Месяц: Февраль 2014

As most of you know, I wear two hats in the gaming analysis world. There are some who might see my two roles as being opposed to each other. Quite frankly, at first, so did I.
Over the years, however, I realize they are more complementary than anything else. On one hand, I analyze games already created and write about them, with the goal being to educate the player to become the best possible he or she can be. On the other, I help invent games.
Some may think I do this using my knowledge of how players act to create games designed to trip them up. This simply is not the case. Even when working with inventors, I do my best to steer the game in a direction that offers the highest paybacks possible.
Let me be clear. Games are created with a house edge. If you consider that to be rigged, then there isn’t much more to discuss. No casino is going to purposefully put a game on the floor that has a player edge.
The one and only exception, to the best of my knowledge, is video poker, where there still remain some full-pay machines that pay over 100%. However, as most of these are at too low of a denomination to really do harm to the casino, they are content to let the very few profit at the expense of the overwhelming majority. In the last several years, I have had the pleasure of helping to develop Mississippi Stud and Ultimate Texas Hold’em. These two games boast paybacks in the mid to high 98% range and up. Part of the reason they are able to do this is because they require intricate strategy in order to achieve these theoretical paybacks.
This is also one of the reasons why video poker can offer such high paybacks. To achieve these paybacks require that a player play using a robust strategy that most do not bother to learn.
Slot machines in contrast offer absolutely no strategy. As a result, the casinos cannot rely on human error for any part of their profits and they must offer lower paybacks.
The same is true of side bets for table games. For the most part, it has pained me when I see the paybacks on side bets. It is not uncommon for them to be the mid 80% to low 90% range. Some go even lower into the high 70’s. Some side bets, especially progressives, offer huge payouts.
Players are willing to trade this low payback for the remote chance of the life-changing payout. Like slot machines, casinos must offer these lower paybacks because the side bets offer no strategy and they cannot rely on any human error to drive profits.
The problem with attempting to offer side bets with strategy is that it almost assuredly works against the basic strategy of the underlying game. This is a ‘no-no’ because the combined payback will now be lower than the two separate paybacks. Plus, it can require the player to learn some new hybrid strategy that may be more trouble than it is worth.
Less than a year ago, one side bet broke this model completely. I have to admit it is the only side bet that actually gets me excited. On the one hand, it is definitely a sidebet. On the other, it is almost an entirely new game within a game. Yet, if a player chooses not to play it, it does not impact the base game.
Quite frankly, even if he does choose to play it, it doesn’t affect the base game. But, it does require learning a strategy for the side bet. The game is called House Money and it is a side bet to blackjack.
The game is really quite simple. If you make the house money side bet, you will get paid if the first two cards dealt for blackjack are a Suited AK, a 2-Card Straight Flush, a Pair or a Straight. This works out to be about 21.5% of the time.
The most common payouts are 9,4,3,1 respectively (although there are multiple pay tables). Now, the fun begins. After you are paid for your side bet, you have the option to take all of your winnings (which includes the original side bet wager) and add it to the base blackjack wager.
This is after you have seen your two cards and the dealer’s upcard. So, if you’re dealt a 10-J suited, you will win 4-to-1 for your side bet. Assuming you wagered $5, you will now have the right to take the entire $25 (the $20 you won plus the $5 side bet) and add it to your base blackjack wager.
In the case of the 10-J you would always want to do this. The dealer will check for blackjack prior to you making this additional wager. That way you are not risking your winnings if the dealer has blackjack.
Imagine having a $5 wager on the base game and $5 on the side bet when dealt this hand. The dealer turns a 7 up and then flips over a 10. Your $5 side bet becomes $25, which turns your base into a $30 wager. When winning, you have $50 for being dealt a suited 10-J and taking the blackjack hand.
One strange fact about house money is that the payback of the side bet actually goes up with more decks. This is because some of the winning hands are more frequent with added decks. With 6 or 8 decks, house money pays more than 97% and it makes absolutely no impact on the base game of blackjack.
That said, it is imperative that you choose to let your winnings ride (i.e. cap your wager) at the right times and that you play proper blackjack strategy. If you are dealt a 5-6 against a 7 and choose not to cap your wager or cap your wager but then chicken out and not double down (requires doubling the entire wager), then you will not achieve the 97% payback.

read more

Station Casinos’ “May $3 Million Swipe & Win” giveaway includes the chance to win roundtrip airfare for two to Hawaii on Allegiant Airlines as well as cash, dining and slot play prizes.
The promotion runs now through May 26. Station Casinos guests may participate at the following nine properties: Boulder, Fiesta (Henderson and Rancho) Green Valley Ranch, Palace, Red Rock, Santa Fe, Sunset and Texas.
Entries may already be earned daily by playing slots, video poker, keno, bingo, table games as well as with select race and sports wagers. Entries earned during the week will be applied to drawings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 8:15 p.m.
Entries earned at one property do not carry over to the others, however guests are welcome to become eligible at multiple properties. All guests who swipe their Boarding Pass card on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays will have an additional opportunity to vie for airfare for two to Hawaii on Allegiant.
Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, guests may swipe their Boarding Pass card at any Boarding Pass kiosk to win cash up to $10,000, free meals, slot play and more. In addition, $600,000 will be awarded through drawings each Friday, Saturday and Sunday with 10 guests per property winning up to $1,000 each.
While guests have up to 24 hours to claim prizes, any winner who is present and claims their prize within three minutes of the drawing, will be awarded a “Be There Bonus” that doubles the prize. Full contest details are available at www.sclv.com or at any Rewards Center.
South Point: Through May 31, players have the opportunity to win a 2013 Finlay Camaro 2LS. You can earn one electronic entry into the “$800,000 Need for Speed Camaro A Day Giveaway” drawing for every base point earned on slots or video poker. If the Camaro winner is present during the drawing, the resort will pay sales tax, vehicle registration and dealer fees plus $2,000 in gasoline. Should the winner forgo the Camaro, the prize will be $18,000 cash plus the $2,000 gas bonus.
Aliante: Club members can swipe at a kiosk for a 2-for-1 Medley Buffet voucher good for breakfast, lunch or dinner Monday through Thursday through May. There is a limit of one per person per day, valid on issue day only. The prices are now $5.99 for breakfast, $8.99 for lunch, $10.99 for dinner (weeknights), $15.99 for Friday and Saturday dinner and $10.99 for Saturday and Sunday brunch (7 a.m.-3 p.m.).
Swipe the player’s card at a kiosk Friday through Sunday for a 3-12x slot point multipliers. (Caution: This promo may not include video poker).
Hooters: The casino hotel is running “Pulling for Riches,” a tab promotion this month. Get a pull tab every day in May with a chance to win up to $1,000 cash and other prizes, including free slot play, table game match plays, hotel stays, gifts and more. Get a free tab every Sunday.
Earn 125 points for tabs on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and 250 points Thursdays through Saturdays. Players may earn up to two tabs per day.
Until next week…good gaming and good luck!

read more

Welcome to the first official holiday weekend of summer!
The Golden Nugget Las Vegas invites players to wheel and deal their way to a $25,000 cash grand prize during the $100,000 Pawn Shop Slot Tournament from May 24-26.
With two rounds of slot play and two opportunities to improve scores in the re-buy rounds, players can double their chances to win big during this special slot tournament.
A $100 entry fee includes the two-day slot tournament, two free pulls on the brand new Pawn Stars slot machine, daily drawings for a VIP tour of the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop downtown, a Pawn Stars t-shirt, casino room rate over Memorial Day weekend and a guaranteed minimum $100 gift certificate to the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop.
The GN is also giving players the chance to meet, greet and take photos with Chumlee, The Old Man and Rick Harrison from History’s hit TV show “Pawn Stars” during the welcome reception and awards ceremony. To register or for more information, call 1-800-777-5687.
Stratosphere: The downtown resort will be hosting a Memorial Weekend Pool Party this Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. both days. There will be DJ entertainment from noon to 6 p.m., and Malibu Girls offering giveaways on Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. Drink Specials start at $6. There’s a $1.50 shot of Jack Daniel’s with every beer purchase from noon to 3 p.m. plus food specials starting at $8.
Treasure Island: Señor Frogs has a lineup of fiesta specials from Friday, May 24 through Monday, May 27. A different special will be featured each day of the holiday weekend. The fiesta will kick off on Frog’s Friday with a patio party from 3 to 7 p.m. featuring two-for-one margaritas and half-priced appetizers.
On Saturday, the party bar will host a Latin night from 10 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. Señor’s Sunday Funday will give partygoers two-for-one drinks for their first round with a “check-in” on Foursquare, Facebook or Twitter using the @SenorFrogsVegas handle. Guests must present their check-in or post at the hostess stand to receive the voucher and will be limited to one voucher per person.
To conclude the three-day weekend, $3 AMF, Sex on the Beach and house tequila shots will be served all day on Memorial Day.
Palms: Earn free slot play on Mondays and Wednesdays this month. Earn 100 to 3,500 slot points or 1,200 to 40,000 video poker points between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. to receive from $3 to $100 in free slot play. A complete schedule is available at the club booth.
South Point: Play free Bingo every Monday through Friday at the 9 a.m. session. There will be 10 games at $100 each. Visit the Bingo Room for details.
Silverton: The Sway Pool Lounge concert series will feature Adventures in Parrotdise, a Jimmy Buffett tribute band on Memorial Day, Monday, May 27. Admission is $19.99 and includes two drinks. Doors open at 1 p.m. and the show starts at 2.
Until next week…Happy Memorial Day! Be safe! Good gaming and good luck!

read more

I love getting together with friends. Invariably, I get asked questions about casino games, which becomes fodder for a column. This past week, I got several possible topics based on some questions I was peppered with.
One dealt with 3-card Straight Flushes. Another dealt with which High Cards to hold and when. Lastly, I was “informed” that Deuces Wild is a bad game to play because of poor payback.
Admittedly, these came from friends who will openly state they are not expert players. One of these friends also asked me what benefit there was to the casino to offer games with a player advantage.
The simple answer is so few people play these games correctly, they’re willing to allow 1% or 0.1% or maybe 0.01% of the people to make a few dollars at the expense of the other 99-plus-%.
The rest of the questions I was asked only prove the point. If you don’t know when to hold a 3-card Straight Flush or which High Cards to keep, the odds are (no pun intended) you’re not going to play the 100-plus-% game at 100-plus-%.
So, I’ll use this week’s column to answer their questions and, hopefully, educate some of you on how to move a few steps closer to Expert Strategy. The first question dealt with 3-card Straight Flushes.
Normally, Straight Flushes are the black sheep of hands. They should occur every 9000-plus hands, but because so many people ignore the 3-card Straight Flushes, they tend to be even rarer. The person who asked the question actually spoke of how often he hit them, which was surprising. But not after telling me he tends to throw Low Pairs in favor of 3-card Straight Flushes. This is not such a good idea.
While 3-card Straight Flushes tend to be forgotten, you don’t want to over value them either. A Low Pair outranks every 3-card Straight Flush (not 3-card Royals, however). When you consider that in Jacks or Better every 3-card Straight Flush, even Inside and Double Inside ones, are playable this can lead to a lot of mistakes if you throw away the Low Pair.
When you consider that a large percentage of 3-card Straight Flushes are also Low Pairs, this error will prove to be very costly to your bankroll. I don’t have the space here to list out all the strategy for 3-card Straight Flush, but for now, let’s say they are below a Low Pair and every one of them is playable.
You also play 4-card Straights (not Inside) over the comparable 3-card Straight Flush. The critical part is that you play even the most awful looking 3-card Straight Flush over a single High Card, except for the Double Inside with 0 High Cards, which only outranks the Razgu.
Next up in the question bin – how to play High Cards? Generally speaking, the goal is to keep the suited High Cards. So, if dealt three High Cards and two are the same suit, those are the ones we play. If all three cards are of a different suit, but one is an Ace, we play the two High Cards that are not an Ace.
If it is J-Q-K all of different suits, we hold all three cards. If you have two unsuited High Cards and one is an Ace, then you keep both. That describes which ones to keep.
As for when to keep them, see the earlier part of this article and you’ll learn that we frequently keep a 3-card Straight Flush made up of three Low Cards over a High Card, So, if dealt 3-4-5 suited and J-Q (off suit), we hold the 3-4-5.
That brings us to the last question about Deuces Wild. Should the game be avoided due to low payback? I’m not sure where my friend got this notion – perhaps he had some bad experiences. If he tried to use his Jacks or Better strategy on a Deuces Wild game, things would not be pretty.
In reality, Deuces Wild can offer some of the highest paybacks in the casino. However, like all versions of video poker, you have to check the pay table. Sometimes, different variations of video poker are given different unique names and sometimes they just scramble the pay table a bit and still call it Deuces Wild.
So, pay attention to the pay table and make sure you are using the right strategy. While I do my best to give tips out in my column, the only way you’re really going to become an expert player is by learning the complete strategy for the games.
I continue to offer our three best selling video poker books for $5 each (includes shipping and handling) to my loyal GamingToday readers. Check them out on my website, and send a check or money order to Gambatria, P.O. Box 36474, Las Vegas, NV 89134.

read more

I talk about smart and fun gaming every week. These two aren’t mutually exclusive. Smart gaming isn’t always fun and fun gaming isn’t always smart. However, winning is always fun.
When we can combine smart with fun with winning we have a perfect time at the casino. Depending on plans for the night, playing a longer time may lead to fun gaming. Knowing the right games to play and how to play them makes for a good time. This is why I like to look at the minutia of every game in the casino.
Unfortunately, finding the right game is sometimes stressful for some people. If you’re with a group of friends you may not want to walk around the casino, especially a large one like Caesars Palace, just to find out the best paying game was in the front. With certain groups of friends you just want to sit at the first table with room for your group regardless of limits or rules.
Sometimes it’s more fun to visit a casino and not worry about strategy and making the right moves at the table. It’s okay to just want to kick back have a few drinks, let the laughs roll and not think about anything. Writing this column is a way to embed the smart games in my head. Even when I’m not looking for a particular game, I know to choose the smarter one. I hope you can say the same.
Blackjack is the table game involving the most “effort” to find the smart ones. Many casinos, especially in Las Vegas, have multiple types of blackjack games on the floor. The first – and probably most important – thing to keep an eye on is the payout for blackjack. The house advantage is always less when blackjack pays 3:2 than when it pays 6:5.
When the casino goes with 6:5 it changes the house advantage in their favor more than any other alteration to the game. Depending on the rest of the rules, it can triple the house advantage.
If you just want to kick back, hang out and play blackjack, regardless of 6:5 or 3:2 payouts you can still play smart. The 6:5 is usually lower limit games. You can minimize the damage done by the larger house advantage simply by playing hands for the least amount of money you find interesting.
If you usually play a progressive-style game you can forgo that, too. I will often play $25 blackjack with advantageous rules but if friends want to go somewhere with a lesser game I’ll just drop my play to $5 or $10.
Minimizing bets on a blackjack game with a larger house advantage is a simple change and may be obvious to some, but simply by playing lower limits you lessen your exposure to the casino. Saving money isn’t as good as making money but limiting the damage can allow you to play longer.
Ultimately we are in the casino for fun.

read more

My elder son has finished up his year in college and came home the other day. As we do our best to keep him entertained while in Vegas, we went to the Laugh Factory at the Tropicana the other night.
Invariably, when comedians are in Las Vegas, they will tell jokes about the dry heat and about losing money while gambling. I think I’ve been very honest about the odds of long-term winning while gambling. With the rare exception of some tough to find video poker games and/or the ability to count in blackjack, you’re simply not going to win in the long term. But, this doesn’t mean you have to “lose your shirt” either.
A few weeks ago I showed how when playing blackjack for an hour, a $5 player should expect to lose only a little over $1/hour. This, of course, assumes playing properly. If you are too timid to double down on soft hands, or don’t like splitting 2’s looking into a 7, then, well, all bets are off as to what your payback will really be.
The comedian was hopefully joking when he talked about struggling to add up his cards while playing blackjack. If you’re really struggling with this, maybe you should try Casino War or Three Card Poker.
In that same column where I talked about the average you can expect to lose while playing blackjack, I also mentioned the average you can expect to lose while playing full-pay Jacks or Better video poker. As the two games have similar paybacks, the only real difference is the average amount you wager in an hour of each game.
Much to many players’ surprise, a max-coin quarter video poker player actually wagers more in an hour than a $5 blackjack competitor. That said, however, the game of video poker is far more volatile, and while the average loss rate may only be a couple of bucks an hour (depending on speed of play), actual results will wind up all over the place.
Blackjack is a much less volatile game and we will find our actual results will really tend to be very close to the theoretical amount. To help illustrate this point, I ran 100,000 multi-hour sessions of blackjack, each consisting of 100 hands. I then tabulated the amount won or lost, rounding to the nearest dollar.
First of all, the player had a winning session nearly 46% of the time. He lost 49% of the time, with the remainder being breaking even. Around 32% of the time the player will wind up within $20 of his starting point, with only a slight slant toward the losing side. He will wind up within $40 of his original bankroll more than 55% of the time and lose $100 or more only 5%.
To be clear, this is not the same as saying if he starts with $100, he will go “bust” only 5% of the time. The simulation I ran does not take into account a player who may have at some point been down more than $100 and then come back to lose less than $100. This will not be a huge number, but it will add to the total.
I’m not downplaying the impact of losing $100. This is not a small amount and could be considered a high cost for 2-plus hours of entertainment. At the same time, we are only talking about a 1 in 20 chance, while the player has a 4.4% chance of winning $100 or more. That’s why it is called gambling.
The overall point is the notion that every time you gamble you’re going to lose your shirt is simply not accurate. If we assume paying up to $25 is a fair price for the 2-3 hours of entertainment value, then we find the player will meet this goal 62% of the time. In fact, of this 62%, he will actually wind up winning money nearly 75% of the time.
Again, this all assumes playing properly. This tends to be what trips up players far more often than the basic nature of the game. Blackjack has a payback of about 99.5% when played properly. Played improperly, the payback could drop dramatically.
If you drop it to 98%, which is still a respectable payback for most table games, this may not seem like a lot, bit it means the casino advantage increases fourfold. If I were to simulate such a strategy, we would find the numbers are not so generous to the player, and the likelihood of losing one’s shirt will go up considerably.
Thus, while the nature of the game is still one where the player will lose in the long run, the player can greatly control (within reason), just how much will be lost by learning to play using the right strategy.
I’d like to take this opportunity to give a shout out to my elder son who is turning 21 this week. A very happy birthday to you! Welcome to the age of majority.

read more