Multi-Strike Poker has been with us since the early 2000s – multiple lifetimes as electronic casino games go. That it’s held onto a niche in casinos and is also available on online casino after all this time speaks to the quality the concept. 

It’s an intriguing game that can create some huge wins, but getting the most out of Multi-Strike requires some changes from normal video poker strategy.

THE BASICS OF MULTI-STRIKE POKER

Multi-Strike, which was created by Leading Edge Design and is distributed by International Game Technology, is available in many of IGT’s video poker game families. You can play Multi-Strike versions of games including Jacks or Better, Bonus Poker, Double Bonus Poker, Double Double Bonus Poker, Bonus Poker Deluxe and Deuces Wild.

• You have the opportunity to play four hands per play, but that is not guaranteed. 
• Accordingly, the maximum bet usually is 20 credits – four times the usual five-credit max.
• That buys you a chance to advance through hands that pay one, two, four and eight times normal payoffs.
• You advance by either winning or getting a randomly dealt free pass. 
• Lose at the 1x level, and you’re done. You’ve lost 20 coins for one hand. That’s the downside. The upside is that if you win at video poker or get a free pass at the 1x level, you’re dealt a 2x hand. Win or get a free pass there, and you get to play a 4x hand, and a win or free pass there brings you the 8x hand.
• There’s potential gold in that hill. At the 8x level, a royal flush isn’t worth just 4,000 coins, or $1,000 on a 25-cent machine. It’s worth 32,000 coins, an $8,000 bonanza for a 25-cent player, plus any winnings at the lower levels.
• Even smaller pays become nice bankroll padders as you move up the latter. If at each level you just got a pair of Jacks – normally a five-credit pay for a five-coin bet --- you’d get five credits at the 1x hand, 10 at 2x, 20 at 4x and 40 at 8x for a total of 75 credits. That’ll keep you going for a few hands.

MULTI-STRIKE POKER ODDS

If winning hands were the only way to advance, Multi-Strike would be a much tougher game. To use 9-6 Jacks or Better as an example, about 45.4 percent of hands are winners given optimal strategy.

To make Multi-Strike an attractive game for players, Leading Edge added free passes to move you up a level. They occur often enough that you’ll advance from each level about 50 percent of the time.

That means you have a 1 in 2 chance of reaching the 2x hand, a 1 in 4 chance of reaching the 4x hand and a 1 in 8 chance of reaching the 8x hand.

Payoffs at higher levels raise the overall payback percentages of the games, if only slightly. Instead of the usual 99.5 percent with expert play, 9-6 Jacks or Better pays 99.8 percent on Multi-Strike. Percentages on 8-5 Bonus Poker rise from 99.2 percent to 99.4 percent, and 9-6 Double Double Bonus Poker rises from 99 percent to 99.2 percent.

STRATEGY ADAPTATIONS 

The big potential paybacks mean players need to prioritize advancing at early levels.

Instead of the best play being the one that will bring the highest average return, that has to be tempered with plays that bring more frequent wins.

One feature of regular video poker strategy is that the play that wins most often doesn’t necessarily win the most money. 

Let’s use 9-6 Jacks or Better as an example. Holding low pairs from 2s through 10s win less often than holding one or more unpaired high cards. But the low pairs bring a higher average return, so they rank higher than unpaired Jacks or higher on strategy charts.

In Multi-Strike, the need to advance is so strong that if you have two or more unpaired high cards at the 1x level, you’ll want to hold them instead of a low pair.

The strategy switches change at each level. The higher you get, the fewer changes are called for until at the 8x level, Multi-Strike strategy is the same as single-hand strategy.

Specifics change depending on game, but a grounding in 9-6 Jacks or Better strategy is a good place to start. Check out a sampling of how Multi-Strike strategy changes from level to level in that game.

1X LEVEL

Four parts of a straight flush: In regular 9-6 Jacks or Better, you’d hold a hand such as 8-9-10-Jack of another suit even if the fifth card was another Jack. In Multi-Strike, it’s better to hold a high pair to guarantee advancing a level.

There is an exception. If your four parts of a straight flush are 10-Jack-Queen-King, then you have a chance with a royal with an Ace as well as a straight flush with a 9. In that case, you’d still hold all four instead of a high pair.

Low pair: Here’s where the most frequent strategy differences come. In normal Jacks or Better strategy, hands that rank higher than low pairs are any paying hand; four parts of a royal or straight flush; three parts of a royal; four parts of a flush; and 10-Jack-Queen-King of mixed suits.

But in Multi-Strike, high cards have extra value because of the advancement factor. Adapted strategy doesn’t call for you to hold single high cards instead of low pairs, but it does call for discarding low pairs to hold any two high cards.

Given a hand such as 8 of spades, 8 of diamonds, 3 of clubs, Jack of hearts and Ace of spades, you’d hold 8-8 in regular Jacks or Better. In Multi-Strike, you hold Ace-Jack instead to maximize chances of getting to the 2x level.

High cards of the same suit are more valuable than high cards of different suits because they leave open royal flush and straight flush possibilities. But regardless of whether the suits are mixed, holding two or more high cards instead of a low pair is a play to make at the 1X Multi-Strike level.

A note on multiple high cards: Unless they’re the same suit, leaving royal flush possibilities, 

Four parts of a straight: Except in rare instances, Multi-Strike players don’t hold four parts of a straight.

The most valuable four-card straight with no straight flush possibilities is 10-Jack-Queen-King of mixed suits. That’s not as good a hold as four-card flushes or three parts of a royal, but it’s better than low pairs, two or more high cards of mixed suits or two high cards of the same suit.

On other four-card straights including high cards, the high cards are more valuable at this level than the straight potential. For example, a chart at wizardofodds.com lists the expected value of 8-9-10-J as 1.68 coins, but lists the Jack by itself at 1.79.

Even the four-card straight Ace-King-Queen-Jack misses the strategy list at this level. It’s better to play King-Queen-Jack.

With no high cards, discard four-card straights at this level.

2X LEVEL 

At this level, you’re still holding high pairs instead of four-card straight flushes except for 10-Jack-Queen-King, and you’re still holding two or more high cards instead of low pairs.

The main difference comes on straights. Four-card open-ended straights with no high cards, such as 4-5-6-7, don’t rank high on the strategy table, but they’re not throwaway hands. If the hand also includes a high card or a pair, hold that while breaking up the straight. If not, go for the straight.

4X LEVEL

With four times pay and only one more level to advance, strategy starts to become more like regular Jacks or Better. 

Four-card straight flushes: Revert to holding a four-card, open-ended straight flush such as 7-8-9-10 of the same suit instead of a high pair.

However, continue to hold a high pair if you have an inside draw to a four-card straight flush, such as 7-8-10-Jack suited and a Jack of another suit.

Low pairs: At earlier levels, low pairs were pushed behind multiple high cards regardless of whether they were suited or of mixed suits. 

At 4x level, three-card royals remain ahead of low pairs. So does the four-card open-ended straight 10-Jack-Queen-King of mixed suits.

However, low pairs move ahead of two high cards, suited or unsuited, and three or four unsuited high cards.

Four parts of a straight: Ace-King-Queen-Jack of mixed suits returns to the strategy list. At 4x level, it’s a better play than King-Queen-Jack.

Also, 8-9-10-Jack of mixed suits is a better play than holding the Jack by itself. However, with multiple high cards such as 9-10-Jack-Queen, it remains better to hold the high cards and skip the straight draw.

8X LEVEL

Advancing ceases to be factor when there are no more levels to advance. At the top tier, your best play is to follow regular optimal strategy for 9-6 Jacks or Better.

Specific plays and adjustments will differ for other games. Every video poker game has its own quirks. But basics from Multi-Strike Jacks or Better – especially downplaying low pair and straight draws at early levels – will help you get the most out of any Multi-Strike game.

Figure out how to legally beat a casino game – whether it’s through the rather benign act of card counting or by pulling off a play as audacious as Kelly Sun’s multi-million-dollar edge sorting move – and you’ll discover that getting asked to leave casinos is an occupational hazard.

Advantage players recognize the back-offs and 86s as an expected consequence of brutally bringing down the house. As I was once told by world-class horse handicapper Bill Benter, “If they’re not kicking you out, you’re doing something wrong.”

But landing in the so-called Black Book, a roster of people who are legally prohibited from entering the premises of any gambling enterprise in the state of Nevada, well, that is something else altogether. For starters, placement in the Book frequently involves a felonious act.

According to Anthony Curtis, publisher of Las Vegas Advisor and a former advantage player himself, it’s a special circle of casino hell. “It takes undesirables to the Nth level,” says Curtis. “There are different degrees of being backed off. This is the ultimate. You are not being backed off from a casino. You are being backed off from an industry.“    

Officially known as the Nevada Gaming Control Board Excluded Person List, the Black Book was launched in 1960. Once an actual book bound in black covers – though, over the years, there have been other colors – the Black Book is a list of criminals, casino cheaters, con artists and various unsavory types who, it is believed, do damage to casinos just by being there. Mobster Sam Giancana – who supposedly had ties to the CIA, gained control of casinos such as Sands and Desert Inn, and showed himself to be a prolific skimmer of profits – ranked among the first gangsters entered into the Book.

History has it that the Black Book was created as a means for the gambling industry to convince the American Congress that it could capably police itself and keep criminal elements off of gaming floors. 

A copy of an early Black Book, which debuted with a list of just 11 undesirables, open to the page of diminutive but ultra-violent mobster Tony “The Ant” Spilotro, is on display at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas. The most recent additions to the Book, which now has 35 entrants, are Anthony Grant Granito and James Russell Cooper. Both convicted of scamming the Bellagio out of some $1.2 million, they made it last November.

Working in cahoots with a croupier, the two men posted their bets after the dice landed. Of course that turns craps into an easy game to beat. So easy, in fact, that they overcame an estimated 452-billion to 1 odds in odder to reap their seven-figure rewards. A grand jury found them guilty of theft and cheating and the two men were sentenced to at least four years of prison. But the Nevada Gaming Control Board took things further by placing them in the Black Book, which currently exists as an online listing with photos, last known residences and, of course, the misdeeds.

 

For some cheaters, getting in the Black Book is enough of an onus that they’d rather go to jail if it helps them to beat the Book. One gaming insider remembers a recent scam artist who was famous for marking cards at the blackjack table. “He was arrested at home and the guy had a mini-factory for creating daubs (the dye used for marking cards), cheating equipment and disguises,” says the insider. “He made his living by robbing casinos and did not want to be banned from entering them.”

He reportedly rallied to serve jail time but be kept out of the Black Book. “He would have much preferred that,” says the source. “But the guy did not get it and now he can’t go into a Nevada casino.” He pleaded guilty to a count of felony burglary and received probation – plus his spot in the Book.

While it’s hard to get into the Black Book – entering the rogue’s gallery involves doing something that truly offends powers that be at the Nevada Gaming Control Board – it is even harder to get out. Most of those who escape the Book manage to do it by dying. Even giving up on gambling will not help. According to “Las Vegas Review Journal”, the last of the Black Book’s surviving OGs was Los Angeles-based mob boss Louis Thomas Dragna. He died in 2012, at age 92, and broke free of the Book with his passing.

But what is it like to actually be in the Black Book? Surprisingly, it seems that most members of the devious sect – save for the cheater described above – don’t mind being there all that much.

For starters, by the time you do something notorious enough to enter the Book, you’re probably persona non grata in most casinos anyway. In some quarters, in fact, placement in the Black Book is essentially an advertisement for one’s underhanded skills. Being in the Book, says expert card-marker William Gene Land, “was a badge of honor. I held my mug and it opened up a lot of opportunities for me – if you know what I mean.”

What he means is that he was able to work with highly profitable card-marking teams that operated beyond the Book’s range of influence. Now claiming to be out of the cheating business – “I’m retired; I stay home and play with my grandchildren” – Land earned millions by spearheading plays despite his notoriety. “I couldn’t go into a Nevada casino,” he admits. “But there were plenty of games outside of the United States.”

Another inductee to the Black Book, a cheater who famously  rigged slot machines and asked that his name not be used, shrugs it all off as well.  “It doesn’t really affect me,” he says. “[Being put in the Book] felt more like a publicity stunt than anything else. The irony is that I live in Las Vegas (where bars and even supermarkets typically have slot machines) and I can walk into any bar to play slots.”

He considers this for a minute, laughs and concludes, “So how much sense did it really make?” 

 

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

• The basics of money management boil down to protecting your money, limiting your losses, making sure you keep some winnings, and limiting the number of chances the house edge has to work against you.
• When you do that, you won't change the house edge or create extra winning spins, but you will make sure your bankroll stays a little fatter and isn't stretched beyond your limits.

Money management is not a magic spell that can turn you into a big winner on the slots. 

It can do nothing to change the odds of the games. You'll win sometimes and lose more often no matter how well you manage your money.

But sound money management techniques can help you to limit the losses in the bad times and to keep more of your winnings when the reels and bonuses are kind to you. 

That makes learning to manage your money an important skill for anyone who plays slot machines.

The techniques described here are not difficult. Many of them are merely common sense. But they can make a difference in the size of your bankroll.

TIP #1: SET YOUR BANKROLL BEFORE YOU PLAY

Regardless of whether you're playing offline or online casino, give due thought to your stakes for the day.

If you take stock and decide you can afford to risk $100 for the day, then limit your online buy-in to no more than $100, or take no more than $100 in gambling money to a brick-and-mortar casino.

Once you've set your bankroll for the day, don't exceed it. If you've bet your bankroll at $100 and you lose it all, that's it. Don't tap on other funds. Walk away from the games for the day.

If you win or never reach the bottom of your bankroll and can extend your play, terrific. But part of smart money management is to never bet money you can't afford to lose. You want your gambling money to come from an entertainment budget, not from money needed to pay the rent, mortgage, grocery bills or any of the other necessities of life.

TIP #2: KEEP YOUR SLOT MONEY AND MONEY FOR OTHER EXPENSES SEPARATE

That could mean keeping money to play with and money for going out to lunch in separate compartments in your wallet, or it could mean gambling money in your left pocket and other money in your right.

Regardless of how you decide to separate your funds, don't let them mix. You've already set your playing bankroll, and your lunch money is not part of it. When it's time to go to lunch, you want your lunch money to be there.

TIP #3: DO NOT BORROW MONEY TO GAMBLE

That goes double for credit-card advances. Borrowed money is expensive money.

Most offline casinos have machines where you can use your credit cart to initiate a cash advance. You then go to the cashier's cage to sign paperwork and collect your money.

There is a transaction fee that depends on the amount you want to borrow. If, for example, the fee for a $100 advance is $10, it's like adding 10 percent to the house edge. To break even for the day, you'd have take that $100 to the slots and cash out $110.

That doesn't include the monthly interest your credit card company charges on cash advances. Those can exceed 20 percent, and can recur month after month unless you pay your bill in full.

Paying the fees and interest, then playing games on which the house has an edge, makes it all too likely that not only will you lose money, but you'll wind up farther behind than you intended when you set your bankroll.

 

 

TIP #4: TRY A SYSTEM OF FLOATING WIN GOALS AND LOSS LIMITS

Win goals and loss limits have been part of the slot player's toolkit for decades.

In their strictest form, the limits have you set both a floor and a ceiling. If you've set your bankroll for the day at $100, then that is your loss limit. If you lose $100 you stop and don't draw on other funds.

At the same time, you set a win goal. If you decide that for your $100 bankroll, you'd consider it a great day if you could walk out ahead by half that amount, then your win goal would be $50.

Any time you reach either your win goal or loss limit, you call it a day. In this example, if your gambling bankroll reaches $150, meaning you're ahead by $50, you stop there and lock up your winnings. If the bankroll reaches zero, of course, you've hit your loss limit and are done for the day.

Most players find a fixed win goal too limiting. 

What if you have a $50 winner on your first play? That's easy enough to do with four of a kind on many 25-cent video poker machines, a big bonus round or a mid-level progressive jackpot on a low-limit video slot or a combination such as three triple bars or three 7s on a three-reel slot.

You're probably not going to want to leave after making one bet. You've logged onto the online casino or walked into an offline casino to have a good time, and you want to make it last.

 

One way stay in action while still using solid money management is to let the win goals and loss limits float, with adjustments in both your floor and ceiling every time you reach a win goal.

With floating goals and limits, it's best to narrow your win goal to 20 percent of your loss limit instead of putting that 50 percent gain in your sights right away.

Let's say you have a $100 loss limit and set your win goal for $20. If you win $20 to bring your bankroll to $120, you've reached your win goal.

At that point, adjust both your win goal and loss limit by that $20 win. You raise the win goal to $40, but you also link it to your loss limit. The loss limit remains at $100, but it's $100 from a bankroll that now stands at $120.

That means you're locking up $20, there for you to take home even if your luck turns sour and you lose $100 from that point.

By doing that, you assure yourself of walking away with at least part of your budget amount without hindering your flexibility to keep playing.

You do the same thing every time you reach a new win goal. In our example, you've won $20, and the new win goal is $40. If you reach $40 in winnings, then you raise the win goal to $60 and you also raise your floor. If you lose $100 from your new total of $140, then you walk away with $40 in your pocket.

The idea is that any time you have a nice winning streak, you make sure you walk away with a little more of your money and don't give it all back to the casino. 

The precise amounts of your starting bankroll and the percentage you set as win goals are up to you. There are players who are more comfortable with 10 percent as a win goal; others like 25 or 30 percent.

The small amounts you lock up after reaching each win goal may not seem like much, but coming home with $20 more than you'd budgeted as your floor on multiple casino trips adds up fast. It certainly beats losing early winnings back to the casino time after time.

TIP #5: PUT AWAY AT LEAST HALF OF ANY REALLY BIG WIN

Think of good-sized jackpots as something separate from win goals and loss limits. You want to make sure you bring a large share of the money home.

Don't repeat the sad tale of a video poker player who wrote that she draw a royal flush good for $1,000 on a 25-cent machine. She decided to move up to a dollar machine to see if she could win really big. Instead, she lost it all and went home empty handed.

When you win a jackpot like that, it's OK to try higher denomination games to see if lightning can strike twice for an even bigger jackpot. But it's also important to set limits.

With a $1,000 jackpot, immediately put at least $500 of it away, not to be touched for the rest of your casino outing. 

It's your call as to what to do with the other $500. If you want to try a more expensive game, good luck to you. If you want to set a higher loss limit while playing the same games, that works too. If you want to put an even bigger portion of it away, take your partner or friends out to a nice dinner, go to a play, add it to your children's' or grandchildren's' education fund or just put it in savings. more power to you.

With a really enormous, lifestyle-changing jackpot such as the multi-million-dollar payouts on Megabucks, give yourself a cooling-off period. If you want to gamble with an extra few thousand dollars, that's only natural. But leave almost the entire jackpot intact until you've had time to let the initial rush of excitement pass, talk things over with your family or financial adviser, and decide what you really want to do with the money.

The jackpot doesn't have to be anywhere near that large for taxes to come into play, and that brings special needs.

In the United States, for example, the Internal Revenue Service requires casinos to have players sign tax forms before the casino can pay any jackpot of $1,200 or more. The casino usually does not withhold tax money -- it's up to you as a player to pay. Make sure you hold onto enough money to pay the taxes in addition to money you're keeping to bring home.

TIP #6: ON MULTI-DAY TRIPS, DIVIDE YOUR MONEY INTO SESSION BANKROLLS

There are few worse feelings than running out of money on the first day of a casino trip -- and it's a feeling millions of players have had over the decades.

You don't want to pay credit card fees, and you don't want to just avoid the gaming floor either.

One way to make sure you're in action until the end is to divide your bankroll by the number of days for the trip.

 

If you bring $1,500 to Las Vegas for a three-day trip, budget yourself at $500 per day. 

Don't carry the money earmarked for the other two days. Put it in the room safe or some other safe place. Then if you hit your loss limit for Day One, you still have money for Days Two and Three separated.

TIP #7: SLOW DOWN

The faster you play, the more chances the house edge has to work against you.

Don't be in a rush. Take time to walk around the casino and explore what it has to offer. On winning spins, take a few seconds to look at the winning paylines. Order bottles of water or other beverages -- it's good to stay hydrated -- and chat with the waitress. Take frequent breaks.

You don't have to just hit the button as soon as the reels stop over and over and over again. Take your time.

The most popular slots in land-based casinos are video slots, yet the games that hold their places on casino floors longest are three-reel games.

Not only that. Slot games in an online casino, which essentially are video slots in an Internet environment, earn their keep longer than video slots offline.

If there seems to be a contradiction in all that, with the games in the least popular format holding their popularity the longest, there’s really not. There are reasons the most popular three-reel titles such as Double Diamond hold their own for decades and hot new video slots titles can be on and off casino floors in a matter of months.

In any format, slot games must earn their keep. They must pay for their own purchase or lease, and they must earn enough above and beyond that to justify retaining them instead of turning the floor space over to a new game.

Let’s take a look at some of the issues surrounding popularity and endurance in each format.

THREE-REEL SLOTS

Slots with physical reels and stepper motors driving the spins were the most popular machine games until the video slot revolution began in the late 1990s.

They differ from video slots in one very important way: To varying degrees, video slots emphasize an entertainment factor with their graphics, animation, interactive bonus play and sound effects. Three-reel slots emphasize gambling.

Some modern three-reel slots add bonus events. There are prize wheels on Wheel of Fortune slots with three-reel base games, and some games have additional video screens for bonus events.

But basically, the attraction of three-reel games is in the potential for big wins. 

The most common format for three-reel games uses a single payline. Nearly every winning spin will pay several times the size of your bet. That’s different from video slots, where there it’s common for games to have 30, 40 or 50 paylines and where many winning spins pay less than your total bet.

Slot manufacturers differentiate their games through the pay structure. Double Diamond multiplies winnings through its diamond symbols – diamonds in winning combinations double the wins. Blazing 7s, which has faded in recent years after a 40-year run of popularity, built its following thrown rapid-hit progressive jackpots that started at $1,000 on a $1 machine.

But by placing the main emphasis on your shot to win at slots, three-reel slots essentially occupy a similar position as blackjack, craps or roulette. They are classic gambling games where everyone know the rules and conditions. They don’t have as large a following as video slots, but they players who love them are loyal and keep coming back to the same games, just as blackjack or craps players keep coming back for more. 

Popular three-reel slots drive a steady level of business from customers who might not play at the same level if only video slots were offered.

 

 

VIDEO SLOTS

Video slot players like to win money, too, but they like some entertainment with their gambling.

With ever-increasing capability of offering high-definition images, animation and video clips, video slots are an entertainment experience.

Over the years, we’ve seen Star Wars slots and Men in Black slots with clips from the movies, Top Gun slots with not only movie clips but special effects motion chairs to make you feel like you’re in the cockpit of a fighter jet, Elvis, Michael Jackson and Dolly Parton slots that put you in the groove with their music, and Hollywood Squares slots with their brand of celebrity tic-tac-toe.

With or without pop culture tie-ins, video slots come with a mix-and-match blend of pick-a-prize bonuses, wheel spins and free spins, as well as special attractions such as expanding wilds that can fill an entire column or stacked symbols that can fill an entire screen with the same symbol.

It’s all designed to keep you intrigued and entertained. Even a session with a small loss can be a good time if you’ve had fun playing all the extra features.

However, there comes a time in nearly every video slot’s lifetime in which most players have seen and played all the bonus rounds, and the entertainment factor loses some of its initial excitement.

Some games, such as Jackpot Party, develop a loyal enough following to keep some floor space for years on end. But for the most part, even the hottest video slots pass peak popularity within three or four months. They may hold on with fewer machines per casino for longer periods, but when revenues drop, they must make way for newer games.

Every game must earn enough revenue to justify its spot on the floor. When that revenue drops below house average, casinos turn to newer games that bring a whole new entertainment and excitement factor.

Casino manufacturers play a continuous game of “Can you top this?” They create new bonus events, use new video and animation, and hope to capture players’ imaginations for the next several months.

That leads to a shorter lifespan for individual slots than on the three-reel format, but with higher peak performances and a higher revenue total for the entire category of video slots.

ONLINE SLOTS

Like video slots, online slots have a huge entertainment factor with bonus events of all kinds.

Unlike offline video slots, online slots have less pressure to measure up against house average revenue to maintain a spot on the host site.

Online slots must earn their keep, but the needs are different than offline. Online slots must pay for their purchase or lease, and they must earn a profit. The bar is higher with slots developed by outside companies than with proprietary games developed in-house. Paying ongoing licensing fees means a slot must continue attracting players to maintain its space.

However, online casinos don’t face the same need to move old games out to add new games as offline casinos have. Offline, each game takes up physical space. If an offline casino that has had six OMG! Kittens machines on the floor decides business now requires only two such machines, then the space for the other four is given over to new games.

Online, OMG! Kittens need be displayed only once in the slot listings, and that can accommodate as many players as wish to play it.

Because the games take no physical space, online casinos can leave them up and running as long as they’re making a profit, even if they fall below house average. The games are not taking space away from other, potentially more profitable games.

Those conditions lead us to see games such as Zeus, Invaders of the Planet Moolah or Gold Fish online even when their numbers offline decrease. Their presence doesn’t impede online casinos for adding new games such as Jumanji, Elephant King or Monopoly Epic II.

So it’s not at all contradictory that individual three-reel slots hold popularity longer than video slots even tough video slots are more popular overall, and that online slots last longer than offline video slots. The differences grow naturally out of what the games offer and the needs of the host casinos and sites.

If you can add, subtract, multiply and divide, the following roulette systems might be just right for you. Can they get you a real mathematical edge over the venerable game of roulette? No. Sadly no system whether developed by me or by the geniuses (and ploppies) of the past can do that. No matter what you do you have to challenge the house edge – and that’s just the way it is.

So why do I call these strategies 5th grade ones? That’s simple, advanced math is not something you want to attempt while trying to decide what you are going to do in a gambling game. Gambling strategies should be sharp and to the point so they can be utilized in such a way as to not give you a headache while playing. You don’t want to finish your sessions at offline or online roulette with some chips but also with a splitting headache.

My second reason is that I am not a mathematician. I rely on the math of those extremely intelligent men and women in order for me to understand the true underpinnings of the games; but playing such games requires something that can be done fast. It also requires something that is fun. Seriously, without the fun part what’s the point of playing roulette or any other game in the casinos?

[Please note: Are there any cautions before I explain these strategies to you? Yes. Do not over-bet, do not go on tilt trying to make up previous losses and do not throw the money out there like crazy even if you are winning because bets that are being increased because of good luck go against the same house edge as all your previous bets. The house doesn’t lose its edge because it lost some money to you.] 

THE AMERICAN OR THE EUROPEAN WHEEL?

Obviously if you get the chance to play the European single-zero wheel that is the one to choose as long as your betting minimums are the same as those you use for the American double-zero wheel. The house edge on the European wheel is almost half as much as on the American Wheel, 2.7 percent compared to 5.26 percent. 

However, if the American wheel offers “surrender” or if the European one offers “en prison” then you must decide if you prefer to play the “even-money” strategies where the house edge is cut in half by these options. Surrender and en prison are wonderful additions to the roulette world. Use them if you can.

THE SUBTRACTION ROULETTE SYSTEM: 2 – 1 = 1 

Get ready for some simple subtraction. 

Go to the roulette table and check out the top two numbers on the scoreboard. Let us say that they are 26 and 14. Just subtract the lower number from the highest number (26 -14) and you get 12. On the next spin of the wheel you will place a bet on 12. 

Now you wait for the next two numbers to hit, let us say 5 and 9. Now you subtract 5 from 9 and the next bet will be on the 4. Win or lose you wait for the next two numbers to come up and then you repeat this procedure.

There might be a conundrum when the 0 or 00 is the decision. So here goes: 

• if the hit is 0 or 00 and then a 6 comes up, the number on which you wager will be the 6 since 0 from 6 equals 6.
• 00 from 6 is also 6
• if the hit is a 0 and the next number is 00, you will bet 0 since one 0 cancels the other zero out (00 – 0 = 0 instead of three zeroes you only have one left – (this is my own style of mathematics!)
• if the numbers are the same, say 33 and 33, you will bet the 00 on the American wheel and the 0 on the European wheel
• do not bet more than one number and keep your bet as low as gives you a manageable thrill (please see my article on the “manageable thrill”)
• keep in mind that you have either a one in 38 chance to win on the American double-zero wheel and a one in 37 chance to win on the European wheel so the wins do not flood in
• betting individual numbers can see long losing streaks but a win brings in 35-to-one

THE ADDITION AND DIVISION ROULETTE STRATEGY: 20 + 2 = 22 DIVIDED BY 2 = 11

With this strategy we are going to use addition and division to get an average and use that average as the number on which we will wager. Again you use the top two numbers on the scoreboard to utilize this method of play. 

So let us say that the top two numbers are 26 and 36. Add them and you get 62. Now divide 62 by 2 and your number is 31. That’s the number on which you will wager. Now wait to get two more numbers and do the process again.

At first you might think that you can’t get averages of the top numbers such as 35 or 36. This isn’t so. Two spins in a row with 36 end up as an average of 36. 

How likely are two 36s to come up in a row? No more or less likely than any other two numbers you might pick. If you think a 7 and 11 will come up on the next two spins then the odds of that happening are the exact same as two 36s appearing. The 7 has a one in 37 or a one in 38 chance to appear. Once it does then the 11 has a one in 37 or a one in 38 chance to appear next. 

[Please note: In short, every roulette number has the same chance of coming up on the next spin as any other number. The game you are playing is (probably) random and there is no control of what numbers will appear. So the addition and division strategy will cover all the possible numbers and averages of those numbers but none of this can alter the house edge in any way.] 

Here are some other things to take into consideration:

• Do we have any problem with the 0 and /or 00? No. If one number is 24 and the next is 0 or 00, the average comes to 12. (24 + 0 = 24 divided by 2 = 12).
• What about fractions? Here you round up. So if you get a 15 and a 16 the total comes to 31. But when you divide 31 by 2 the result is 15.5. Make it 16 and bet the 16.

 

THE EVEN-MONEY WEIGHT OF EVIDENCE ROULETTE STRATEGY

Now I am going to take a look at the outside “even-money” proposition bets of odd/even, high/low and red/black. These bets are called “even-money” because they pay out on a one-to-one basis. You bet $10 and if you win you win $10. 

The house edge is established when you realize that while you have 18 ways to win you have 20 ways to lose on the American double-zero wheel (a 5.26 percentage edge) and 19 ways to lose on the European single-zero wheel with 18 ways to win (a 2.7 percentage edge). If you want to translate an edge into actual money just figure that 5.26 percent is an expectation of $5.26 lost for every $100 wagered or an expectation of $2.70 lost for every $100 wagered.

I’ll use red/black as the bet we’ll analyze. Okay, you check out the scoreboard which in my example will have the last 20 numbers recorded. On some occasions scoreboards will only show the last 16 numbers.

You now count up the red and black numbers that have hit. You notice that the red has come up more than the black. You therefore bet the red option. You will keep betting red until the scoreboard shows black as the dominant color.  If the scoreboard shows a tie between the two colors then you wait for the next spin. The color that appears (except the 0 or 00) will change the relationship of red to black.

This exact technique can be used on the high/low and the odd/even propositions as well. I do not recommend making multiple bets. Stick to just one of the propositions. 

GETTING DARING WITH SPLIT BETTING

If your betting levels are greater than the table minimum you might decide to split your bet on these even-money propositions. Again I’ll use the red/black as the wager.

The table minimum bet is $10 but you like to bet $40. Now you notice that red has appeared four more times than black. You then take your $40 and make a red bet. If red only now appears two more times after this decision you cut your bet to $20. 

In short you are wagering based on how ahead one or the other proposition is in the lead and you bet that lead up to $40.

Given the fact that this is a somewhat daring strategy let’s add in the option of also using one of the other even-money propositions as attendant bets. So you see that high has come out two more times than low and that red has come up two more times than black. You split your bets $20 on red and $20 on high.

Do not do an even-money split bet if you cannot squeeze everything into your normal wagering amounts. Again the house has the edge so that should always be in your mind. Don’t lull yourself into thinking that any casino gambling system can overcome that edge. That is the folly of some casino gamblers; they forget the facts of the games they play. So repeat after me: “The house has an edge on every single bet you make. I might be a nice person but that doesn’t change the house edge.”

BE CAUTIOUS WITH YOUR MONEY

Although the house will have the same edge on the individual number bets and on the split “even-money” bets the pattern of how you will win or lose will be different between the two strategies.

Since you only have a one in 37 or one in 38 chance to hit a number straight up on the European and American wheels respectively, there will be, as I said, long losing streaks, although, yes, you might get lucky right off but that is the longshot with this style of betting. It is similar to slot machines where there are long streaks of losing with dynamic wins now and again. Those dynamic wins can often put the player over the top. Slot players dream of the dynamic win. I tend not to do that.

The “even-money” bets will be more of a back and forth between you and the house; this is much like the pattern of blackjack and baccarat. There are no single huge wins on a decision but you rarely go into extremely long losing streaks. Yes, in the end the house is going to take its cut from your total betting amounts. You do have the important decision to make as to how you want the pattern of your wins and losses to be. 

[Please note: I am sure that you have noticed that there are pauses in your betting with my strategies. This is a strong money management recommendation. You are not betting every spin every time on the straight up bets – but you are still in the game and enjoying the anticipation of what will happen next. In my opinion anticipation is one of the true joys of casino playing.]

The bottom line of any gambling system or strategy is how you play roulette and what kind of control you have over your betting amounts and, even more important, your emotions. We do face a tough opponent in the casino and I think most of us know that. Stay steady; stay in control and have some fun.

All the best in and out of the casinos!  

Many blackjack players would like to tip a blackjack dealer but they don’t know how to go about doing it. In this article I will show you several ways to do it, including my favorite. 

First let me address the question I often get from players about tipping.

 “Why tip blackjack dealers since they get paid for dealing?” 

It’s true there is no rule that says you must tip a blackjack dealer, just like there is no rule that you should tip a waitress, barber, hair dresser, taxi or Uber driver. However, let’s be realistic. Many hard-working people in the service industry earn a relatively low base salary and they depend on tips to make ends meet. Ditto for live casino dealers. 

Am I saying you should always tip a dealer every time you play blackjack? Definitely not. I’ve had my share of surly blackjack dealers over my 45-plus years of playing blackjack. You know the type: gruff, never smiling, unfriendly, unhelpful, and just making you feel uncomfortable playing blackjack. My tip for them is nothing. I also make it a point to tell the floor supervisor that I stopped playing blackjack because his or her dealer was not at all focused on making the customer feel comfortable.  On the other hand, if a blackjack dealer has been friendly, courteous, and helpful, I will tip.

There are several ways to tip a dealer when you play blackjack. One way is to simply place a chip on the layout at any time and tell the dealer “this is for you.”  Most players who tip this way do so at the end of their playing session after they have colored up their chips and are ready to leave the table.

Another way to tip a dealer is to make a bet for her on your hand so if your hand wins, she will receive what you bet for her plus the winnings.  Most players who make a tip bet for the dealer do so as follows.

 

 

Suppose you wagered a green chip ($25) on your hand and you also place a red ($5) chip just outside your betting circle. The cards are dealt and let’s suppose your hand beats the dealer’s hand. The dealer will place another green chip next to the original green chip in your betting circle (your winnings), and a red chip next to the original red chip outside the betting circle (the winnings for the tip bet you made for her). After the dealer finishes paying off all the other winning bets, and collects all the losing bets, she will pick up the two red chips outside of your betting circle, hopefully thank you, and drop them in the toke box. Essentially, the $5 bet you made for the dealer on your hand resulted in a $10 tip for the dealer because your hand won. If instead your hand lost, the dealer doesn’t get any tip but she should still thank you for trying. (If the hand loses, the red chip you bet for the dealer goes into the dealer’s chip tray and is now the property of the casino.)

Personally, I don’t like to make a tip for the dealer by placing a chip outside the betting circle because I have no control over that bet. Instead, I prefer inside the betting circle by placing the chip I want to bet for the dealer on top of (and slightly off center to) the chip I wagered on the hand. By doing this, I can control how much tip I give to the dealer. 

For example, let’s suppose I wagered, say, $25 (one green chip), and then placed a red chip on top of the green chip, and the hand wins, I will give the dealer a single red chip as a win. I still own the original red chip I wagered for her because it was placed inside the betting circle. I usually let the red chip ride for the dealer on the next hand. If I win a few hands in a row, it gives the appearance that I’m a steady tipper, which can help you when it comes time to ask the table supervisor for a comp. Moreover, the supervisor will usually include the chip on top of your wager as part of your average bet and rate you at $30 per hand bettor instead of $25 per hand. This results in a slightly higher average bet and can result in slightly more comps. Additionally, this method of tipping the dealer also saves you 50 percent of the money compared to placing your tip bet outside of the betting circle.  (Of course, if your hand loses, the original wager you made on the hand and any other chip you placed on top will be scooped up by the dealer and placed in the chip tray.)

Here are a few more suggestions on tipping to consider.

1.    After you arrive at the table and the dealer gives you chips for your cash, take a large denomination chip (e.g., green $25 denomination), slide it to the dealer and ask her to exchange it for some reds ($5 denomination) or white ($1) chips. With smaller-denomination chips in hand, I would make a bet for the dealer early in your session. This lets the dealer know from the start that that if she is friendly and helpful, you will be tipping her.

2.    It’s perfectly acceptable to base your tips on how much you are betting. For example, if you are a $5 or $10 bettor, I suggest tipping a few dollars; if you are a $25 bettor, I suggest a $5 tip.

3.    Most card counters don’t tip because the edge they have is small, and if they tip, it could wipe out their monetary gain. However, periodically tipping a dealer gives the perception that you are an average “Joe” playing blackjack for fun and not for profit. This will help keep you under the casino’s radar (i.e., it’s good camouflage). My suggestion is to calculate what your theoretical hourly profit is for whatever card counting system you are using, and set aside a small percentage of that amount for tips. I also recommend you make the tip bet only when the table supervisor is nearby and can observe it. (Sometimes, I will also say something about making the bet for the dealer loud enough so the supervisor hears me.) Note: It’s been my experience that I could often use less costly ways to camouflage my card counting other than tipping a dealer. (See Chapter 10.12 in my Ultimate Blackjack Strategy Guide for non-punitive camouflage tips.)

Slots are designed to yield random results, or at least results as random has humans can program a computer to be. Slot machines also are programmed with specified payback percentages to give the house an edge. Players sometimes have a difficulty reconciling those two statements. How can a slot machine be random if it has a programmed payback percentage?

Other questions follow from the first. Doesn’t a programmed payback percentage imply that slots must have cold streaks to make up for hot streaks or big jackpots? How else can slots hit their programmed percentage?

And what about bonus rounds? Can they really be random if they have to be part of the programmed payback? Don’t your results have to be predetermined so they can be included in the payback percentage calculations?

The short answers are that slots can both be random and have a programmed payback percentage, that their doesn’t have to be any makeup time after big hits for slots to reach their target percentage in the long haul, and that variable – and random – bonus results can be part of the calculations without any need to short-circuit randomness.

Let’s take each of those issues on at a time.

SLOTS ARE BOTH RANDOM AND HAVE A PROGRAMMED PAYBACK PERCENTAGE

The result of every spin of the slot reels is random on every spin, but over hundreds of thousands or millions of plays, the odds of the slot will lead toward an expected payback percentage.

In that respect, slots are the same as nearly every other casino games. All give the house an edge by paying less than true odds on winning bets.

Craps is random in that any two-dice total can come on any roll, but has the equivalent of programmed payback percentages in the house edge. Roulette is random in that every number can turn up on every spin, but long-term results also will lead to an expected payback percentage.

Take the one-roll bet on 12 in craps. There are 36 possible combinations of two six-sided dice, but only one of them yields a total of 12 – 6s on both dice.

Shooters will roll 12s an average of once per 36 rolls, making the true odds 35-1. If you bet on 12 and win, you’re paid 30-1.

If you bet $1 per roll, you’d risk $36 in an average 36 rolls. On the one winner, you’d get to keep your $1 bet and get $30 in winnings. That would leave you with a total of $31 of your original $36, and the house would have $5 profit.

That $5 profit, or 13.89 percent of your wagers, represents the house edge. You can flip that, subtract 13.89 from 100 and get a payback percentage of 86.11 percent.

That’s the same way you get a payback percentage on slot machines. Slots can have many more random numbers per reel than the six per die, and the total combinations can run into the tens or hundreds of thousands or even millions rather than 36, but the principle is the same.

The odds of the game will lead slot reel combinations to turn up in expected proportions over a very long time. The house pays the winning combinations at less than true odds.

Together, the proportion of winning spins along with the less-than-true-odds paybacks lead to a house edge and payback percentage.

Any result can show up at any time. That’s random. But the house can count on the odds leading to an expected payback percentage.

DOESN’T THERE HAVE TO BE MAKEUP TIME TO HIT THE PERCENTAGE?

The house doesn’t panic when table players go on a hot streak. It knows that the multitude of results that follow will drag the overall results back toward the expected house edge.

Let’s say you’re betting $1 per spin on a slot that returns 90 percent in the long run. Some slots pay more, some pay less, but we can use 90 as an example.

Next, imagine you win a $5,000 jackpot on your first spin.

Doesn’t that throw the percentages out of whack? Won’t the slot have to go cold for a while until it gets back to its expected 90 percent?

No. There’s no need for that. You may walk away a winner – and if you’re smart, you will. And that’s OK with the house. A casino needs winners to go off and tell their families and friends so they’ll want to play, too.

But there’s always another player after you, and after that, and another. 

All that’s needed is for the machine to pay at its normal rate, and your jackpot will fade into statistical insignificance.

Imagine that your $5,000 winner is followed by a million spins in which the game pays its normal 90 percent. There will be other jackpots in those spins – they’re part of the normal odds of the game. 

There will be cold streaks and there will be hot streaks. None will come at any predictable time. Results will be random.

In those millions spins for a total of $1 million, the 90-percent payback means players are getting $900,000. 

Add your one spin, and the total wagers are $1,000,001 and total returns are $905,000. The payback percentage is 90.5 percent.

Normal results after you jackpot have taken the payback percentage to within half a percent of the target with no need for any makeup time.

You can win big in a short session. You also can lose big in a short session. But the house is there for millions upon millions of spins, and it knows any big wins or unusual streaks will fade into statistical insignificance with random results.

HOW DO YOU ACCOUNT FOR BONUS EVENTS?

In pick-a-prize bonus events, your choices make a difference. When different icons hide different prizes, and you touch or click on an icon, you get the credit prize it has hidden.

If you picked a different icon, you’d get a different prize. If all the potential prizes are revealed at the end of the round, that’s tantamount to advertising the prizes. In licensed jurisdictions, any advertised prizes must actually be available.

So your prize in such a bonus event is not predetermined. It’s up to the luck of the touch or click, and could win big, small or in between on each pick.

That leaves players to wonder how a truly random machine could cope with that. Doesn’t a prize have to be predetermined in order for a programmer to include it in a payback percentage?

The answer is no, the prize does not have to be predetermined. The programmer can use an average result because in the long run, results will drive the awards toward that average.

Imagine a bonus round that gives you a choice of icons A, B, C, D or E, and the available prizes are 10, 20, 30, 50 and 100 credits. The credit amounts are randomly distributed behind the icons, so the big prize might be behind D this time, A the next and E or any other icon the time after that.

You get whatever prize is behind the icon you choose, and there is no way of telling what the amount will be.

However the average award will be (10+20+30+50+100) divided by the five possible choices. That’s 210 / 5, or 44 per pick.

The programmer can use 44 credits as the average outcome of a bonus event, and build that into the overall payback percentage.

Your choices matter, the prize is variable and there doesn’t need to be a predetermined prize.

And just as in the other programmed-yet-random dilemmas players find in the slots, random results will drive the game toward its expected payback percentage.

People say that Dr. Edward O. Thorp wrote the book on blackjack, and it is no exaggeration. Back in 1962, when nearly everybody thought that blackjack was a game of luck, the university professor used computers to devise a system for uncovering mathematical advantages at the table. Appropriately titled Beat the Dealer, Thorp’s bestseller laid out a card counting system that remains in use today – and is  still used for winning, much to the chagrin of casino bosses.

Along the way, Thorp built up a considerable library of resource books that address everything from casino games to horse racing. Having recently become enamored with the Blackjack Ball – an invite-only, secret gathering of advantage players, held annually in Las Vegas and sponsored by Barona Resort and Casino – Thorp graciously donated his gambling library to the Ball’s founder Max Rubin. In order to raise money for future Balls, Rubin plans on slowly auctioning off the contents from Thorp’s reading room.

At the most recent Blackjack Ball, held this past February, five of the precious titles went to the highest bidders. “Some of the books have candid comments that I made for myself,” says Thorp, who surely had something to write in the margins of The Weekend Gambler’s Handbook, by Major Arteburn Riddle, owner of the Dunes who was more interested in beating suckers than in educating them. “I once met with Major Riddle in Chicago and he wanted to do a blackjack freeze-out with me versus his casino.”

Remembering that they convened in a hotel room and that Riddle was bereft of pants and “wearing boxer shorts that were not particularly closed,” Thorp says that the challenge initially seemed like it could be a good spot for him. “I said I would do it but I have conditions,” Thorp continues. “I said that the dealer would need to wear short sleeves [to minimize opportunities for him to cheat]. Riddle said no to that. I also wanted to videotape the action so that I could detect cheating activity that you can’t spot in the moment. He said no to that as well. Then he wanted me to play for 30 days, to sit around for a month while I tried to win $100,000. It wasn’t worth it for me.”

Just that decision alone gives an idea as to how much Thorp was able to extract from the casinos. Always an independent thinker, he devised his card-counting system over the course of a summer by using room-sized computers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  By the time his technique was perfected, Thorp was broke. So he found a pair of backers and put his card counting system into action. “We won $11,000 on the first trip,” Thorp remembers. “Over [the course of] three years I won a quarter of a million dollars but it was shared [between Thorp and his backers].”

Despite the financial upside, Thorp had a bigger idea in mind. Without telling anyone, he secretly worked on the book that would become Beat The Dealer. Then he encountered a salesman from a subsidiary of the major publishing firm Random House. “He heard about what I was doing with card counting and said that I ought to write a book,” continues Thorp. “I handed him 10 chapter-headings  and the book was bought immediately. I wrote it in six months and thought up the title, Beat The Dealer. The book came out and nothing much happened with it in terms of sales.”

Then publicity was generated through articles about Thorp in Sports Illustrated and Life magazine. “At that point, it got kicked onto the bestseller list,” Thorp says, adding that he stopped gambling soon after. “I could have made more money playing blackjack [than writing a book about it]. But I didn’t want that life. My goal was to be an academic who talked to smart people and enjoyed himself. The grind was something that I had no interest in.”

But he has plenty of well-worn books on the topic. Other titles that hit the Blackjack Ball auction-block included an influential, seminal, blackjack tome called Turning the Tables on Las Vegas by the pseudonymous Ian Anderson. It had been signed to Thorp. At the spectrum’s opposite end: the questionable playing live blackjack as a Business by Lawrence Revere. It generated sharp rebukes from the card counting master. “Revere says that you can get a 3.5 percent advantage by not moving your bet,” says Rubin, revealing advice that is patently untrue. “On the page, Ed wrote, ‘Baloney!’ He added ditto, wherever Revere made similar claims.”

Anyone who questions Thorp’s authority on such matters only needs to hear him recall the way that losing casinos pushed back at him as soon as it became clear that he could play games with unassailable advantages. “At one casino, they kept trying to bring me liquor and I asked for coffee with cream and sugar,” says  Thorp. After finally getting what he wanted, Thorp  drank the coffee “and all of a sudden I couldn’t count anymore. My pupils were huge. The next night, they brought me a glass of water. I put a drop on my tongue and, again, I could not count. If I drank the entire glass, you would not be talking to me right now.” Casino managers were so desperate to get rid of Thorp and his winning strategies that they resorted to drugging him.

Thorp’s playing days are long behind him – as chronicled in his fantastic memoir, A Man for All Markets, he’s successfully beaten the world’s biggest casino, Wall Street, by expanding on gaming theories and applying them to the more lucrative trading of securities – but he  looks forward to attending the Blackjack Ball each year. As is appropriate, Thorp gets fawned over like a rock star, but the appeal of the Ball goes far beyond an ego boost. “I go there to interact with very interesting people from inside the gambling world,” says Thorp. “One thing I like is being able to see that the seed I planted with Beat the Dealer has helped a lot of people to get wealthy and have rewarding careers. I did not expect that to happen.”

While he enjoys being brought up to speed on the state of the game – “There was talk of a side bet in an East Coast casino that players took advantage of; they won a few million dollars;  hearing about that was a highlight” – on at least one recent occasion, during Blackjack Ball weekend, Thorp’s relationship with casino gambling went beyond the talking stage. It happened after he met MIT blackjack team pioneer John Chang and a couple others for lunch in a Strip casino. 

They wanted to a take a photo alongside a blackjack table but an employee told the group that photos are not allowed. “So we wound up playing a little bit,” Thorp says, remembering that it was his first time in action for decades (Chang was tickled by the experience). “I had no cash with me, John loaned me a little bit to play with and we wound up winning $3,000 or $4,000. Then we stepped out of the pit and took a picture anyway. The casino could have saved itself some money.”

Fortunately for gaming executives, there is no chance of Thorp getting serious about blackjack again and committing himself to hauling serious cash from their coffers. “When I first started playing, it was fascinating,” he explains. “Then it became work and it turned into a grind. At that point, I moved on and now casino gambling is too small scale. I’d have to work hard to make a few-million a year. It’s not worth my time.”

As promised, at the end of this article you will find the questions with answers to the challenging 21-question test given to the elite blackjack pros at the 2019 Blackjack Ball. Give yourself one point for each correct answer. (If you got 15 or more correct, you did better than all the blackjack pros that took the test.) 

• Part 1: 2019 Blackjack Ball - Inside scoop 

(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:

•    Andy Bloch (14)
•    Big Player (13)
•    Gemlo (13)
•    Arnold Snyder  (12)
•    Tony S (12)
•    John B (12) 
•    Robert Nersesian  (12)

Because four players tied for fourth place, a tie-breaker question was implemented to eliminate two of them. (Only five can advance to the next round of the competition.)
The tie-breaker question was:
“Name a casino that used to be in the Las Vegas area, but isn’t here anymore.”

The four contestants kept naming casinos and were disqualified if they either couldn’t come up with a name of a casino, or repeated the name of a casino, or named an incorrect casino. The two contestants that were eliminated as a result of the tie-breaker were Gemlo and Arnold Snyder. This left five finalists who advanced to Round One of the table competition. (This was conducted on a live blackjack table with Munchkin dealing the cards.) The five finalists were:
•    Andy Bloch
•    Big Player
•    Tony S
•    Gemlo 
•    Robert Nersesian

ROUND #1

The five finalists 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. The player that was furthest from the correct number of cards in the stack was eliminated. There were 166 cards in the stack; Big Player estimated 196, which was the furthest, and he was eliminated. 

ROUND #2

Four finalists were left: Andy Bloch, Tony S, Gemlo, and Robert Nersesian. They were each given a single-deck of cards to cut with a cut card, and they had to cut at least 10 cards.  There was a six of spades on the bottom of each deck. After they cut, they had to state how many hands Munchkin should deal so the 6 of spades landed face down in dealer’s hand. If one finalist 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. Andy Bloch cut the 6 of clubs furthest away and was eliminated. 

ROUND #3

James Grosjean constructed a board that had 12 one-inch squares that were cut from the center of all twelve picture cards (see photo). Each player had 90 seconds to determine the suit and rank of each square.  Points were given for the correct rank and suit. Gemlo had the lowest point total and was eliminated. 

ROUND #4

At this junction, there were two finalists left: Robert Nersesian (an attorney for advantage players) and professional blackjack and poker player 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 finalist had to state what counting system he was going to use to count down his decks. On Munchkin’s go, each contestant counted his decks as rapidly as possible and then slammed them face down on the layout. The player who was the slowest at counting down his decks had to first state what the three cards were that Munchkin had removed (a high card, low card, or neutral card). As expected, Nersesian was the slowest at counting down his decks, therefore, he went first, and he incorrectly identified what his three unseen cards were, and was therefore, eliminated, leaving Tony S as the winner of this year’s “The World’s Greatest Blackjack Player” competition. (Note: Nersesian miscounted his decks, which made it impossible for him to correctly identify what the three unseen cards were. Tony S, meanwhile, had rapidly counted his double decks twice before Nersesian finished doing it once, and correctly stated what his three unseen cards were, even though he didn’t have to.) 

TONY S BACKGROUND

After Tony won the competition at the Blackjack Ball, I had the opportunity to do a phone interview with him. Tony was attending MIT in the mid-1990s, and while walking the halls of the academic building, he spotted a poster that was recruiting students for a part-time summer job playing blackjack. He signed up, learned card-counting, and had a profitable summer playing on a card-counting team, albeit for low stakes ($50 units). Afterwards, he joined one of the main MIT blackjack teams that were playing for higher stakes. After a few years with the MIT team, Tony joined the “Greeks” team. He was living in Lake Tahoe at the time but the team was not based there; therefore, he traveled all over the country playing with them. Besides playing blackjack professionally, he also played poker and won $330,000 in the main event of the World Series of Poker.  Tony worked on Wall Street for nine months, and since then, his sole source of income has been from his blackjack and poker winnings. He currently enjoys skiing, training players on the nuances of team blackjack play,and investing in blackjack teams, the stock market, and a rental (business) property in San Francisco.

As promised, below are the 21 test questions with answers. (So, how many did you get correct?)

2019 BLACKJACK BALL: TEST QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

(Max Rubin’s answers are in red type below each question. Thank you again, Max, for allowing me to publish the questions and answers. )
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1. True or False? Edmond Hoyle was born in 1672, lived 96 years and never wrote about poker, yet he is in the Poker Hall of Fame. 
True. Although Hoyle never played nor wrote about poker as it existed in the past 75 years, he is in the Poker Hall of Fame. He didn’t even coin the phrase, “According to Hoyle,” which is widely attributed to another gambling writer.

2. For you Vegas history and golf buffs, which of these world famous hotel casinos NEVER had their own golf course adjacent to, or within a few hundred feet of, their hotel/casino? This question does not include miniature golf courses.  
a.    Tropicana
b.    Dunes
c.    Aladdin
d.    Desert Inn
e.    Hacienda
f.    All of the above hotels/casinos once featured a golf course as part of their amenities.  

Almost everybody knows the Trop, Dunes, and DI had golf courses right outside their rooms. And one joint (the Aladdin) had a lighted par-three course right behind the casino in the ’60s and early ’70s. The only casino on our list that didn’t have a golf course was the Hacienda (answer e).   

3. You’re betting $100 on the pass line with max odds of 3-4-5. You roll a number, take max odds, and then hit that number. How much did you get paid in total? 

You got paid $100 for your flat bet, and another $600 for your odds bet, whether you backed up your bet with $300 on the 4/10, $400 on the 5/9 or $500 on the 6/8, for a total win of $700. 

4. True or False?  Although you can find them in almost every casino except Barona, and they even outnumber the number of full-pay 21 games, pitch or shoe, on the Las Vegas Strip, the Current Blackjack News now considers 6/5 as just another of many “carnival games,” and no longer even bothers to include them in its extensive list of blackjack games in U.S. and Canadian casinos.     

True. This one is beyond strange but there are now so many 6/5’s across the land, CBJN doesn’t even bother to list them as blackjack games at all. 

5. What team has won the most NCAA football titles? 
a)    Harvard
b)    Yale
c)    Notre Dame
d)    Ohio State
e)    Alabama
f)    None of the above

Founded in 1910 by Teddy Roosevelt, and others, to address the alarming number of deaths on the football field, Alabama is the number two leader among championship winners with 11. The most successful NCAA football program of all time belongs to the Yale Bulldogs, with 18 NCAA football championships, so the answer to #5 is (b) 

6. The former owner (Mr. Riklis) of the Riviera Hotel and Casino recently passed at age 95. He had a beautiful, and sort of talented, wife who was a singer and actress. In 1981, she won the Golden Globe Award as “New Star of the Year,” for her role in the movie “Butterfly,” which Mr. Riklis personally financed.  She also “won” the “Razzy Award” for “Worst Actress of the Year” for the same film. Some claimed that Mr. R. gaffed the votes by hosting comped RFB press junkets for the Golden Globe voters at his hotel on the Strip. Name his multi-untalented wife, who has never stopped attempting to be a movie and recording star, and who still has regular performances at Piero’s (Italian Cuisine) on Convention Center Drive. (Mrs. Riklis does not count.) 

Her name is Pia Zadora and she still performs regularly at Piero’s (Italian Cuisine) on Convention Center Drive.  

7. True or False? The Excalibur has dozens of live blackjack games. None of them pay 3/2 on blackjacks. 

This one’s close but the Excalibur now has a grand total of two 8-deck, 0.66 (house edge), full-pay blackjack games. And even those are closed when it’s not busy, which is kinda hard to tell. So, the answer to #7 is False; the Excalibur does have two full-pay games.  

8. This question comes from James Grosjean. Which of the following is NOT a legal way for a teenager to gamble in North America?
a)    Legally betting real money on Bingo at the age of 16. 
b)    Horse betting over the internet at the age of 18.  
c)    Playing blackjack at certain casinos in Oklahoma at 18.
d)    Slug down a cocktail while playing any game they like at the age of only 18 at the casino in Quebec. 
e)    All of these forms of teenage gambling are legal in North America right now.
f)    None of these specifically mentioned methods of teenage gambling legally exist in North America today.  

Yep, they’re starting them young these days and right now a 16-year old can blow all his money playing bingo, an 18-year-old horse bettor could squander her college savings on the internet, a  high schooler fixin’ to graduate can play free blackjack all over Oklahoma, and a couple of 18-year-old kids could go on a runner in Quebec and play every table and machine game in the house as soon as they both hit 18, too. 
So the answer to #8 is (e).Teenagers can now play all of those forms of legal, teenage gambling. And they would … if they had any money.  

9. Donald Trump is the 45th American president. Express the number forty-five in roman numerals. 

Answer is XLV.  This is not trivial; many will say VL but there is no such Roman numeral. 

10. True or False? This comes from the world of entertainment. Ms. Gladys Knight, who recently sang the Star Spangled Banner at the 2019 Super Bowl, began her professional career singing with the Pips in 1952.  

Gladys was born in 1944 and began singing professionally with her fellow Pips, her brother, and two cousins. She began her professional singing career with them when she was only eight years old. The answer to #10 is True. 

11. In a National Basketball Association game, with 0.2 seconds left, the ball is out-of-bounds in possession of the team trailing by 2 points. The inbounding player throws the ball directly at the basket … and the ball would indeed have gone in except one of the in-bounder’s teammates gently touches the ball when it is directly above the basket, 12 inches from going in. The teammate guides the ball into the basket. What happens?
a.    The inbounding team scores three points and wins the game.
b.    The inbounding team scores two points and sends the game into overtime.
c.    The inbounding team is guilty of offensive goal-tending, which causes them to lose possession and the game.
d.    0.2 seconds is not enough time for any of this to happen, so time runs out before any points are scored or there’s a change in possession. The inbounding team loses.

Offensive goal-tending only occurs when the shot originated within the field of play. Since this “shot” originated from out-of-bounds, offensive goal tending could not have happened. 

Although the play originally began beyond the three-point-line, the fact that the ball was touched directly above the basket turns this into a two-point play.

The clock doesn’t start until the ball is touched by a player within the field of play, which in this case happened when the ball was one foot above the basket headed downward. 
Also, 0.2 seconds is plenty of time for the basket to be made before the clock runs out. Therefore, the answer to #11 is (b) and the game goes to overtime. 

12. Dixie State University is located in one of the few states where there are still no legal blackjack games. Name that state. 

Dixie State University is located in the beautiful town of Cedar City, Utah.  The answer to 12 is Utah. 

13.  True or False? According to the Nevada Gaming Abstract, Nevada’s statewide gaming revenue grew in 2018 and 2017. 

Nevada’s gross gaming revenue grew in both 2017 and 2018 so the answer to #13 is True.

14. When a Major League team invokes the “Baseball Rule” in a court case, which of the following is possibly being argued?
a.    Throwing cups of beer at opposing pitchers warming up in the bullpen is okay so long as it’s less than three ounces of liquid, but throwing beer bottles is never allowed.
b.    If two fans are making out in the stands and a foul ball hits one or both of them, the teams are not liable. 
c.    Pete Rose is not allowed into the Hall of Fame until the commissioner says so.
d.    Team security officers are allowed to tackle male streakers but not female streakers.

Answer is (b).

15. Within three years, name the year that the first street in Las Vegas was paved. Hint: It was hot. 

Fremont Street was the first street to be paved in Las Vegas in 1931. 

16. True or False? MGM/Mirage is the only casino corporation included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. 

Sorry folks, but there are NO casino companies listed as part of the Dow Jones Industrial average; therefore, the answer to #16 is False. 

17. Not that he needs it, but we finally have a question where Zeljko, and any other Aussies present, have a home-court advantage:
“Waltzing Matilda” is the unofficial anthem of Australia. What is that song about?
a.    Dancing with a pretty girl.
b.    Dancing with an ugly girl.
c.    Training a kangaroo to box.
d.    Poaching an animal at a watering hole.
e.    Dancing with a man, but you’re a prospector and really lonely in the outback, so it doesn’t mean anything. Really.
f.    Skinny dipping in a billabong.
Answer is d.

18. Fill in the blank. Spell “Caesars Palace” — include any punctuation, if any. Remember, any crossing out disqualifies your test.  

CAESARS PALACE.  It can be in all caps or with just the First C and the P capitalized in order to be scored as correct.  

19. True or False? On the front cover of the dust jacket of Dr. Ed Thorp’s first printing of Beat the Dealer (1962), it states that Dr. Thorp had developed — and I specifically quote — “a  scientific analysis of the world-wide game known variously as Black Jack (two separate words), Twenty One (two separate words), Vingt-et-un (three hyphenated words), Pontoon, or Van John.”  

Hard to believe, but way back when Dr. Thorp figured out how to beat the game we love, the single word “blackjack” was two words, Twenty One was spelled out in two words, and it was also known by its French name, as well as Pontoon and Van John … and I have no idea where that one came from. I suspect the artists who produced the cover took some artistic liberties, but here it is (show cover of book) in red, white, black, and blue, so there’s no disputing that the answer to #19 is actually True. 

20. Assuming that you’re playing blackjack basic strategy, the dealer stands on soft 17 with an infinite deck, which of the following hands gives you the greatest E.V.?   
a.    20 versus an A (after the dealer peeks)
b.    11 versus a 5 
c.    A-A versus a 4
d.    10-9 versus an 8  

20 v Ace is 0.655; 11 v 5 is 0.614; A-A v 4 is 0.566; and 19 v 8 is 0.594
Correct answer is (a).

21. Only in Las Vegas. Beginning in 1951, the U.S. government began having above ground nuclear tests visible to the public at the Nevada Test site some 65 miles northwest of downtown.  Vegas soon jumped on the bandwagon; named a Miss Atomic Bomb; and began hosting viewing events, both on the mountainsides with close-up views of the entire bomb sites, and from observation parties held on the roofs of casinos, until the above-ground atomic explosions were finally stopped.      
Within two years, when did America stop blowing up nuclear warheads above the ground outside of Las Vegas?
The government didn’t stop underground nuclear bombing tests outside of Vegas until 1992, but stopped above-ground tests 30 years earlier. So the answer to #21 is anything from 1960 to 1964.

ISLE OF MAN – Microgaming announces its casino content is now live with 888 Casino, one of the world’s most popular online gaming entertainment and solutions providers.

The milestone agreement enables 888 Casino to expand upon its current casino offering and access Microgaming’s award-winning portfolio of games, including branded titles such as Jurassic World™ and Game of Thrones™, as well as hundreds of Casino in Bingo (CiB) side games. 

888 Casino has been at the forefront of the online gaming industry for over 20 years, providing players with innovative, world-class gaming solutions. With headquarters and main operations in Gibraltar, 888 Casino has licences in multiple regulated jurisdictions, including Denmark, Italy, Spain and the UK. 

Players on 888 Casino are now able to enjoy a wealth of engaging and compelling casino games from Microgaming and also benefit from access to the world’s largest progressive jackpot network, which has paid out more than €1 billion to date. 

The product rollout will commence in the UK, with further regulated markets, including Denmark and Sweden, to follow.

John Coleman, Chief Executive Officer at Microgaming, comments: “We are thrilled to welcome 888 Casino, a major player in the industry, to our ever growing customer base. I am confident that this will be the start of a positive strategic relationship which will further strengthen the Microgaming brand across Europe, and I look forward to providing 888 with even more of our innovative, popular content in the coming months.”
 
Guy Cohen, SVP Head of B2C at 888 Holdings, adds: “888 Casino’s mission is to always exceed its customers’ expectations and provide the most enjoyable online gaming experience possible and this exciting deal takes our casino offering to the next level. Microgaming has a proven track record in delivering high quality gaming products; this deal will enable us to raise our position of offering the most engaging and interactive casino content alongside our existing portfolio of games.” 

About Microgaming (microgaming.co.uk) 
Microgaming developed the first true online casino in 1994. It has been breaking records, breaking new ground and breaking its back in pursuit of original gaming ever since. Developer of thousands of unique, genre-defining casino, mobile, poker, bingo, land-based and multiplayer games, and a pioneer in virtual and wearable gaming, the software giant hosts the world’s largest progressive jackpot network. Its products include Live Dealer, Sportsbook, Business Solutions and Quickfire. Microgaming is an award winner. A millionaire maker. The father of player protection and responsible gaming. And through Microgaming PlayItForward, it is a pillar of its local community on the Isle of Man.