Gaming Today

The key in blackjack is net win or loss

Blackjack isn’t really analyzed any differently than any other game. It essentially comes down to determining your possible plays at any point in time and then figuring out which one results in the highest unit wins or lowest unit losses. The first thing you might notice is I did not say whichever strategy results in […]

How to play the straight flush in video poker

The payout for a Straight Flush is awful relative to how often they occur. A Royal occurs every 40,000 hands or so and pays 800-for-1. Quads show up every 423 hands and pay 25. Straight Flushes occur every 9,600 hands and pay only 50! Of course, part of the reason they show up only every […]

Roulette strategy is simple: just play

The game of roulette is like a mini version of the entire casino. Almost every wager has the exact same payback. You bet a single number and it comes up, you win 35-1. The payback is 36 divided by 38 (assuming a Double 0 wheel), or 94.74%. If you wager on a Split (2 numbers), […]

Standard deviation accurate tool for casino gaming

Over the years, I have used an expression that essentially says the longer you play the more likely you will approach the theoretical payback. What does this really mean? Some naysayers have tried to claim that using something like Expert Strategy is useless because the long run is so far out there that it is […]

Free Bet Blackjack – Worth the Gamble?

There’s an old saying about not getting anything for free. Well, thanks to Free Bet Blackjack, that isn’t completely true. Of course, it is not completely false, because technically, you don’t get it for nothing. Free Bet Blackjack is the relatively new game from Geoff Hall and Scientific Games. As it is from Geoff Hall […]

Watch live table before first blackjack try

I’ll state it right up front. This is a column for people who have never played blackjack in a casino. I’m going to explain the very basics of the game and some of the common terms. If you are already a regular at blackjack, but need some strategy assistance, you may have to wait a […]

Calculating expected value in video poker

Last week, I discussed how every strategy decision made in the casino is based on the expected value. In the game of Blackjack, there are usually only two, maybe three realistic ways to play a hand. Many hands are fairly obvious if you get even the most basic strategy down. Not much to choose from […]

Should you throw away all five cards in video poker?

How often do you throw away all five cards in video poker? The question really is should you, but how often does this occur? Players don’t like to lose when gambling. As a result, many do everything they can to hold it off as long as possible. In blackjack, many Players don’t like to hit […]

Knowing Expected Value important

Every single game in the casino is driven by “Expected Value.” When we are talking about the expected value of the entire game it is called payback or sometimes return to player (RTP). When we are looking at a single hand, spin or decision, it is called the expected value. What percent of our wager […]