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Gaming Guru  A real chance or little chance?20 November 2018
By Frank Scoblete Casino gamblers are faced with several problems when they play the games. They can come in the form of the following questions: • What kind of house edge does the game have? • How fast is the game? (Meaning how many decisions per hour?) • What is my best strategy to have the best chance to beat the house at this game? Many players can make one or two mistakes, and some sad ones can get all three answers wrong. That can cost a player some hurt in the bankroll department. The house edge concerns what percentage of the money the casino keeps for each bet. If a game has a 10% edge, a $10 player will have an average loss of $10 for every $100 wagered. The speed of the game, meaning how many decisions one faces each hour (you can plug in any other time frame if you like such as a half hour, four hours and so on). If the game with a 10% edge has 100 decisions per hour then the average $10 player can expect to lose $100 per hour over time. If the number of decisions is 50 per hour, the $10 player can expect to lose $50. What is the best strategy? In my opinion, you have to go with the game that has the lowest number of decisions and the lowest possible house edge. In games where there are multiple possible bets, you have to choose the best one. That gives you the best chance to come home a winner. In games such as blackjack, you have to make decisions on every hand, and therefore each decision has to be correct. Let’s take a look at some of the popular games. Blackjack: The best strategy at blackjack is called “basic strategy,” which is the computer-derived strategy for the play of every player hand against every dealer up card. The house edge using such a strategy is about one-half percent. That is a loss of 50 cents per $100 wagered. Now with blackjack, you play alone against the dealer, but you can possibly face 100 decisions. It is better for a basic strategy player to play at full or nearly full tables to reduce the number of decisions per hour. The game is close this way and offers the best chance to come home a winner. Craps: This game comes with a variety of bets, most of them poor. There are house edges in the double-digits. Not good. But there are some decent bets at the game, for example, the pass line and the come, the don’t pass and the don’t come. The house edge on these bets is approximately 1.4%. It is best to make small wagers on these options and be able to put odds behind the bet. The odds bet is a break even bet against the house. How many of these good bets you make per roll of the dice will determine how much you can expect to lose. Therefore, the fewer the number of bets, the better chance you have of winning. The more of these bets you make for every roll of the dice, the better the chance you will ultimately fall behind. With one bet, the speed of the game is reduced markedly. The above is the best way to go when you play craps. Roulette: You want a full or almost full table to reduce the number of decisions. All bets come in with a 5.26% house edge (except the awful five-number one). In some venues, the casino will return half your even-money bets if the green 0 or 00 shows. In such a case, you should only bet one of the following: red/black, high/low or odd/even. You can use these ideas for any game you play. The better your betting strategy and the slower the game, the better chance you have to win. Visit Frank’s website at www.frankscoblete.com. 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, and at bookstores. This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net. Making money13 November 2018
I used to do a lot of consulting for casinos and casino companies, and at times such consulting dealt with slot machine companies (by the way, I was a player-friendly consultant!). I remember the first time I met some slot honchos and one of the lead guys asked me, “What is the purpose of the slot machine?” It was not a hard question to answer. ... (read more)
Playing it safe is good6 November 2018
If given a choice between a high house-edge bet that brings in a large amount of money should it win or a low house-edge bet that brings in a comparative trickle, which choice would you make? Take the craps bet of Yo-Eleven, which is a single-roll bet that the next number will be an 11. If it wins, you are paid 15 to one. ... (read more)
Betting the Battle of the Birds30 October 2018
You tell me: Who is going to win this battle? We have two birds, Augustus, a Quaker parrot of about 22 years, and Mister Squeaky, a Green-Cheeked Conure of about six years. Mister Squeaky was named by his original owners and I have often dropped the Mister part. I don’t think Squeaky is quite at the age or stage where he should be called Mister. ... (read more)
Ask Frank: Spanish 21 StrategyHello there, Living in Canada, I find that the rules are more liberal here than at other casino locales, such as the dealer standing on all 17s for Spanish Blackjack. In your book, Armada Strategies for Spanish 21, there is only a strategy for when the dealer hits soft 17. I w... (read more)Ask Frank (Playing Winning Craps)Dear Mr. Scoblete: In your book Forever Craps, you recommend to play one Don't Come bet per shooter without odds in order to reduce your exposure to the house. I usually play at casinos that count the spread and odds. If I play one ... (read more)Bad Ways to Play Good Casino GamesYou've met this guy before. He's cantankerous, witless, and loud. He knows everything about everything when it comes to casino games. He's a self-made expert who knows more than all writers and mathematicians combined, and as he doubles on his thirteen against the dealer's ... (read more)The Craps to English DictionaryCraps is another country, a kingdom with its own mores, legends, myths, rites, rituals, superstitions and government. It also has its own language, much of it easily misunderstood as sexual or scatological references. For those of you interested in journeying to this ... (read more)Craps Crap and Craps Gold - Part 1What do the following sayings have in common? "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." "Better late than never." "High fences make good neighbors." "Always play the Pass/Come and take full odds." Answer: The above statements are true. Yes, some people might quibble and say that you can eat as ... (read more)Frank Scoblete |
Frank Scoblete |
