September 2008
20 Tips To Beat The Odds by John Grochowski
Want a short piece of advice for getting the most out
of a day in the casino? Be prepared. Be prepared to choose the game
that’s right for you. Be prepared for strategy decisions. Be prepared
to manage your money wisely.
Want 20 more short tips? Try these, drawn from my
“Beat the Odds Tips” that airs weekends on WBBM-AM in Chicago.
BLACKJACK
1. A frustrated blackjack player e-mailed me recently with a
familiar lament. “I can’t stand it when another player’s mistake costs
me money,” he grumbled.
The other player had made a basic strategy mistake
and drawn a 10 that would have made the dealer go bust. Instead, the
dealer drew a 6, completed a 21 and beat the whole table. Of course,
there’s nothing magical or pre-ordained about card order. The 6 could
just as easily have come out first, and then the mistake would have
SAVED the hand for everyone. Here’s your tip: If the mistakes of
others upset you, change tables. But the decisions are theirs to make,
and in the long run the times they hurt you and the times they help
will
balance out.
2. While playing blackjack one day, I watched as a
player who had an ace and a 5 signaled to stand. The dealer urged him
to take another card. All the players at the table urged him to take
another card. He was determined to stand.
The dealer, who had a 10 face up and a 6 down, then
drew the card the player WOULD have received a 5. The player would
have had 21. Instead, the dealer had 21, and beat the table.
Here’s your tip: Aces can be counted as either 1 or
11, and when it’s counted as 11, you have a “soft” hand, one that no
one-card draw can bust. The worst this player’s soft 16 could have
become with a hit was a hard 16. Never stand on any soft hand of 17 or
below.
3. Sometimes in blackjack, the best offense is a
good defense. And splitting pairs is often a form of defense.
Take a pair of 8s, especially when the dealer has a
10 face up. If we play it as a 16, we bust too often if we hit, and if
we stand, the dealer beats us all 79 percent of the time he makes 17
or better.
If we split the 8s, making a second bet to start a
separate hand with each 8, we’ll still lose more money than we win
when the dealer shows a 10. But 8 is a much better building block than
16, and we’ll lose less money by splitting the pair than by playing
the 16.
Here’s your tip: Always split 8s. You’ll sometimes
lose two bets at once, but in the long run, it’ll save you money.
4. If the dealer has an ace face up when you’re
dealt a blackjack, the dealer will ask if you want “even money.” If
you wager $5, you’ll win $5 even if the dealer also has a blackjack.
“The only sure thing in the house,” I’ve had dozens of dealers tell
me. But to get that sure thing, you have to pass up a 3-2 payoff if
the dealer DOESN’T have a 10-value card face down. If the dealer
doesn’t tie you, you SHOULD win $7.50 on that $5 bet.
Here’s your tip: Unless you’re a card counter and
know that more than a THIRD of the remaining cards are 10s or face
cards, DON’T take even money. That “sure thing” costs you money in the
long run.
5. When you play blackjack, you’ll find games that
are shuffled by hand, those that use an automatic shuffler in which
cards are reshuffled after the dealer reaches a cut card, and those
that are used as automatic continuous shufflers, in which cards are
just shuffled back into the deck after they’re played.
Continuous shufflers aren’t just there to foil card
counters. They’re tough on average players, too. That’s because with
no breaks for a shuffle, play is speeded up. More hands per hour means
more changes for the house edge to work against you.
Here’s your tip: If you want to make your money
last, hand-shuffled games are your friend. Avoid tables that use
continuous shufflers.
SLOT MACHINES
6. Slot machines are the most popular games in today’s casinos,
and also the easiest to play. But even slot machines require a little
attention if you’re going to get the most for your money. You’ll find
information painted on the machine glass on reel-spinning games or on
the help menu on video games that can help you avoid some costly
mistakes.
I once saw a woman land three jackpot symbols on the
payline of a slot machine. She screamed, her friends jumped around
her, and nothing happened. No lights, no bells and whistles, no
payoffs. On the machine she was playing, the jackpot symbols weren’t
activated unless three coins were wagered. She’d bet only one coin. It
was just another losing spin.
Here’s your tip: Read the machine glass or the help
menu first, and understand the game’s conditions before you play.
7. Have you ever left a slot machine, only to see
another player sit down and hit a jackpot? Does the thought make you
squirm just a little? Shouldn’t that have been YOUR jackpot?
Relax. If you’d kept playing, that jackpot probably
still wouldn’t have been yours. Results are determined by a computer
program called a “random number generator.” It continually, and very
rapidly, generates numbers that correspond to reel combinations.
For you to have hit that same jackpot, your timing
would have to be the same as the other player, right down to the
millisecond. Speed up or slow down for a fraction of a second, sip a
drink or scratch your nose, and you have a different result.
Here’s your tip: If it’s going to bother you that
another player hits a jackpot on “your” machine, walk away and don’t
watch. But understand that your results would have been different
anyway. 8. A woman once phoned me, certain a slot machine had been
rigged. She usually played roulette, she explained, but on this
occasion was taking a chance on a $5 slot machine. She’d lost a couple
thousand dollars, then went to an ATM and withdrew a few thousand
more. And she lost THAT.
“I hadn’t hit ANYTHING,” she told me. “I was SURE it
was due.” There was nothing wrong with the machine, but there was
plenty wrong with her approach. Slot machines are never “due,” they’re
as random as humans can program them to be, and previous results have
NO EFFECT on future outcomes. Here’s your tip: Stay within your
budget, and don’t count on a cold machine to suddenly heat up. Long
cold streaks are as much a part of the normal odds of the game as big
jackpots.
9. There are more myths about slot machines than any
other casino game, but it took me aback when one day’s e-mail brought
two notes, each taking opposite sides of the same myth.
One player complained that casinos loosened slot
machines in the daytime, so the “idle rich,” as he put it, got the
good stuff, while working people got lower payouts at night. The other
complained that the slots were tight in the daytime, when retirees
play, and that the jackpots are reserved for younger folks at night.
Here’s your tip: Slot machines pay out the same
percentages, day or night. To change the paybacks, casinos have to
replace a computer chip inside the machine. A Gaming Board agent must
be present as evidence tape is broken, the chip is replaced, and the
new chip is sealed with new evidence tape. That’s not something that’s
done on a day/night whim.
10. Among the prime attractions of video slot
machines are interactive bonus games that are a fun way to pile up
credits without making extra wagers. Land three noisemakers on the
screen in Jackpot Party, for example, and you get to touch the screen
to choose gift boxes containing credits until a “Pooper” ends your
party.
I’m often asked if your choices make a difference,
or if your bonus is pre-determined, with the program just putting that
amount in the gift boxes you pick.
Here’s your tip: Your bonus-round choices DO make a
difference. A random number generator sets where the big bonuses will
be, and where the round-enders will be. But there is no way for the
player to know which is which. All you can do hope you’re lucky.
CRAPS
11. Players get very few even breaks in a casino, but that’s just
what they get with free odds at craps. After the shooter has
established a point number, players may back their pass line bets with
an additional wager called “free odds.” Free odds are paid at true
odds of winning, so there is no house edge. If the point is 6, for
instance, odds are 6-5 against you that the shooter will roll a 6
before a 7. If he does, your pass line bet is paid at even money, but
the free odds will bring you $6 for every $5 wagered.
Here’s your tip: Keep your pass line bets to a
minimum, and save your money for the free odds. Instead of risking $25
on pass, you’re much better off with $5 on pass and the remaining $20
bringing you those true odds.
12. Making a place bet on 4, betting a craps shooter
will roll a 4 before the next 7, is a terrible bet, with a house edge
of 6.67 percent. Same deal if you place 10. Even if you “buy” that 4
or 10, paying a 5 percent commission in exchange for having winners
paid at the true odds of 2-1, the house edge is a still-hefty 4.76
percent.
Some casinos charge the commission only if you win.
When you don’t have to pay the commission when your 4 or 10 are
losers, the house edge sinks all the way to 1.67 percent.
Here’s your tip: Ask the dealer if the commission is
charged on losing bets when you buy 4 or 10. If it’s charged only on
winners, you have a reasonable bet. If it’s charged on losers, skip it
13. A craps player told me he likes to make $6 place
bets on 6 or 8, but also hedge with $3 bets on 7. That way, a roll of
6 or 8 wins $7 and loses just the $3 on 7. And if a 7 wipes out the
place bets, he makes it up by winning $12 with the 3-1 odds on any 7.
Place bets stay on the table unless either the
winning number or a loser 7 is rolled. But 7 is a one-roll bet, it’s 7
or nothing. On most rolls, the player just loses the hedge bet on 7
without getting anything back on the other bets.
Here’s your tip: Hedge bets don’t work, and any 7 is
a particularly bad one, with a house edge of 16.67 percent. Don’t ruin
decent bets like 6 and 8, with house edges of 1.52 percent, by
layering on a stinker like any 7.
VIDEO POKER
14. There’s no way to look at the outside of a slot machine and
tell which is a high-payer and which is a coin gobbler. Not so with
video poker games. They advertise the probabilities with the paytables
on the screen or on the machine glass.
The places to look on most non-wild card games are
the payoffs on full houses and flushes. Each decrease in the payoff
costs us about 1.1 percent of our long-term return. A “9-6” Jacks or
Better game, meaning full houses pay 9-for-1 and flushes 6-for-1,
returns about 2.2 percent more than an “8-5” game, paying 8-for-1 on
full houses and 5-for-1 on flushes.
Here’s your tip: Compare paytables before you play.
Often, you’ll find different pay versions of a game within the same
casino. Pick the high-payers, and leave the coin gobblers alone.
15. Payoffs in most video poker games start at a
pair of jacks, so many players underestimate the power of low pairs.
I often see players who are dealt a pair of 5s along
with a jack or higher, discard the 5s and hold the high card. But
using the basic game of 9-6 Jacks or Better as an example, holding the
low pair will bring an average return of 4.12 coins per five wagered,
while the high card will bring just 2.46. Here’s your tip: Holding one
high card will bring more frequent winners than a low pair, but the
low pair will bring bigger winners, more of those three of a kind,
full house and four of a kind hands that keep you going. Hold the low
pair instead of a single high card.
16. Video poker players often find themselves with
four parts of a straight, but before you draw, remember that not all
straight draws are created equal.
Dealt 5-6-7-8, you have eight possible cards to
complete the straight, the four 4s remaining in the deck, and the four
9s. You also have four parts of a straight when you’re dealt 5-6-7-9,
but there are only four cards that will complete the straight, the
four 8s.
Here’s your tip: In Jacks or Better video poker, if
you’re dealt four parts of a straight that’s open on both ends, go for
it. But if your draw for the straight is on the inside, don’t bother
unless at least three of your cards are jacks or higher.
17. There is no single “expert strategy” in video
poker. Each video poker game, and each paytable within any game theme
has its own little quirks.
Take Double Bonus Poker. If you bet five coins and
draw four aces, you’ll get an 800-coin bonanza. That’s a jackpot worth
playing for, so if you’re dealt a full house that includes three aces,
go for the gold. Keep the aces, toss the other pair. Most of the time
you’ll have to settle for three of a kind, but that 1 in 23.5 times
that the fourth ace pops up on the draw makes it all worthwhile.
Here’s your tip: In any video poker game where four
aces returns 800 coins or more, break up a full house that includes
three aces to go for the big payoff.
ROULETTE
18. A roulette player e-mailed to say he likes to stay with a hot
number, if a number is on the board three or more times in recent
spins, he’ll keep betting it. “I’ll bet the surrounding numbers, too,”
he said. “If my number is 17, I’ll also bet 16 and 18.”
Problem: 16 and 18 surround 17 on the table layout,
but not on the wheel. In fact, 17 and 18 are almost directly opposite
each other on an American roulette wheel.
Here’s your tip: If the wheel is properly balanced,
there is no tendency for hot numbers to stay hot. But if you still
want to play near misses, look to the wheel, not the table felt.
Surrounding 17 on a double-zero wheel are 32 and 5, not 16 and 18.
MONEY MANAGEMENT
19. A woman who wrote to me recently was embarrassed. She’d drawn
every video poker player’s dream hand, a royal flush that was worth
$1,000 on a 25¢ machine. But she decided she’d use “their” money to
chase even bigger riches. She moved up to dollar video poker and slot
machines, and in a few hours she had lost back every penny.
Her first mistake was treating her winnings as
“their” money. Once you win it, it’s YOUR money. It doesn’t belong to
the casino anymore.
Here’s your tip: Put at least half of any sizable
win away, not to be touched until you leave the casino. If you want to
use a portion of the remainder to chase bigger winnings, that’s YOUR
business. Once you get home, whatever you buy with what’s now YOUR
money will seem that much sweeter.
20. Next to the mathematical edge designed into
casino games, speed of play is the house’s best friend. You’ll be
ahead of the game after a single wager pretty often. A little less
often, you’ll be ahead after 10 wagers or a hundred or a full session.
But the faster you play, the more wagers you make.
And the more wagers you make, the more chances the house edge has to
drag you and your bankroll down.
It’s helpful to know that full tables slow down play
at any table game. Play at a full seven-player blackjack table, and
you’ll play only 50 or so hands per hour. Play one-on-one with the
dealer, and you’ll play 200 or more hands per hour.
Here’s your tip: Unless you’re a card counter
looking to maximize the number of hands, don’t play head-to-head with
the dealer. Playing with others extends your play and your bankroll.
— John Grochowski is the author of The Casino Answer
Book, The Slot Machine Answer Book, The Video Poker Answer Book and
the Craps Answer Book, available through Bonus Books, Inc. at (800)
225-3775.
