Video poker isn't so much a game as a category, just as slot machines are a category and poker-based table games are a category.

Double Double Bonus Poker is a different game with a different strategy than Jacks or Better. Bonus Poker Deluxe is a different game with a different strategy than Bonus Poker, no deluxe.

Together, they fill a popular niche for single-player games where strategy makes a difference on slot floors in live casinos as well as in online casinos.

There are common factors among the games such as how cards are dealt, how much you can bet, how much you can win and basic game play.

Every player should know these things before they play video poker.

The Game is Five-Card Draw

There have been attempts to put five-card stud poker games and even Texas Hold'em on video poker formats, but the games players flock to are based on five-card draw.

You're dealt five cards and must decide which to hold and which to discard.  

How Cards are Dealt Can Vary, But Usually Cards are Shuffled Constantly

The pace setter here is International Game Technology. In live casinos in the United States, 95% of video poker machines are manufactured and distributed by IGT, which also has a commanding presence online.

Virtual cards are continually shuffled. When you hit a button, click or touch a screen to play, the first five cards are dealt and displayed on the screen. The remaining 47 cards then are shuffled continuously until you hit the draw button. 

When you choose which cards to hold, which to discard and hit the draw button, the shuffle stops. You then receive the cards off the top of the deck.

That method has evolved over the decades. Into the late 1980s, the first 10 cards were dealt at once: the hand you saw on the screen and a shadow hand underneath. Essentially, each card was a two-card pile. When you discarded a card, the replacement you received was the shadow card behind it.

Later, the method was changed so the first 10 cards were set at once, but the second five were not dealt as a shadow.

Instead, the first five cards were dealt face up on the screen and the second five were ordered on top of a remaining deck. Other cards were not ordered.

When you drew a card, you would receive the next card off the top of the deck. 

On individual hands, it made a difference. Imagine you were dealt an initial hand of 5♣, 5♦, 5♠, J♥ and 9♦, in that order. Now imagine the shadow hand was 5♥, 3♠, A♣, A♠ and Q♥.

The only way you could get the 5♥ was to discard the 5♣, so you couldn't get four of a kind. If the 5♥ was at the top of the draw deck, then you could get it by discarding any card.

But sometimes the shadow hand gave opportunities the other method didn't. Imagine 5♥ was set as the fourth card after the initial hand, putting it either behind the J♥ in the shadow and or fourth on the draw pile.

In that case, holding the 5♠ and discarding the Jack would give you the four of a kind with the shadow hand, but you'd have to discard at least four cards, including a couple of  5♠, to get to it drawing from the top of the deck.

All three methods described above are valid, random ways of dealing the cards and will yield the same odds and payback percentages.

The most common method today is the continuous shuffle described first, but games from manufacturers other than IGT may use other methods.

Your Hand Does Not Have to Outrank Other Players or a Dealer to Win

There are no other players. The object is to draw a hand that ranks high enough to be on a pay table.

Unless wild cards are involved, as in Deuces Wild or Joker's Wild, the lowest-ranking winning hand usually is a pair of Jacks. The higher your hand ranks, the higher your payoff. In most games, a pair of Jacks or better will get your bet back, while a typical five-coin maximum bet will bring a 4,000-coin jackpot if you have a royal flush.

Other payoffs are in between, with quite a lot of variation between games. There's even some variations within games of the same name. Some Double Double Bonus Poker games pay 9-for-1 on a full house, but some pay 8-for-1 or 7-for-1. Some Jacks or Better games pay 6-for-1 on flushes, but others pay 5-for-1.

Pay Tables Tell Us Which Games Have Higher Payback Percentages Than Others

Nevada requires games using representations of playing cards to offer fair video poker odds, and other states have followed suit. 

There are some exceptions for video lottery terminals and tribal casinos using Class II games where the real game is electronic bingo and slot reels or video poker cards are user-friendly representations of bingo draws. But basically, in licensed U.S. casinos each card must have an equal chance of being dealt on every hand.

That means odds, percentages and strategies can be calculated from the pay table.

A 9-6 Jacks or Better game, where full houses pay 9-for-1 and flushes 6-for-1, pays more than an 8-5 game, where full houses pay 8-for-1 and flushes 5-for-1. Expert strategy brings a 99.5% average return in the 9- 6 game and 97.3% in the 8-5 game.

In non-wild card games, full houses and flushes are the common hands where payoffs are changed to alter payback percentages. That's the first place you should look when comparing games of the same type.

There are more differences between games. Jacks or Better and Bonus Poker pay 2-for-1 on two pairs, while most other games pay only 1-for-1. The tradeoff is that other games usually pay a lot more on four of a kind than Jacks or Better or Bonus Poker.

Comparing full house and flush paybacks on different games tells you little. There are too many other differences in pay tables. On 9-6 Jacks or Better, expert play brings an average return of 99.5%, but on 9-6 Double Double Bonus Poker, where four of a kind paybacks are much higher but two pairs pay half as much as Jacks or Better, the return with expert play is 98.98%. 

The value in comparing full houses and flushes comes when you see different versions of the same game. Each increase or decrease of one coin per coin wagered in full house or flush pays changes the overall return by a little more than 1%.

On Jacks or Better, starting with the 99.5% for a 9-6 pay table, returns with expert play decrease to 98.4% with a 9-5 pay table, 97.3% at 8-5 and 96.2% at 7-5. Double Double Bonus poker returns decline to 97.9% at 9-5, 96.8 percent at 8-5 and 94.7% at 6-5.

Other games, such as Bonus Poker, Double Bonus Poker, Super Aces and more, have their own benchmarks, but you get the idea. Within each game type, lower pays per hand lead to lower overall payback percentages.

That's different than on slots, where a higher pay table can be offset by less frequent wins. You can't tell at a glance which slot machine is the bigger payer, but you can tell on video poker games.

Video Poker Strategy Makes a Difference

Best strategies for every possible hand can be calculated. You can find strategy sheets for some games at wizardofodds.com, and strategy trainers that will alert you to mistakes are available in commercial software and in free websites.

The best software enables you to choose among different games and adjust the pay table to games you play.

Strategies differ, even on the same hand. For example, dealt Jack-Jack-8-8-5, your best move is to hold both pairs and take a shot at a full house on Jacks or Better, where two pairs pay 2-for-1.

However, on Double Double Bonus Poker, two pairs pay the same 1-for-1 as a pair of Jacks or better. In that game, you're better off to hold the Jacks and discard the rest to give yourself a shot at three or four of a kind as well as full houses.

The Question Everyone Wants Answered is "How Do I Win?"

You give yourself the best shot by playing the games with the best pay tables and learning expert video poker strategy for the game.

You'll find strategy articles on several games at 888 Casino Blog, and trainers are available to help learn almost any game. Another great resource to help identify high-paying games is vpfree2.com. It lists many pay tables for any video poker game, making it easy to look up the games available to you.

If you play in live casinos and 9-6 Jacks or Better is offered, drill yourself on strategy for that game using trainers that identify mistakes. If you play online, you can augment that by referring to a strategy sheet while you play.

Losing sessions are more frequent than winners even on the highest paying games, but a little knowledge, effort and practice yields your best shot to win.
 

This article is for you even if you have played roulette for a long time or are just picking it up now or in a few hours.

I have gathered some roulette players, each with his or her own ideas of how to play and how to manage their finances. 

But just a few words from me as we begin. 

These are players who know themselves and understand the game. I have avoided the wild players who just throw their money around with no sense or concept of what the game they are playing is all about. The big drinkers I have not bothered with because with a little booze comes too much of a lack of inhibition. Some inhibition is good for players. 

In short, I guess you can say that the people I spoke to know the game and how the casino gets its edge at it. Here is what they know:

Roulette is a random game. It is based on the idea that the ball will spin around the wheel, descend into the pockets, perhaps hitting the bumpers on its way down, and ultimately land in one pocket after bouncing around a few pockets as it loses its energy. All this motion causes the game to be random.

The house edges on the two basic games are 5.26% on the American double-zero (0, 00) wheel and 2.7% on the European single-zero (0) wheel. These edges can be found on all bets with just a few exceptions. Read what a few players have to say about their own roulette games.

Inspired by 007

William Coatz: “I am a roulette fan and have been so since I saw Sean Connery playing the game in an advertisement for a James Bond film. I think it was a James Bond film or it was some news story. I don’t really remember which now. He was betting the number 17 and I believe that has become the most wagered number in the game.

“Also it is one of the middle numbers, so that might help too.”

[Please note: Sean Connery, the actor, played roulette and he bet on number 17. That bet has been attributed to James Bond, not to Connery. But it was Connery who made the number famous and not Bond. Bond was a gambler who tended to play baccarat.]

“When you are playing a random game, and roulette is random especially now with the new computer-controlled wheels, you are not going to find any of the old ‘biased’ wheels. The casinos check those wheels just about every day. Yes, the casino wants the game to be random. It is a guaranteed win over short, medium, or a long term when the game is random.

“Casinos are in the game, so to speak, in order to guarantee a win. Today’s players should be fully aware of this. Not being aware can cause errors in bet sizing and the like. The mantra should always be when playing a casino game that the house has the edge over the player. That can save you a lot of anguish.

“I play a very conservative game. I do not enjoy the proposition bets that you see around the main layouts. I’m a fairly big player and when I can -- which isn’t often by the way -- I will play the single-zero wheel, which isn’t offered very much in the casinos where I play. Percentage-wise that is a better game if you play high enough stakes to be able to meet the minimum bets. I do.

“I place six bets straight-up directly on the numbers. I do both the 0 and the 00 with four others spread between those two numbers. Two between 00 and 0 and two between 0 and 00. Basically, you have three bets on one side of the wheel and three bets on the other side of the wheel.

“I will always keep the 0 and 00 working –– or 0 on the single-zero wheel – but I will change the other numbers from time to time.

“What criteria do I use to choose the other numbers? Sometimes I will use numbers that have hit already and sometimes ones that haven’t hit or I do half and half between these extremes. I guess you could call this a ‘whim’ way of making a wagering decision. That is probably as good a way to choose bets as any other.

“The big question I get from other players is do I increase my bets when I am winning. Usually, no, I don’t. On rare occasions if chance is really favoring me, and I mean really, really favoring me; I will increase a bet on a number or two that has hit. But I am cautious about doing this because the game is, after all, random. Occasionally I will go up in my betting but keep in mind that is merely occasionally. I tend to stick with my original bets and betting levels.

“And what about comps? I get just about everything I want. I bet enough for that but I don’t really think about comps in deciding my playing decisions. I just play my game and the comps come as they come.”

Relaxing Roulette

Cindy Morris: “Roulette and craps are my two favorite games. I spend somewhat more time playing roulette because I can sit and relax and not have much to do with the other players. Nighttime is more roulette; daytime is more craps. I guess that’s how it splits.

“I am strictly a proposition bettor, mostly red or black, sometimes high or low. I do not enjoy staying at a table a long time waiting for a bad run to end. If you bet on one or two numbers straight up, you can wait a long time for your number to appear. 

“Now, I know that the house edges at roulette are the same no matter what you bet but it seems the back and forth between player and casino is better with the proposition bets. It isn’t better in strict reality but it feels better. I am in touch with my feelings but I do not take them as a sign of truth. 

“In a random game your feelings don’t actually matter but you do experience those feelings for good or bad, right? You experience feelings whether you are playing in a casino or on the Internet. I recognize my feelings and one feeling I have is I want back and forth with the casino. A random game? Yes. But I like to play the random the way I want to play it.

“I have a minimum bet and a maximum bet, which is just a parlay of my minimum bet. I will parlay if I have doubled my session bankroll. So let us say I am betting $10 per decision and I have $500 as my bankroll. If I get to $1,000 I will go up to $20 per bet. I will make that bet until I lose back $100 and then I call it a night.

“Actually I will usually call it a night before I get into that betting realm. 

“Okay, the casinos where I play have an option on those three proposition bets of red/black, high/low, and odd/even. It’s called surrender. If the 0 or 00 is the winning number you only lose half your proposition bet! You know, that reduces the house edge in half so now I face a 2.63% edge over my roulette game. That’s a great benefit. 

“I am reducing my potential losses in half. That’s better than most comps I can get at my betting levels. Look for that option if you play roulette and prefer to bet the proposition bets. 

“You don’t really find this in most casinos but when you do, it is a real gift given to you by the house. Think of it this way: saving money is like making money!”

Playing Against the Roulette Gods

C. M. Pemberton: “I am superstitious. Okay, I will admit that. I think most casino players are superstitious even if they think they aren’t. 

“You play games that the house has an edge over you and anything you do with your play, aside from stealing the chips and fleeing like a criminal (and you’ll probably be caught there too), everything will ultimately lead to losses. I know that. I am sure readers of this column know all this too.

“With that said, I truly enjoy roulette. Yes, yes, I am going up against the gods playing this game in the casino but I like challenging the gods. In some way, don’t we all? Don’t we want the powers that be to notice us and maybe praise us for our knowledge, intelligence, and discipline. Maybe that’s what comps are.

“My significant other thinks I am nuts to think this way but hey I am who I am. I play what I consider to be an intelligent game.

“I bet one proposition bet for $20 and two inside straight up bets for $10 each. So on each spin I am wagering $40. I can afford this level of betting and doing it gives me a thrill. No denying that, my friends, no denying that.

“Look, I gamble to win some money but over and above that I gamble because it is fun. I do not bet money that I use for anything else. I have a separate account for my casino exploits and that is the only money I use to play with. I think that is a smart way to play, don’t you?

“I do not go up on my bets when I am winning. I think it is hard enough to win without giving the casino a shot at more of your money. The big lesson casino gamblers fail to understand is that any money you put on the layout is going up against the house edge. I say to play with your normal amount and be happy if you win a session. 

“Therefore, I do not go for the killing. Very few players can actually hurt a casino. Stories are written about them but they aren’t me and they are probably not you either. If I am ahead towards the end of my session, I will take the win and be happy as can be.

“I am happy about how I play and I know I can play this way for the rest of my life. I think you can’t beat that, can you?”

The Numbers Game

Patrick O: “Prepare yourself for an interesting, perhaps unique, way how to play roulette. I am talking about my way to play the game.

“I do not stay at one table if I can move around from table to table. I usually play in the afternoon or early evening when the tables are not that crowded. I like, as they say, maneuverability.  

“I have two numbers I enjoy betting on at all times. Why do I enjoy them? Because they were the first numbers I won on in the beginning of my roulette-playing career. I use them as my opening bets on every table. But I also bet two other numbers, picked kind of randomly, like off the top of my head.

“Therefore, I am betting on four numbers in total.

“I will go four spins [decisions] for a wheel and if I am ahead, I will stay at that wheel. If not, I move to another wheel if I can and start the process all over again. Bet my two favorite numbers and two others.

“I keep my bets the same until I have a perfect win for my session, meaning I am definitely finishing the session up some money. I might increase just a bit before I am about to leave the game and take a break.

“It is true that sometimes I can’t hop from table to table because the games are full. At those times I am stuck only playing at one table for a session or part of a session.

“So, Frank, what do you think of my method?”

Frank: “I wish you all the best in and out of the casinos!”

It’s a seemingly simple game, but Blackjack has numerous intricacies and strategies that set it apart. The game is regularly seen as gamblers' favorite table game and can be found at casinos around the world as well as in numerous online casinos.

Players seem to love the fun vibe at the table and the smooth, quick-paced play. The game offers plenty of action and a decent chance at lowering the house edge with strategic play – and even better for those who can count cards. Along with plenty of fun, the game has a deep history that traces this card game back to the 15th and 16th century.

Table of Contents

1 – The Basics of Blackjack

For those new to the game, Blackjack is a fairly simple game to understand. All players are squaring off against the dealer and are dealt two cards face up.

The dealer deals himself one card face up and one face down. The goal for players is to get as close to 21 as possible without going over. Players can take a “hit” to get another card or “stand” when they’ve reached a number where they don’t want any more cards. Here’s the value for cards in the deck.

• Number cards (2-10) – the numbered value of each card
• Face cards (K, Q, J) – all are worth 10 each
• Aces – can be used either as a 1 or 11

A player who is dealt an Ace and a 10-card has hit a Blackjack (a natural 21) and is an automatic winner. There are some other nuances along the way, but this is the general concept on how to play.

2 – Early History

Many gaming historians believe Blackjack probably came from an earlier version of a Spanish game that became known as Vingt-Un in England and France. The goal was to accrue 21 points and that game is believed to have derived from the Spanish game veintiuna (literally Spanish for “21”).

This game was probably being played by the 16th Century and is first mentioned in print by famed Spanish author and early gambler Miguel de Cervantes. His short story “Rinconete y Cortadillo” from 1601 features card cheats involved in a game where players hope to achieve 21 points with Aces worth 1 or 11 as in today’s modern Blackjack. The games used a Spanish baraja deck, which made use of either 40 or 48 cards.

Other early references to a similar game can be found in Britain and France. Exactly which country did the most to originate the game is difficult to determine, but versions started popping up in all these countries. An even earlier game known as Thirty-One was popular in Europe by the 15th Century as well.

Italy gave the western world its first casino for the general public when the Ridotto (Italian for "The Private Room”) opened in 1628 in Venice. One of the gambling house’s most popular games was basetta, described as a cross between blackjack, poker, and gin rummy. The Ridotto remained open until 1774 when city leaders put a stop to legal gambling “to preserve piety, sound discipline, and modern behavior,” as one reformer noted at the time.

As gambling became more popular in the 17th Century, games like Blackjack grew in popularity. Much of the royalty and aristocracy grew accustomed to gambling late into the night. Many of the games popular today in casinos gained considerable popularity in France and eventually transitioned into what one might see in a Las Vegas or Monte Carlo.

“Though the casino was born in Venice, most of today’s popular casino games, including roulette, baccarat, and blackjack, originated in France, a testament to the Gallic eagerness for the 1650 – 1800 European gambling craze,” author David Schwartz notes in Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling. “In these years, gambling received the sanction of the French monarch, and, for a while, became the sine qua non of country life at Versailles. From there it became a national obsession.”

By the early 19th Century, even Napoleon Bonaparte himself was hitting the tables hoping to beat the dealer and pull in some winnings.

“The emperor himself was a noted gambler, though he was slightly ahead of his time in the relatively new game of Vingt-et-Un, better known to English speakers as ‘twenty-one’ or ‘blackjack,’” Schwartz notes in Roll the Bones.

3 – Moving into Modern Casinos

While not as popular as games like Roulette, Blackjack continued growing into the 19th Century. As western expansion continued in the United States, gamblers could play some 21 at saloons, local gambling houses, and riverboat casinos along the MIssissippi River.

Gambling some of their wages became a regular part of life for many cowboys, miners, hunters, soldiers, shop keepers, and others in the Old West. By the early 1900s, the game transitioned a bit more with bonus payouts including the popular 3-to-2 payout for landing a Blackjack.

“In 1917, printed signs began appearing above the Twenty-One tables reading: ‘Black Jack pays odds of 3 to 2,” Scarne’s New Complete Guide to Gambling notes. “Early in 1919 a Chicago manufacturer of gambling equipment began selling tables with this announcement printed in bold black letters on the green baize playing surface.”

That popular payout continues today, although some properties have reverted to a payout of 6-to5, a much less favorable payout for players.

4 – Basic Strategy and Card Counting

Learning basic strategy only fueled the efforts to beat the house. In 1956, the American Statistical Association published The Optimum Strategy in Blackjack in the group’s academic journal. For the first time, the article’s authors Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel, and James McDermott outlined the mathematical analysis of the best strategy at playing  Blackjack.

“The fixed and known nature of the dealer’s strategy is vital in reducing the mathematical and computational problems in analyzing Blackjack to manageable proportions,” the article notes.

“The player's strategic problems are analyzed with the objective of finding the strategy maximizing his mathematical expectation. A mathematical expression is derived giving a general solution to the player's problem of standing pat with a given hand versus drawing additional cards.”

Basic blackjack strategy allowed players the best chance at winning, although the house still had a small advantage in even the most ideal circumstances. The authors’ theories were expanded on in  Ed Thorp’s Beat the Dealer in 1963. His book, however, moved beyond basic strategy and outlined for the first time how a savvy and trained bettor could turn the tables on the casino, beating the game and moving the odds to the player’s advantage.

Not only did Thorpe outline the math behind his card counting theory, but created the point system that made counting possible. Generations of players have used the system to some degree to “beat the dealer” with others fine tuning the system in the intervening years. While most players can’t or don’t count cards, the notion that a player could actually use his own skills to beat the house at the game appealed to many gamblers.

A kind of romanticism developed with many, fascinated by the possibilities. Card counting isn’t illegal, but properties can bar players who make use of the system if caught. This element of mystery only added to the practice's appeal.

Author Ben Mezrich added to the mystique of card counting with two bestselling books, Bringing Down the House (2002) and Busting Vegas (2009), about card counting teams of whiz kid students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The students hit it big with the aid of a professor at the school who taught them the ins and outs of counting.

Bringing Down the House inspired the film 21, which was released in 2008 and starred Kate Bosworth and Kevin Spacey. The film was a box office hit and put the game in a major spotlight on the silver screen. The revelation of basic strategy and card counting helped grow the game even more into the 21st Century. The game is now traditionally the most popular table game in a casino.

5 – Alternate Versions of Blackjack

A person walking through a casino will usually find numerous Blackjack tables with a wide range of stakes and options. In the latter part of the 20th Century, game manufacturers began getting a bit creative and added some alternative versions of Blackjack.

• Blackjack Double Exposure – This game features both of the dealer’s cards being exposed, a unique difference from the traditional game. However, the dealer wins all ties in this version. Blackjacks also only pay even money.

6 – Online Blackjack

Beyond traditional casinos, Blackjack is also popular online. Even from the Internet’s first days in the early 1990sm there has been an interest by many to gamble online. By the mid-1990s there were a handful of online gaming sites taking wagers from users.

That greatly expanded in the late 1990s and someone looking to play some Blackjack could deposit a few bucks and hit or stand without ever heading to a casino.

Video games and online sites also offer players a chance to hit the virtual Blackjack tables for free, without even playing any real money. Online players could learn the game and find any level of stakes they desire, often lower than what’s seen at brick and mortar casinos.

Playing a bit of 21 online has only added to the game’s popularity. The global online gambling market was estimated at almost $58 billion in 2021, according to Grand View Research. A major chunk of that came from casino-style gaming, Blackjack included.

Blackjack has come a long way from earlier versions in the 15th and 16th centuries. The game continues to grow and millions of players around the world will continue taking a seat at the table, live or online, and hope to hit that perfect 21.
 

In the more than half a century video that poker machines have been available, several schemes were developed to “cheat” the machine in order to win more money. 

Some were successful – for a while. Others were just wishful thinking or schemes hatched by scam artists and offered to the unsuspecting and gullible gambling public.

Part one of this topic highlighted some techniques that did not work. This article covers a couple of schemes that actually worked. Worked for a while, that is.

Table of Contents

1. Knowing the random number generator (RNG)

Video poker machines have come a long way from the original offering. Along the way clever individuals have noticed certain patterns that developed. One of these is based on the way the random number generator operated.

Contrary to their name, random number generators (RNGs) are not random. Instead, they are “pseudo-random.” RNG’s generate a sequence of numbers at a very high speed. The RNG cycles continuously. Eventually, however, the sequence of numbers repeats.

The original video poker machines worked like this. At the instant the player hit the “Deal/Draw” button, the RNG generated a sequence of 10 numbers representing 10 cards – five for the original hand and a replacement for each of these cards if it is not held. 

Amazingly, this allowed a clever and motivated gambler to develop a method of beating the game. This gambler bought a video poker game and played hundreds of thousands of hands. He kept track of the five cards in the initial hand and the five replacement cards.

After an immense investment in time and energy he was able to determine which initial hands had prospects for a good win along with the cards to hold to produce that win. 

While in the casino, he played the normal strategy for hands that were not shown to be big winners. Once he was dealt a hand that was a big winner (with the proper hold), he would hold that/those card(s) and collect the jackpot.

Things went very well for him for a while. But casinos started noticing that he was getting far more royal flushes than normal. This attracted close scrutiny of his play and he was soon caught.

As part of his plea deal, he showed the casino how the system worked. He had an advantage because he knew the replacement cards behind each card of the original hand. Without this information, he had no advantage.

It was a simple problem for game manufacturers to correct. Instead of generating all 10 cards when the player hits the “Deal/Draw” button, simply generate the initial five cards and have the RNG continue cycling until the player holds cards and hits the “Deal/Draw” button again. 

Since there are two separate random events required to produce the final hand, there was now no way to know which cards would replace the discards.

Once the procedures were updated in all video poker machines, this scheme for cheating video poker no longer worked.

I am sure that many others have tried to thwart the current RNG processing, but none have been able to crack it – at least not so far.

2. Let’s play “Double-up”

There is one more scheme for cheating video poker machines that worked – for a while anyway.

In early 2009, a man named John Kane discovered a bug in the Game King video poker machine. Kane was a virtuoso pianist who also ran a management consulting practice, which included a third of fortune 100 companies as clients. He was used to handling and making large sums of money.

Unfortunately, he was also used to gambling away huge sums in the casinos in Las Vegas, where he lived. He was enamored with the Game King machine which offered several different games in multiple denominations.

Kane was so hooked that he lost between tens and hundreds of thousands per year for several years. In fact, in 2006 he blew $500,000 on the Game Kings at Boulder Station. On the plus side, that monumental loss gave him enough Player’s Club points to pay for his own Game King machine. The machine even came with the technicians needed to service it.

With all his previous losses, Kane was due for some luck. In April 2009 he was playing Game King machines at the Fremont Hotel and Casino in downtown Las Vegas. He was switching between games and having moderate success. When he hit the “Cash Out” button, the machine locked up showing a jackpot of over $1,000. 

Kane knew it was a mistake. In fact, when he told the attendant, the employee thought he was joking and gave him the money anyway.

Kane realized that he was onto something. He had inadvertently made a series of moves that “tricked” the machine into paying more than it should. In reality, there was a glitch in the software.

The Game King’s programming is extremely complex. It must handle multiple games, multiple denominations as well as some special features. At the Fremont, where Kane had his large payout, Game King machines allowed six different denominations from 1 cent to 50 cents.

The key to exploiting the glitch was to find exactly the right circumstances that would allow the player to switch denominations retroactively. With this information, the player could play at the penny denomination until a good hand appeared, such as four aces or a royal flush. The player could then switch to the highest denomination (50-cents at the Fremont) and trick the machine into paying the jackpot at the higher level.

To help with the task of finding this magic key to riches, Kane enlisted the help of his friend, Andre Nestor. 

Together, the two went back to the Fremont, sat down and attempted to determine the exact sequence of steps that would trigger the larger payouts. After several hours they were able to come up with a step-by-step sequence that worked every time.

They left the Fremont, had dinner and took the night off. The following day they went back to the Fremont. The recipe for success worked just as well as the previous day. 

Obviously, they couldn’t take a lot from one casino. It would cause too much attention – especially at a lower-level casino. They needed to spread their play around to different casinos. 

Fortunately for our duo, Game King machines were common among casinos all over the Las Vegas area – from convenience stores to the most luxurious casinos.

Kane and Nestor tried a different casino. To their surprise, the button sequence did not work. They tried several other casinos including the Stratosphere, Cannery, Hilton, Hard Rock, Terrible’s, Luxor, Tropicana and five others. 

The sequence failed at all of them. It seemed that it only worked at the Fremont. Dejected, Nestor returned to his home in suburban Pittsburgh.

Kane, however, decided to get what he could from the Fremont Game Kings. He was able to accelerate the process by using the game's “Double-up” feature. By selecting this feature, the player was able to double the win or lose it all. 

Kane’s experience with double-up worked well. In fact, after using the strategy for five weeks at the Fremont, Kane collected over $100,000.

Of course, these wins attracted the attention of the casino. The bank of four Game Kings went from netting the casino a steady $14,500 to costing it $75,000 in one month.

Eventually, a slot manager approached Kane after one of his wins. He announced that the double-up feature was being disabled, since he noticed Kane used it consistently.

This did not really bother Kane, since he figured the glitch was exploited by the button sequence, and not impacted by the double-up feature. He may not win as quickly, but he would still win.

To his surprise, the next time he played at the Fremont, his secret button sequence did not work. The Fremont machines worked just like those at all the other casinos.

The double-up feature was not very popular with video poker players. They were irritated by the “Do you want to double-up?” message that appeared after each win. Because of this, virtually all the casinos had the feature turned off.

Kane contacted Nestor and explained what he found. That’s when the bulb lit for Nestor.
With the feature activated, the button sequence worked. With it deactivated, it did not work. The double-up feature was the key factor all along.

Fortunately, turning the double-up feature on or off was a simple task that any passing slot attendant could handle.

Nestor returned to Las Vegas and the pair headed to other casinos. They would sit at a Game King machine and if the “Double-up” feature was deactivated, they would ask for it to be turned on. Slot attendants would happily do so.

Now they could play anywhere and win almost at will. Working as a team, Kane and Nestor were able to gain new insight into the glitch. 

They discovered that they could replay the same winning hand. All that was necessary was to lower the denomination, hit a button sequence, and raise the denomination again. 

This is very risky. Even in a busy casino, management would notice the same hand winning more than once. But the duo did try it on occasion. Nestor won $4,000 on four aces. After waiting a while, Kane moved to the same machine and had a $4,000, four aces win of his own.

They could even piggyback on other players' wins. If they noticed a previous winning hand on an unoccupied machine, they could perform their magic and collect on that win themselves.

Here are the exact steps Kane and Nestor used to trigger the Game King money 
machine.

1. Locate a Game King multi-denomination machine.
2. Ask a slot attendant to enable the “Double Up” feature (if not already active).
3. Insert money or a voucher and select the lowest denomination.
4. Choose the game – Triple Double Bonus is a good one since there are multiple opportunities for fairly large wins.
5. Keep playing at the lowest denomination until you win a big hand.
6. With the winning hand shown (but not cashed out), hit the “More Games” button and select a different game. Play until a winning hand appears.
7. Insert more money or a voucher into the machine.
8. Hit the “More Games” button again and change to the maximum denomination. Then return to the original winning hand.
9. Press the “Cash Out” button. The winning hand is paid at the higher denomination.

That was all there was to it. How could this glitch happen?

As mentioned previously, the software is extremely complex. Notice how the sequence changes denominations and games, inserts more money, and plays at various times. This is nowhere near normal video poker play. 

While game manufacturers have intensive testing approval routines, this one slipped through the cracks fairly early in the machine’s life cycle. It was then replicated from release to release for nearly seven years.

Kane stumbled onto this sequence quite by accident. He refined and documented the process. He won hundreds of thousands of dollars (more than $500,000 according to FBI information). 

But Kane was eventually caught. As it very often the case, greed was this gambler’s undoing.

A mere three months after detecting the glitch at the Fremont casino, Kane played at the Silverton Casino. He won a $4,300 jackpot which required a W2-G. A mere 11 minutes later another win of $2,800 – another W2-G. Another $4,150 jackpot (and W2-G) a few minutes later.

Kane was not happy winning one, two, or even three jackpots. Kane continued to play. Greed overtook common sense.

Casino management was watching him by now. No one was that lucky. They were aware that he wasn’t using any of the known cheating devices. He was simply pushing buttons. After Kane’s seventh jackpot ($10,400) in an hour and a half, the casino knew something was wrong. 

After his eighth jackpot worth $8,200, the casino took action. As Kane was waiting for his payout, three casino employees approached him, handcuffed him, and escorted him away from the gaming floor.

An armed Gaming Control Board agent sealed the machines Kane played. Kane’s wallet and $27,000 in his pocket were confiscated and he was booked on suspicion of theft.

3. Summary 

• Though rare, video poker games occasionally provide openings for unintended winning opportunities.
• While the two schemes discussed above worked for a while, the holes were found and plugged eventually.
• Greed nearly always is the downfall of get-rich-quick schemes.
• My best advice: Find the best game you can. Play it with perfect strategy. Take advantage of any additional casino perks. Forget about a magic shortcut to big wins.
   

For many gamblers, a casino trip simply means booking a flight and hotel or even driving to their nearest gaming spot. They might stroll in with their bankroll and take a seat at their favorite slot machine or head to a blackjack or craps table. 

Perhaps a gambler working up an appetite may head to the buffet and then grab a drink at the bar for a nice cocktail. A few comps may roll their way, but generally these gamblers are playing their own bankrolls, hopefully using money that they’d already earmarked for entertainment.

But bigger money players may find the VIP treatment via a casino host. These casino representatives generally act as a complete concierge for a gambler, catering to almost every need for a gambler looking to gamble large sums at a casino.

Table of Contents

1 – What is a casino host?

Simply put, a casino host is a marketing professional who keeps large bettors returning to a casino by making sure they have a great time at a property and feel comfortable betting large amounts of money.

Beyond simply acting as a member of the casino staff, hosts often cater to a single client over several days. Their goal is to keep this customer happy and keep a “whale” (an insider term for a large money bettor) gambling at the tables.

Many hosts work long hours providing their guests with the best in meals, drinks, accommodations, entertainment, and more. Other perks might be great show tickets, trips to the Super Bowl, and even expensive cars. Properties are happy to spend tens of thousands of dollars if a whale has the potential to lose millions of dollars in just a few nights. For a casino, this can just be another investment to win more money at the tables.

These casinos go the extra mile for these types of gamblers. That includes exclusive VIP gaming areas. Blackjack players will have their own dealers as well as the most favorable rules. Craps and baccarat players can also expect high-end service and their own tables and dealers.

2 – What kind of gamblers use a casino host?

Those using a casino host tend to be VIPs and gigantic spenders. These aren’t the type of players you’ll see at the penny slots. Picture some of the best accommodations available at a casino and these are the bettors who are often checking in.

From the best suites and villas to limos and private jets, these gamblers are given the best service a casino can offer. These are the biggest of the big bettors. Some elite players are known to wager $25,000 or more per hand at the blackjack tables. That can be a massive swing the casino’s way if the house edge holds up.

 
That’s not always the case and some whales walk away with millions of dollars in winnings. Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer, who passed away in 2005, is remembered as one of the world’s great casino whales. His actions may exemplify what some whales might be willing to play for and why casino hosts continue to court them.

Packer is reported to have lost A$28 million on a three-day gambling trip in London, reportedly the largest gambling loss in British history. Another loss came at a London establishment, where he dropped £15 million at roulette. In the 1990s, Packer again took a huge loss, leaving London’s Ritz Hotel with an extra £19 million, according to reports. 

However, Packer took his share of money away from casinos as well. On another trip to the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, it’s believed Packer chalked up a win of $33 million.

3 – How to become a casino host?

Being a casino host isn’t exactly the job most people think of when heading off to college. Certainly excellent communications skills help as well as some insight in marketing. But a sense for the finer things in life also helps.

Many big money players expect excellence in service as well as cuisine, fine jewelry, wine, and other amenities, so having some insight on what may please this level of clientele can be extremely helpful.

Not every casino host caters to the uber wealthy, some may work with big players who may fall just short of whale status. Some skill at reaching out to potential customers and clients helps establish a list of contacts and potential customers. Often some guests may lead to other well-heeled bettors.

Certainly some experience in the gaming industry also helps. A host must have contacts to basically make any desire a guest may have become accessible. These types of gamblers may have expensive tastes and if they’re going to gamble millions of dollars, they expect the host and casino to deliver an unmatched experience. That may mean working long hours for several days while the whale is in town ready to gamble and relax.

4 – Conclusion

Casino hosts are gaming professionals who work to bring in gamblers who gamble at much higher levels than average casino guests. Hosts work to make these guests’ trips top of the line and look to cater to their needs and desires.

A casino guest that gambles millions of dollars is often called a “whale” in the industry. Hosts not only make these players’ trips the best they can possibly be, but also act as marketing experts to bring in more of these types of players.

Many casinos look to these hosts to have a deep list of contacts willing to play at huge stakes. The hosts stay in contact with their players and work to bring them coming back to the properties they represent. A great casino casino host can be an extremely valuable person for a property.
 

You know of the modern-day streakers, the individuals (be he male or be she female) who remove their clothes and run around naked to the shrieks, cheers, and sounds of disgust from their compatriots attending some event in some kind of serious manner.
 
You do not see as many streakers today as you did in the past, but they are out there. Yes, just not in great numbers any more. Seeing naked bodies running wildly, bodies that more often than not are not so hot, flouncing their flab about as these streaking persons attempt to bounce and bobble to some victory over some imagined something or other.

Streaking is their way to get a sense of self – a sense of importance, a sense of true worth. I can understand that. I am sure most of my readers can understand that too.

Casino Streakers

You get such streakers in the casinos too; though hopefully not the naked kind. Yes, indeed these folks are looking for winning streaks and various streaking methods can always be found in the Temples of Chance. Unlike the naked streakers, casino streakers have one thought in mind and that is to beat the casinos at their own games. Flipping, flouncing, and flopping is not what they want. 

They want victory.

There is a great sense of self when you beat the house. That I understand. I am sure almost all casino players understand this too. Most casino streakers are aware that they face a thoroughly uphill battle because of the casino’s edge over them. 

A win over those edges is a truly great experience, maybe the equivalent of those jangly naked physical streakers tackling running in the outfield of Yankee Stadium before the legion of security guards catch and clobber them.

Will almost all casino players find it impossible to beat the house? Probably. 

Except for some who have won loads of money on a slot machine paying out millions or the fractional number players who have developed advanced advantage strategies, the future is bleak for beating the house and even bleaker for casino players who play often and a lot. Even most poker players are probably losers too, and poker is a game of skill mixed with a certain amount of randomness.

None of this is foreign to casino players. The pursuit of victory is enough to satisfy almost all of us; otherwise, there would be no casinos in the world.

Types of Streaks

All casino games and machines have streaks. It is almost impossible to sit at a table or a machine and not experience almost every kind of these streaks. A tremendous percentage of players have worked out how they will handle such streaks. Some casino players are streak finders and bettors. That’s their thing. 

Of course, players can create their own streaks: “I will bet all odd numbers under 12 if two reds come up in a row and that is how I will play for my whole trip.” Yes, that would be a streak in the broadest sense.

The Starting Gate Streak

Let’s hear from some of our casino streakers:  

Jersey Ed: “You come to the roulette table and watch the board. Any number that comes up twice from that point on becomes the number on which you bet. And, brothers and sisters, you will bet that number a lot! 

“The number 6 hits and a few spins later it comes up again. The 6 is now your starting gate. You will bet that 6 on every spin for 35 spins. That’s right, you bet it for 35 straight spins of the wheel. You are looking for this to be your streak.”

[Frank adds: This bet of the 6 or any starting number will be the same on both the single-zero (0) wheel and the double-zero (0, 00) wheel where it is played 35 times on either with hopefully a winning hit.]

“If the 6 does not hit within 35 spins the player abandons it for another starting gate number. If it does hit, the player again bets the 6.”

[Frank adds: This is a classic starting gate streaking bet. However, there are other ways to use the starting gate method.]

The Multiple Starting Gates Strategies

Benny Lemon: “To do this method you will need to have a large enough bankroll to bet more than one number at a time. You do have a better chance to win with this but you also have a better chance to lose more money if the strategy backfires.

“I like this strategy because I really want to go for the wins and not have to wait a long time for a number to hit twice. I come to play and not just wait around.

“Okay, here goes: you come to the table and watch the wheel. Let us say that the 13 hits. You now place a bet on the 13. Next the 23 hits and you bet the 23.

“You can now go step by step, meaning number by number, and bet as many as you see fit. Let us say you now have the 13, 23, 17, 34, and 5 as your numbers. You can either count 35 spins for each number or simply count 35 spins for the 5 and hope one of those other numbers might hit as well. I use the 5 as my number and go thirty-five spins from the 5’s arrival. After a couple of drinks, it is kind of hard to count 35 for all the numbers individually. 

“If nothing hits, you start all over again. You have a decent chance that a number will hit within those 35 decisions.

“If one or more numbers hit, you stick with your number or numbers. Or you can keep the winning number, get rid of the other numbers and add new numbers except for that winning number or numbers.”

Modifying the Strategy

From Frank: Players can change the strategy at whim. Maybe the player wants to only go 25 spins and then jump to another number (or numbers). That is fine. The key idea is that you are trying to give your number(s) the opportunity to hit on more than one attempt. Obviously, this strategy is streaking at its basic level.

Even with five or more numbers, you are never guaranteed a win. 

The player does not have to bet the numbers one at a time as they come up one at a time. You come to the table, see the first two, three, four, or more numbers on top of the scoreboard’s list and you immediately bet those for 35 spins of the wheel.

You can also go to the bottom numbers and bet some of those or even select a few middle numbers. Still, remember this, the key to these strategies is to give the number or numbers time to hit and that is why they are played over and over.

Betting Blocks of Numbers

Pauline DiMauro: “I like to pick a block of numbers but my bankroll is not big enough to bet each number individually. Losses doing that are way too big for me. I therefore put a single chip on a line that will allow me to have some six numbers covered.  

“I will give my numbers a chance to hit so I will bet maybe three spins of the wheel to hit that group. No hit? I will move on and go for other groupings. I find this a very exciting way to play roulette.”

Those Even-Money Bets 

Not all bets have to be made directly on top of the numbers or on various lines that incorporate selections of numbers. You have the option of betting outside proposition bets such as the columns and the even-money bets.

Linda Morgan has a streaking method for the even- money bets of red/black, odd/even, and high/low. 

[Please note: These four bets are called “even-money” but they are not 50/50 propositions for roulette players. Each of the bets will pay even-money but the odds of hitting such bets still favors the casino. On the double-zero wheel, the player will win 18 times and lose 20 times because the green 0 and 00 wins for the house. On the single-zero wheel, players will win 18 times but lose 19 times.]

Let Linda explain her method: 

Linda Morgan: “I like the even-money bets because I get regular feedback and a close contest with the casino. I can usually stay at the tables much longer betting this way. I know the casino has the same edge over me but the wins and loss decisions seem much closer together. That factor I like.

“I will bet on these propositions one after another. The first bet can be on odd or even. If I win that I stay on odd or even until it loses for me. Then I switch to high or low and follow that same principle. If I win, I stay with that proposition until I lose. Then I move on as I said.

“Finally, I bet red or black and follow the same process. 

“Can I say this is a winning roulette strategy? I have been playing it for over six years and for me it is a winner because it is fun and I do get to go back and forth with the house. That’s what I am looking for,the back and forth. 

“Overall wins? Probably not but how many players beat the house over any length of time? You have to know that you are facing a house edge and it will get you sometime. It could get you right off the bat or maybe over a little or a lot of time but it does get you. We all play with that knowledge or we should anyway.”

Frank adds: Some even-money players like to bet two of these propositions at the same time. You can bet on red or black and odd or even, or high or low and so on. That gives you a lot of chances to see one or another of your numbers win. Does it change the house edge? No. It just throws out more money to get more chances to win and more chances to lose.

Two to One

Let’s take a look at another proposition bet on the outside, the columns. These are three columns of twelve numbers each. You win 2-to-1 if your selected column wins. You have the 12 ways to win a column and you lose if a number that is not in your column wins or if the zeroes come up. The house edges on these bets are the exact same as on all of the other bets at roulette. 

Barnabas Eli: “I want to win more money than just even money on my bets so I go with the columns. At times I bet two columns at once. I can win 24 times and, sure, I lose 14 times on the double-zero wheel which is the only wheel where I play. There are no single-zero wheels.

“But I do not go up on two columns the first time I bet. I need to win a few bets on the column I am choosing. If that column wins twice in a row, I bet it again and I pick another column and bet that one too.

“Whichever one of those two wins, I will bet that column again and add the column that I hadn’t bet before that decision. If both of my columns lose, I select that third column I hadn’t bet on and follow the same procedure as above. I just bet that one and hope to go to two and so forth and so on.”

I think the streakers on roulette have a strong sense of the correctness of their betting attack on the game. I haven’t really spoken to many players who hate the way they bet at the game because if they don’t like how they bet – then why bother to bet that way?

All the best in and out of the casinos!
 

The old Perry Como television show had a sequence where he answered his mail on the air. Who was Como? He was a crooner who had been a barber. He was a good singer and that’s about all I remember about him. He sang his answers.

In the world of casino gambling, I get some letters too. People have an interest in knowing the games, how to play them, and expressing their opinions.

Here are some of them, although I won’t sing my answers as you won’t be able to hear me.

Roulette Betting

QUESTION: I noticed when I played roulette for the first time that the dealer was paying out 35-to-1 on a hit on a number but was paying even-money on some other bets. Why would anyone bet a number when he can get an even-money game at some of the other bets like high and low? That would be a stupid mistake, right?

ANSWER: Right but there’s more to this.

The dealer pays 35-to-1 in order to give the casino an edge. By not paying the proper amount, $37 or $36 depending on the wheel being played, the house brings in a 5.26% or 2.7% edge over the player. These payouts are called “casino payouts.” 

The even-money bets are not even-money as you are thinking. They do pay 1-to-1 but the player is not actually in a 50/50 game. Say the player bets $10 on the “high” and it comes in, then yes, he does get 1-to-1 for the bet, but he did not have a 50/50 chance of winning that bet.

On the double-zero game, the player would win on high numbers (18 of them) but lose on low numbers (18 of them) and the player would also lose on the 0 and 00. Thus, the player has 18 possible chances to win and 20 chances to lose. Yes, the payout is 1-to1 but the chances are 9-to-10 for a player win.

Roulette Betting Minimums

QUESTION: I have seen two different roulette wheels in the casino, a double-zero (0, 00) and a single-zero (0). The single-zero game had a much higher minimum bet. What gives with those games? Why are the minimums so different?  

ANSWER: The double-zero game is called the American game and the single-zero game is called the European game. They are the same in all their payouts except the single-zero has a much smaller house edge than does the double-zero. 

Let’s take those even-money bets again. You will lose 20 times on the double-zero wheel and you will win 18 times. But on the single-zero wheel, you will still win 18 times but you will only lose 19 times since it only has one zero about which to worry.

The single-zero is therefore the better game in terms of the house edge. That is now 2.7% as opposed to the double-zero’s edge of 5.26%.

This carries through on all the bets at each game. Roulette players should know this fact. 

Now, why would the single-zero wheel have a higher minimum bet at your casino? The answer is simple; to make up for the fact that the house-edge is smaller. Some casino managers don’t want the casino to actually lose more money at the single-zero wheel so they up the ante for those players who choose it. Not all casinos do that but most will.

By the way, most American casinos do not offer the single-zero game, although you can find it on most Internet casinos.

Deciding to play the single-zero game if the minimums are the same or very close to the same is the way to go. But don’t play the single-zero game if the potential losses over time are greater. That’s a common-sense rule.

Oldest Casino Game

QUESTION: Is roulette the oldest casino game? I’ve heard a debate that it is craps and not roulette. Okay, so answer this burning question, sir.

ANSWER: The debates rage on about this. Welcome to the chaos because it really is somewhat chaotic. Oh, and some folks think it is one of card games as the champion. So here is how I see it.

Spinning a wheel (or a shield in ancient times) was done by many people, including soldiers. This was to find out the will of the gods. Same with shooting the dice. “Should I invade yonder village or city? Will I find me a wife there or at least some bit of fun? Tell me, lord, as I have been marching for years.”

But are any of these games involved in ancient forms of casino gambling in the somewhat modern sense? You know, the casino as a place that has been permanently set apart for challenging chance and not figuring out what the gods have to say? I think not. They were not for fun but for real information or what the participants thought was real information.

We do know that the Roman legions gambled but this was usually one-on-one or in small games in tents or such. Such games were usually a moveable feast so to speak. Native Americans gambled too, as did various tribes and small communities across the globe. Gambling seems to be in our natures. Yes, maybe in villages structures existed that offered gambling games.

Therefore, I do not actually think we can give a date to when this or that game came into being in the modern casino sense. It is probably a quandary that will remain a quandary. I can live with that.

Therefore, you can pick your game and argue for it all you desire. But seriously, who really knows? And most gamblers don’t really crave an answer to this question. 

Male vs. Female?

QUESTION: What is the breakdown on roulette between men and women? In short, who plays the most? I say women. It seems more like a female game.

ANSWER: Don’t be so quick to label games based on the sexes that play them. I don’t think the Roman soldiers who spun their shields were thinking this was a feminine activity.

But, yes, there are differences in what games are preferred by women and preferred by men. At least I have noticed this in my over three decades of casino playing. 

Men tend to gamble at a higher percentage than women in the casinos and outside the casinos. While women are the higher percentage of slots players, men tend to play the table games far more often than do women. Craps is almost 95% a man’s game. Blackjack seems to be evenly split between men and women with (maybe) women having the upper hand at this game.

Roulette? Men by an edge. 

I do not know what the percentage breakdown would be in the European or other countries outside of the United States as my playing in those countries is much less than in my own country, which figures of course. 

Little Wheel

QUESTION: Roulette is called “the little wheel” but that wheel doesn’t seem little to me.

ANSWER: I guess compared to a carriage wheel in the olden days one would think of the roulette wheel as little. This is the very first time anyone has posed this question to me. Congratulations.

Best Bets

QUESTION: Aren’t there any better bets at roulette than the ones everyone writes about? That house edge on the double-zero wheel is very large and while roulette is somewhat leisurely a 5.26% house edge is very big in my book. I like to keep the edges under 3%, if possible, maybe even under two percent. Any help in this regard?

ANSWER: You are in for a treat if you can find either of these two bets at roulette in the casinos you frequent. They are “surrender” and “en prison.” These options can only be used in the even-money bets but they cut the house edges in both types of games in half.

“Surrender” is found in the double-zero game. If the green 0 or 00 is the winner, you get back half your bet on your even-money wager. That’s right. If you are betting $10, you will get back $5 of that bet when a green 0 or 00 hits. 

The house edge goes down remarkably here, from 5.26% to 2.63%. In money terms, your expected loss is now $2.63 per $100 wagered over time. Not bad at all. You are under 3% if you can use this option.

On the single-zero game is “en prison.” This also reduces the house edge in half from 2.7% to 1.35%. In money terms “en prison” means a loss of $1.35 for every $100 wagered over time. 

If the green 0 hits, your bet is not lost. It remains for the next spin of the wheel. 

You know that 1.35% edge makes it one of the very best bets in the casinos, better even than the line or come bets at craps. 

If you get the opportunity to play either of these options then do so. A lower house edge is almost always a good deal. Just keep your betting controlled and enjoy the lower house edge.

Triple Zeroes?

QUESTION: I am wound up like you can’t believe. A friend of mine, a loyal roulette player just like me, told me that some casinos are flirting with a three-zero game. Right: 0, 00, 000. The house edge on this game must be tremendous if the casino is still paying out 35-to-1 on a win. I know the casinos want an edge on their games but this would be ridiculous. 

ANSWER: Don’t get into a lather yet. What your friend heard was just talk or rumor. I don’t know any casino as of yet that has done this. Of course, I don’t go to every casino in the country so maybe somewhere some casino has slipped in this game.

Would the house edge be huge? Yes, definitely. It would be 7.69% if the game were exactly like the single-zero and double-zero games with no modifications in payouts and no special bets other than the imposition of the 000.

If you were to ever run into this, don’t play it, no matter how much you want to play roulette. 

Can such a bad game get into the casino? Yes. Just look at the 6-to-5 blackjack games that are being offered by the casinos. That game cannot match a regular blackjack game but some of the fans of blackjack are playing it. 

So, stay away if you see the 0, 00, and 000 game. No roulette player needs to face that house edge.

Wheel Wonders

QUESTION: Do you think there are really biased wheels in the casinos today or are they just memories of the past? I don’t go to any backwater casinos, but in the casinos where I play the roulette games are quite sophisticated in their equipment. I don’t think we are going to get wheels that are “off.” What do you think of this?

ANSWER: I agree with you. I also don’t think the modern roulette setups lend themselves to wheels that are “off.” Maybe somewhere out there in the world of casinos there might be an “off” wheel or two. I wouldn’t spend any time traveling and looking for them. 

Find a favorite casino with a good modern wheel and enjoy yourself. Hunting for a “biased wheel” or a fabulously skilled dealer who can control where the ball lands is the casino equivalent of the hunt for Bigfoot.

I do think we like to fantasize about such things and once (over 30 years ago) my wife, the Beautiful AP, and I actually did play a biased wheel in Las Vegas. Never saw one since. Was it fun? Oh, yes, yes, yes. The other players had no idea – no idea! – that the wheel was off. They just kept playing their regular game.

It took the casino pit boss some time to realize that the wheel was “off” and when he did, they closed the table and offered us another table. We went back to our room for a good nap!

All the best in and out of the casinos!
 

We owe much in life to “fortune” as in luck, be that good or bad – as in money, be that much, some, little or none – as in all the events, thoughts, and decisions we make in our lives without truly knowing the consequences of such and their impacts.

And what’s “out there” in the world can cascade in on us and determine our lives from a given point onwards. Pestilence, war, poverty, natural disasters, our own mental sharpness, or lack thereof, is the scenery for much of our lives. Fortune hangs above our heads.

Even in relatively simple things fortune plays a role. 

I’m guessing that 100% (or close to that) of couples getting married think that their marriages will succeed. About 50% of those marriages don’t. All those couples flipped coins. Some got the winning side, some got the losing side. Some of us have been on both sides of that coin flip. How much did fortune have to do with that?

Here's a horrifying thought: many marriages that last are actually not good marriages.

Romeo said in Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, “O, I am fortune’s fool.”

Most of us have had moments, perhaps many moments, when we have felt just such fortune’s foolishness in our lives. Sometimes this foolishness is simple and somewhat silly, and sometimes this foolishness is deadly to ourselves or perhaps others.

Are we “fortune’s fool”?

Surely, it is difficult to escape the ravages of ill fortune. But it is wonderful to celebrate good fortune. Many of us think we earn our good fortune; that it tells the world about us. We are good and therefore good things must come to us. 

The ancient world (certainly before the book of Job in the Bible) thought that those who were wealthy were good people. They had to be, otherwise why had they been rewarded by the gods?

Those men and women and children who were poverty stricken, disease ridden, and miserable deserved their fates because they had done wrong in this life or that their relatives had done wrong in past lives. Such collective guilt was rampant in the old world. Collective guilt was a staple of primitive thinking. Two people eat a fruit that was banned and everyone whoever lives after them must die. Yikes! 

Today, most of us do not think we earn bad fortune. Certainly, earning the bad is not the prevalent feeling in the modern world. We have answered the philosophical question of: “why do bad things happen to good people?” This way: bad things do happen, sometimes because we have made mistakes that bring such bad things on ourselves or that we just had bad fortune in this or that arena.
 
We think of bad fortune as something dumped on us. We don’t ask for it. 

Now good fortune belongs to us and it should. We deserve it, don’t we? Most of us think of ourselves as good people. Even criminals often think of themselves as good people because it is most other people who are bad, correct?

Not so with ill-fortune. No, sir, that bad fortune has been splattered all over us like gooey detritus.  Read Facebook and you can hear the laments of many people raging at their lots in life. Not everyone has been enveloped by good fortune.

We all believe we deserve good fortune or at the very least more good fortune than we have at this moment. Just about all commercials are pushing the “fact” that this or that product will make us feel fortunate or better than we are at the moment. Every politician promises us that things will get better if they get elected.

Fortune’s Birth

The first bout we have with fortune is in our conceptions and births. Our parents bring us on life’s stage and then they set the stage for us. If we are not perfect at birth, we had no say in the matter. Our genes are fortune’s first instruments as is the womb in which we reside. 

All that is associated with our early lives most of us owe to our parents. We are formed, created, and enter the world totally at the mercy of those who bred us. And to those around us, be they blood relations or just relations, they dictate our early experiences and some or most of our views. Each and every one of us must deal with what, where, and who we have been born into.

Now, many babies are healthy, happy and grow up in happy homes. Their “outrageous fortune” (to quote William Shakespeare’s Hamlet) is that they have not been dumped into the many horrors many other humans are born and bred into. Think of the world and think of your state in it – do you have more good fortune or more ill-fortune?

Sometimes “outrageous fortune” can actually be good; most times it isn’t.

“Behind every great fortune is a great crime.” (Honoré de Balzac)

Which brings us to Fortune’s Fortress, the casino. Here fortune is manipulated in clever ways to make us happy and to make us sad. Look out over the casino floor, over the slot aisles, and you will see fortune’s influence in powerful ways. People are relying on good fortune to win money and fearing bad fortune that will make them lose money. Yes, some players win and yes, some lose.

There is an ongoing popular perception that the rich achieved their status by committing crimes or, at least, using unsavory practices that might not have been technically illegal to gain property and wealth. It is also widespread that the rich manipulate the law to favor themselves.

I have met many people who think the casinos cheat their players and that’s why the players lose. The players are just fools for playing.  Why would you play games that you know you will lose? Isn’t that wrong thinking?

Nothing can be further from the truth.

Casino players are aware that the house has an edge on almost every bet at every game and this allows the casinos to ultimately beat the players and continue to offer their product to people who wish to play casino games. Nothing is hidden here. Anyone who wants to learn how the casinos win from the players can do so. It isn’t rocket science. It is also relatively easy.

Many players know this is true but don’t actually know how the casino achieves such victory.

“How do the casinos do it?” (my mother)

The casinos manipulate their games in basically two ways: they win more decisions at a game and/or they underpay the winning bet based on their conception of what the bet should pay and not on the true probabilities of the bet. Both of these techniques will bring the money to them sooner or later.

Here are four examples: 

In craps, a pass line bet pays even money. The casino will win 251 decisions and the player will win 244 decisions. That seven-unit difference gives the casino a 1.41% edge over the player.

At roulette, the American double-zero wheel will pay 35-to-1 on a winning bet directly on a number. The true odds of the bet are 37-to-1. But the casino skimps on the payout by two units bringing down the player’s win to 35. This gives the casino a 5.26% edge over the player. The players will win 1 bet in 38 on average which is the correct probability but they will not be paid properly and that gives the casino the edge.

In blackjack, the casino will win approximately 48% of the bets, the player will win approximately 44% of the bets and the other bets will be draws. The casino will pay out more money on certain bets, such as a blackjack, so the house reduces the player’s chances of even bigger losses. The blackjack house edge (depending on the game and the rules) will be about 0.5%.

Machine games such as slots and video poker manipulate the payouts so that what comes out of the machine is less than what goes into the machine. Yes, there can be big wins at some machine games but as time passes the house edges of between approximately 1% (video poker) to 12% (slots) will beat the players.

Is this thievery? Is it a crime of gross proportions perpetrated on unwise and unwary players? No. It is the price the player pays for playing the games. Players know this fact: casinos have the edge over them.

When you buy a television set, you aren’t paying what it actually cost to build the set. The store has to add something to that price for the store to make a profit. Such is not a crime.

“Fortune favors the prepared mind.” (Louis Pasteur)

Are players just silly, stupid creatures enjoying their own doom as many casino critics maintain? Are the players loopy lemmings jumping over the casino cliffs?

Of course not. Still…

Players have options of what games to play and, perhaps even more important, how to play them. Most games with multiple bets have a range of house edges to confront and players owe it to themselves to know these house edges.

Again, let us take craps first: 

There are so many bets at a craps game, ranging from absolutely good to somewhat decent to absolutely awful. The awful bets tend to have large payouts coupled with extremely large house edges. And, yes, most craps players make a couple or some or many of these bets. Not a good thing to do if you want the best path to winning.

Craps is an exciting game; perhaps the most exciting game in the casino. Many craps players will tell you that without being prodded to do so. Still…

Too many craps players are disobeying Louis Pasteur’s dictum. Play the game making the lowest house edge bets and your chances of winning are far better.

Blackjack has a varied number of games with different rules. The best rules give the best chance to win. Of course, a player has to make playing decisions based on basic strategy, the computer-derived play of every possible player hand against every possible dealer up-card. Much of the success of blackjack play is in the decisions of the players – good players have a decent chance to win; bad players, well, poof!

There are better and worse slot machines to play. Don’t be shocked at this. For example, those multi-million-dollar machines have huge house edges in order to save up for the few players who hit it big. Too many slot players think they will be a part of the select few as they fantasize that fortune will smile on them. It might, yes, but it probably won’t. So don’t play those machines. Go for the more traditional machines that are not progressive and not linked to other machines.

There are better and worse video-poker machines to play but in video poker you must play the hands using the proper strategy for that particular game. Some video-poker games have very low house edges if played correctly – so why not play correctly?

[Please note: As a matter of fact, and as a strong word to the wise player, almost all casino card games have better and worse ways to play the hands. Find out the best ways to play the hands and only play those ways. That’s being prepared and that gives you the best chance to win.] 

“Diligence is the mother of good fortune.” (Benjamin Disraeli)

A thinking casino player is usually a good casino player. Thinking in this context means understanding the games, how to play the one or ones the player likes and to always bet money that the player can afford to bet.

Players have to keep themselves under control and play in a contained way. That makes sense to me. Letting it all hang out is a sure way to have what is hanging out to get chopped off.

Proper money management and proper playing strategies are all important. 

All the best in and out of the casinos!
 

Table of Contents

In the more than half a century that video poker machines have been available, there have been several schemes developed to “cheat” the machine in order to win more money. 

Some were successful – for a while. Others were just wishful thinking or schemes hatched by scam artists to the unsuspecting and gullible gambling public.

This article examines some procedures touted as keys to the vaults of the gambling tips kingdom but having no basis in fact. 

Have you tried any of them?

1. Hot (literally) games

This scheme only applied when most video poker games used coins rather than currency or tickets. Pundits claimed you could tell a machine that was about to pay off by checking the temperature of the coins that were paid out. If they were hot, the machine was also “hot.” It was ready to hit it big. 

If they were cold, no sense even attempting to play here. Try a different machine.

The logic, at first blush, seems to make sense – at least to the casual observer. The coins are cold when they are first added to the coin hopper. As they remain in the hopper, they gradually warm up due to the heat generated by the lights and electronics of the machine. The longer they are in the machine, the warmer they get until they become quite warm – hot, actually.

Taking this logic a bit further, the coins would be warm because they were in the machine for a long time. Since jackpots occur infrequently, the warmer the coins, the longer it has been since the last jackpot and the more likely the machine was due to pay off big. 

If the coins were cold, someone recently cashed out a huge win and the coin hopper had to be refilled. This means it would probably be a long time until the next jackpot.

As I said, the logic seems sound at first blush. But is it?

At best, this scheme offers a small indication of how long it had been since the last jackpot was hit. But there are several reasons that the coin hopper might have required a refill.

It is just as likely that there had been several, perhaps dozens of, small to medium wins the previous evening or even the previous day or days. The machine could have gone for days, even weeks without hitting the jackpot, required a refill, and the coins would be cold.

On the other hand, it is also possible that no one played the machine since the last refill – a refill prompted by a jackpot payout. Maybe it was a slow time and for whatever reason, no one sat down at this particular machine. Even though the coins were hot, the machine hit a jackpot just a few hands previously.

So, coins could be cold even though it has been several weeks since the last jackpot. They also could be hot even though a jackpot was hit very recently. 

2. Let’s jolt the machine

Bartenders I know swear by this one. 

If you are in a slump, your fortunes can be changed by simply switching to another game on the machine you are playing. Play a few hands and switch back to your favorite game. They opine that this changes the flow of the game. This simple “jolt” to the machine offers a much better shot at hitting the big one.

I know several people who have tried this gambit. Some swear by it and others swear it is hogwash. Others who have tried this have found that it works – sometimes. 

Of course, the same thing could have happened without switching games and switching back. That is how random works.

3. Abandon ship!

Similar to the previous technique, bartenders and players alike swear by this one. When things go south, switch machines. The logic behind this move states that every machine has streaks. The current machine is in a losing streak. Switching to a different machine gives the opportunity of hitting a machine that is on a winning streak.

4. Summary 

• There are several schemes and techniques claiming to allow a player to cheat a machine by predicting when the next jackpot will occur.
• None of the techniques presented here are backed with scientific proof that they work.
• Those who claim they work are either using flawed logic, selective memory, or lying.
• Even though these techniques are not proven to work, they also cause no harm.

The next article will offer techniques that actually work – with a caveat. Check back soon.

Other games may draw larger wagers, but slot machines attract more players than any other casino game. That's especially true in the United States, where slots have topped play in live casinos for decades. Online, slots are a wide-ranging phenomenon.

To make sure they get their share of players, slot manufacturers have to be sure to keep on top of innovations. They constantly bring out new bonuses and new ways to play to keep players coming out for more.

Hundreds of new games are introduced every year. Online casinos, not constrained by physical space, can give players more options than the most dedicated players can even dream. Let's check out three of the most attractive games that have started making their way into online play.

CARNIVAL IN RIO, Everi

It's party time for players with Carnival in Rio, with music and dancing to evoke the celebration and revelry in the week before Lent every year in Rio de Janeiro.

This is a five-reel slot game, with each reel three symbols deep. Carnival in Rio has its roots in a  game released to live casinos several years ago when Everi was still called Multimedia Gaming. On original release, it had 50 paylines, but has been freshened for online play. Some online casinos list 120 paylines, giving you more ways to win.

The premium symbols on the reels are the dancers, women in skimpy costumes and tall feathered headdresses. They're tall symbols that can take up all three spaces on a reel, so if you line up several matching dancers, it leads to big multiple-payline wins.

The dancers' costumes come in green, blue, pink and gold, and each is labeled with a Rio de Janeiro neighborhood: Ipanema for green, Leblon for blue, Flamenco for pink, and Copacabana for gold. 

Other symbols include the basic 9, 10, J, Q, K, and A you find on many slot games, free games symbols and "Carnival in Rio" spaces that alternate colors among the letters. Those multicolored Carnival spaces are wild symbols.

The main event  launches when you land three free spin symbols on your screen. Then you get seven free spins. The premium symbols darken, putting the dancers into shadow as they spin, shake and sway to the music. If you're lucky, you'll see plenty of dancing because the dancers,  in addition to the Carnival in Rio symbols, are wild during free spins.

Carnival in Rio is not a complicated game. The free spins are the only bonus event. But the freebies are frequent enough and the game atmosphere is full of good times.

WIZARD'S CRITTERS, High 5 Games

A big win can seem like magic on any slot machine. On Wizard's Critters, the good times can be downright supernatural with unlockable dragons. The more you play, the better your chance to win.

Five reels are each three symbols deep, with 20 paylines in a cascading reels game.

In the middle of a spooky old forest, a stone frame with runes etched into the edges surround the reels. The title wizard and his wand serve as a wild symbol. Other symbols include the J, Q, K, and A used on so many games; a swirl of magical energy that triggers a free spins bonus; a 5, because this is a High 5 games production; and three big-eyed baby dragons.

The red dragon is the biggest payer, followed by the green and then the blue.

At the start of play, each dragon is a single symbol, but a Spincrease feature enables you to increase so there are two, three, or four like dragons in the same symbol. If you've played enough to earn four-dragon symbols, then it's possible to line up not just five, but 20 of a kind on a payline for some truly enchanted payoffs.

To the left of the reels is a meter that rises as you play. When you fill the meter the first time, it enables double blue dragons. The second time through the meter unlocks double greens, the third double reds, and then you start the process again to unlock triple symbols. Finally, if  you're able to stick with Wizard's Critters long enough, you get a change to unlock the quadruple dragons.

Reels cascade on any winner. The winning symbols disappear, then new symbols drop down onto the reels for a chance to form new slot winning combinations.

The cascade effect applies to free spins, too. Landing three magic energy swirls on the reels launches the freebies and a supernatural good time.

LIL' DEVIL, Big Time Gaming

Do you feel like soaring on angels' wings or taking a spin on the devilish side? It's up to you as Big Time Gaming's Lil' Devil gives you free spin options.

The game has a different look with six reels each four symbols deep, and a frame around the middle two reels. Instead of traditional paylines, Lil' Devil gives you 4,096 ways to win as any path of matching symbols from left to right can serve as a virtual line.

Along with 9, 10, J, Q, K, and A, symbols include alligators, scorpions, a purple heart-shaped locket, a lizard in a jar, and a house with a heart atop its chimney. It's the house that triggers the free spins bonus.

Land three or more houses on the reels, and you face a choice between the Be My Angel Free Spins or the devilish By a Dynamite Lover Free Spins.

In Be My Angel, where the angel icon is in white with purple tinges and highlight, you receive seven free spins that include sticky wilds -- land a wild symbol on the reels and it stays in place for the  remainder of the free spins.

Even better, if you stack four wilds on the third reel, they become an angel wild that fills the column and carries a multiplier that increases by 2x on each spin. Should you get angel wilds on reels 3 and 4 and have 12x multipliers, they work together to multiply winnings by 12 x 12, or a whopping 144 times.

Should you select the “Be a Dynamite Lover” spins, you get 12 spins instead of seven. The wilds aren't sticky, but they are dynamite. Each time the dynamite blows up, a multiplier increases by 1x.

For some extra special fun, each time you see a Love Shack symbol, you collect a heart. Collecting 40 hearts launches the Heartstopper Enhanced Free Spins. You still have a devil or angel choice, but if you fly with the angels extra wilds are added to the possibilities, and if you stick with the devil the wins multiplier starts at 5x.

Those are extras that will make your credit meter bounce no matter which side you choose. It's all part of giving players extra entertainment to stand out among the never-ending parade of new games.