The focus of this article is to explore some top level roulette strategies to find out if it’s possible to win playing roulette.  

Written by a roulette pro, this roulette blog post is a must read for casual roulette gamblers in search of great roulette strategy tips. Casino specialist, Frank Scoblete explores some specialized betting systems and roulette strategies to help you understand your chances of winning, payout odds and risk factors.  

Roulette is a game that has a lot of different ways to bet. And the payout odds on winning roulette spins range from even-money right up to 35-1. But the question most roulette players ask is, what betting strategy has the best odds of winning roulette games? 

Roulette strategies in this article include:

• We’ll look at the popular and well-known Martingale betting system;
• the Paroli system;
• Scobe's Simple Gun & Run Martingale; and;
• the 3:2 roulette strategy. 

Is it possible to increase your chances of winning while still having fun playing roulette? Read on to find out.

Contents

1. Most successful roulette strategy in history
2. Best roulette strategy basics
3. What is the best roulette strategy?
4. What is the most successful roulette strategy for online players?
5. Roulette Strategy: The Martingale betting system
6. Using the Martingale betting system on roulette
7. Is the Martingale betting system a roulette winning strategy?
8. Is the Martingale betting system worth using as a roulette strategy?
9. How good is the Martingale betting system on roulette games?
10. Scobe's Simple Gun & Run Martingale
11. Is this a good roulette winning strategy?
12. Scobe's Simple Paroli System
13. How I turn the Paroli betting system into a roulette strategy
14. The best roulette strategy: Scobe's Martingale or Paroli variants
15. Scobe’s verdict on the best roulette strategy
16. Roulette Strategy: Questions and Answers
     

Most successful roulette strategy in history 

Roulette and craps are probably the two casino games with the longest pedigree. We know that dice were first used as a serious incantation to find out what the gods had in store for people.

This was probably five thousand (or more) years ago. Should our army attack the village across the valley? Roll them bones – yes, either sheep bones or human bones composed the dice – and we’d find out what we should do.

Roulette was somewhat the same, except that many military men used their shields instead of dice. The spin of a shield determined what was to come in a future conflict.

It's thought that some of the soldiers—drunk on horrible tasting wine—spun themselves on top of the shields. I have no idea if this is true, but you never know.

Please note: Were these instruments used for gambling as we know gambling today, as in just for fun?

Indeed, they were. In ancient literature, we even see evidence of soldiers and civilians using such instruments in war, peace and gaming. People seem to have played games for fun as far back as we go in gaming history.

Roulette was probably the first true casino game. The game of roulette was likely introduced in the middle ages. Noblemen attempted to beat roulette with various roulette systems (AKA strategies) of play.

Was there ever a successful roulette strategy in history?

We don’t know what the best roulette strategy was back then, or the most successful roulette strategy, because the information in literature is minuscule.

Roulette strategies were developed in the 1700s, but there’s only a few well-known betting systems — such as the Martingale — that can be tried on roulette’s even-money wagers. 

If we had a time machine we could go back to the days when roulette began to be played in casinos. We could then tell them that the systems they invented and used, while fun, just couldn’t give them a true mathematical edge over roulette, because of the house edge. 

Best roulette strategy basics

What were some of the most famous roulette systems used by our ancestors in attempting to beat the wheel? And are any of these roulette systems still used today when people are learning how to play roulette?

I can easily answer both questions, with the latter first: Yes! the roulette systems of the past are still used today. Why? Because those roulette systems are fun to play and structure a player’s game-plan in a way that makes sense to the player.

A roulette player always knows what to do next when playing a system. There’s no guesswork in how or what to do next.

Is the player using the best roulette strategy? Well, he may not be using a roulette winning strategy, but he’s chances of winning are based on the structure of his game-plan.

What is the best roulette strategy?

I’m going to go through the old roulette strategies and even some of the new ones. This will take a few articles but be patient because patience is a great virtue, especially for an offline and online casino player.

You might find that one or two of these roulette strategies hit a responsive chord in you. In the end you might work out what the best roulette strategy is for you.

What is the most successful roulette strategy for online players?

So here we go on a trip into the most inspired, enjoyable and (at times) exhilarating ways to play roulette. First up are two simple roulette systems that can structure your play.

Could one of them be the most successful roulette strategy for online players? Well, they are the oldest gambling strategies used on roulette games. But before we draw any conclusions, let’s read all about them now.

If you've gambled in a casino, even only a few times, you've probably stumbled on the Martingale betting strategy. The Martingale is a gambling system that can be used as a roulette strategy.

Is the Martingale betting system the best online roulette strategy? Well, let’s find out.

Even if you didn’t know the word Martingale, you might have even figured you invented it. I know I did. It seems this is the very first concept most gamblers have and it's expressed in the following phrase: “I have to win sooner or later, right?” 

The above sentence is in fact right as well as totally wrong when it comes to casino games such as roulette when using the Martingale.

Using the Martingale betting system on roulette 

First, what is the Martingale betting system?

That’s simple:

The player doubles his bet if he loses a decision in the hopes that “I have to win sooner or later, right?”

So, it would go like this:

• First, the player bets $10 and loses.
• Second, he bets $20.
• If he wins the $20 bet he has recouped his original $10 loss and makes a $10 profit. .

But don’t get too comfortable here. Using the Martingale betting system on roulette, if the $20 bet loses, for the third bet the player will double that to $40. And just five doubles from $40 brings us to a whopping $1,280.

A $1,280 bet might be too much because it could exceed the maximum bet for the table. 

The casino dealer and pit boss may very well be feeling mixed emotions—happy that the house is cleaning up, yet sad for the player losing so much money. But at the same time thinking how stupid the player is to have taken the Martingale betting system so far.

Is the Martingale betting system a roulette winning strategy?

Wait a minute! That means a bad streak of six, seven (or eight) losses in a row can probably sink the player. Yep!

Please Note: The Martingale is much like the iceberg that sunk the Titanic. So, as you can see, the Martingale betting system used as a roulette strategy is far from being the best roulette strategy out there.

The loss of six to eight wagers in-a-row seems like a real longshot; but anyone who has played roulette has seen streaks of red or black, odd or even, or high or low producing such frequency many times.

Casinos put a cap on the amount a person can bet so that such relatively short streaks can sink players who use the Martingale betting system.

Is the Martingale betting system worth using as a roulette strategy?

When a player gets to the upper reaches of the Martingale what is he looking to accomplish? Very little. Using the above dollar amounts, even if the roulette player bet $640 or $1280 – he is looking to win a mere $10.

That is an awful lot to wager on roulette games for only a $10 win. At every step of the traditional Martingale, the payoff is just that $10. 

The untraditional Martingales (other variants of the Martingale betting system) are even worse! If you must allow yourself the Martingale to try and win on roulette spins, then stick to the original.

How good is the Martingale betting system on roulette games?

The Martingale betting technique can be summed up as a method of playing against losses without capitalizing on wins.

It’s a negative flow strategy of increasing bets on roulette games because previous bets have lost. True, on far more occasions the player will win that $10, but it’s inevitable that a devastating losing streak will occur. 

The saying “I have to win sooner or later,” should be changed to “I will get clobbered sooner or later.”

Please Note: While the devastating loss is inevitable when using the full Martingale system, there will be plenty of $10 wins along the way.

Are they enough to make up for the big loss? No.  If you’re looking for the best roulette strategy, the Martingale betting system – in its true form – is far from being the ideal roulette winning strategy.

Scobe's Simple Gun & Run Martingale

I would use a Martingale only on the even-money outside bets on roulette games i.e., the odd or even; high or low; red or black. 

• These bets give the player 18 chances to win with 20 chances to lose on the American double-zero roulette wheels.
• And 18 chances to win with 19 chances to lose on the European Roulette (single-zero wheels).

Obviously, if you can play the European wheel that is the preferred one as long as the betting ranges fit your bankroll.

Is this a good roulette winning strategy?

• My goal with this roulette strategy is to keep you away from the devastating loss that the Martingale betting system ultimately entails.
• Plenty of times on the two spins that you sit out there will be a winning spin – had you bet it. More times there won’t.

Remember the casino has that edge on all of those even-money wagers. That fact should always be front and center in your mind. Never think you are playing an even game even on bets called “even-money” bets.  

If you have lost that $70 you can:

• choose to start all over again or;
• You can head to another wheel to start all over again or;
• You can take a break. It's up to you.

If you started with a $500 bankroll for this session, you would now have $430 left with which to play more of your online roulette strategy.

Scobe's Simple Paroli System

The Paroli betting system is another betting strategy that many novice casino players and roulette gamblers think they have discovered.

It's a positive betting system, attempting to make money at a game where the player has been winning in the immediate past.

When using the Paroli system players figure wins will follow wins. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don’t.

The Paroli system is merely the parlay system that many gamblers use, that is:

1. You increase your bet after a win and;
2. Keep increasing your bet as the wins increase.

Generally, a Paroli player will go three decisions before decreasing his bet to its original amount.

So, it would go:

Please Note: There are, sadly, Paroli players who wish to go long winning distances by continuing to double up their previous wins. The excellent movie, “The Gambler” shows the results for such a player who does this.

How I turn the Paroli betting system into a roulette strategy

My take on the Paroli system for even-money roulette games is to use the three-win method, but to start it after the session bankroll has gone up.

1. So, the first bet, if won, doesn’t entail an increase in the betting for the second bet.
2. Instead, the second bet is the same as the first, $10.
3. If that bet is a winner, then the player’s bankroll, $500, is above the minimum.
4. Now with that second win, the third bet entails the player going the full Paroli bore.
5. With any loss, the player goes back to the original $10 bet.

Here is my Paroli variant betting sequence:

This is a relatively safe system (as systems go) and if the player does not try to magically accomplish a truly prolonged Paroli, he might find this a pleasing method of play.

Once again, the Paroli system at roulette should be used on the even-money bets.

The best roulette strategy: Scobe's Martingale or Paroli variants?

I will pick my favorite of the two systems but here is the rub; over time the total amount of money wagered will fall prey to the house edge, only the pattern of the wins and losses will be different.

• You can’t escape the 5.26% house edge on the American roulette wheels.
• And you can’t escape the 2.7% house edge on the European wheels.

Imagine increasing to a bet size over $600 knowing this is the last double wager you can make. There is no fun, as I see it, having to sweat like this.

Such a betting system can never turn out to be the most successful roulette strategy. Not now, not in the future, and could never have been in the history of gambling.

Scobe’s verdict on the best roulette strategy

With the Paroli, the losses, when they come, can be quickly terminated. When you find you’re down “X” amount, you can quit.

I do believe that if you use my “gun and run” Martingale, the agony will not be as bad. Still, I prefer the “gun and run” Paroli.

What is the 3:2 Roulette Strategy?

Another roulette betting system well worth knowing about is the 3:2 strategy. Although not as popular as Martingale or Paroli betting systems, the 3:2 strategy was specifically invented for roulette games. 

To make a 3:2 strategy bet, a roulette player needs to place two bets within the same round. The two bets consists of three chips on black or red and two chips on one of the three columns. The value of each chip should be the same or the total chip value divide should = 3:2. For example:

• Three $10 chips bet on red = $30 and two $10 chips bet on the second column = $20. So, this represents a five-unit bet.
• Or two chips on red consisting of chip values $20 and $10 (total = $30) and one chip on a column and the chip value is $20 (total = $20) Therefore the bet size divide is 3:2.

With regards to 3:2 strategy bet selection, the following should be noted: Even or odd outside options can be bet on instead of black or red. And any column can be bet on, but different bet selections trigger different win probabilities.  

3:2 strategy win probabilities

To understand 3:2 strategy win probabilities let’s examine the roulette table betting layout to see how the rules of the 3:2 roulette strategy work. 

1. In the first column, (includes numbers: from #1 across the column to #34) there are six red numbers and six black numbers. 
2. The second column has eight black numbers and only four red numbers; and;
3. the third column has eight red numbers and four black numbers. 

When using the 3:2 roulette strategy we can try and leverage this distribution to gain up to a 70.27% win probability advantage. (based on a European wheel). 

There are re two ways we can maximize our chances of winning — if our bet selections come good. We can wager in the following ways: 

1. Bet three units on red and two units on the second column = 70.27% win probability.
2. Bet three units on black and two units on the third column = 70.27% win probability.

There’re 26 in 37 numbers consisting of the maximum 70.27% win probability. 18 numbers belong to a color and 8 numbers belong to a column with opposite colors. For example, 18 red numbers as the outside even-money bet and 8 black numbers are included on the second column 2-1 bet. 

3:2 strategy payouts 

Although the win probability using 3:2 strategy is high on two combinations, the payout is not as rewarding.

A color or column win on a five-unit 3:2 bet looks like this:

1. Just a column win returns 6 units, less the 5 units in total wagered on the 3:2 strategy bets = 1 winning unit. 

2. Just a color win returns 6 units, less the 5 units in total wagered on the 3:2 strategy bets = 1 winning unit.  

So, the money percentage gained in either of the above 3:2 betting outcomes = +20% gain. (5 units wagered +20% = 6 units returned).

3. A loss i.e. your bet on a color and column doesn’t win = 5 units are lost. This could occur because your color and column bets don’t connect with the outcome, or the result of the spin was green zero.

You need to win x5 single color bets or column bets (or combo of both) of 1 unit gains to recover a whole 3:2 strategy bet lost as in example point three above.

Both color and column wins on a five-unit 3:2 bet looks like this:

4. The final possibility is that both your 3:2 strategy bets connect, and you’ll be paid the following. For your color win bet = 6 units returned and your column win bet = 6 units returned. Total 12 units returned, less your 5 units wagered = 7 units gained.

So, if the outcome of the roulette game is red and a second column red number—for instance #23 — then both of the bets that form the 3:2 strategy will win, and the player receives the maximum possible payout.

In money terms, the percentage gained with both your color and column 3:2 strategy bets, winning in the same roulette game = +140% gain. (5 units wagered +140% = 12 units returned i.e. 7 units are gained).

3:2 strategy house edge vs player advantage

Although it appears that the player has a win probability advantage, because roulette games are random, there’s no guarantee that any player advantage can be realized. The casino house edge over roulette games remains. 

This means that a player could win in the short-term using the 3:2 strategy, but only if the combination of gains outweigh losses and the more games he wagers on, the higher the likelihood the house edge affects his bankroll. 

3:2 roulette strategy conclusion 

When you consider the odds of winning with the win/loss possibilities, as well as the potential payout amounts, on the face of it, the 3:2 roulette strategy appears as a literal cheat code. However, the 3:2 strategy doesn’t beat the house edge and requires a moderate bankroll to withstand a losing streak. 

Martingale, Paroli or 3:2 Strategy—what is the best roulette strategy?

There are pros and cons to all roulette strategies and players should consider their risk tolerance to better manage their bankrolls. The chart below assesses the risk factors for each of the standard betting systems considered in this article.

What are the best Roulette Strategies — roulette article conclusion?

I’ve presented some interesting betting systems and roulette strategies and explained the pros and cons of using them — including one of my own — I hope you found this article interesting. Every gambler should decide for him or herself how to play and bet on roulette and other casino games.

All the best in and out of the casinos! 

Roulette Strategy: Questions and Answers

What is the most successful roulette strategy?

Over the years, roulette gamblers have had varied success using many different roulette strategies in casinos. Some big wins have been bagged, but tonnes of casino chips have ended up in the hole. Because accounts are seldom kept – backed by evidence – there’s just no way of knowing what the most successful roulette strategy is.

How to play roulette strategy?
Each roulette strategy you’re able to read about should have a set of rules you can follow. The rules should explain when to wager and how much your bet size should be. Some roulette strategies will also tell you what to bet on and when to make bets. Good roulette strategies go into a lot of detail and publish examples.

What is the best roulette strategy?

The best roulette strategy is one that is designed to limit losses while giving the player a winning opportunity if his bet selection is hitting. All roulette strategies are up against the house edges in roulette games. Most roulette gambling experts only bet on European roulette wheels because the house edge is lower at 2.7% vs. 5.26% on American roulette wheels. The Paroli is a positive progression betting system, and many gamblers use some variant of it when betting on roulette games.

How to win at roulette strategy?

Choose a decent roulette strategy and follow the methods within its rules. The best roulette strategies will aim at protecting the player’s bankroll while trying to secure a reasonable profit. To win playing a roulette strategy, luck needs to be on your side. If your bet selection decisions are winning and you’re wagering big, you should be winning lots of casino chips. To win at a roulette strategy is to win at the timing — make the right decisions at the right time and you’ll beat the wheel. 

First publish on: 14/3/2018

Updated: 05/05/2025

Baccarat is a betting game best played using a strategy. There’re many Baccarat strategies to choose from. But if you were to ask me for my top three, I would have to choose Baccarat strategies that are:

• Logical.
• Easy to understand
• Have the best possible chances of reducing the casinos house edge; meaning you have a strong likelihood of winning.

The whole concept of how to play Baccarat requires a strategy to be applied to the game. 

Unlike Roulette, the game of Baccarat is played out in a logical rule-based way. So, to have the best possible chance of success, you need to use methods that have been designed to take advantage of the various aspects shoe outcomes form. For instance; winning, when outcomes form:

OPPOSITE STREAKS: P B P B P Or BANKER AND PLAYER STREAKS: B B B B B / P P P P P P

Most shoe outcomes tend to embody mixed outcomes; combinations of the both forms.

I’d say nearly all Baccarat players betting for outcomes in online and live Baccarat games are using some form of strategy. Some methods will outperform others and then there’re the best of the best.

I’m aware there’re those who say players don’t have any advantage when using sets of rules (strategies) to try and win at Baccarat than if they were to bet randomly. I beg to differ, and so below I’ve revealed:

STRATEGY 1: THE ONE-SIDED BACCARAT STRATEGY

On the face of it taking one side (Banker or Player) may seem a little over simplistic. But don’t under estimate the power of this strategy. If played correctly, the odds of you going ahead into a winning position – during 1 out of 2 Baccarat shoes betted on – is approximately 3:1. And the odds that your casino bankroll will hover around level (breakeven) is approximately 4:1. 

A little-known fact about this method is that both sides; Player and Banker at some stage during a shoe do gain an advantage. (although often not by much) This occurs in approximately 8 out of every 10 shoes. So, the likelihood of the side you’ve chosen to go with does stand an excellent chance of going ahead by 1 or more units. 

If you were to flat bet, you’d need at least 3+ unit wins to push ahead of the opposing side, to give you that edge of confidence to continue and form an opinion that this strategy makes a lot of sense. 

ONE-SIDED BACCARAT STRATEGY IN ACTION

Begin betting at the start of a new Baccarat shoe. When the outcomes go against you, ‘stand your ground,’ by triggering a stop loss. Never allow yourself to lose more than 3-in-a-row. (flat betting units or double down units) 

If/When you’ve lost three times stop betting. Wait for your side to occur again. This will be your trigger to begin betting on your side.

Set yourself a target you aim to reach in any one shoe. I’d recommend 5+ unit wins. But you may wish to push for more. If you do and lose, be sure to evaluate how far into a shoe you’re prepared to risk betting in because the opposing side might be “making a comeback.” 

Don’t fight against the tide when you don’t need to. Take your profits and find another Baccarat table.  

If you happen to be backing the Banker side, bear in mind on most Baccarat tables, there’s commission to pay on Banker wins. While this may not impact on your objective of making money, it can add up if you happen to come across a strong Player dominant shoe. 

BANKER BEWARE TIP

I’m sticking my neck out here since I’m aware Banker lovers might get hot under their collars, but don’t believe the, best strategy mantra that says, ‘always bet on the Banker.’ In short;

1. The average online casino player bets in 2-3 Baccarat shoes every other day. It doesn’t follow that most of those shoes will end up being Banker dominant. Indeed, most could be Player dominant.
2. Even if you take it to the extreme, say over 100,000 Baccarat shoes, Banker will only have a slight edge over the Player side. And this edge is reduced by all that juicy Banker commission!

When you come across a bad shoe the, 3-in-a-row stop loss will be an important rule to implement. Your second stop loss in any one bad shoe should be a final stop loss. If this number is reached you should stop betting on that shoe. I’d say not to take more than a 9- hit on any one bad Baccarat shoe. 

UNDERSTANDING THE LIMITS OF THE ONE-SIDED BACCARAT STRATEGY

Most strategies can’t always reduce the house edge and/or always be able to net profits 100% of all Baccarat shoes bet on. And while this is true of the One-Sided Baccarat Strategy it’s also true of the house; casinos don’t always win. Moreover, they don’t win when a group of players are using the same strategy that is working well on any one shoe. I’ve seen this in land-based casinos and I’m sure it also occurs within online and live Baccarat games too. 

Overall you should enjoy the good shoes, when your side is occurring in streaks of three or more wins in a row, and doubles against singles, ride that winning wave and gain as many winning units as you can.

Have a look at some live 888 casino Baccarat shoes in action and make some notes of the outcomes to try and workout how well this strategy performs. You could always make some adjustments, for instance doubling down for outcomes you feel might have a higher probability of occurring following certain lost outcomes. This may propel the number of units you’re able to gain. Patience and experience of the strategy will help form further tweaks.    

There’s a lot more to this strategy for advanced Baccarat Players, but I’ve revealed the core aspects that’ll keep anyone wanting to have a good chance of staying in the game and securing a fair amount of unit stake wins whilst being able to manage losses.       

STRATEGY 2: THE TREND SWITCH COMBAT BACCARAT STRATEGY

In my previous article I wrote about four main Baccarat trends. For this trend switch combat strategy, you basically switch between trend 1 and 2.

Start off flat betting and follow the rules of those two trends. So, when you’ve lost twice on one of the trends instead of stopping and waiting for a trigger, you simply switch to the other trend. Incorporate my Strategy 3: ‘Breaking the Doubles’ into this trend switch combat strategy and you’ll be gambling like a casino pro!

Your overall stop loss needs to be a bit wider, I’d say 12- and your target around 8+. With this strategy you’ll profit from both trends, whilst maintaining control. You’ll have your secret double down moment and the odds of you reaching your target is very likely, 65% and the odds of you not reaching your target, but going into profit, 85% on average in both cases 2 in every 3 shoes.

STRATEGY 3: BREAKING THE DOUBLES STRATEGY

This is one of my favourite Baccarat strategies and is a variation I’ve formed out of my book title: ‘The Ultimate Silver Bullet Proof Baccarat Winning Strategy 2.1’

You’re getting an ‘exclusive lowdown’ here; direct from a Baccarat Pro. I use my strategy on almost every occasion I bet on a Baccarat table. ‘And the house hates it!

Can it overcome the house edge? Well given that approximability 90% of all Baccarat shoe outcomes are formed of zigzagged streaks and a combination of Banker and Player AND zigzagged streaks, then the answer is yes it can! Let’s put it this way…when you’re on a losing shoe you’ll know this for sure thus can avoid them.

1. Most shoes are dominated by zigzagged B/P and double outcomes: PP BB
2. Player and/or Banker streaks tend to occur in clusters: so back to back or within a short distance from each other. 

THE STRATEGY WORKS AS FOLLOWS:

1. You bet opposite. When the zigzagged pattern continues, bet with it.
   Example: B P B P B P B P B P
2. You may have reached your target (I suggest 3+ to 5+ unit wins) if you haven’t and you meet a double: 

When you lose DOUBLE DOWN ONCE, in the above example the 4th Banker from the left i.e. the Banker that formed the double Bank was the losing outcome. You would double down your wager once. The 5th Player wins thus ‘breaking the double!’ 

As you can see, I’ve also layout the sequence of outcomes horizontally and added the plus unit wins in relation to step 1 and 2. 

Repeat the rules for the above two steps until you reach your target. For this strategy your overall stop loss on each shoe played should be 9- When you run into streaks of Bankers and Players you’ll have two chooses if you haven’t already reached your overall stop loss or stopped because you’ve reached your target.

1. When you lose your double down breaking the double bet. stop and wait for a reset as seen in the following example. The circled B was the trigger to bet again, so you would have bet for the P
2. Exit the shoe, especially if it’s half way through and you’re not in profit. However, if a shoe shows very strong, back to back B/P streaks in the first half, there’s a high probability there could be a change to zigzagged streaks. See example:    

In previous articles, I’ve focused on my career as a semi-professional blackjack card counter, author, teacher, and writer. During this time (covering some 30 years), I never considered learning or playing any other casino game. After all, life was good; I was doing well as a card counter, and I enjoyed teaching players in my blackjack school and seminars how to play blackjack, and writing about it in dozens of publications. But this changed in the 1990s.

A few days later I received a package in the mail, opened it, and took out the 56-page book “Expert Video Poker for Las Vegas.” I started reading it and to say I was impressed with the ground-breaking work Lenny had done on video poker is an understatement. This was the first time I became aware (from Lenny’s mathematical analysis) that you can:

• Determine the theoretical return of any video poker game by merely looking at the pay schedule posted on the machine.
• Use an optimum strategy for playing every hand dealt to you.

It turned out the man who sent me this book was Lenny Frome, whom many consider being the “Godfather of Video Poker,” for his advocacy in promoting video poker to land-based and online casino players for many years. I promoted Lenny’s book in my articles, and from our phone conversations, I learned that Lenny was an aerospace engineer with a strong mathematical background. (We had something in common since I worked as a chemist and had a background in math.) After Lenny retired, he and his wife moved to Las Vegas but we still kept in touch.

Lenny enjoyed living in Vegas and kept encouraging me “to come out and buy a house here.” On one of my trips to Vegas, I met Lenny and he drove me around town specifically to show me different housing developments (including his) where I could by “my dream house in Las Vegas.” Lenny also did something else: he took me to several locals’ casinos and showed me where the full-pay video poker games were located (specifically, the Full Pay Deuces Wild games that had a theoretical return of 100.76% with expert play). 

Lenny went on to write several more books on video poker, and began writing video poker columns in many of the same magazines where my blackjack columns appeared. Lenny passed away in 1998; however, his legacy is still being carried on by his son Eliot Frome. (Eliot has a website, Gambatria, which contains many of the books written by his father that you can purchase.)

Lenny certainly fueled my interest in video poker but what pushed me over the edge was Jean Scott. I had known Jean as the “Frugal Gambler” because of her legendary comped casino trips to Vegas. (She revealed her advantage play techniques on the national TV show “60 Minutes,” which dubbed her the “Queen of Casino Comps.”)   I knew Jean had started her gambling career as a blackjack player but switched to video poker. When I asked her “why the switch?” she uttered four words to me that I have never forgotten: comps and free play.

Jean became my mentor on how to take advantage of free play, bounce back, and casino comps while playing those great full-pay video poker games that Lenny showed me. But just as I had done earlier when my wife (Linda) and I started our blackjack-playing careers, we took it slow and easy with video poker. We set aside $4,000 of our blackjack bankroll to play video poker. Before we made a single bet in a casino, we practiced Video Poker strategy for Full Pay Deuces Wild at home on our computer using video poker training software. After we consistently achieved at least 99% playing accuracy, we began playing video poker for real money in a casino. We always brought a “cheat sheet” with us when we played that we could refer to if we weren’t 100% sure of how to play a hand. We also started our video poker journey on a quarter-denomination machine and as our bankroll grew, we moved up to 50-cent denomination and eventually dollar (and sometimes) two-dollar denomination. (In the beginning, we split our time playing blackjack and video poker.)

We were fortunate that we got involved with video poker when we did because there were so many great opportunities available to smart players. I can remember playing Full Pay Deuces Wild machines at the Suncoast Casino (located in North Las Vegas, which in those days had over 50 full-pay machines in the casino). We also spent a lot of time playing at the South Point casino at the south end of the Strip because they also had many full-pay games with great casino promotions and lucrative bounce back offers that we received from their monthly mailers. We were also able to take advantage of some great video poker games in Mississippi. One of the best was at the Palace Casino in Biloxi that had many 9/6 Jacks or Better machines in dollar denomination and a great senior promotion that included triple points (yielding a 0.9% return), a free lunch buffet, a free gift, and at the end of the day we would convert all the free play we earned into cash. But the crème de la crème when it came to video poker advantage play was Casino Montelago, a small casino located in the plush Lake of Las Vegas community (located in Henderson, NV). During the beginning of our video poker career, we played there often to kick-start our bankroll because they had Full Pay Deuces Wild machines (quarter denomination), frequent point multipliers, comps for lunch or dinner in their restaurant, lots of free gifts, and frequent cash-prize giveaways for players. (Once, my wife won a couple of hundred dollars in cash twice in the same day while playing a Full Pay Deuces Wild machine during a three-time multiplier promotion.)

My wife and I had other memorable playing experiences with video poker (most good; some not so good), which I’ll describe in more detail in future articles. For now, I hope you will heed the advice of Lenny and Jean (just as Linda and I had done) and consider learning how to play video poker skillfully. You won’t regret it. 

Note: If you want to get started learning how to win at video poker, I suggest you read my friend Jerry “Stickman” Stich’s Ultimate Guide to Video Poker.

When you know how to play video poker and save three of a kind and hope for a four of a kind – and don’t get it – do you ever notice how often the two drawn cards total the same as the three you saved? Wouldn’t it be nice if these hands also counted as a winning four of a kind? If you would like that to happen, consider Quick Quads.

WHAT IS QUICK QUADS VIDEO POKER

Quick Quads Video Poker is a variation of standard video poker. Introduced by IGT and Action Gaming in 2008, Quick Quads plays as a standard video poker game with up to five credits played. However, once the sixth credit per line is bet, a very powerful feature is activated. When a three-of-a-kind is dealt normally the fourth card of the same rank is the only card that will produce a four-of-a-kind. With the “quick quad” feature activated, the fourth card of the same rank – as well as any two cards that total up to the rank of the other three cards – also scores as a four-of-a-kind. With the quick quads feature activated, if you are dealt three 9s, a four-of-a-kind winner will be paid if you draw the fourth 9, or if the other two cards total nine. So, rather than just one card (the last 9) being eligible to complete the four-of-a-kind, an ace-8, 2-7, 3-6, or 4-5 will also pay the same amount, dramatically improving the odds of completing this profitable hand.

There are, naturally, some restrictions. They are:

• Only four-of-a-kinds of 2 through 10 are eligible for quick quad consideration.
• Also, in order to complete the hand as a quick quad, the other two cards must be under a 10.
• Aces always count as one.

If the final hand is a full house as well as a quick quad (ex: 44422), the hand is paid as a four-of-a-kind.

Quick Quads is available in most of the popular video poker game versions such as Jacks or Better, Bonus Poker, Double Bonus, Triple Bonus, Double-Double Bonus, Triple Double Bonus, and Triple Bonus Poker Plus.

Initially, Quick Quads was only available in a multiline format of three or five lines. Currently, single line versions are available, though you may have to look for them a bit. 

PAY TABLES

The pay tables for Quick Quads are a bit different than for the standard game. Pay tables for 9/6 Jacks or Better standard and Quick Quads are shown below. 

RETURNS

Notice that the pays are the same for both games with the exception of the four-of-a-kind. Quick Quads pays nearly twice as much for those thanks to the extra completion possibilities. Also, notice that the overall return is only slightly higher for Quick Quads. Why? 

Quick Quads requires six credits before the additional quads come into play. The following table shows the relative return by hand, factoring in the six credits required to activate the Quick Quads feature.

This table clearly shows that Quick Quads four-of-a-kinds amount to almost a quarter of the total return. To balance that fact, every other hand returns less per credit.

The extra credit required to play Quick Quads causes the bankroll requirements to increase. Make sure you are properly bankrolled should you choose to play.

QUICK QUADS VIDEO POKER STRATEGY

It may not be apparent from a casual glance at the pay tables and a basic understanding of how the game is played, but the video poker strategy for quick quads is quite different from that for the standard version of the game. There are a couple of reasons for this. 

• First, every hand other than the four-of-a-kind has a reduced return. 
• Second, and most importantly, four-of-a-kinds can be made in many more ways. 

This means that three-of-a-kinds in Quick Quads are more important than in the standard game. Three-of-a-kinds with a kicker (a card that can be combined with another to add up to one of the three like cards) are even more important.

While there is only one strategy line for three-of-a-kinds in the standard Jacks or Better game, there are two in Quick Quads – three-of-a-kind with a kicker, and three-of-a-kind without a kicker.

Certain two pair hands also become more important – those that can become a quick quad by matching one of the pairs. These hands are AA22, 2244, 3366, 4488, and 55TT. 

Select single pairs with a kicker (or kickers) also take on greater importance. 

• A low pair of 33 with A2 
• 44 with A3 
• 55 with A4 or 23
• 66 with A5 or 24
• 77 with A5, 25, or 34
• 88 with A7, 26, or 35
• 99 with A8, 27, 36, or 45
• TT with A9, 28, 37, or 46
• 22 with A
• 33 with A or 2
• 44 with A or 3

If all of the additional concerns above are not enough for you, hands containing three to a flush that could result in a quick quad are also included in the strategy.

• A56
• A67
• A78
• A89
• A9T
• 257
• 268
• 279
• 28T
• 358
• 369
• 37T
• 459
• 46T

Yes, Quick Quads strategy is significantly more complex than different video poker strategies for the standard game. 

Strategies for Quick Quads can be found by searching Internet web sites. As an indication of strategy complexity, a full-pay (9/6) Jacks or Better Quick Quads strategy contains 50 lines. By comparison, standard Jacks or Better strategy has 36 lines. There is an almost 40 percent increase in the number of strategy lines for the Quick Quads game.

Now let’s weigh the positives and negatives.

POSITIVES

• Playing Quick Quads can be a lot of fun.
• The game loudly announces each time you score a Quick Quads four-of-a-kind which adds to the fun and excitement.
• There are many more quads produced in Quick Quads.
• The return of the game is slightly more than the equivalent standard version of the game. 

NEGATIVES

• Quick Quads is not widely available – mainly limited to select casinos in Las Vegas.
• Single line versions of the game are somewhat limited.
• The additional credit required to activate the Quick Quad feature means bankroll requirements increase.
• The strategy is significantly more complex than the strategy for the standard version of the game.

One last caution - make sure to check the entire pay table to make sure you are playing a game with a decent return (and a game for which you know the video poker strategy tips). It makes no sense to play Quick Quads at a one or two percent – or higher – disadvantage over the standard games that may be available in the same casino. Vigilance always pays off.

If you can find a Quick Quads game with a decent return, if you have an adequate bankroll, and if you have the proper strategy mastered, Quick Quads is fun, exciting, and can be profitable as well.

Looking for the best chance to win a big jackpot is practically the reason for existence for some slot machine players. Among the most frequently asked questions about slots are, "How can I tell when a slot is ready to pay a jackpot?", "Is there anything you can do to make a machine pay a jackpot?", "How can I track a loose slot?" and "Are you better off playing a hot machine that has just paid a jackpot or a cold machine that is due to pay a jackpot?"

And there's a fifth question: "Aren't there more jackpots in crowded casinos?"

The answers to the first four:

1. "How can I tell when a slot is ready to pay a jackpot?": Results are random and there is no way to tell when a machine is going to pay off.
2. "Is there anything you can do to make a machine pay a jackpot?": There is nothing you can do, no strategy you can follow that will force the random number generator to produce a jackpot number.
3. "Are you better off playing a hot machine that has just paid a jackpot or a cold machine that is due to pay a jackpot?": There is no tendency for hot machines to stay hot or cold machines to stay cold. Neither strategy is more likely to lead you to a jackpot.
4. "How can I track a loose slot?": You really can't.
5. "Aren't there more jackpots in crowded casinos?": Let's explain in detail.

It is true that there are more slots jackpots in crowded casinos. However, you are no more likely to hit a jackpot in a crowded casino than if you're the only player on the floor. 

That runs contrary to the feelings of some players, a number of whom have made their opinions known via email with comments about how to win at slots including these;

• "I feel luckier in a crowded casino. When I see others winning around me, I just feel like something good is going to happen."
• "You know when they announce over the P.A. that someone has won a big jackpot at slots? That's always in a crowded casino."
• "Everybody knows you have to go at the crowded times. That's when they hand out all the money."

Nonetheless, feeling lucky and actually being lucky are two different things.

There are more slots jackpots when more people are playing, but that’s because there are more players, more spins and more chances at a big payoff. 

For individual players, the chances of hitting a big slot jackpot are the same regardless of how many others are playing.

Let’s make up a hypothetical situation. Imagine a casino filled with slot machines that pay their top jackpot an average of once per 10,000 spins.

Slot Machine results are random, so it’s possible for the jackpot combination to show up two spins in a row, or not at all for 20,000, 50,000, 100,000 or even more spins. But as a long-term average, the slots jackpots in our hypothetical casino show up an average of once per 10,000 spins.

Now let's stipulate that on a slow Wednesday morning, 100 people are playing, each playing for 1,000 spins (free spins included).

In all, there are 100,000 spins. With average results for these machines, we could expect about 10 jackpots.

Depending on where you are in the casino, you might or might not see a slot player win big. The big win could come right next to you, or it might be all the way across the casino floor or in a different room or nook.

Next, let's say you come back on a Saturday night with 1,500 people each playing 1,000 spins.

Instead of the 100,000 spins on the slow Wednesday, there are 1.5 million spins.

This time, average results would yield 150 jackpots.

Those 150 slts jackpots come in the space as the 10 jackpots when there are fewer players and more empty machines. With more jackpots in the same space, there’s a much better chance you’ll witness a big win or two or three.

With all those big jackpots, the lights and sound effects from the machines and the hubbub with slot attendants, supervisors and casino security paying off the big winners, it will feel as there’s a whole lot of winning on the busier night

But notice that whether the numbers are 10 slot machines jackpots for 100 players or 150 jackpots for 1,500 players, it’s still an average of one jackpot per 10 players.

Your chances of winning a jackpot are the same in the busy casino as in the smaller crowd, no matter how much winning might be going on around you.

The notion that there’s a better chance to win on busier nights is an illusion.

Real-world conditions vary. Not all slots within a casino have the same jackpot hit frequency, most paying a lot less often than once per 10,000 spins. On a game with a big multimillion-dollar jackpot like Megabucks, the jackpot chances are closer to 1 in 50 million.

So your actual chances of hitting a jackpot will differ than in our hypothetical, which was designed for easy arithmetic.

But the principle remains the same. There are more slots jackpots on crowded nights, but the individual players' chances remain the same regardless of crowd size.

There are a wide variety of bets when you're playing craps. Some of these bets have low house edges; a few with under 2% and these tend to pay one-to-one. Other bets have somewhat larger payouts with house edges hitting about 6% (give or take) and then we have what my mentor the Captain of craps called the Crazy Crapper proposition bets which can pay out large sums on relatively small bets but the Crazy Crapper bets come with very high house edges, often hitting over 10 percent.

Please Note: To monetize a house edge it is best to say that a 10% edge translates into one dollar for every $10 wagered or $10 for every $100 wagered. This will give an accurate description of what you face based on the house edge percentage. What you face is also called your “expectation.”

The betting range for players is a continuum from excellent craps bets to a full load of Crazy Crapper ones. However, most players operate in or near the middle of the continuum as opposed to either extreme. These middle of the road players fall into this general pattern: 

• A pass line bet with odds 
• Some place bets on the box numbers
• Perhaps buy bets on the 4 and/or 10 
• Perhaps come bets with odds 
• Some one-roll proposition bets that have generally high payouts with equally high house edges

So for this article I want to focus on radical methods of play, from excellent in terms of reducing the house edge and keeping the monetary hit on your bankroll to a minimum, all the way to truly aggressive craps strategies that have the radical bettor going after the casino’s gold even though the risks are as high as those high house edges the player faces.

First let’s look at the extremely aggressive player. He (or maybe she) wants the excitement of knowing he can take home a load of money after this session. He is somewhat aware that the bets he is making have high house edges but the lure of substantial wins colors his vision – and that color is green, or whatever color the paper money is for the country in which he is playing. 

Please Note: Craps players are about 90% to 95% male. It is rare to see a woman without a companion at a craps table. So I will use “he” to describe the typical craps player.

The thrill of the hunt for the big money, the same thrill that stimulates players to go for major slot machine jackpots and state lotteries, consumes such players. They do not wait and test the waters when they play; no, they jump right in to sink or swim.

It is possible that even such aggressive radical players might make a pass line bet with odds, most players do as it is traditional craps form (very few players go the darkside don’t pass or don’t come route even though these are good bets), but after that traditional pass line bet the aggressive player lets it all hang out.

THE MOST AGGRESSIVE BETTING PRACTICES

The most popular bets for the aggressive players are the following (most of these are one-roll bets except for the hardways bets of the 4, 6, 8 and 10)

• Hard 6 (made 3:3) or hard 8 (made 4:4), payout is nine to one and the house edge is 9.09%
• Hard 4 (made 2:2) or hard 10 (made 5:5), payout is seven to one and the house edge is 11.11%
• The C&E, which means the craps numbers and the 11, payout is three to one on the craps numbers and seven to one on the 11, and the house edge is 11.11%
• Any craps, which means  2, 3, 12, payout is seven to one and the house edge is 11.11%
• Straight up 2 (known as snake eyes), payout is 30 to one and the house edge is 13.89%
• Straight up 3, payout is 15 to one and the house edge is 11.11%
• Straight up 7 (known as big red), payout is four to one and the house edge is 16.67%
• Straight up 11 (known as yo-eleven), payout is 15 to one and the house edge is 11.11%
• Straight up 12 (known as boxcars or midnight), payout is 30 to one and the house edge is 13.89%
• The horn which numbers are 2, 3, 11, or 12, payout is 27 to four with 2 and 12, three to one with 3 and 11, and the house edge is 12.5%
• The whirl or world which are numbers 2, 3, 7, 11 or 12, payout is 26 to five with 2 or 12, 11 to five with 3 or 11, the 7 is a tie, and the house edge is 13.33%
• Individual hop bets where player calls out the combinations of the dice; the various  edges will depend on how the player wishes the dice faces to appear

You can see the hit these bets can have on a player’s bankroll. Still, the payouts make these bets attractive since they all return far more than one-to-one. That attractiveness is the spur to wager them.

Now, radical aggressive players tend to also be aggressive in how they bet these propositions. If you are at a table with them you will see chips rocketing through the air as the players call out, “Give me a yo-eleven!” “Big red my man!” “C&E!” “High and low!” “All the hardways!”

The real annoyances (for me!) are those players who just keep winging their bets onto the layout even when the shooter has the dice and is ready to throw. These players don’t seem to know there is an actual game going on since most of their bets are one-rollers and do not actually hinge on the game itself.

Please Note: Because the radical aggressive players must throw their bets onto the layout and call out what these bets are, they need to be very careful not to interrupt the flow of the game. Many are, in fact, careful and some will put the bet onto the layout in front of the dealer nearest them and tell that dealer what bet they want; but the most notably annoying radical aggressive players are not careful in the least.

Okay, it is obvious that I am not a big fan of the truly radical aggressive players, especially those who show little courtesy for other craps players at their tables, and I do show my discomfort with the way they play. I certainly do realize that my view of gambling and their view of gambling are at severe cross purposes. In the world of betting our own hard-earned money, they have as much a right to zip their bets on the propositions as I do playing as I do.

PLENTY OF PROBLEMS PLAYING AGGRESSIVELY

Because the radical aggressive player is looking for a massive win, he has a tendency to play too long and he will often bet too much if things are not going his way. The figuring is actually quite simple. He thinks, “I have to win sooner or later!” All gamblers know this statement that, while seemingly true, can actually be devastating to a player when things go wrong – and things can go wrong for a long, long time.

The radical aggressive player does not keep a gambling bankroll and plays by the seat of his pants. His mental state can go from initially hopeful to desperate in a very short time. You will no doubt notice that many of the craps players who are grousing the loudest and most often tend to be the radical aggressive players. I have been at tables where the radical aggressive player is behind while just about everyone else is ahead!

THE TRULY CONSERVATIVE RIGHTSIDE PLAYERS

Many land-based and online casino craps players think of conservative bettors as those who make a pass line bet, back it with odds, and then do a couple of come bets with odds. Keeping the pass line and come bet as small as possible and the odds as high as possible will give the house a truly low edge over the multiple-bet conservative player.

Please Note: Very few craps players consider the darkside don’t pass and don’t come as options, even though these wagers have the lowest house edges which can be lowered still more by laying the odds. This attitude is wrong but the culture of craps sees darksiders as outsiders too! The information for the rightside in this section will generally fit the darkside as well.

This multiple-bet rightside player is definitely a conservative craps player. Less conservative would be to place the 6 and/or 8 that has a house edge of 1.52 percent. One would wonder why I would say that placing the 6 and/or 8 is not a radical conservative bet since the only difference is a house edge of 1.41 percent on pass line and come bets, while the place bet of 6 and/or 8 is only a little higher at 1.52 percent.

The reason tends to be hidden but it is there. You must place the 6 and/or 8 in increments of six dollars to get the seven dollar to six dollar payout. The pass line or come bet can be made in increments of five dollars. The difference now becomes an expected loss of nine cents for every six dollars bet on the 6 and/or 8 but the expected loss on the pass and come is only seven cents.

Let me up those figures now: You will lose $90 on the 6 and/or 8 for every $70 lost on the pass line and come bets. Now to me that figure does speak loudly. While placing the 6 and/or 8 is a good bet, to my way of thinking it is not a particularly radical one.

THE RADICAL CONSERVATIVE RIGHTSIDE BETTOR

I am a truly radical rightside conservative bettor. I am past the conservative label as I will not have more than one bet working at any time. That would be either a pass line bet with odds or a come bet with odds, not both. So it is one bet for me versus the 7 against me – one on one!

Yes, I do know that even conservative bettors think going with just one bet is nuts, where’s the action in that?

The misnomer that action is good for players is a philosophy pushed by casinos and, yes, pushed by players who crave multiple bets and also by those players who enjoy making high house edge bets. I do not buy into that. To me I can last far longer playing craps on any given session, day, week, month and year betting as I do. Heck, most years I could be found playing away in casinos for 130 days. 

It was my number versus the 7, all other numbers didn’t exist. I ignored them. I treated them the way I am now treating all the numbers rolling in all the casinos across the world right this second; they don’t exist for me.

Please Note: If a conservative player makes three bets at a time using pass and come, he reduces the hit on his bankroll by two-thirds. Even if the one-bet-bettor plays twice as long as he normally would mean he is reducing the house hit on his bankroll by one-third. 

Betting one bet relaxes me and allows me to enjoy the swings of the game. Darkside players should follow the same principle; one bet only.

THE COMP QUESTION

If you enjoy receiving comps from casinos, radical aggressive players can ring them up. The potential losses for such players thrill the casinos and the casinos will, without question, extend their comps to such players. A bunch of high house-edge bets will result in a bunch of comps.

The comp formula will not work well for the one-bet-bettor. Such players are not that valuable to the casino unless that one pass line or come bet is amazingly high, say $100 or so. 

That doesn’t bother me. I can buy my own meals and pay for the shows I wish to see. My saving on my play gives me plenty of extra money to spend on other things.

There you have it, both extremes of the betting spectrum. Where do you fit?

Frank’s latest books are Confessions of a Wayward Catholic; I Am a Dice Controller: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Craps, and I Am a Card Counter: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Blackjack. Available from Amazon.com, Kindle, Barnes and Noble, e-books and at bookstores.

Blackjack is a dynamic game. It is a game shifting percentages, where each card that is played either adds too or, takes away from the initial advantage the casino has over the player. It is also the most mathematical orientated game offered by gaming companies, but it's also a great experience for online players. Sites such as www.onlineblackjack.com have great promotional offers that can give the player a boost at his bankroll to start with and you can also find their casino reviews and decide which online casino is the best for you. 

Back to the point: Every two-card starting hand has a value associated with it. This means there is a quantitative mathematical percent of the bet that an initial starting hand has. This is determined by evaluating every combination of cards that can occur while applying optimal basic strategy, as determined by Professor Ed Thorp as well as adhering to the rules of the game being offered. The evaluation is done by computer simulation because the combinations are excessive. Rules play an important role in determining the optimal basic strategy or more to the point what the appropriate action for the hand is, e.g. whether a player should hit, stand, double down or split. Here I will discuss what the best 3 starting hands in Blackjack as well as the worst 3 starting Hands in Blackjack, and more importantly why the hands are classified as either good or bad. These 6 hands can be applied to brick and mortar casinos as well as online casinos.

THE BEST STARTING HANDS IN BLACKJACK

BLACKJACK VS. ANY NON 10 OR ACE CARD

The best hand in Blackjack is intuitive; it is when the player has a Blackjack (21), it consists of an Ace and a 10 value card (e.g. a Ten, Jack, Queen or King) for the player against any dealer non 10 or Ace up facing card. The mathematical value of the hand is 150% of the players bet in a traditional 3:2 payoff Blackjack game. This means that for every 100 dollars that is wagered when a player has a Blackjack, the player will win $150; as long as the dealer doesn’t have a 10 or Ace up card the player has no chance of pushing (when a tie occurs) the dealer.

THE HARD 20 VS. 8

The Hard 20 consists of two 10 value cards. It is a very strong hand in Blackjack. It is most valuable against a dealer’s 8 up card. The player wins 79.18 % of their bet when they have a hard 20 against the dealers 8 up card. For every hundred dollars wagered when the player has a 20 against the dealers 8 up card, the player will win an average $79.18. The only hand that can beat a 20 is a dealer total of 21. In some cases, the dealer will draw to this total through any number of combinations such as six as the hole card for a total of 14 and then draw a 7 for a total of 21. The combinations that result in a dealer 21 are several, but the computer simulations dictate that the percent of the bet that the dealer wins when all these combinations are accounted for is 79.18%.

THE HARD 20 VS. 7

The hard 20 against a 7 has a mathematical value of %77.32. For every hundred dollars wagered when the player has a 20 against the dealers 7 up card, the player will win an average $77.32. The 7 up card is important card because the rules of the game dictate that the dealer must stand on a total of 17. And because there are more 10 value cards in the deck than any other value card there is a high probability that the dealer will have a 10 value card as their hole card. There is a finite probability that the dealer will draw to either a 20 or 21 total in those cases the dealer would push or beat the player respectively.

THE WORST STARTING HANDS IN BLACKJACK

THE 16 VS. 10 

A player total of 16 vs. the dealers 10 up card is the worst possible starting hand a player can have. This total yields a negative expectation of 0.5398%.  This means that for every $100 wagered in the situation where the player has a total of 16 against the dealers 10 up card the player will lose $53.98, over the long term.  As the number of times, this situation increases the average loss will get closer and closer to $53.98.  A player will occasionally draw a 5 or a lower value card and stand pat, and the dealer will have a weak card in the hole and bust out; thus accounting for wins. But when all outcomes are considered the average loss to the player is 0.5398% of their bet.

THE 16 VS. ACE

A player total of 16 vs. the dealer Ace card is the second worse starting hand a player can have.  This total against this dealer’s up card yields a negative expectation to the player of 0.5171%.  From the same derivation as above the player loses $51.71 for every $100 wagered in this scenario.  A 16 total for the player gives the fewest possible cards for the player to make a hand, while an Ace gives the highest number of cards for the dealer to make a hand.

THE 16 VS. 19

A player total of 16 vs. the dealers 9 up card is the third worse starting hand a player can have.  This total against the dealer’s up card yields a negative expectation to the player of 0.5093%.  From the same derivation as before the player loses $50.93 for every $100 wagered in this scenario.  A 16 total against the dealers 9 up card only gives a few cards for the player to make a hand.  A nine is a strong card for the dealer and, because the preponderance of cards in the shoe are 10 value cards, there is a high chance that the dealer will have a standing total of 19. 

SUMMARY

Each Blackjack starting hand regardless of its land-based or online blackjack has an inherent mathematical value associated with it. Here we have discussed the best and worst possible starting hands for the player to have. Ideally, a player would best be served when betting a lot in cases where they are winning a high percentage of their bet and a minimum amount when they are losing a high percentage of the bet. Card counting is a way to determine when these situations will occur.

Regular players will identify with that exciting buzz we feel when joining a live Baccarat table. We look at the dealer and think about a winning method we could put into action.

We’re aware not every single outcome we bet on can win thus we instinctively know we need to use a Baccarat strategy that’ll give us the best possible chance of trying to win more than we stand to lose.

The art of winning the game of Baccarat boils down to getting our betting decisions in harmony with the flow of the type of ‘shoe trend’ that’s developing.

We must first become familiar with the four key shoe trends. Then decide when to implement any one of the two most profitable shoe trends from the four. Finally, we must begin the betting process. Executed correctly, achieving steady Baccarat success becomes more attainable.

Reading a Baccarat shoe at an early stage, to determine the likelihood of its trend type will give you a winning advantage. Predicting a dominate shoe trend is relatively easy as I’ll explain. However, you’re only ever predicting how a shoe might end up overall based upon previous outcomes as a shoe develops.

In a live, fast-paced Baccarat game, a forming pattern can give you an idea of the likelihood of whether a shoe is strong Zigzag streak, strong Banker and/or Player streaks or one of the other two trend types. Although microanalysis can be misleading, don’t allow uncertainly to put you off. 

Here are the most common types of shoe trends as seen on the main road or big road scoreboards. I prefer viewing this layout because outcomes are displayed in a logical format which makes it easy to recognise patterns forming into trends.

TREND #1: THE ZIGZAGY ZONE

In the following shoe trend example, what I call, the ‘ZIGZAGY Zone,’ note that the outcomes are predominantly zigzagged. Zigzags are chops or changes between Bankers and Players. The zigzag zone is made up of first and second line outcomes.

These outcomes only occasionally breakout of the zigzag zone thereby forming Banker or Player streaks. But these do not continue and so the zigzag zone dominates.

TREND #2: THE STREAKY BANKERS AND PLAYERS

In the next, B/P STREAKY shoe trend example, the outcomes are predominantly streaks of Bankers and Players. In my opinion, streaks truly begin from the third line onwards. You can see that although the first and second lines display outcomes, this is generally a brief occurrence since there is a strong presence of streaky Bankers and Players vertically; back to back. 

This means that the first and second lines are only being filled on the scoreboard as transition outcomes i.e. from Banker to Player streaks and vice versa. Only occasionally does the pattern of this shoe show a short zigzag zone streak without Player or Banker streak breakouts occurring. Thus, in my opinion these mini zigzag zone breakouts are short-lived blips that can be ignored because Streaky Players and Bankers are dominant.  

I’ve explained how to identify two of the most important Baccarat shoe trends, but it’s equally important to bear in mind you’ll not always be able to predict what trend a shoe might end up being regarded as. 

It’s this uncertainty that’ll impact upon your betting decisions. The formations of shoe outcomes can completely switch from being ZIGZAGY pattern strong at one stage of a shoe to being Banker and Player STREAKY pattern strong at another stage. 

TREND #3: THE TREND SWITCH TREATMENT

When you experience, what I call, the TREND SWITCH TREATMENT, this is an attack on the conclusion you would’ve formed out of your analysis. But you should understand that part of gaining chips when betting in Baccarat involves taking the rough with the smooth. You can’t always get it right. 

Money management will assist you in withstanding the uncertainty the game brings thereby protecting your bankroll. Or you may decide to change Baccarat tables in hope of identifying a trend that might remain favourable long enough for your winnings to increase, especially if you up your wagers during such fruitful periods.

The following shoe trend example is what a typical trend switch treatment shoe looks like: 

TREND #4: THE HOVERING STATE

The final shoe type I’d like you to look at is, what I call, the HOVERING STATE. As you can see, the outcomes that have formed indicate the shoe pattern cannot make up its mind therefore there’s no trend breakout. This type of hovering shoe doesn’t favour the dominance of zigzags or streaks of Bankers and/or Players. However, in and of itself it is nevertheless a trend. 

Though I believe it’s difficult to profit from this type of Baccarat shoe. The best form of defensive in protecting your bankroll, in my opinion, is to apply stop losses into your game. You could also sit it out and wait for a new shoe to begin or simply change Baccarat tables.

SUMMARY

So, let’s recap. We’ve looked at the following four shoe types.

1. The ZIGZAGY Zone
2. The STREAKY Bankers and Players 
3. The TREND SWITCH TREATMENT 
4. The HOVERING STATE

By logging into your 888 Casino account, you’ll be able to become familiar with these shoe types. Simply study some live casino Baccarat games in action. Moreover, you could also examine shoes that are almost complete. (before the data disappears) How many shoe types can you identify?

Implementation:

To increase your chances of winning you need to look for any one of the “first two Baccarat shoe types” so that you can follow those trends.

Before you start betting, you’ll want to be sure a trend has begun. Once you believe it has, simply place your bets by following the rules of the trend type you’ve identified.

For instance, if you’ve identified the shoe might end up being a Zigzag zone dominate trend then always bet ‘opposite’ or against the last outcome. So, if Player is the last outcome (and the pattern informs that the trend is still within the zigzag zone) then your next bet must be Banker. If you lose just continue betting opposite up to a stop loss of 2x and reassess. So, if you lose again - stop.

If you’ve identified the trend might end up being a streaky Banker and/or Player shoe, then always ‘bet on the last outcome’ reoccurring. So, if Player is the last outcome (and the pattern informs that the trend is still streaky Player/Banker) then your next bet must be Player.

If the next outcome happens to be a Banker, (a change occurred) resulting in a loss, you might want to double down betting the likelihood of a continuing streak. Therefore, you would bet Banker hoping that the streak continues, but now on Banker following the single transition from Player. 

Again, as in the zigzagy zone trend, if you lose twice this should be your trigger to stop betting. Then reassess.    

Consistent practice and the ability to identify the four main Baccarat trends should improve your game and this may reflect in the number of outcomes you’ll win as you become familiar with the best times to bet and what side to bet on.

Once, when I was booked for a “fun casino” the other person due to work dropped out at the last minute, leaving the job a dealer short. A “fun casino” if you haven’t come across one, is a casino at a private event – usually a Christmas party – where the “customers” come to the table with fun money. No real cash changes hands, and there’s usually a bottle of bubbly for whoever wins the most chips. The casino dealers tend to be former croupiers who no longer work in casinos, although a few will be doing the job on their night off.

On this occasion, with no time to ring around for another dealer, I roped in my brother, who happened to be staying with me. I had 20 minutes to teach him the game of blackjack and how to deal. “Don’t worry about working out the blackjack payout,” I told him. “Just give the players two cards each, one for yourself, then ask them if they want another card. If they go over 21, take their chips.”

This pretty much sums up my brother’s fast-track training, and he made it through the event without anyone outing him as an imposter. So is it really easy to learn how to play blackjack? Well, the owners of “fun casinos” are increasingly training up their next-door neighbors’ dog and sticking them on the blackjack table instead of employing professional croupiers. But real customers are a different breed to the pissed-up punters at Christmas parties, most of whom have never set foot inside a real casino. And real customers – quite rightly – have much higher expectations.

So while it’s easy to get the gist of blackjack, learning to deal it like a pro takes a lot more work. There are chip handling skills, managing your float, pulling the cards smoothly from the shoe, and positioning them neatly in front of the punter’s box first time (no nudging them into place afterwards)! There’s knowing where to place the cards in the case of multiple splits, and knowing where in the box to position the chips, to indicate whether they’re splits, doubles or the bets of multiple players. There’s learning how to “see” the total sum of the cards, rather than standing there adding them up, and there’s working out how much to pay in the case of blackjack when the odds are one and a half to one. There’s the dexterity of paying each box with alternate hands, learning to shuffle like a pro, and becoming adept at dealing with tricky customers who are trying to get one over on you.

Some of this will be taught in the training school, and improved on over time - nobody’s perfect when they deal their first game! Other aspects, such as dealing with cheating casino players, can only really come from experience on the casino floor.

The majority of courses (which are usually about six weeks long) will spend the bulk of the time teaching how to play roulette, with just the last week working on blackjack. The advantage of this is that by the time you get to blackjack (a)you’ll already have basic chip handling skills, and (b) it will seem like a doddle after roulette! Seriously, after pushing seven stacks across the table, learning your 17 times table, and doing all sorts of mental arithmetic, you’ll be grateful for a bit of blackjack! It’s also done this way due to a “survival of the fittest” element. My friend Anna explains, “we learned roulette first and they were kicking people off the course along the way. I guess they figured that if someone couldn’t grasp roulette, there was no point in teaching them blackjack!”

Some UK casinos have training schools, where you can earn while you learn. In the meantime, here’s some advice to get ahead of the game:

TIP #1: WORKING OUT BLACKJACK PAYOUTS

The majority of bets on blackjack pay even money, so if a customer has £25 on the box, they’ll win £25 – simple! However, when the customer wins with a blackjack, ie when their first two cards consist of an ace and either a ten or a face card (a Jack, Queen or King) the payout is one and a half to one. So if the customer has £10 on the box, you’d pay £15. This is an easy example. It gets a bit trickier if the customer’s bet is something like £1,375. So to make it easier for yourself, the first thing to do is memorize basic payouts, eg you should know on autopilot that £25 pays £37.50, and £75 pays £112.50, as you’ll see these bets a lot. It’ll also make it easier for you to work out the bigger bets that are a bit trickier.

Everyone has their own way of working, but it tends to consist of having the bet, then adding that on (eg if the bet is £10 and you halve that, you have £5. Add £5 on to £10 and you get the payout of £15) as well as using figures you know from memory. So in the case of £1,375, most dealers would break this down into more manageable amounts, working with even numbers. One way would be breaking it into three parts, eg £1,000 pays £1,500, plus £300 pays £450, plus £75 pays £112.50. Other dealers might break it into two parts. So some might see it as £1,300 pays £1,950, plus £75 pays £112.50. Others might see it as £1,370 pays £2,055, plus £5 pays £7.50. Whichever way you do it, you should get a payout of £2,062.50.

Depending on the casino’s procedures, there may be times when you don’t need to do any maths at all! If the bet consists of an even number of chips, and they’re all of the same value, (eg ten chips at a value of £25 each) you can split the ten chips into two piles of five, and cut into one of the piles three times. So in this case, you’d be paying out £375 for a £250 bet (which is equivalent to paying out £37.50 for £25 bet).

TIP #2: ADDING UP THE CARDS

When I asked my friends what they found trickiest about learning blackjack, adding up the cards came up more than working out blackjack payouts. Dagmara says, “when I first started dealing, a nasty punter made a comment that I should just 'see' what the cards added up to, not stand there counting! I took it to heart because I wanted to look professional!” Kasia says, “when I was learning how to become a blackjack dealer, I was rubbish at adding up. If I went over 21, I just knew it was too many! I struggled to remember that the picture cards are ten, and Aces also gave me problems - I had to kind of imagine whether to use it as 1 or 11!”

Not every land-based and online casino will allow dealers to say “too many” when the cards add up to more than 21. In some, the procedure is always to announce the total, even if the hand’s gone bust – so don’t rely on having this as an easy option! Besides, you’ll get the hang of “seeing” the total. It’s just a case of adding up cards over and over until you see the sum total automatically. Anna says that when she was in the training school, “we’d get a deck of cards and add two cards together. Over and over. Just adding six and seven, or eight and six, or eight and seven and so on. That really helped.” This can easily be done at home, holding a deck of cards and turning over two at a time.

TIP #3: PULLING THE CARDS

On the blackjack table, you’ll pull the cards from a shoe on your left, before passing them out with your right hand. Richard remembers, “the trainer would put a pencil in your left hand to make sure you pulled the cards with only your thumb and index finger. Holding the pencil kept your hand gripped tight, so it stopped your other fingers from getting involved.”

Ultimately, it’s about precision, as you need to lay the cards down neatly first time – there shouldn’t be any fussing with them once they’re on the table! It’s also about style and dealing smoothly. Chloe says that as an inspector, her number one bugbear when watching blackjack is: “When people practically punch the table when they pull the cards out!”

TIP #4: FLOAT MANAGEMENT

The float will have a certain number of cash chips at each value, and it’s your job to keep the majority of them in the float, rather than letting the customers collect them. Richard explains, “When you first start dealing, you give out all your chips and ask for a fill to replace them, but a good pit boss knows when to say no and they’ll tell you to manage your float!”

So if you’re running short of £25 chips, and a customer has a winning bet of £375, you could pay out four chips at £100, and take £25 from the customer’s bet. Similarly, if you’re running short of £5 chips and a customer has £25 on the box in fives, you could pay him two chips at £25, and take back all the fives. You can also ask the customers to colour-up their chips (ie swap them for chips of a higher value) – and sometimes they’ll offer, but many customers are superstitious and want to hold onto the chips they see as lucky. They may even insist on being paid out in chips of the same value, even when the float is empty - at this point, you’ll have to ask the pit boss for a fill!

TIP #5: MIND THE BOXES

In the training school, you’ll practice by dealing to every box on the blackjack table. Don’t do this in the casino or you’ll give your inspector a coronary! Barbs says: “I remember watching a trainee deal to empty boxes. I levitated from the chair screaming “STOP!” They'd been so used to dealing to all the boxes in training, they’d done it on autopilot!”

TIP #6: DON'T ACT LIKE A ROOKIE

Ever heard of the trainee decorator who was sent to buy a tin of tartan paint? The casino equivalent is being told to go and chip up on blackjack – don’t fall for it!

TIP #7: THERE'S A HOLE AT THE TABLE, AND IT'S NOT FOR YOU

You may see a rectangular hole in the blackjack table – this is for the chip tray! This may sound obvious but Mark remembers, “one of the guys on my training school climbed into where the chip tray was meant to go and wondered how ‘heftier’ folk could deal the game!” And Aga says, “when I was training, someone asked why there was a hole in the table, so we told him it’s where the dealer goes and he assumed the position!”

TIP #8: PERFECT YOUR POSTURE!

Anna says, “working in different clubs over the years, I was praised for dealing elegantly, and I think that’s thanks to my posture. She explains: “press your hip against the table - one leg forward, one leg back. Keep your back straight - no hunching.”

TIP #9: IN LONDON, NEVER CALL THE CUTTING CARD A "POSTILION"

“Never call the cutting card a ‘postilion,’” says Mark. “Even at the poshest casino, they’ll laugh at you until their jaws ache!” Unfortunately, Mark is speaking from experience. Having trained in Glasgow, where the term ‘postilion’ was interchangeable with ‘cutting card’ he learned very quickly that no one calls it that in London!

TIP #10: USE YOUR TRAINING AS A PLATFORM TO DEVELOP YOUR OWN STYLE

Watch and Learn. Nick, who ran his own training school, says, “One thing I always told my trainees is, don’t assume I’m the best blackjack dealer just because I say so. Watch other dealers and decide for yourself. Ask experienced dealers who they think’s best, then study their technique. Work out why they’re good – then improve on it!”

TIP #11: THINK TWICE WHEN THE PLAYER ASKS YOU TO HIT HIM

Customers will sometimes say “hit me” when they want a card. Mark says, “try to resist the urge to actually hit the punter…” (Trust me, we’ve all wanted to sometimes along the way).

TIP #12: NEW CARDS CAN CAUSE NEW TROUBLES

Hold tight! Richard says, “the worst thing is when you have eight decks of brand new cards, and you have that Mission Impossible moment of getting them into the shoe without spraying them everywhere – commonly known as 416 card pick up!” To avoid this, Richard says, “grip tightly like your life depends on it! And make sure they’re perfectly level at every side. One rogue card sticking out could spell disaster!

TIP #13: EXTRA WORK WILL DO WONDERS

For a faultless shuffle, practise at home – on your ironing board! Mark says, “if you play poker then you pretty much know how to shuffle with one deck. If you practise on your ironing board, you’ll get used to the height you’ll be working at!”

TIP #14: MISTAKES WILL HAPPEN. LEARN FROM THEM

“Concentrate solely on technique,” says Nick. “Mistakes are expected, so go slowly and don’t worry about them.”