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

James Grosjean has never been one for mincing words or suffering fools. Still, several years ago, when I bragged to him about having strong card counting skills, I couldn’t help but be taken aback by his response. He told me that he thinks of casino advantage players - that is, sharp people who deploy strategies to beat the games - as evolutionary. “Card counters are salamanders crawling out of the water,” one of the most brilliant, most lauded advantage players in history told me. “Meanwhile, I am a fully evolved human.”

In other words, anyone who wastes time card counting resides at the bottom of blackjack’s evolutionary chain. Argue as I might for the craft that I had proudly learned to excel at, James Grosjean had a point. Card counting is undoubtedly a grind. It requires lots of hours at the gaming table and is easy for casino personnel to detect. While counting cards remain legal, it is frowned upon by the house and you will be booted from the table if it becomes clear that you’re employing it with proficiency.

Happy to be doing things that are more profitable and less obvious, he crowed, “You’re more heated up than I am!”

Worst of all, perhaps, the card counter’s advantage is no more than two percent. “A lot of bad things can happen when you have such a small edge,” Grosjean told me. “It’s why you hear counters talking about having losing years.” His point being that he does not play games where you can plug away for 365 days and wind up in the red. Underscoring it all, not long after our conversation, I heard a story about him paying off a professional gambler who had helped him out with a high-level play. 

As he handed her the money, he cheekily said, “I hope this supports your gambling habit for a while.”

The habit Grosjean referred to, of course, was card counting.

James Grosjean is not alone in thinking this way. Most professional gamblers who made their bones as card counters have moved on to bigger and better things. They bet sports, beat poker, devise strategies for extracting money from various machine games. According to an email exchange between the astute professional gambler Nicholas Colon (himself a former member of the seminal MIT blackjack team) and casino consultant Bill Zender, the number is low enough to make counting sound like a horse and buggy in the age of Henry Ford. “I believe there are only 100 to 125 professional level card counters in all of North America,” Zender wrote.

Clearly, the ranks have thinned. But does that mean card counting is dead? “It’s not dead,” says Colon. “But card counting is on its way out the door. The games are more difficult, the rules are worse than ever and it is getting progressively harder to make any significant money. During the MIT days, it was not uncommon to see someone betting $20,000 on a hand of blackjack. Now it is unheard of.”

Plus, Colon points out, the most advantageous moves will result in swift back-offs.  When warranted by the count, “Splitting 10s and doubling with 10 against the dealer’s 10 can be profitable,” he says. “But you don’t want to take the risk” of being caught and tossed from the table.

Colon’s advice for getting away with card counting? He suggests keeping betting limits low, limiting spreads (the escalation of bets made as the count goes up), learning and deploying obscure counting systems that casino employees might be unfamiliar with, and reserving play for the most opportunistic games. In other words, you should play free blackjack the way pensioners handle their retirement savings: Forsake profitability by being conservative and living to fight another day.

Henry Tamburin, an esteemed expert of the game and a former blackjack pro who’s moved on to greener pastures, believes there are opportunities if you really want to spend your time adding and subtracting ones (which is the way counters keep track of the decks’ status) while looking out for heat. “I try telling people that card counting is not dead but you have to be selective in terms of the games,” Tamburin says. “I would recommend a double-deck game with 1.1 or 1.2 decks before shuffling and make sure that the blackjack rules allow doubling after splitting. Without that rule, I wouldn’t bother if there is not tremendous penetration."

Rocking it old school, Tamburin suggests limiting time at the table to 90 or so minutes, acting like a gambler (high fives all around when the dealer busts; eyes rolled toward the heavens when you do) and breaking out the occasional strategy card. He advises intentionally making rookie blackjack mistakes, keeping one’s bet-spread reasonable and playing with the kind of camouflage that deflects attention even if it crimps profits.

While Tamburin is quick to say that counting is not as easy as it used to be, he does report a bit of a silver lining. At this year’s Blackjack Ball – an annual gathering, held in secret, which attracts the gambling world’s most notorious advantage players – he encountered young guys who “find the good games and make a good living at card counting.”

The really uplifting news, in fact, is that by going against the slow and steady grain, blackjack profits can be mind-blowingly significant. Just ask Richard Munchkin, a seasoned advantage player, co-host of the podcast “Gambling with an Edge” and author of “Gambling Wizards.” For years, Munchkin had been in Grosjean’s camp, writing off card-counting as a strategy with the relevance of an abacus. No longer. “We’ve been having guests on the show who have adopted the attitude of going into casinos, spreading enormously, hiding nothing and playing until they get thrown out,” says Munchkin, sounding pleased. “Some places they last 30 minutes, other places they last three days. Then they move down the road and hit the next place.”

Munchkin likes the take-no-prisoners approach, though he warns that it is not for those averse to travel or gamblers who enjoy eating comped meals at Las Vegas restaurants. “Things are bad for counters in Vegas,” he says. “Over 50 percent of the games pay 6-to-5 [on blackjacks, meaning that a $50 bet yields $60 instead of the $75 paid by 3-to-2 games, which used to be the standard]. Plus, the Vegas casinos are very quick to catch card counters and communicate the information to other casinos.”

Hence, he adds, operating as a serious card counter now means “living out of a suitcase and frequently being on the road.” Advantage players doing really well with the strategy, he adds, “go away for two weeks and have a general itinerary. Several have traveled in RVs.” One key in all of this is to not quit playing until you are asked to. “I heard about one guy who played for weeks and won a million dollars before they threw him out.”

For all of that, though, Munchkin acknowledges that he is out of the counting game and has no plan to get back in any time soon: “The last game I straight counted was in Russia in 2001. It was a special situation with an advantage right off the top. For me, right now, there are better ways to spend my time.”

Then there is Tommy Hyland, another master of blackjack. Unlike Munchkin, he still plugs away at card counting. His assessment of current conditions is very positive. “You can make an argument that card counting now is as good as it has ever been,” he says. “Even though the games used to be better and the casino personnel weren’t smart in the late 70s” – which led to good opportunities back then – “there are so many casinos right now that strong games are out there.”

Hyland’s idea of a good game? “Dealers standing on soft 17, good penetration, the number of decks [less is better] and surrender. Surrender is an underrated thing. It may not be worth much off the top [at the beginning of a shoe] but it is good when the count gets high. It is good for fluctuation.”

Making things even better, according to Hyland, is the reality that the proliferation of casino gambling in America does not result in increased intelligence among those who run the joints. In fact, he maintains, quite the opposite is true. “I don’t think casino people, in general, are very smart,” says Hyland. “Now, with so many casinos, the smart ones are spread thin. They can’t watch everybody all the time and you can get in some hours before they get you.”

Considering that, he agrees with the approach of hitting blackjack tables with guns blazing and not letting up until you’re forced to. “I’ve played aggressively my whole life,” says Hyland. “I never played with much camouflage or cover. I always thought it was important to play for the money. If you play a tame game and have a very little edge, you take a chance with your casino bankroll.”

As for those who preach the gospel of playing for longevity, Hyland shrugs it off. With casinos spread across 30 states, being ejected from a blackjack table is not something he stresses about. “You can always find somewhere else to play,” he says. “Then, by the time you get thrown out of all the casinos, you go back to the first one and start all over again.”

This exploration deals specifically with American roulette, which has a 0 and 00 space. This really doesn't make much of a difference for the purposes of this discussion except when we talk about the exact number the ball will land in if it rolls N number of spaces. European wheel players have a lower house edge at roulette approx 2.7 instead of 5.2 as well as a better roulette culture. The American wheel derivations presented here can easily be translated to the European wheel with just a little effort.

If you're betting one chip per spin on either wheel, you need to hit on average once out of every 36 spins to take the house edge to zero. If you can hit once out of every 35 spins, your edge will be 2.86%; once out of every 34 spins, 5.88%; once out of every 33 spins, 9.09%. So remember the ideas do not have to hit every time and even a little skill goes a long way when applying the visual roulette prediction methods.

CAN YOU WIN AT AMERICAN ROULETTE?

In the almost two decades I’ve been in casino gaming I have come across a number of roulette system sellers; books and DVD products put out on legitimate to semi-legitimate to completely absurd methods for beating roulette. I’ve been taught methods in person by people who have proven they know how to beat roulette under a very specific set of conditions. So the answer is YES, but only sometimes.

AMERICAN ROULETTE: THE HOW AND WHY

 As stated a few things need to happen for a skilled player to start attacking Roulette.

1. First, you must find a wheel with a predictable ball fall-off point. This is where the ball actually leaves the track and begins bouncing on the wheel before it settles into a basket. This is done by finding a croupier who has a predictable initially velocity as well as a consistent launch point.
2. You must be able to determine the approximate point within revolution at which to make your prediction. This is three to four revolutions before the ball actually drops from the track and into the basket.
3. You must make your prediction based upon a visual observation of the ball in relation to both the position and velocity of the wheel. This is essentially a complex roulette physics problem, but fortunately for us, we only need an approximation and not the exact answer. This is why computers are outlawed for roulette because they can get the exact answer. Finally, you must place your bets on the layout all before the dealer says no more bets.

The traditional roulette strategy of betting once a player had his prediction has been to bet a sector of the wheel. This is ¼ of the wheel, or nine consecutive numbers on the wheel in the area of where you predict the ball will land, 4 on either side of your number. Some visual roulette players suggest betting a random subset of other sectors to camouflage your play. This will not make much difference to your EV. 

Older deep-pocket wheels could be beaten in this way. There are a number of problems with this method in actual casino play. Essentially, The modern game, as dealt in the US, on modern low-profile wheels, makes it impossible to make any money with these methods. This article will not discuss these problems but will give enough information to leave readers in a position to begin to win at roulette (at least those who are willing to practice and develop the necessary skill set.) 

For now, it’s important that readers understand that the traditional method of winning at Roulette. Everyone who is a successful visual roulette predictor has used it as their foundation much like the basic strategy is for blackjack players.

DEFINITIONS

Rotor: The rotor is the spinning part of a roulette wheel. It contains the numbered pockets where the ball will land.

Stator: The stator is the stationary part of a roulette wheel. It contains the spindle on which the rotor turns, as well as the sloped track that holds the spinning ball and the apron where the deflectors are located. The ball must pass across the apron, and through the deflectors, to enter the rotor and a numbered pocket.

Deflectors: Deflectors are the vertical and horizontal obstacles on the apron leading to the rotor. They are typically thicker and wider in the center, and thinner at the ends. They are spaced evenly and symmetrically around the wheel, with alternating vertical and horizontal obstacles. Most casino roulette wheels have 8 deflectors; a few older wheels have 16.

Frets: Frets are the dividers between the numbered pockets on the rotor.

Apron: The slanted surface on which the deflectors are placed, located between the roulette wheel track and the spinning rotor.

Wheel Track: A slightly sloped track on the vertical side of the stator that holds the ball in its spin around the outside of the wheel before it drops onto the rotor and into one of the numbered pockets.

AN EXPLANATION OF BALL ROLL

Assume for a moment that you are trying to predict where a roulette ball will land on a stationary wheel. The casino dealer has launched the ball into its spin an initial velocity. If you knew that velocity and exactly how much energy the ball dissipated on a revolution around the wheel track, you would be able to predict the numbered pocket under the point where the ball was going to fall off the track.

When the ball falls off the track its remaining velocity is not sufficient to keep it spinning fast enough to sustain its position on the nearly vertical track, but there is still a given amount of velocity remaining from the launch that must be dissipated before the ball can come to rest in a pocket. The velocity at the moment of fall-off will be approximately consistent from spin to spin. The point of fall-off, the ball will have a given its initial velocity, essentially is equal because the fall of velocity is equal each time because velocity needs dissipate in its roll before it can come to rest in a pocket.

If the ball’s path from the wheel track to the numbered pockets on the rotor is free of obstacles, the remaining launch energy will be dissipated in a pretty consistent way. Sometimes the ball will hit a pocket in such a way that it makes contact with a lower portion of a fret and then flies out of the pocket in such a way that it will skip over the next fret or two before making contact with another fret. Other times the ball will skip in a more consistent way across the tops of the frets, lightly hitting each one in its path.

In either case, the distance the ball will roll across the numbered pockets will be remarkably consistent. When a ball flies across several frets without touching them, it avoids dissipating the energy it would have lost in contact with those frets. But in order for a ball to take flight over several frets, it requires a certain kind of contact with an initial fret when the ball has too much energy to stop. In fact, that the ball is propelled out of the pocket into flight. The distance the ball then travels before stopping in a pocket is about the same as the distance it would have traveled if it had lightly touched and skipped across several frets.

You will see some rolls where stranger things happen.

There are some things that truly randomizes where ball roll will land. For instance when a wheel that’s spinning so fast that the ball’s first contact with a fret hurls the ball entirely out of the wheel and up into the air. 

Ed Thorp who invented the first roulette computer and card counting calls the behavior of the ball upon hitting the frets “spatter,” and notes, correctly, that it has some randomizing effect, but not enough, according to his measurements to deter him from developing the roulette computer. The spatter tends to look a lot crazier than it really is, and that overall a fixed amount of energy tends to take a ball a fixed distance across the numbered pockets on a rotor, especially on the newer wheels with low frets that now dominate the game in Las Vegas and most of the U.S. 

These are very broad strokes for players, but it should be enough to convince the active student that it is possible to beat the game of live roulette. Unfortunately, a significant investment of either time or money is required to practice and see the patterns emerge. So the next time you’re at a casino have a look at the wheels and pay attention to what was discussed here as it is acted out on the casino floor and you will be on your way to becoming a visual roulette predictor. 

Those who play video poker with any regularity generally have one or two favorite games they play. It may be some of my favorites such as Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, or Double Bonus Poker – games which have a high payback and low variance. Others prefer a bit higher risk, if it gives them a shot at more “jackpot” sized payoffs – such as Double-Double Bonus Poker. Still others – usually those who don’t play very regularly – will try any game they come across and try to get lucky. If you're playing video poker regularly and find yourself getting a little bored with the same low-variance game, you might consider trying Ultimate X Video Poker.

• Warning: This game is not for the faint of heart.

DESCRIPTION

Ultimate X Video Poker is a variant of video poker that plays the same as standard video poker when playing one to five credits per line. The real allure of this game, however, comes when the player doubles the max bet from five to 10 credits per line. When this happens, each winning line sets up a multiplier for that line on the next game played.

• Ultimate X Poker is manufactured by IGT and is available in several of the more popular games types.
• These include Jacks or Better, Bonus Poker, Bonus Poker Deluxe, Double Bonus Poker, Double-Double Bonus Poker, Deuces Wild, Joker Poker, and Triple Double Bonus.
• Ultimate X games are available in 3-play, 5-play and 10-play variations.
• Most machines offer multiple denominations ranging from five cents through 25 cents.
• It takes 10 credits per line to activate the Ultimate X feature.
• This means: 
  • On a nickel 10-line game the total bet per game is five dollars - 10 nickels (50 cents) per line for 10 lines.
  • On a 25-cent game, the full 10-play bet comes to 25 dollars. 

MULTIPLIERS AND RETURN

The multipliers for winning hands vary depending on the type of game, pay table, and the number of lines per game. Here is an example of the pay table and multipliers from actual Ultimate X Bonus Poker games. The table below shows the returns for 3-play, 5-play, and 10-play games. The multipliers increase a bit as the number of plays increases. The return for a standard 6/5 Bonus Poker game is 96.87 percent.

The multipliers increase the return by about 1.5 percent making a miserable return for a standard 6/5 Bonus Poker game a merely not so good return in Ultimate X. Keep in mind that better pay tables are available – they just might be a bit difficult to ferret out.

Most Ultimate X pay tables are configured at less than “full-pay” levels (as in the example above). The multipliers raise the returns. Several examples for video poker games are shown below.

Notice the improved returns for the Ultimate X games. In fact, the 9/6 Double-Double Bonus Poker return is better than full pay (9/6) Jacks or Better standard play making this game the most popular Ultimate X game.

HOW TO PLAY ULTIMATE X POKER

To help understand how this game is played, some samples of play are very helpful. 

The illustration of a three-play 7/4 bonus poker game below shows a screen after 10 credits per line for three lines (a total of 30) are bet and “Deal” or “Bet Max” button is pressed. Notice the “Ultimate X Poker ACTIVE!” in the lower right portion of the screen. This is the player’s confirmation the feature is activated.

One line is dealt. The player then holds the desired cards (in this case the pair of aces). This is a good situation since each of the three lines is a guaranteed video poker winner.

This is what the screen looks like after the aces are held. The player then hits the “Draw” button. The aces are held for all three lines and the three remaining cards in each line are filled by a separate deck with the 47 cards remaining for each line.

Unfortunately, none of the lines improved, and even though each line is a winner, the player lost money on this hand (bet 30, paid 15). However, a winning hand on the next game on any of the three lines will win two times the normal amount as indicated by the “Next Hand 2X” to the left of each line. 

Another 30 credits are bet and the next hand is dealt.

The “Ultimate X Poker ACTIVE!” is again displayed in the lower right corner of the screen. In addition, a “2X” is also displayed to the left of each line indicating that a win on these lines will be doubled.

This time the initial line contains two pair. This, combined with the “2X” multipliers, guarantees this hand will be a money maker as the least that will be won (with the proper hold) will be 10 credits per line which will be doubled to 20 credits per line for a total of 60 credits.

The player properly holds the kings and 5’s and hits “Draw”.

None of the lines are improved from the two pairs, so the player gets 60 credits added to the credit meter and is up for this session. Any winning lines on the next hand will have the pays tripled as indicated by the “Next Hand 3X” to the left of each line.

Another 30 credits are bet and “Deal” or “Bet Max” button is hit

This time the proper hold for this 7/4 Bonus Poker game is the two high cards, which are held.

The two bottom lines are winners with a high pair in each. Thanks to the “3X” multipliers, this hand breaks even. Winners on the next hand in the bottom two lines will have the win amounts doubled.

Another 30 credits bet, the “Deal” or “Bet Max” button is pressed.

The pair of 9’s is held

The “Draw” button is pressed.

The top and bottom line are both winners with two pair in each. Because of the “2X” multiplier on the bottom line, the player breaks even on this hand. Winners on the top or bottom line of the next hand will have the win amount tripled.

Hopefully, the above examples gave you a good feel for how the game is played. 

STRATEGY

Obviously, the strategy changes slightly from the standard game due to the multipliers. Those hands with a higher multiplier will tend to be favored a bit more. To play perfect optimal video poker strategy would require a separate playing strategy for each different multiplier table. In video poker practice, however, a single strategy per game yields excellent results. 

VARIANCE

Playing Ultimate X is like riding a roller coaster – an extreme roller coaster. The sample hands that are shown above turned out well for the player. However, due to the nature of Ultimate X Poker and the double the standard max bet required to activate the Ultimate X feature, the variance of this game is extremely high. If you get a high multiplier winning hand dealt and winning hands on the following game, credits come flooding in. But as seen by the first winning hand in the samples, not all winning hands (even if dealt to you) mean you make a profit. If you hit even a fairly minor losing streak, your bankroll for video poker is vanished before your eyes. To play this game, a properly sized bankroll is an absolute must.

ONE WORD OF CAUTION

Before you leave a game, make sure you play off any multipliers that remain. Don’t leave them for the next player. You earned then – use them. In this case, however, only bet five credits per line. You are leaving. You won’t be playing any multipliers the next game. Also, when you first sit down, run through the game types to check for any stray multipliers that may have been left. Play them with just five credits per line – no sense wasting an additional five credits per line hoping for multipliers on the next hand.

ENJOY, AND...

• Look for the best video poker strategy return available.
• Have the proper strategy for the game and pay table you select.
• Limit your exposure to what you can afford to lose.

There are times craps shooters are cold, times they're hot, and times they're on fire. It's for those time shooters are burning through the points that the craps fire bet was devised.

Win the fire bet, and you could walk away with a 999-1 payoff, turning a $1 side bet into a cool $1,000. That's the kind of payoff not available on standard craps, where the pass line pays even money and long shots such as bets on 2 or 12 reach only 30-1.

This fire bets craps strategy is there for the same reason Caribbean Stud Poker has it progressive side bet and some casinos offer the Lucky Ladies side bet in blackjack. It adds excitement for players who love long shots and live for jackpots.

It's not for everyone. Big payoffs require long odds, and the odds against winning the fire bet are longer than those on any other craps wagers.

WHAT IS THE CRAPS FIRE BET?

The fire bet is a wager the shooter will make at least four different points on the pass line before sevening out.

They have to be different numbers — the shooter could make four 6s in a row, and that would count as only one number.

As craps players know, there are six potential point numbers: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10. In the most common fire bet pay table, making four of that point pay 24-1, making five of them pays 249-1 and making all six pays the big jackpot of 999-1.

HOW TO PLAY THE CRAPS FIRE BET

Not all offline and online casinos offer the fire bet. At those that do, here are the set of rules for craps fire bets:

1. You begin on the comeout roll by putting your chip or chips on the layout and telling the dealer you want the fire bet.
2. Comeout wins on 7 or 11 or comeout losses on 2, 3 or 12 do not affect the fire bet. In fact, as long as those are the only results, you may take your bet down.
3. Once the shooter establishes his first point, the fire bet must stay in action until it wins or loses.
4. If the shooter makes a point, a dealer puts a fire disk on that number. Play then moves on to another comeout. 
5. If the shooter then establishes a different point number and makes it, a dealer puts a fire disk on that number, too. The same procedure would follow if the shooter made additional points.
6. Anytime the shooter makes a point he already has made, no additional fire disk is placed on the layout. Disks are added only after points made for the first time in the fire sequence.
7. If the shooter sevens out with zero, one, two or three fire disk covering made points, then you lose your fire bet.
8. If the shooter sevens out with four or five fire disks on the layout, or if he makes all six points without sevening out, then you're paid according to the pay table.

CRAPS FIRE BET ODDS

You will win at craps by using the fire bets slightly more than 1 percent of the time.

There are several pay tables available, but the most commonly used are:

• 24-1 on four numbers made
• 249-1 on five numbers and 999-1 on five numbers.

It's common for casinos to list the fire bet at odds-for-1 so they can display a nice, even, 1,000-unit payoff for six numbers made. A 1,000-for-1 payoff is the same as 999-to-1. If you bet $1 and the shooter makes six numbers, you get your $1 bet back and collect $999 in winnings for a total of $1,000.

Calculations are complex because of the need to make specific numbers. If the shooter starts by making a point 6, then he needs to make 4, 5, 8, 9 or 10, and making another 6 doesn't help the cause. If he then makes a point 10, he then needs to make 4, 5, 8 or 9, and neither 6 nor 10 help, and so on.

Because of that, calculation's can't strictly focus on odds of making a point. They have to include odds of making a point in a decreasing field of available numbers.

Michael Shackelford calculated the chances of the shooter making four different points before sevening out at 0.88 percent.

Multiply that 0.0088 chance by 24 -- reflecting the 24-1 payoff, and you get 0.211. Basically, four points give you back 21 cents of every dollar you wager.

There's a 0.164 percent chance of making five in a row -- 0.00164 time 100 to convert to percent. Multiply 0.00164 times 249 to reflect the payoff, and you get 0.408, meaning winning with five numbers get you about 41 cents per dollar wagered.

Finally, there's a 0.0162 percent chance of making six in a row, or 0.000162 times 100 to convert to percent. Multiply 0.000162 times 999 for the payoff, and you get 0.162. The shooter making all six numbers gets you 16 cents per dollar wagered.

Add up all the paybacks, and you see that the average return for all craps winners combined is about 78 cents per dollar wagered. There are some rounding issues at work, and the total return really is a bit more than 79 cents.

That leaves a house edge of just under 21 percent -- 20.8 percent, to be a bit more precise.

More rarely seen pay tables include one that returns only 10-1 on four numbers and 200-1 on five, but pays a big 2,000-1 jackpot on six. The house edge is 24.9 percent.

Another starts payoffs at 6-1 on only three numbers, then pays 29-1 on four numbers, 149-1 on five and a smaller than usual jackpot of 299-1 on all six.

Any of those house edges are higher than others at craps, which usually maxes ou at a 16.67 percent edge on any seven.

Craps players who are happy to try to grind out a profit on low house-edge bets such a pass plus free odds will see the fire bet as one to avoid.

But for long-shot players who revel in jackpot chances, a hot shooter and the fire bet go together like smoke and flames.

FreePlay vouchers are readily available to online casino players across a wide range of attractions including table games, card games, and slots games. FreePlay is essentially that – Free Play. FreePlay vouchers are offered in specific amounts that can be used for playing online casino games. The beauty of FreePlay offers is that it is possible to win jackpots with these vouchers. Reputable online casinos provide ongoing FreePlay promotions to players. Players are not typically required to make a deposit to be awarded a FreePlay voucher.

When funds are limited, you can always boost your gambling bankroll with a FreePlay offer. When it comes to real money play, every spin, and every draw matters. That’s why FreePlay is a valuable resource to boost your chances of winning. FreePlay bonuses are usually provided to players for specific casino games. For example, you may be offered a casino freeplay voucher for slots games. You can then divide this FreePlay bonus among your preferred slots and win for real.

Qualifying for a FreePlay offer is easier than you might imagine. Every FreePlay promotion provides specific details about how to receive your bonus. Be advised that wins which accumulate through FreePlay gaming are subject to the wagering terms and conditions associated with the FreePlay bonus. You will need to use the whole FreePlay amount before you can withdraw your winnings. There are notable differences between FreePlay offers and it’s important to understand these differences. Some FreePlay offers may require you to make a deposit first before you can withdraw any of your winnings.

Freeplay promos may be associated with x 30 wagering requirements indicating that you need to bet at least 30 times the bonus amount + deposit before you can make a withdrawal. Fortunately, online casinos provide detailed instructions on how to qualify for FreePlay bonuses via email notifications. What is FreePlay worth to you as a player in terms of winning a jackpot? FreePlay offers do not prevent you from winning a jackpot. On the contrary, FreePlay gaming is the same as real money gaming – it’s simply a promotional offer provided to you by the online casino. FreePlay vouchers can be spent on an exciting selection of online slots games, card games, and table games.

HOW DO YOU CLAIM A FREEPLAY BONUS?

Online casinos typically send FreePlay offers to their players via email. When you register at an online casino, you have the option to specify email or no mail. It’s always a good idea to accept email updates from online casinos – that way you’ll never miss out on specials and promotional offers. Daily, weekly, or monthly casino promotions may include generous Free Play vouchers for players. 

You may be wondering why casinos offer players FreePlay vouchers. This is a fair question. Casinos face stiff competition from other casinos, and one of the ways they can gain an advantage over the competition is by providing incentives to players in the form of Free Play coupons and vouchers. These incentivized gambling options really work. Not only are they the same as free cash, they also allow you to play real money games and win real money jackpots. Casinos understand the risks involved in giving players free spins, or free games. The random nature of online casino games ensures that players have a real shot at winning every time they spin slots reels, roulette wheels, or draw cards.

GETTING REELED IN WITH FREEPLAY OFFERS

FreePlay offers should be thought of as bait used by casinos to get you to play, hoping that you will spend money on many other online casino games as well. Some players are fortunate enough to win life-changing jackpots off FreePlay offers, while others may simply break even and enjoy an extended gaming session. Everyone gets to enjoy the benefits of FreePlay options – including low rollers and high rollers. It’s always a good idea to use your FreePlay vouches on games where you stand a high chance of winning. Slots games have a much lower RTP than blackjack and baccarat games. If your FreePlay vouchers are limited to games with a lower RTP, they may be less beneficial to you then games like craps, blackjack and baccarat.

Players must ask themselves several questions when receiving a FreePlay bonus. These include the nature of the FreePlay bonus offer. In other words, can you use the FreePlay bonus in increments, or does it have to be used all at once? If players are using FreePlay vouchers on craps, are specific bets permitted? The most player-friendly bets in craps include pass and don’t pass. If it is possible to use FreePlay vouchers on games with a low house edge, they can be hugely beneficial. Another important point to consider is what happens when you win using a FreePlay bet. Will the casino keep your winnings? Will you have to re-bet? When do the FreePlay vouchers expire? 

Casino aficionados advise players to claim a FreePlay bonus to try games that they otherwise would not have tried at the casino. For example, if the cost of playing live blackjack is too prohibitive for you, use a FreePlay bonus to cash in and learn the ins and outs of blackjack play. For many online casinos, it’s a no-brainer: FreePlay is a great way to give something of value to a player, without actually giving anything at all. Since most casino games are chance-based attractions, and each FreePlay is associated with wagering terms and conditions, you must meet the T&C to cash out your winnings from the bonus.

Many players prefer to use FreePlay offers on slots games since no skills or strategies are required to win these games. Everyone approaches a gaming session with a set bankroll. If you have $300 and you expect to play slots games for 3 hours, that translates into an hourly burn rate of $100. With a FreePlay offer, you can increase the length of your gaming sessions and improve the likelihood that you will win a prize in the process. Consider that slots games can pay out handsomely at any time. You may win a jackpot on your very first spin, your 100th spin, or not at all. It is completely based on chance. 

People rightly believe that the longer they play, the greater the likelihood that a generous prize will come their way. With FreePlay vouchers, you are putting yourself in contention to win a jackpot. Players should always maximize every possible opportunity to extend their gaming sessions at no cost to themselves. Bonuses, promotions, free spins, FreePlay vouchers and the like have proven to be highly profitable for players. Casino experts recommend that players examine the terms and conditions of FreePlay offers beforehand, to ensure that any and all winnings can be cashed out in a timely fashion. With FreePlay, you are not spending your own money – you are being gifted complimentary gambling cash (vouchers, comp points, free spins etcetera) to participate in real money gaming sessions.

YOU CAN’T DO A RUNNER WITH FREEPLAY OFFERS

Contrary to popular opinion, slot machines do not go cold when you use FreePlay vouchers to play. Truth be told, an increasing number of social gaming sites, online casinos, online poker rooms and the like are now using FreePlay to incentivize gaming activity. These may be in the form of matching deposit offers whereby you spend $20 and get $20 in FreePlay etcetera. If you’re thinking of pulling a runner on the casino, think again. FreePlay masquerades as free cash – but it’s actually in-game cash only.

You cannot withdraw the FreePlay money and make a run for it. If you play your proverbial cards right, you will be able to benefit from a FreePlay offer provided you don’t overspend by trying to meet the FreePlay requirements. It’s always a good idea to split your gaming activity into multiple sessions. That way you don’t play on tilt, and you won’t be chasing your losses to satisfy the playthrough requirements. 

Just in case you were wondering whether RNGs (random number generators) care about FreePlay or real money play – they don’t. It’s all the same. Gaming experts recommend that players keep a log of their FreePlay, free spins, and other promotional offers vis-a-vis how many spins or deals you have, and the number of wins you are accumulating along the way. Once you start investing more than you’re getting back, take a breather and come back to play another day.

What follows is the correct way to play any blackjack hand dealt to you when the dealer’s upcard is a 4. The strategy is not that difficult to remember since it is virtually the same regardless of the number of decks of cards being used and the mix of playing rules. In one instance, however, it also depends on the composition of the cards that comprise your hand and the number of decks of cards being used.

I’ll begin explaining the strategy using a base game, specifically, a multi-deck game with S17 and DAS.  I’ll use the following standard notations. This strategy is good for both offline and online blackjack.

S17 = Dealer must stand on soft 17
H17 = Dealer must hit soft 17
DAS = Doubling down after pair splitting is allowed
NDAS = Doubling down after pair splitting is not allowed
H = Hit
S = Stand
P = Split
Dh = Double down if allowed; otherwise, hit
Ds = Double down if allowed; otherwise, stand

MULTI-DECK GAME WITH S17 AND DAS

Against a dealer’s 4 upcard, you should play your hands as follows.

Hit if holding:

• Hard 5 through 8
• A-2 and A-3
• Pair of 4s

Stand if holding:

• Hard 12 through17
• A-8 and A-9
• Pair of 10s

Split if holding:

• Pair of As, 2s, 3s, and 6s through 9s.

Double down if allowed, otherwise hit, if holding:

• Hard 9, 10, and 11
• A-4, A-5, and A-6
• Pair of 5s

Double down if allowed, otherwise stand, if holding:

• A-7

Below is the corresponding playing strategy arranged into three color-coded tables for Hard Hands, Soft Hands, and Pairs. The first row represents the player’s hand (in the case of hard hands, it represents the total count of the cards), and the second row contains the correct playing strategy against a dealer’s 4 upcard with S17 and DAS.

WHAT IF THE RULES ARE NDAS INSTEAD OF DAS OR H17 INSTEAD OF S17?

You are in luck because the above strategy is the same, meaning:

• When the dealer shows a 4 upcard, regardless of the mix of blackjack rules in a multi-deck game, you can use the above playing strategy.

WHAT IF YOU ARE PLAYING A DOUBLE-DECK GAME?

More good news! The blackjack strategy for any double-deck game is identical to the corresponding multiple-deck game except for one change:

• If the rules specify h17 (with either DAS or NDAS), you should double down A-3, if allowed, otherwise hit.

WHAT IF YOU ARE PLAYING A SINGLE-DECK GAME?

Compared to the above multi-deck playing strategy, there are several strategy changes:

• Regardless of the mix of rules, double down A-2 and A-3 (instead of hitting) if allowed; otherwise, hit. 

• If the rules specify DAS, split a pair of 4s (instead of hitting)

FOR MORE PRECISION

You can gain some precision in your playing accuracy if you take into consideration the composition of the cards that comprise your 12 against a dealer’s 4 upcard. 

• In a single- or double-deck game with any mix of playing rules, hit 10-2 against a  dealer’s 4 upcard (rather than stand), and
• In an eight-deck game with S17, hit 10-2 against a dealer 4 upcard (rather than stand).

PRACTICE PLAY

To be sure you have the strategy down pat for playing your hand against a dealer’s 4 upcard, determine how you would play each of the 10 hands listed below, jot down your decision on paper, and then check it against the correct play at the end of this article. (Your goal is to be able to play every hand accurately, regardless of the number of decks of cards or mix of playing rules.)

For more playing strategy tips, consult Blackjack Charts chapter in my Ultimate Blackjack Strategy Guide.

Correct plays for the hands in the table are:

For nearly as long as there have been slot machines, there have been unsavory players who have tried to beat them using illegal means. Cheating at slot machines became a hot topic in 2017 when a team of Russian engineers was found to be using a high-tech road to ill-gotten gains. But players have cheated with methods as low-tech as putting a coin on a string and yanking it back out after it tripped the coin-counting mechanism.

The methods listed here have been used in live casinos. Cheating online slots require inside information on pseudo-random number generator programming -- slot machne cheats would have to crack the algorithm and be able to anticipate when winning numbers would be generated.

All the slot machine cheats on the list are strictly illegal, and most no longer works as slots have evolved to combat cheaters. Gaming jurisdictions take attempts to cheating very seriously, and those caught trying face felony charges and long prison sentences.

Do not try any of these, as we start from low-tech cheats and work up to the Russian scam.

SLOT MACHINE CHEATS

CHEAT #1: COIN ON A STRING

This is about as low-tech as it can get. Cheaters would attach a string to a coin and drop the coin into the slot. After the coin tripped the slot counting mechanism and credits were registered, cheaters would pull the coin back out and use it again.

In their 1988 book "Slot Machine Mania," Dwight and Louise Crevelt tell of playing video poker that jammed. When a slot tech cleared it up, he found a coin with a small hole drilled into it, and a nylon string fitted through the hole.

The previous player had been using the coin on a string trick and left when he lost his coin.

This method and the next several rely on machines accepting coins as wagers and/or paying out in coins. That makes them obsolete on newer model games that do not have coin heads.

However, older games remain in place in some casinos, so the coin game hasn't disappeared completely.

CHEAT #2: SLUGS AND FOREIGN COINS

In the 1980s, a Nevada hardware manufacturer sold a line of washers that, coincidentally, were the same size and weight as U.S. coins. Slot machine cheats took full advantage, and these non-coins were found in machines all over the state.

Coins from other nations sometimes have been used for slot play at less than full cost, too. Mexican one-peso coins issued in 1985 were worth only about half an American cent, but were accepted as quarters -- 25-cent pieces -- in some U.S. slot machines and vending machines.

Other coins from other places at other times have been found to work in place of the intended wagering units. If there are ways to wager for full-scale payoffs with lower-cost slugs or foreign coins, cheaters will take the advantage at slots.

In modern machines that do not accept coins, the equivalent cheating method is using the counterfeit paper money. Casinos are only too well aware of the cheating potential there, and constantly work with manufacturers of bill validators that scan money to make sure it's legal tender\before putting credits on the meter.

CHEAT #3: SPOONING

In the days before payouts by ticket printer, and even before there were coin hoppers paying from a pool of coins, slots used coin tubes to stack coins for payouts.

Slides under the tubes would slide to open and shut the way for coins to fall out for payoffs. Cheaters used a spoon-shaped tool to hold the slide open. Then, instead of the tube dropping the intended number of coins, it would drop all the coins it held.

CHEAT #4: HOLDING THE BAG

This one wasn't for players. Instead, it benefited casino employees who tried make their own illegal slot machine tips method, at least until they were caught, fired and arrested.

Machines that use coins have to be filled, and hopper fills require huge bags with hundreds of coins.

In emptying the bag into a hopper, attendants would pinch a coin or two into a corner of the bag. The hopper would be a couple of coins short, and the attendant would be a couple of coins richer.

Repeat that by dozens of fills a day, and it was a temptation a few dishonest employees couldn't resist.

CHEAT #5: MAGNETIC FIELD

Today's machines have been protected from outside influence by magnetism, but machines of the 1960s and 1970s were vulnerable.

On some machines, a strong magnet on the outside could make slot reels float freely instead of stopping where intended. When the reels reached a winning combination, the cheaters would remove the magnet and claim the payout indicated by the reel symbols.

Today, not only are the machines shielded, the slot machines payouts aren't determined by what you see on the reels. They're determined by the random number generator. 

If a jackpot combination showed on the reels and you weren't paid, you could ask an attendant to check. The attendant could then check the record of where the RNG stopped, and if the RNG didn't show a jackpot combination, the casino could refuse to pay you.

CHEAT #6: INSIDE THE MACHINE

Arrests were made in Nevada in the 1990s after an attempt to cheat a Big Bertha slot machine -- a tall, wide, more than a man-sized machine that you sometimes see as an attention-getter in large casinos.

A crowd gathered around to obscure what was going on from view. The machine's door was partially opened, and a woman climbed into the machine. After she manipulated reels into a position to win at slots, she came back out and the slot door was shut.

Everything looked normal to passers-by, but security guards caught the cheaters and held them for arrest.

CHEAT #7: THE MONKEY PAW

One of several cheating tools developed by Tommy Glenn Carmichael, the monkey paw enabled a cheater to trip the slot machine mechanism payout and collect coins without wagering.

Carmichael was notorious, inventing ways to cheat slot machines for nearly 40 years before he finally served prison time and had two homes seized by the government. He then turned to helping stop cheaters instead and worked with the Nevada Gaming Commission to develop "The Protector," which blocks cheating devices that are inserted into machines.

The monkey paw was made of a guitar string attached to a metal wand and was worked through an air vent trip a microswitch that would then trigger a payout.

CHEAT #8: THE LIGHT WAND

Another Carmichael invention, the light wand was an adaptation used after slot manufacturers started using random number generators in fully electronic slots. 

Instead of tripping a physical switch, the light wand was designed to trip an electronic sensor. The device still needed to be worked up the payout chute, but this time a light would trigger the sensor to start a payout.

Carmichael also was responsible for the top-bottom joint, used before either the monkey paw or the light wand. The top was a metal rod, bent on one end, and the bottom was a long wire. Cheaters would run the bottom up through the coin chute and use the top to jam the coin slot. The combination would trigger the payout mechanism.

The heyday of the top-bottom lasted into the early 1980s before safeguards adopted by casinos led Carmichael to invent the monkey paw and the light wand.

CHEAT #9: ENGINEERED FOR FRAUD

The Nevada Gaming Commission employed Ronald Dale Harris as an engineer, and he worked on monitoring and auditing systems for electronic gaming devices.

Through his work, he knew some machines' source codes and he used that to his own advantage. Harris was arrested in New Jersey in 1995 for using his inside information in slot machines basic computer program that enabled him to win $100,000 on a video keno game.

CHEAT #10: CRACKING THE RNG

Although we use "random number generator" for short, nearly all slot machines, live and online, use "pseudo-random number generators."

They start with a seed number, then use an algorithm to calculate numbers. The result comes so close to random that expected results given the odds of the game hold up, and there is no pattern discernable from the outside.

The Russian scam on slot machine cheats had inside information and worked until broken up by arrests in the United States in 2017. Casino gambling was banned in most of Russia in 2009, and thousands of slot machines were sold off. 

A team in St. Petersburg got hold of Aristocrat Mark VI slot machines, dismantled them and basically reverse-engineered the RNGs to crack the algorithm.

They then had operatives in casinos that had these older-model games to use their phones to record and transmit video of spins back to St. Petersburg. When the St. Peterburg team had enough information – about two dozen spins would do – they would use the algorithm to calculate when a big winning spin would come.

The operative then would receive a message to play. The phone would buzz and the player would hit the button. A quarter-second delay was built into the timing of the message because tests had shown it would take that long after feeling the buzz for the player to hit the button.

Four operatives who worked the scam in the American states of Missouri and Illinois were arrested on federal charges of conspiracy to commit fraud.

Slot manufacturers are extremely security conscious in designing their games, but in the absence of pure randomness, a team of clever engineers who have access to the machines can be tough to stop.

Column betting isn’t the first choice for most offline and online roulette players. However, if you’re serious about winning you shouldn’t overlook these three, 2:1 pay-out betting options. Look at the three sets of 12 numbers relating to each of the columns below. 

1st Column: 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34
2nd Column: 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35
3rd Column: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36

If you wager $10 on one of the Roulette columns, (disregarding the single zero for the time being…I’ll address that later) you have a 1 in 3 chance of winning. A win will return you $30 of which $10 is your recovered wager and $20 is your profit. When you select one column there are 24 numbers from the two remaining columns that can cause you to lose. (2 to 1 against your wager winning).

If you bet one column 9 times and won 3 outcomes, you would be at the breakeven point. Win one more outcome beyond the 1/3 division and you’ll be making a profit of two units. Roulette column betting seems like a decent game given the potential of winning two units against standing to lose one unit each game, even though there are two columns against your one. 

But knowing what Roulette column to follow, or what column to switch to betting is where the real game begins. If 1 in every 2 decisions, you make are correct, you’ll be making money. But if you only win 1 in 4 you’ll be losing money. 

If you want to find out how good your Roulette prediction skills are, column betting is the game for you. And if you’d rather follow the rules of a logical Roulette strategy, then read on because I’m going to show you why COLUMN BETTING can be just as exciting as betting on a random set of 12 INDIVIDUAL ROULETTE NUMBERS.

ROULETTE BETTING SYSTEM 1: COLUMN RANKING

During the process of testing and improving my betting methods, I discovered a bias in how well each set of column numbers are connected on a wheel.

In live Roulette a dealer sets the games in motion:

New live Roulette games begin from the numbered pocket a ball last landed in. A dealer picks up the ball and rotates the wheel in the opposite direction it turned in the previous game. At almost the same time the dealer flicks the ball into the ball track causing it to spin against the direction of the wheel.

Ball-wheel relationship:

From my research there’s around a 70% chance a ball will ultimately end up landing in a pocket close to where it last settled (Home pocket connections) or almost directly opposite the wheel within the distance of a few pockets (Away pocket connections) despite the journey and drama (spins, knocks and bounces) of a ball on its way to one of the 37 pockets.

Randomness:

You might say order can’t be formed out of randomness and Roulette is a random game of chance. Whilst Roulette is a random game of chance you can try winning using logic as a means of combating the problem of randomness.

For instance, divide the wheel into quarters (from any point of the wheel) so that a ball must come to land in one of four quarters. 

1. So, a ball will either return to the same quarter OR
2. Land opposite the previous winning pocket within the distance of a few pockets OR
3. Land in one of the other two remaining quarters.

Though regarding point 3. Even when a ball doesn’t result in Home or Away connecting column pockets, the other two quarters also contain numbered pockets belonging to the same set of column numbers of the previous winning result. (Occurring in approx. 30% of outcome to outcome results)

Thus, there’s a stronger likelihood one of the numbers from the previous column winning outcome will repeat. Indeed, a (Direct) repeat in my view is most likely to occur than a number belonging to a column from an outcome seen before the latest (One Before last) or a number belonging to a column in a (Crossover) outcome; from the earliest to appear to the most recent to appear.  

Look at the illustrations below. Each one relates to the connecting Away numbers of all 3 columns.

1st Column: 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34 Away connections

2nd Column: 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35 Away connections

3rd Column: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36 Away connections

Probability:

I believe not all Roulette columns are equal when it comes to Home and Away pocket connections. I have ranked the three columns based on how connected they are. The closer the Home and Away column numbers are on the wheel, the stronger the likelihood of reoccurring wins.

Power of pocket connections:

Based on my scoring for each of the 36 numbers that makeup the three columns, one column is better connected over the other two. Though the column in second place is not far behind. All three columns do have strong pocket Home and Away connections, but of the three the 2nd column is the best.

In my book, Gold Mining the Roulette Wheel, I provide a complex breakdown of how I score each column based on both Home and Away connections.

ROULETTE BETTING SYSTEM 2: AUTOMATIZED PREDICTING METHOD (APM)

This APM System is a process of betting different columns based on previous outcomes. A Roulette player can take advantage of outcomes forming into patterns.

From spin outcome to spin outcome there are three possibilities. These are;

1. (D) Direct repeats. Numbers from the same column appearing one after the after. Example: x-x-x / y-y-y / z-z-z
2. (OB) Outcome Before last. A number from a previous outcome before D or before C or any series of Direct repeat or C outcomes. / D Example: z-x-x-y-y-x the ‘x’ was the outcome before the Direct repeat double ‘y’ so it occurred One Before the double Direct y-y. / C Example: z-x-x-y-y-x-z-x the ‘x’ was the outcome before ‘z’ so it occurred One Before the ‘z’.
3. (C) Crossover. A number that brings the earliest seen column to the latest column. Example: z-x-x-y-y-x-z the ‘z’ represented a Crossover, thus if the next outcome after the ‘z’ is a ‘y’ this would be a Crossover too.

System 2 works in the following way. You remember the D, OB, C abbreviation indicators and assign one to each new outcome as they appear. Proceed in the same vein as in the illustration below and how I’ve explained it above. PURE LOGIC!

This APM method will inform you what column to bet on next. It’s an excellent Roulette Betting System if you can’t decide what column to bet on. It works! (not all the time, but it’s powerful) Login to your 888casino account to give it a try.

It’s not always going to be 100% correct, but don’t forget the pay-out is 2:1 which means this System will keep you in the game and you’ll stand a good chance of going into profit.

Note: Where you see ‘?’ this means there isn’t enough information to start betting. This only occurs at the beginning of a set of outcomes. Number 36 gives us all the information we need to begin betting.

You continue assigning order to the outcomes. When you see two or more of the same indicators in a row this represents two or more wins. Underline the winning connections as you continue to allow the APM to do its logical thing.

I have noted the Wins and Loses (W/L) under the D / OB / C connected and unconnected column indicators. As you can see, I would have begun betting from #14. 

In total I wagered 16 times. I lost 8 and won 8. Assuming I lost -16 times, and my flat unit wager per game is $10 this amounts to -$160. Now I’ll calculate my returns. I won 8 times, 8 x $30 = 24 ($30 because the pay-out is 2:1 so $20 is the win and $10 represents the return of each of my winning wagers. 

Subtracting -$160 my total flat betting outlay, from my $240 returns, I won = +$80. Though at game result #15, I was in fact winning +$90. In short when you lose, you’re losing -1 and when you win, you’re winning +2, thus up +2 or down -1

ROULETTE BETTING SYSTEM 3: POWER OF THE REPEATER

After I’d discovered strong column connections, I then established that ‘Direct column connections’ are most likely to repeat. So, for instance if Roulette #18 was the last outcome you would then bet the 3rd column. And continue betting this column utilizing this roulette strategy until you lose. Then you’d simply switch to betting the column that caused you to lose. In my experience, the Direct [D] option has an edge albeit a slight one.

The stop loss and win target for all three systems:

It’s important to note that whether you play any one System or a combination of all three Systems, although you can go into profit you can also lose your winnings, as losing outcomes follow winning outcomes. So, it’s important to try and exit a game in a day or session say by +5 unit wins in profit. 

There’s no point winning and then losing what you’ve won because you didn’t stop. Or losing and winning back what you’d lost only to carrying on betting and losing all over again. Regarding how to win at roulette: Winning back what you’ve lost in a session in my book is classed as a win. 

In my System 2 example I didn’t stop betting when I took a hit on the 5 losses in a row. I could ride it out because I’m on a 2:1 pay-out. And as you see, I ended up in profit. However, you still must have an overall stop loss of -10 per session just in case you encounter a bad set of outcomes.

TIP: Here’s how you can use all 3 Roulette Column Systems to your advantage. If you use System 1, you can factor in the power of System 2 so that if System 2 indicates that the 2nd column is due, (if you decide to follow the 2nd column) whether due from a D, OB, or C, you could add 50% of your initial wager for the following outcome and moreover for a D repeat that represents System 3 coming into play you could add an additional 30% of your initial wager. So, if $10 is your initial wager, 50% is an extra $5 and 30% and extra $3 total max bet size = $18. This will mean Systems 2 and 3 (or both) will be informing you that the probability of System 1 occurring is more likely. Thus, you don’t need to bet the 2nd column every spin if you don’t want to. You can be super selective in allowing the Automatized Predicting Method of System 2 to help guide your Roulette column betting decisions. If System 2 informs not to bet System 1, then don’t or if you still do, then reduce your wager.

Dealing with the Zero:

When a zero result occurs (European Roulette wheels contain a single zero) players lose half their wager when betting on even chances: RED/BLACK, HIGH/LOW, ODD/EVEN whereas players lose all their playing chips betting on any 2:1 options such as columns, but column betting has advantages that outweigh a few zero appearances here and there.

If you’re going to bet very briefly say within 10-20 outcomes, then cover the zero just enough to back up your bet on one column OR to cover any increases to your column wager if you add whatever percentage you deem appropriate.

If you’re going to mostly flat bet and play over 50-100 results, then forget covering the zero because this will eat into your bankroll. For instance, if the zero results say three times in 100 spins and you hadn’t covered the zero, you would’ve lost just three units. NO BIG DEAL!

Whereas if you had covered the zero to protect your $10 flat column bet: say by 30c you would have lost $30 (100 x 30c) and won (including your 30c x 3 stakes back) = $32.40 (so only winning $2.40 when considering your x3 $10 column losses of $30) Because don’t forget when the zero appears you still lose your three column bets. 

It therefore isn’t worth covering the zero in my view, unless you’re going to BET BIG and just for a SHORT TIME; over a limited number of outcomes i.e. you’re going to go for it! Profit or Loss! or All or Nothing!

Also consider if the zero doesn’t result within 50-100 results or shows up only once, you’d be losing even more by covering it.

Online casino Roulette can be fun and rewarding. More so if you can adjust your column betting decisions using one or more of the Systems I’ve shared with you today, so that you can try to win like a true Roulette  Pro!