Once those above questions are answered then you have the good question to handle. How do you deal with a win? Do you keep playing until the cows come home? (Where were those cows anyway?)

The best way to handle a win is to put it aside but continue to play against your original bankroll. Let us say that you start with $300 and you bet $10 a decision. You are now up to $100. You still only play with that $300, meaning the most you can lose in that session is $200 because you have $100 locked up. 

Let us say that you have won $200; you now put that aside and again play with the original $300. You now can only lose $100 as the $200 is locked away. A $300 win means you can’t lose. Any win over $300 means the session is a success.

[Please note: Nothing is stopping you from taking any win and quitting right there. You are up $100 and you want to enjoy that win, then call it a session. How you handle your money is ultimately a decision you must make. You actually determine how much you lose but fate determines how much you win.]

THE BAD NEWS AND THE GOOD NEWS

It is fun to talk about gambling systems, which seems to be an ingredient in our natures, wanting to figure out how we can beat this, that or the other thing. How we can control our environments and our fates. Often our ideas are right; I mean mankind can fly and we actually sent men to the moon and a spacecraft to interstellar space.

Still just about all gambling systems are losers and so too is the Random Harvest method of play. You didn’t think otherwise, did you? Godfrey doggedly maintains it is a great way to beat the casinos and he is happy playing it. More power to him but you should be warned; the house will still have its advantage over every number you bet at craps (or at roulette).

Playing as I recommend will limit the house edge to bets under seven percent and that is somewhat manageable. Giving yourself a maximum loss level also allows you to play without fear of going home economically hammered. You must stick to your game plan made before you went to the casino. Self-control is always important when gambling in a casino or elsewhere.

Playing betting systems is indeed fun and I want you to have fun with Random Harvest; it is, after all, a unique way to play; using the randomness of roulette to try to beat the randomness of craps. It is the same as using the lottery computer to pick the numbers when you play the lottery. 

All the best in and out of the casinos!

I think most successful athletes, scholars, writers, doctors, actors, chefs and, yes, casino gamblers often need a mentor; someone who can jog the unthinking fog that often settles in our brains when we perform an activity. I know I needed such a mentor or I would have been one of those lost, misty-eyed players you often see shambling about in the halls of Lady Luck.

My mentor was the late Captain of craps, the Atlantic City legend, about whom I have written six books. His thoughts about craps and casino gambling in general completely influenced me and, in fact, set the tone for most of my writing. 

What I offer to you today are a few of the Captain’s ideas. None of his betting methods can give you the mathematical edge but all of them will reduce the house edge over you. 

Indeed, the Captain realized that most craps players will never develop what he called a rhythmic rolling technique, and that means only a micro-small percentage will ever develop the ability to influence the dice which can turn the math of the game to favor the player. Rhythmic rolling is a skill mastered by a rare few.

[Please note: Rhythmic rolling is also called dice influence, controlled shooting, dice control, and rhythm rolling. While many Internet dice gurus claim to have this skill, players should be wary of spending their hard-earned money on teachers who really can’t do what they teach. Rhythmic rolling cannot be done on the Internet or electronic craps games.]

THE CAPTAIN ASKS: “THE ODDS ARE RIGHT BUT IS THE PAYOUT?”

It is important to realize that a craps payout has some components:

• The probability of the decision 
• The actual odds of the bet being a winner 
• What is actually paid to the winning craps player
• What is withheld from the winning bet

There are two ways the casino makes money from the players at craps – it can win more decisions or it can tax the winning bet.

If we take a look at the Pass Line bet, we discover that the casino will win 251 decisions and the player will win 244 decisions. The bet pays even money which means $1 for $1. We can see clearly that the seven decision difference gives the casino a 1.41 percentage edge over the player. The payout is in exact keeping with the odds of winning it – but, of course, the casino will win seven more decisions.

 

If we look at another bet we can see that the odds of winning the bet are not in any way changed but something else is – something extremely important. 

Look at betting the 2 which has a probability of one hit out of every 36 rolls; the odds of the bet are therefore 35 to one; the player wins on average one time but loses 35 times.  The casino usually pays 30 to one. Yes, that means instead of a 35 to one payout, it takes the “five” from the 35 and just gives the player 30. That five unit tax creates a house edge of 13.89 percent – or a loss of $13.89 per $100 wagered. 

[Please note: You will find this feature at many casino games but it is startlingly clear when it comes to craps. In blackjack, it is just the opposite in some cases. Because the casino will win 52 times to every 48 player wins, in order to make the game a closer contest, the house will give more back on certain wins – for example, blackjacks usually pay three to two – while in advantageous situations the casino will allow the  players to increase their bets.]

THE CAPTAIN ASKS, “IS TAKING THE ODDS AN EVEN BET?”

The Odds bet at craps is often heralded as an even-money bet. It is and it isn’t. To make this bet you must already have a Pass Line or Come bet. Those two bets have a house edge of 1.41 percent each. If you take the risk on them then you can place the Odds. You are adding extra money to your wager but that extra money is not increasing the house edge on the actual Pass or Come wager. 

Now the Captain showed us a way to make those Odds work even more for us. For example in a 2X game, if you are betting $10 on the Pass or Come, instead of taking $20 in Odds if the dice fall on a 6 or 8, you can usually place $25 in Odds on them.

If you are a $15 Pass or Come player at a 2X game, you can usually make your Odds on the 5 and 9 forty dollars and on the 6 and 8 fifty dollars. You will not see this advertised but many casinos will allow you to do it. I did have trouble doing this on cruise ships.

A $15 wager on the Pass or Come at a 5X Odds game can often have the Odds increased to $100 on the 5 and 9 and $125 on the 6 and 8 while the 4 and 10 stay at the actual 5X odds of $75. Again you are getting extra money out there without the house adding increasing edges to the game. 

[Please note: The Captain called increasing the odds on the Pass Line or Come bet “pushing the house” because you are pushing out more money on a bet even though the signage on the table does not state such money can be “pushed” out. Your expected loss is still the same on the Pass and Come but you have more money going against the house.]

The best way to play the Pass Line and Come, and the Don’t Pass and Don’t Come, is to make the original bet as small as possible but to get as much money in Odds as you can. If you were playing a 100X game, it is better to bet $5 on the Pass or Come and back it with $500 (or what you can afford). Your expected risk on the $5 is only 7 cents; your risk on the $500 is zero. So small is good on the Pass and Come and large (what you can afford) is good on the Odds. 

THE CAPTAIN SAYS, “CUT THE HEDGES FROM YOUR GAME.”

Are there ways to protect a bet on the Pass Line so a 2, 3 or 12 can’t knock your bet off? Yes, there are ways and they are bad bets at craps that protect nothing but the casinos’ profits.

Hedge bet is a method where you use one bet to offset the possibility of losing a different bet. Pretend you have Pass Line bet of $5 and you want to keep it safe from the 2, 3 or 12? Players who believe in hedging will then bet the Any Craps proposition that will win if the nasty numbers of the 2, 3 and 12 show their ugly faces. 

Therefore watch what happens: If 7 or 11 hits on the come-out roll, you win $5 on the Pass Line but lose that one dollar on the Any Craps bet. You are ahead by $4. That’s a good thing, right? 

So far hedging sounds like an amazingly terrific plan, right? Now let’s add everything up and see where we really are with this hedging concept. 

Here’s the (seemingly) good news:

You have a win of $40 on the Pass Line during the come-out roll (six wins on the 7 and two wins on the 11) 
You did lose $8 on the Any Craps; so you are ahead $32.
If an Any Craps number rolls, you lose $20 on the Pass Line bet. But you recoup with a seven-to-one payout on the Any Craps bet (there are four Any Craps numbers; one way to make the 2, two ways to make the 3 and one way to make the 12).
You now can smile because you are ahead by $8 plus that $32 that you won on the Pass Line for a grand total of $40 during the come-out rolls. 

Now to the (real) bad news:

• There are 24 other dice combinations that can roll (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10) and on all those rolls you lose your one-dollar on the Any Craps wager.
• You have therefore lost $24. 
• Now you are only ahead $16 after the come-out rolls.

Here is the part that should make a hedger crestfallen: If you had merely played the Pass Line without hedging, you would have won $40 on the 7 and 11 minus $20 on the 2, 3 and 12 which means (yes, yes, here it comes) a total win of $20 – four more dollars than had you hedged. 
     
The Captain cautions, “What’s the game plan for place bettors?”

Place betting is very popular with craps players and some Place bets are pretty good, such as the 6 or 8, which comes in with a house edge of 1.52 percent. Of course, you pay a price for being able to Place the numbers you want as opposed to getting on the numbers by using the Come bet option.

If you Place the 5 and 9, the pay is $14 for your $10 wager instead of the real payback which would be $15. The casino has taxed you a dollar on your win. That gives the house an edge of four percent, an expected loss of $4 for every $100 wagered on the 5 or 9. 

If you Place the 4 or 10, the casino pays you $18 for a $10 wager. The real odds are two-to-one so the true payback should be $20. The tax in such a case is $2, a house edge of 6.67 percent, an expected loss of $6.67 per $100 wagered.

Although the Captain has methods for reducing the hit on the 4 and 10, most players can not follow his advice because it costs too much. 

[Please note: Players who make a bet on all the numbers at once or on the inside numbers are waging a lot of money on six or four bets respectively and need several hits just to get a little ahead. It is best not to do any betting method that requires such high house edges.]

THE CAPTAIN SAYS, “DON’T BE A CRAZY CRAPPER!”

While I do have fun writing about various strategies on how to play craps and roulette, I am aware that those high house-edge bets can sap a bankroll. When you play betting systems you have to be truly aware of your bankroll limits at all times. It is just too easy to go overboard.

The closer the contest, the better chance the player has to be ahead. While I like writing about craps strategies, I caution players to be ultra-careful when they play them. That’s self-defense.

So what are some of the Crazy Crapper bets? 

• Hard 4 or Hard 10: The house edge is 11.11 percent; an expected loss of $11.11 for every $100 wagered. 
• Hard 6 or Hard 8: The house edge is 9.09 percent, an expected loss of $9.09 for every $100 wagered. 
• The 2 or 12: The house edge is 13.89 percent. The player loses $13.89 for every $100 wagered. 
• The 3 or 11: The house edge is 11.11 percent. The expectation is to lose $11.11 for every $100 you bet.
• Any Craps: The house edge is 11.11 percent. The expectation is a loss of $11.11 for every $100 wagered. 
• Any Seven or Big Red: The house edge is 16.67 percent. The expectation is to lose $16.67 for every $100 wagered.
• C&E: The house edge is 11.11 percent or an expected loss of $11.11 for every $100 wagered.
• Field Bet: The house edge on this bet is 5.56 percent or an expected loss of $5.56 per $100 wagered. 
• Hardway Hop Bets: The house edge is 13.89 percent; an expected loss of $13.89 per $100 wagered. 
• Hop Bets: The house edge is 11.11 percent; an expected loss of $11.11 per $100 wagered. 
• Horn: The house edge on this horn high is 12.22 percent on the 3 or 11 and 12.78 percent on the 2 or 12.   
• Whirl or World: The house edge is 13.33 percent, an expected loss of $13.33 per $100 wagered.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

Let me float this by you right away. When I lose money the lost money has more intense emotions attached to it than when I win that same amount of money. Let us say, for argument’s sake, that I lost $1000 last night, how am I feeling? Correct, I feel rotten to the core; totally miserable, asking myself “what happened?” Now, if I won a $1000? Correct, I’m happy but I won’t be singing and dancing the entire next day.

In short, losses hit us harder than wins. The loss of emotion weighs more than the win emotion – given an equal amount of money being weighed.

When I first thought of this idea I did wonder if I were alone in my feelings. I’m not. I did a little survey of 15 people, some I knew, some I didn’t know, and 12 of them agreed with me that losses had a more powerful impact on them than an equivalent winning experience. The other three felt that both states of being were about emotionally equal. 

In my view, I maintain that losses really blast us; while wins were more ephemeral. Perhaps that’s why the daily “news” is generally about bad experiences as opposed to good ones. The headline “Man is love his wife” can’t outmatch “Man hate his wife.”

So then the goal of gambling should be to limit one’s losses or at the very least, the emotional toll of such losses so as to enjoy one’s wins far more. There are two ways to do that, by playing proper strategies and just as important with proper money management techniques.

[Please Note: Money management is not a method for overcoming the house edge. If the game has a negative expectation, money management cannot flip that expectation to favor the amateur or professional gambler. The player can, however, use money management to contain his losses.]

 

LARGE BANKROLL / SMALL BETS

My mentor the Captain of craps believed that satisfactory gambling can only occur if losses do not eat up one’s gambling bankroll. He posited that a large bankroll must back a casino player’s individual wagers. 

If one is betting $10 then having a bankroll of $20 is not sufficient to make one relaxed when a loss occurs; indeed, a two-loss streak ends the player’s chances. His bankroll is busted. Such a wipeout would be devastating. 

 

 

THE 401G

Actually, let’s take first things first – players must have gambling bankrolls. No player should attempt to play casino games with money necessary for food, housing, medicine and one’s daughter’s college tuition. Never stretch real money.

The gambling bankroll should be a separate account, specifically kept in an interest paying checking or savings account. I call this the 401G account with the “G” standing for gambling.

There are basically two ways to create such an account. If you are fairly well off, you can simply take money from other accounts and create the 401G. Yes, that money was originally intended as an excess cushion for real life but if you know you can harvest it for gambling then do so. But that is it. You will not after this first dip touch your real-life accounts. Instead on a regular basis you will take a small percentage of your income to place in the 401G. 

The second method, which will probably be used by most players, is to set aside a small percentage of one’s ongoing income into the 401G. Many people have a 401K or equivalent account where regular deposits are made from their paychecks and the 401G should also have regular deposits. Such deposits will build and maintain the account.

[Please Note: Players want enough money in their 401G so that they never have to worry about losing it all. A bankroll should be constant or go up at any given time. This can be accomplished through patience and discipline.]

HOW MUCH MONEY SHOULD BE IN A 401G BANKROLL?

Here is my personal horror story: I once lost my entire gambling bankroll. It was almost 30 years ago and I was playing with a small amount put aside to gamble. I lost my head, I bet too much, I went on a complete losing streak and was wiped out.

My wife the Beautiful AP and I stopped by the Captain’s house on our way back from Atlantic City. The moment he saw us he said, “There they are with empty pockets.” 

He then told me in no uncertain terms what I had done wrong. It was simple really, I bet way too much for a way too small bankroll in total. Then we worked out what my bankroll should be to bet what I wanted. It took me a year of regular deposits to get the bankroll up to where it needed to be to assure me of never being wiped out again.

In my case (okay, hold your breath) it was five hundred to one. For every dollar I wagered I had to have five hundred dollars in my 401G. If I wanted to be a $10 bettor that would mean I was backed by five thousand dollars sitting comfortably in the account. I was teaching and running a theatre company at the time and I slowly built up the 401G. 

Over the years, I have built my 401G to the point where I can be a high roller without fear of winding up on the street should I experience a truly awful negative streak.

Now I think a five hundred to one distance between a single bet and a total bankroll is not farfetched and is reachable by just about anyone interested in being a “safe” gambler.  A five-dollar player just needs $2500 to get in the game. 

WHAT TO DO WITH WINS

Now, if you are adding to your 401G because of a good series of wins, that’s terrific. You will add the wins to the account and continue to add the percent of your wages to the account. 

Let us say you have a five-dollar to $2500 spread between a single bet and the total bankroll and you have now gone up to $5000 in total bankroll? You can double your single bet level or take the extra $2500 and use it to buy something you want.

[Please Note: You never stop putting money in your 401G account. I am assuming that anyone reading this is probably someone who enjoys casino gambling and goes more than once a year. It is important for regular players to keep a consistent pattern in their savings and playing.]

SESSION STAKES AND SAVING MONEY

When we go to casinos we usually don’t play one long session; we break our gambling day into several sessions, maybe morning, afternoon and evening. That is probably the best way to apportion one’s day. I think it is crazy to play endless hours of mesmerizing games – half the time you probably won’t remember what went on during such long hours.

So let us say that you have a $5000 total bankroll and your bet is $10. You are going to spend two days in the casinos. How should you break up your bankroll? Let us assume three sessions a day of between one and two hours on each session.

As a generalization, you should take one-half of your bankroll ($2500) and divide it by six sessions. That comes to a session stake of $416 per session; so let’s make that $400 per session. You do not want to risk your total bankroll on one casino trip. You might be a serious player who goes once a month or even more – you therefore do not want to risk all your money in a single trip.  Don’t bring all the money!

Now, I mentioned that you might want to play an hour or two per session, however that can be misleading. What if things are going really well, do you want to leave after an hour or two? What if (horror of horrors) you are getting pummeled? Do you play until you lose everything?

Okay, here is a quick and easy chart to show what to do in given situations and at the end of each session. This is for land-based casinos (cruise ships too). I will delve into Internet casinos after this.

Session One: Bet Level is $10. Session stake is $400. Maximum time of play is two hours.

LOSSES:

• One hour or less: If the loss is more than half your session stake, quit the session.
• Two hours: If you have any loss whatsoever you quit the session.

WINS:

• One hour or less: If you have a win of $200, you put aside $200 of your $400 stake and that is not to be gambled again in this session. You still have $400 with which to play.
• One hour or less: If you go up another $100, you take that out of original session stake. You still have $400 with which to play but $300 has now been set aside. With each $100 win, you take that from your original stake. Once you are playing with $400 in wins do not allow yourself to lose more than $200 of those wins.
• Two hours: Quit session or take one-third of your wins (assuming wins are substantial!) and play with that money. Anytime you lose half that money, you quit for that session.
• At end of session, any money, be it the initial $400, or what’s left over from a loss, or what has been won and the initial stake, goes in the safe and is not to be gambled with again. You safe now contains that session’s money, win, lose or draw – money not to be gambled with anymore.

The above approach should be used for all sessions. Once a trip is completed you take home whatever money is in the safe and put it into your 401G.

[Please Note: Using the above approach to each session will generally mean that you will not lose a session stake and you will be able to come home with some money, if not a win. No real limit is placed on wins but limits are fully placed on losses.]

 

ONLINE CASINOS MONEY MANAGEMENT

An online casino is either great or awful; whichever they are is totally up to you. With discipline and control, go ahead and have fun, but if you are the rambunctious type in your play then you had better be careful. Casino games have no heart; they are based on math. But you do have a heart and you can easily lose your head and your money if you ever lose control.

So what should be your money management technique on Internet casinos? I would limit myself to one session – at maximum – on a given day. I would also try not to play every day unless you are able to keep adding to your 401G without any strain on your finances. Keeping yourself at a hefty one to 500 spread would be harder if you are betting into that 500 every day without more money going into the account. You can see that to be careful is the watchword here.

 

WHAT GAMES TO PLAY

It is important that whichever games you choose to play that you use the best strategies. That means making the lowest house-edge bets at those games; even slot machines have better and worse ways to play them. What follows is quick playing advice which together with my money management techniques should be helpful in keeping your head above water. You will find more detailed articles on the various games on this site, make use of them!

Roulette: Best to make your roulette bets on the outside propositions of red/black, high/low, odd/even. You will not have seriously prolonged losing streaks on such bets even though the house edge is the same on these bets as on the inside numbers.

Craps: Pass and come with odds; don’t pass and don’t come with odds. No more than three bets at once and that is if you can make so many bets with your bankroll while playing craps. Never hesitate to make fewer than three bets. Do not make any of the other bets.

Blackjack: Play basic strategy perfectly. Buy a card with the basic strategy on it. Do not play by instinct.

Slots: No progressive games. Use a single credit on all machines – in a future article I will explain why this is the best way to play slots.

Video Poker: You can read here about video poker bankroll requirements.

There will be plenty of articles on all the game if I haven’t covered the ones you like in my above list.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

Baccarat: Do not make the tie bet.

Click here to read Part 1 of this article

As promised, at the end of this article you will find the questions with the answers to the challenging 21-question test given to the elite blackjack pros at the Blackjack Ball. Give yourself one point for each correct answer. (If you got 12 or more correct, you did better than all the blackjack pros that took the test.)

(Note: Several active players listed below used pseudonyms to protect their identity.)

Out of a possible 21 correct answers, the players with the most correct answers were:

• Wahoo (11)
• WRX (11)
• Bill Benter (10)
• Blackjack Hall of Famer John Chang and leader of MIT Blackjack MIT Team (10)
• Thea Marie Sankiewicz (10)
• Jake Jacobs (10)
• Tony S from Greek Blackjack team (10)

Because five players tied for third place, a tie-breaker question was implemented to eliminate two of them. (Only five can advance to the next round of the competition.)

The following tie-breaker question was implemented:

“Name a casino in one of the Four Corner states that was operating as of March 2018 and dealing blackjack.”

The four corner states referred to in the question are Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. The contestants kept naming casinos until either one couldn’t come up with a name of a casino or named an incorrect casino. The two contestants that were eliminated as a result of the tie-breaker were Benter (who couldn’t come up with the name of any casino) and Sankiewicz (who came up with a name of a casino initially but missed on the subsequent try). This left five contestants who advanced to Round One of the table competition. (This was conducted on a blackjack table with Munchkin dealing the cards.)

Note: Rubin announced afterwards that because Wahoo (and Chang) held onto their answer card for a minute or so longer than the other contestants, presumably to come with an answer to one (or more) questions (doing this was not mentioned in the current rules), there will be a new rule going forward which is: 15 seconds after the last question is read twice, each contestant must hold up his or her card for collection; otherwise, he or she will be disqualified. (Rubin intends to call this the “Wahoo Disqualification Rule.”)

Round #1:
The five contestants remaining were:  Wahoo, WRX, John Chang, Jake Jacobs, and Tony S. Munchkin placed a shuffled, double-deck of playing cards in front of each contestant and randomly removed three cards from each double-deck. Each contestant had to state what card counting system he was going to use to count down his decks. (All but one used Hi-Lo count.) On Munchkin’s go, each contestant had 45 seconds to rapidly count their decks and then slam them face down on the layout. The player who was the slowest at counting down his decks had to state what the three cards were that Munchkin had removed. For example, if a player used the Hi-Lo Count, and his count was zero, his three cards must either be three neutral cards (7, 8, and 9) or one neutral card plus a high card and a low card.

Three of the five contestants miscounted their decks and were eliminated (Chang, Jacobs, and WRX) and only Tony S, and Wahoo correctly answered what their missing three cards were.  Because Jacobs was the slowest to count down his decks and get it wrong, he was eliminated.

As an aside, Jake has his count correct (minus 1) but kept insisting it meant that one big card was remaining. Munchkin asked Jake, “Are you sure it’s a big card?” Jake responded, “Yes.” Then when he turned over a small card, he smacked himself for being such a bonehead, especially since he possible had the highest I.Q. of anyone in the room full of geniuses.

Round #2:
In this Round, the remaining four contestants were given 10 seconds to estimate a stack of cards that Munchkin had placed in a discard tray, and then write their estimate on a piece of paper. Wahoo came the closest (he estimated 131 cards), and WRX had the worst estimate and was eliminated. 

Round #3:
At this junction, there were three contestants left (Wahoo, Tony S, and John Chang). Munchkin spread a deck of cards on the layout.  Each contestant had 30 seconds to memorize as many cards as he could in order (card rank and suit).  After Munchkin picked up the cards, each contestant had to state what the card was.

The first two cards were a three of clubs and ace of clubs and all three contestants got them right. The third card was a six of spades. Tony S got it right but John Chang stated six of clubs and Wahoo, a six of diamonds.  It took several more cards until finally Wahoo correctly identified the next card in the stack and John Chang did not; therefore, Chang was eliminated. 

 

 

 

As an aside, this memorization test in the past usually went through several dozens of cards deep before someone got it wrong. Even though this year contestants had to recall the rank and suit of each card (not just the rank), Max believes “the result of this contest may have been skewed due to the copious amounts of premium champagne guzzled by the contestants for some five hours leading up to this contestant.”

Round #4:
Two contestants were left: Tony S and Wahoo. They were each given a single deck of cards to cut with a cut card.  There was a six of spades on the bottom of each deck. After they cut, they had to state how many hands they wanted to play (in one round) in order to deliver the six to the dealer.   Munchkin then would take a deck, burn one card, and then deal that many hands specified by each contestant.  They must cut at least 10 cards.  If you cut the six of spades to the dealer’s hand, that is a perfect score.  Whoever is closest wins. If they tie, they cut again.

Wahoo cut 16 cards and was close (he was shooting for a 17 card cut, which if you dealt 7 spots after burning one card, would have delivered the six of spades to the dealer). Unfortunately, Tony S eliminated himself when he cut only nine cards (rules stated at least 10 cards cut). This meant Wahoo was the winner.

(Note: Wahoo is the only person to have been invited to and attend all 22 Blackjack Balls. Besides finishing first in this year’s Ball, Wahoo was on the final table at four other Balls and finished second, third, fourth, and fifth).

As an aside, Anthony Curtis, who was last year’s winner of the “World’s Greatest Blackjack Player” competition, would have had the highest score on this year’s written test but was disqualified for leaving one answer blank (i.e., he didn’t circle a true or false question). (Ouch!) 

As promised, below are the 21 test questions with the answers. Give yourself one point for each correct answer. (So, how many did you get correct?)

BLACKJACK BALL 2018: TEST QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

(Max Rubin’s answers are in red type below each question. Thank you, Max, for allowing me to reproduce the questions and answers.)

Question #1: True or False: There are at least two legal methods that world-class card pros can use, including solo and/or team play, that can actually gain the pro a tasty edge while playing Won Ton War in a casino.

Given that Won Ton War doesn’t even exist, except on this test, the answer to # 1 is False.

Question #2: Las Vegas casinos have hosted golf, tennis, Jai Alai, Grand Prix, and now Hockey. Which Vegas casino once offered live, onsite horse racing?

• El Rancho
• El Rancho Vegas
• Sahara
• Thunderbird
• Last Frontier
• There has never been a legitimate horse track in Vegas. The horses can’t run here because of the heat.

The track was Thunderbird Downs and the answer to number two is d.

A special thanks to Bob Dancer who provided us with about a third of our questions and is now disqualified.

Question #3: We all know that as a courtesy to Barona for housing the Blackjack Hall of Fame and the many other things they do for the professional Blackjack Community, including allowing Max to present the Blackjack Ball, everyone sitting here agrees to NOT play there—which is probably the smartest move a casino has made in the last 22 years since the Ball began. In part, because you don’t attack their games, Barona now has substantially more full pay pitch games than any other casino on the planet. By a mile. Sorta. Within three, how many full-pay 0.26% pitch double-deck games does Barona now have?.

Barona has 41 Full Pay Double-Deck Games. Any answer between 38 and 44 is correct.    

Question #4: True or False. Showing us just how savvy and fair the selectors truly are, ever since the NCAA Basketball Tourney was expanded to 64 seeded teams in the first full opening round, number 11 seeds have beaten the sixth-seeded teams more often than the number 12 seeds have beaten the number fives. True or False.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Sports section, the 12’s get a lot more ink when they win, but the number 11 seeds have won substantially more first round games than the number 12 seeds ever since the tournament was expanded to 64 seeded teams. The answer to # 4 is True. 

Question #5: As you know, UBER and Lyft are two companies that compete with Taxi Cabs. Which of this Blackjack Hall of Famers sometimes hires himself out as an UBER driver?

1. Arnold Snyder
2. Richard Munchkin
3. Ian Andersen
4. Bill Benter
5. Darryl Purpose
6. Gimme a break, we're talking Hall of Famers here, folks

Although we’re not sure if he picks ‘em up in a Rolls or not, a BJ Hall of Famer does sometimes hire himself out as an UBER driver. Don’t ask us why; just know that the answer to #5 is d (Bill Benter).  

Question #6: When we lost the Riviera Casino, we also lost the NAME of Riviera Blvd. What is the NEW name of Riviera Blvd?

Only in Vegas. Even though he never sang a word or threw his pelvis while performing onstage at the Riv, the old Riviera Blvd. is now called Elvis Presley Blvd.

 (Note: Another reason is that the old Riviera Blvd. ends at the “old Las Vegas Hilton where Elvis frequently performed.)

Question #7: True or False? In the NFL it is possible for the quarterback to throw a legal forward pass while his foot is beyond the line of scrimmage.

A quarterback’s entire body AND the ball must be past the line of scrimmage when the ball is released for it to be judged an illegal forward pass. The answer to #7 is True.  

Question #8: This comes from James Grosjean. Which of the following scenarios gives you the highest edge if you’re playing one hand?

• A Six as the Dealer’s up card in blackjack. 
• A Nine as the first card to a player hand in baccarat
• A ten as your card in Casino War
• A King as your first card in Three Card Poker

A six as the Dealer’s up card in blackjack will give you about a 23% edge, depending on the rules and number of decks. A Nine as the first card to the player hand in baccarat will give you about 21%. Edge. If you get a Ten as your card in Casino War, you get a hefty 28.5% edge, and a King as your first card in Three Card Poker only gives you just about a 22.7% edge.

Therefore, the answer is getting the ten in Casino War at 28.5%. The answer is c. 

Question #9: Another from the mind of Jimmy G. Within 3%, what’s the probability that in a randomly shuffled, standard deck there will be an Ace and Jack next to each other?

The answer is 48.6%. The question asked for an answer within 3%, so anything between 45.6% and 51.6%, inclusive, is acceptable. Man, he’s tough!

Question #10.  True or False? There’s this lady named Joan Ginther who’s had four winning scratch off lottery tickets totaling over $15 million dollars from the Texas state lottery. That much is true. True or False. Joan lives in Vegas and has a Ph.D. in Statistics from Stanford?    

Joan does live in Vegas, and she does have that stats doctorate from Stanford. She’s doing something, we just don’t know what it is, but the answer to #10 is definitely true.

Question #11: Where in Nevada do you find the Area 51 Travel Center, which includes an alien-themed legal brothel? 

• Armargosa Valley
• Barnhole Hollow
• Itchy Stick Canyon
• Long Dong Wash at Lathrop Wells
• Virgin Valley
• Sorry, I’m just messing with you. There is no alien-themed brothel in Nevada.

Well this one is just too stupid. That said, there is a brothel in Nevada that Vice News covered called the Alien Cathouse Brothel in an article titled “Take Me to your Boner.” The “Alien Cathouse” is in the Armargosa Valley, so the answer to # 11 is a. 

Question #12: Name a person sitting in this room who lives at least 5,500 miles away who is attending the Blackjack Ball for the first time.

Believe it or it, it’s his first time, but Gaming and Intellectual Legend Jake Jacobs is attending his first Blackjack Ball.

Question #13: True or False. According to the Nevada Gaming Abstract, compared to 2016, across the board, Nevada’s statewide gaming revenue fell in 2017.

Nevada won over $11,500,000,000 in 2017 while GROWING by 2.7%. The answer to
 #13 is False. 

Question #14: One more question from the 2017 Nevada Gaming Abstract. Which one of these statements is not correct?

• On the Vegas Strip, table games won more money than machines.
• Penny Slot Machines won more money than all of Nevada’s Nickel, Dime, Quarter, 50 Cent, Dollar, Five Dollar, Twenty-Five Dollar and Thousand Dollar Machines combined.
• The average blackjack game in Nevada won over $1,300 a day.
• The Exact Published Big Baccarat win for the 24 largest joints on the Vegas Strip was one billion, one hundred twenty one million, one hundred twenty one thousand dollars.
• On the Strip, table game win fell while machine revenue actually grew.
• All of the above answers are not incorrect.

On the Strip, Table Games won a little over $3 Billion and the machines only took in a little under $2.9 Billion, so that’s true.

Penny Machines hauled in over $3.2 Billion and won almost three times what all of the nickel, dime, quarter, fifty cent, dollar, five dollar, 25 dollar, 100 dollar, 500 dollar and 1000 dollar machines combined statewide.    And, get this: the Multi- Denomination machines won another $3 Billion, too. 

Statewide, blackjack games won $1302 a day, so that’s true. 

Believe it or else, according to the abstract, the Big Baccarat reported win was one billion, one hundred and twenty one million, one hundred and twenty one thousand dollars on the Strip in 2017. 

Strip table game revenues fell a bit under a half percent while machine revenues grew by more than 2.7%

This means every answer is True, which means none of them are Not Incorrect so f is the correct answer to # 14. 

Question #15: The Easternmost casino in Iowa is called the Wild Rose. It’s located in a town with the same last name as a former U.S. President. Name that town. 

In Iowa, there is a Wild Rose Casino in Jefferson, so if you wrote the name of our third president, you’re wrong. The Easternmost casino in Iowa is the Wild Rose (far away from there) in a town on the Mississippi River. The Answer to #15 is Clinton.

Question #16: True or False? Contrary to published facts, which may, in fact, be another example of “Fake News,” or just conveniently lost ancient history, the Las Vegas Knights are NOT the first team in the ENTIRE history of the NHL, MLB, or NBA to sweep their first playoff series in their first season of play.

Sure, they’ve been saying it for over a week now, but guess what? The Golden Knights ARE the first inaugural big sport team to sweep their first series in their first season, so the answer to # 16 is False.  

Question #17: You count down a single deck and with just three cards left, your Hi-Lo count is zero and your Silver Fox count is also zero. Which of the following statements must be true?

• The last three cards are all the same value.
• There are no Aces left.
• There is at least one 8 remaining
• You made a mistake in your count
• If we used the cards to deal the beginning of a heads-up round of blackjack, an Over 13 side bet would be a winner for sure.
• There is no such thing as a Silver Fox Count.

Out of all those, what we know is that in the Silver Fox count a 7 is a +1 and a 9 is a -1, which means that if the count is zero with three cards remaining, there must be at least one 8 remaining, so the answer to number 17 is c.

Question #18:  Other than Harrah’s, there has been one other casino brand that operated in Lake Tahoe, Reno, and Las Vegas at the same time. Name it.

When Del Webb was alive, he owned three Nevada casinos, one at the South Shore in Lake Tahoe, another in Downtown Reno and a third on the Vegas Strip. They were all called the Sahara. The answer to #18 is Sahara.

Question #19: Melanie Trump is the first First Lady who was not born in the United States. True or False?

Although Martha Washington was born in what is now the state of Virginia, there WAS no United States when she was born, so the answer to # 19 is false. 

For the professional squawkers, John Quincy Adam’s wife was also born in Europe, so you’re still wrong if you said true. 

Question #20: Which of the following is Not a racehorse that was active on a US track in the past year?

• Hip to be Don
• Munchkin Money
• Thorperrific SPELL IT
• I am Miss Brown
• A Toast to Max
• None of these are legitimate horses that run on US tracks.

I’m not sure of their exact records, but within the last year, you could have bet your money on Hip to be Don, Munchkin Money, I Am Miss Brown, or A Toast to Max. But you could not have made a bet on Thorperrific because he doesn’t exist, so the correct answer number 20 is c.

Question #21: Nevada once had Jai Alai with pari-mutuel betting at casinos in both Reno and Las Vegas that had the same name. What was the name of those casinos?

If you said Bally’s, you’d be close, but when those two giant casinos were serving up Jai Alai, they were owned by and called MGM. The answer to #21 is MGM. 

 

It was a beautiful evening in Las Vegas for the 22nd Blackjack Ball, co-hosted this year by Max Rubin and Richard Munchkin. The gala was held at a secret location and security was tight. (To get in, you had to be on the invited list and also show a photo ID to a security guard.) This year a total of 110 highly selected, elite invitees, mostly blackjack professionals from around the world (one from as far away as Singapore), attended the party that featured some of the world’s best active and retired blackjack players and legends of the game (as well as a smattering of gambling writers, lawyers, and others who have contributed to the craft). (In total, 12 out of 16 living members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame were in attendance.) This unique group of professionals meets annually to renew old acquaintances, make new ones, exchange playing experiences, and compete for the coveted Grosjean Cup and title of the “World’s Greatest Blackjack Player.”

• Click here to read Part 2 of this article

(As an aside, the Ball had been held in January the past several years but because of a scheduling conflict with a key attendee, it was rescheduled to April. Weather-wise this turned out to be in everyone’s favor because rather than a typical cold, damp, and dark January evening in Las Vegas, it was warm and sunny when I drove to, and arrived at, the party. The reason the location of the Blackjack Ball is a closely guarded secret is if a casino employee were to discover its location and somehow infiltrate the event, it would make that employee’s career, while at the same time destroy the livelihood of many professional players. Additionally, an invitation to the Ball is so sought-after by players that untold numbers call, beg, and badger Max Rubin for a coveted invite.)

Note:  Here’s a little history about the Blackjack Cup that the winner receives. Several years ago, James Grosjean beat his peers in the Blackjack Ball competition three out of four years, and took second place the other year. Because of this extraordinary feat, Rubin told Grosjean, “Your game’s too good,” and barred him from further competition. However, the Blackjack Ball committee also acknowledged Grosjean’s accomplishment by renaming the Blackjack Cup the “Grosjean Cup.” (Note: Since 2016, the Grosjean Cup became a Nebuchadnezzar, a 15 liter, three-foot-tall, engraved bottle of Luc Belaire Rare Rose champagne, courtesy of Blackjack Hall-of-Famer Don Johnson. The winner also gets bragging rights as the “World’s Best Blackjack Player.”  Subsequently, Richard Munchkin won for the third time, and was also banned from future competition; however, to honor his three-peat accomplishment, the second place winner in this year’s competition received the “Munchkin Award.” Another distinction given to three-time winners Grosjean and Munchkin is they are allowed to submit questions to Rubin for the 21-question written test, which they did.)

Invited guests must bring a bottle of chilled premium champagne to the party to share with their colleagues. (Anyone bringing a “cheap” bottle of bubbly would be refused admittance and permanently removed from the invited guest list.) Additionally, all attendees chipped in twenty bucks to “seed” the pot for the Calcutta (more about this shortly).

 

 

The evening’s festivities began with hors d’oeuvres and drinks (with plenty of champagne!), followed by a delicious buffet featuring carved prime rib, salmon, and lots more good eats courtesy of Barona Resort and Casino. (They sponsor the Blackjack Ball and in return, the players in attendance agree not to play blackjack in their casino, a very smart move on their part because all other casinos are fair game.)

At this year’s ball, the attendees got to vote on a slate of seven nominees for induction into the Blackjack Hall of Fame. What follows is the process used to choose nominees for induction into the Hall of Fame (by Max Rubin).

“The living members of the Hall of the Fame sent names to me for suggested nominees, and all names were then discussed and voted upon. The seven prospective nominees that received the most votes were then placed on the ballot. 

“Much to their consternation, this process has prevented several well-known but lesser accomplished “one trick ponies” that have written introductory-level books or excelled at running numbers from joining the mix of truly worthy candidates that have achieved the highest levels of success, either on the tables or through their contributions to the craft.” 

The list of the seven nominees this year and a synopsis of their accomplishments are below. All bona fide professional blackjack players at the Ball selected only one name on their ballots (rather than two) out of the following seven worthy candidates. 

(Note: After you read their bios, whom would you have voted for?)

CAT HULBERT

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

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

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

MIKE MICHALEK

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

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

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

RICHARD DOUGHERTY

Richard has long been one of the blackjack players casinos fear the most … and most often. Casinos have sent out literally hundreds of flyers, bulletins, and alerts about Richard during his more than three decades as a blackjack “road warrior” and yet he still marches on. Throughout his long, illustrious and (in)famous career, blackjack has been Richard’s virtually only source of income. No matter how many times the casinos back him off, assault him, and even go so far as to have him arrested for his legal activities, he never stops his relentless attack on their games.

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

ROB REITZEN

There are few, if any, players that have won more money in the history of blackjack than Rob Reitzen. From simple card counting to shuffle tracking/sequencing to bottom steering to advanced computer play, Rob has beaten games in more innovative ways than most professional blackjack players even know to exist.

The founding partner of CORE, which went on to become the largest and most profitable player- banking operation in history, Rob was featured in an Esquire magazine article in which the  reporter followed him and watched him beat Caesars Palace in Las Vegas out of more than $500,000 on a single weekend, while using a sequencing technique he dubbed “The Hammer.” 

WALLY SIMMONS

Wally Simmons is quite likely the most underrated name in the blackjack world.  Although he hasn’t played in some 20 years, in the early days he was a very skilled, multi-faceted player that used sophisticated techniques long before they were well-known or fashionable to win countless millions of dollars.

As a computer programming genius, he also developed some of the first electronic shuffle tracking computers that harvested additional millions, as well.

Along with Bill Benter, Wally went on to parlay his blackjack money into incredible success as a technically savvy and data-driven horse racing programming prognosticator. 

If there were a “Nice Guy Hall of Fame,” Wally should be the first inductee.  He is also known for hosting the second most famous party for blackjack players, dubbed “Wally’s Super Bowl Party,” which went on for about 15 years, and was attended by many of the more famous and successful practitioners of the blackjack arts. Sparing no expense, the cost of one of Wally’s infamous parties would have easily funded most blackjack professionals’ entire starting bankrolls.

MARIA “THE GREEK”

Maria is the co-founder and one-time manager of “The Greeks” blackjack team. Having quit their day jobs as very successful New York attorneys, she, along with her brother and highly respected colleagues, formed the largest single group of players in history; at one time she simultaneously managed over 40 individual players.

She recruited only the top talent, with the most notoriously difficult set of tests required to pass in order to get onto the team. Additionally, Maria’s team won countless millions utilizing a “slash and burn” technique in which BP’s would wade into the middle of a game, often betting 3 x $10,000. Needless to say, each BP didn’t last long, but the enormous bets resulted in some of the largest card-counting wins in history. 

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

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

PAUL RYLANCE

Paul was an early pioneer regarding team play, especially as it related to shoe-based 21. During the ’70s he implemented a professional and mathematically based approach to bankroll sizing that involved running blackjack simulations.  He is possibly the first player to organize a team and attack the European casinos. Paul organized and managed the Czech team. His team was able to play simultaneously in multiple countries on multiple continents. All players, including women, were treated with integrity and respect. He also organized and managed one of the largest 1979 Atlantic City teams and paired up with Ken Uston, which was written about by Uston in the book One-Third of a Shoe. 

NEWEST INDUCTEE INTO BLACKJACK HALL OF FAME

Congratulations to Wally Simmons for being voted by his peers into the Blackjack Hall of Fame.  (Simmons garnered two more votes than runner-up Rob Reitzen.)

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

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

CALCUTTA

Next on the agenda was the usual Calcutta (affectionately known as the “Charitable Calcutta Auction”), which is sort of a pari-mutuel wagering where the attendees can bet on who will win the coveted Grosjean Cup. Below is the list of the seeds (The Field). Each attendee was slotted into an appropriate grouping. Max posted the opening odds of winning for each seed, and then attendees bid from $600 up to $4500 on who they thought would win the Grosjean Cup.

Bidding was lively amongst this group of advantage players. (The reason, of course, was due to the overlay created when we all chipped in $20 at the door to seed the pot. There was some serious money to be won in the Calcutta, and the group of advantage players knew it.) Max, of course, was the auctioneer, and he kept extolling the virtues of players in each seed to bump up the bidding, which was often fast and furious. (Note: The money collected from the highest bidder for each seed goes into a pool, and the prize money was disbursed to the persons who purchased the finalists finishing first, second, and third (win, place, and show), and 10% was awarded to the winning bidder for the fourth-place finisher, in the competition for the “World’s Greatest Blackjack Player.”) Also, the attendees in each seed are allowed to purchase up to 50% of themselves from the highest bidder. 

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

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

Below are instructions were given to everyone by Richard prior to reading the test questions. Put on your thinking cap and try to answer them. 

BLACKJACK BALL: ROUND ONE QUESTIONS

As always, to prevent advantage play and outright cheating, as you fill out your game card, you must completely answer each true or false question or multiple choice question and fill in the blank before we move on to the next question. All answers must be marked with dark ink. You cannot change your answer once you have marked your card. If there are any blanks or changed answers on your card then when it is graded and handed in, you will be disqualified. It’s happened before, so be sure to complete every answer. One time only—with NO revisions. 

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

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

I’ll repeat each question only once. Ready? 

1. True or False: There are at least two legal methods that world-class card pros can use, including solo and/or team play, that can actually gain the pro a tasty edge while playing Won Ton War in a casino.
2. Las Vegas casinos have hosted golf, tennis, Jai Alai, Grand Prix, and now Hockey. Which Vegas casino once offered live, onsite horse racing?
   1. El Rancho
   2. El Rancho Vegas
   3. Sahara
   4. Thunderbird
   5. Last Frontier
   6. There has never been a legitimate horse track in Vegas. The horses can’t run here because of the heat.
3. We all know that as a courtesy to Barona for housing the Blackjack Hall of Fame and the many other things they do for the professional Blackjack Community, including allowing Max to present the Blackjack Ball, everyone sitting here agrees to NOT play there—which is probably the smartest move a casino has made in the last 22 years since the Ball began. In part because you don’t attack their games, Barona now has substantially more full-pay pitch games than any other casino on the planet. By a mile. Sorta. Within three, how many full-pay 0.26% pitch double-deck games does Barona now have?
4. True or False.  Showing us just how savvy and fair the selectors truly are, ever since the NCAA Basketball Tourney was expanded to 64 seeded teams in the first full opening round, number 11 seeds have beaten the sixth- seeded teams more often than the number 12 seeds have beaten the number fives. True or False.
5. As you know, UBER and Lyft are two companies that compete with Taxi Cabs. Which of these Blackjack Hall of Famers sometimes hires himself out as an UBER driver?
6. When we lost the Riviera Casino, we also lost the NAME of Riviera Blvd. What is the NEW name of Riviera Blvd?
7. True or False? In the NFL it is possible for the quarterback to throw a legal forward pass while his foot is beyond the line of scrimmage.
8. This comes from James Grosjean. Which of the following scenarios gives you the highest edge if you’re playing one hand?
   1. A Six as the Dealer’s up card in blackjack. 
   2. A Nine as the first card to a player hand in baccarat
   3. A ten as your card in Casino War
   4. A King as your first card in Three Card Poker
9. Another from the mind of Jimmy G. Within 3% what’s the probability that in a randomly shuffled, standard deck there will be an Ace and Jack next to each other?
10. True or False? There’s this lady named Joan Ginther who’s had four winning scratch-off lottery tickets totaling over $15 million dollars from the Texas state lottery. That much is true. True or False. Joan lives in Vegas and has a PhD in Statistics from Stanford?
11. Where in Nevada do you find the Area 51 Travel Center, which includes an alien-themed legal brothel?
    1. Armargosa Valley
    2. Barnhole Hollow
    3. Itchy Stick Canyon
    4. Long Dong Wash at Lathrop Wells
    5. Virgin Valley
    6. Sorry, I’m just messing with you. There is no alien- themed brothel in Nevada.
12. Name a person sitting in this room who lives at least 5,500 miles away who is attending the Blackjack Ball for the first time.
13. True or False. According to the Nevada Gaming Abstract, compared to 2016, across the board, Nevada’s statewide gaming revenue fell in 2017.
14. One more question from the 2017 Nevada Gaming Abstract. Which one of these statements is not correct?
    1. On the Vegas Strip, table games won more money than machines.
    2. Penny Slot Machines won more money than all of Nevada’s Nickel, Dime, Quarter, 50 Cent, Dollar, Five Dollar, Twenty-Five Dollar and Thousand Dollar Machines combined.
    3. The average blackjack game in Nevada won over $1,300 a day.
    4. The Exact Published Big Baccarat win for the 24 largest joints on the Vegas Strip was one billion, one hundred twenty-one million, one hundred twenty-one thousand dollars.
    5. On the Strip, table game win fell while machine revenue actually grew.
    6. All of the above answers are not incorrect.
15. The Easternmost casino in Iowa is called the Wild Rose. It’s located in a town with the same last name as a former U.S. President. Name that town.
16. True or False? Contrary to published facts, which may, in fact, be another example of “Fake News,” or just conveniently lost ancient history, the Las Vegas Knights are NOT the first team in the ENTIRE history of the NHL, MLB, or NBA to sweep their first playoff series in their first season of play.
17. You count down a single deck and with just three cards left, your Hi-Lo count is zero and your Silver Fox count is also zero. Which of the following statements must be true?
    1. The last three cards are all the same value.
    2. There are no Aces left.
    3. There is at least one 8 remaining
    4. You made a mistake in your count
    5. If we used the cards to deal the beginning of a heads-up round of blackjack, an Over 13 blackjack side bet would be a winner for sure.
    6. There is no such thing as a Silver Fox Count.
18. Other than Harrah’s, there has been one other casino brand that operated in Lake Tahoe, Reno, and Las Vegas at the same time. Name it.
19. Melania Trump is the first First Lady who was not born in the United States. True or False?
20. Which of the following is not a racehorse that was active on a US track in the past year?
    1. Hip to be Don
    2. Munchkin Money
    3. Thorperrific SPELL IT
    4. I am Miss Brown
    5. A Toast to Max
    6. None of these are legitimate horses that run on US tracks.
21. Nevada once had Jai Alai with pari-mutuel betting at casinos in both Reno and Las Vegas that had the same name. What was the name of those casinos?

2018 TIE BREAKER

Everybody cut cards. High card goes first. If two tie, they cut again until we establish the order. Line up.

Tiebreaker: Name a casino in one of the Four Corner states that was operating as of March 2018 and dealing blackjack.

If you miss, you are only out if the next person up can name a Four Corners casino and we move to the next person. If they get it, both of you are out. After three misses, we will go to another tiebreaker.

Note: You’ll find the answers to the test questions in part 2 of this article as well as a summary of the subsequent rounds in the competition for the World’s Greatest Player and who won the competition. 

It' s long been said that the players who get the best deal on the offline and online slots are those who bet bigger. Casinos generally put higher payback percentages on slot machines with higher coin denominations, and at least on three-reel games, payback percentages usually are highest with maximum bets.

One former casino company even had a cartoon character called "Max Coins" to remind players that bigger bets brought increased returns.

Players have tried to read extra meaning into that information for decades and have come up with many recurring questions about slots betting. They ask how casinos make sure bigger bets pay more, whether increasing or decreasing bets changes combinations they see on the reels, and more.

The big question, of course, is "Can bigger slots betting improve my chance of winning at slots?"

Let's look at some questions and answers, with one big caution: You can get a higher payback percentage and still lose more money. If you're betting 40 cents per spin with a 90-percent return, your average loss is 4 cents per spin. If you get 95 percent but bet $4 per spin, then your average loss is 20 cents per spin.

Make sure you keep your bets in a range you can afford. Don't bet outside your comfort zone for the sake of a higher payback percentage.

How do casinos make sure higher slots betting brings higher payback percentages?

Casinos usually put higher payback percentages on higher denomination games, so that games with base betting units of $1 pay more than 25-cent games, which pay more than 5-cent games, which pay more than 1-cent games.

 

 

That can be done by increasing the pay table on higher denomination machines, by mapping numbers from the random number generator onto more higher paying symbols, or by mapping the random numbers so that winning combinations appear more often on higher-denomination machines.

Some machines have disproportionately higher payoffs when you bet more.

Three-reel games with a jump in the top jackpot are good examples of this. When you look at the pay table, you might see the top jackpot at 500 coins if one coin is wagered, 1,000 if two coins are wagered, but leaps to 2,500 coins if three are wagered.

That disproportionate rise in the top jackpot leads to a higher overall payback percentage when more coins are wagered.

That includes machines with progressive slots jackpots if only players who bet at a qualifying level are eligible for the progressives.

Do I get a higher payback with higher slots betting while staying at the same machine?

Only if there is a disproportionate rise in the pay table, as described above. That's rare on multiline video slots or online slots.

If all payoffs are proportionate to wager size, the payback percentage almost always is the same regardless of whether you bet one coin per line, 20 coins per line, or any other available multiple.

There are exceptions. On some machines, betting more unlocks paying symbols. If, for example, bells are losing symbols if you bet one coin per line but are winners if you bet at least five coins per line, then the extra winners increase the payback percentage for those who make qualifying wagers.

If I bet $5 per spin and at a 1-cent game and $5 per spin at a 25-cent game of the same type, am I getting the same payback percentage?

In most cases, the higher payback will be on the 25-cent game, even if the bets are equal. 

Most players at the 1-cent game will be betting considerably less than $5 a spin. For example, if the game has 50 paylines, a player betting one coin per line bets only 50 cents per spin while raising bets to 10 coins per line brings the total to $5 per spin.

Without disproportionate payoffs, progressive jackpots or buy-a-pay features, betting 50 cents or $5 on the same $1 machine brings the same payback percentage. But since higher-denomination machines usually are set up with higher payback percentages, someone making similar-sized bets on a 25-cent machine usually gets a higher percentage back.

I have noticed lately when I bet the minimum I have won way more frequently than when I bet max on a machine. Is the RNG programmed to hit more on minimum bet and less on maximum bet?

That's an illusion of small sample size that would even out with extended play and observation. In this case, slots betting patterns make no difference. 

The random number generator that determines what you see on the reels doesn't know how much you've wagered. It just goes on generating random numbers.

Your wager size doesn't change the random numbers or the probability of winning combinations landing on the payline. Streaks happen, both good and bad, with big bets and small, but the probability of seeing winning combinations on any given machine is the same regardless of how much you bet.

Do the reels change in any way if bet more or fewer coins per line? Is there a change in the number of symbols on the reels or the number of high-paying symbols in the reels?

No, slots don't change the assignment of random numbers to make some symbols come up more often when you bet more, or some symbols to come up with.

There are ways to accomplish what this question suggests, but slots don't change the assignment of random numbers to make some symbols come up more often when you bet more, or some symbols to come up with.

There are ways to accomplish what the reader suggests, but they are not permitted by regulators in any American jurisdictions.

One way would be to use the same set of random numbers with large bets as with small, and change the way the numbers are mapped. For example, if you bet one coin per payline, random No. 1 could be assigned to a low-paying 10 symbol if you bet one coin per line but a high-paying jackpot symbol if you bet five per line.

Another way would be to change the set of numbers the RNG has to work with.

Imagine the RNG works with 1,000 numbers when you bet one coin.

Now imagine you bet five coins, that the RNG works with 800 numbers instead, and that the 200 numbers that have been eliminated all had been mapped onto low-paying symbols. The result would be more higher-paying combinations.

Either could be done, but both are illegal within any one game in U.S. gaming jurisdictions.

If you change games in a multi-game machine or change machines, it's a different matter. If you move from a 1-cent version of a game to a 5-cent version of the same game, they may work with different random number sets or have the numbers mapped differently.

But if you stay at the same game, betting more or less does not change the probability of landing winners on the reels.

Can increased slots betting help you win more?

That, of course is the heart of the matter. As detailed earlier, bigger bets can bring bigger payback percentages if the pay table is disproportionate, if you move to a higher-denomination machine, or if there are buy-a-pay symbols to unlock.

But bigger bets also bring the risk of bigger losses. It's up to you to decide if betting more is worth that risk, but smart players NEVER bet more than they can afford to lose.

 

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