By John Grochowski on Thursday December 28, 2017

There are players who want to cut the house edge as far as they can, and will change games in order to do it. Most players, however, have a favorite game or a few favorite and will stick to those even if one outside their range has a lower house edge. I asked a few players who email me often in how far they go in pursuing the lowest edge, and whether they'd change games to get a better deal. SAM: Sam's my name, blackjack's my game. That's not going to change. I don't like craps, and I'm not going…

There are players who want to cut the house edge as far as they can, and will change games in order to do it. Most players, however, have a favorite game or a few favorite and will stick to those even if one outside their range has a lower house…

By John Grochowski on Monday December 18, 2017

For most of us, hitting a really big jackpot is a rare event. You never know when -- if ever -- the next will come. The event has seemed to be not so rare for one woman, according to a reader who wrote that his sister-in-law had two $20,000 jackpots in a month and a dozen or more of $10,000-plus in the last three or four years. "I asked her how she does it, and she said she was just able to recognize the machines that were ready to pay off," he wrote in an email. "There was nothing she…

For most of us, hitting a really big jackpot is a rare event. You never know when -- if ever -- the next will come. The event has seemed to be not so rare for one woman, according to a reader who wrote that his sister-in-law had two $20,000 jackpots…

By John Grochowski on Tuesday December 12, 2017

Mississippi Stud Poker calls on you to raise your bets or fold after seeing three cards and again after seeing four cards. Your raise can be from one to three times your ante, but as a practical matter, two times is never the right play. Either the hand is strong and you stay with a 3x raise, the hand is less strong but good enough to play instead of folding, or weak enough to cut your losses and fold. The dividing lines can seem arbitrary, but they're not. For those who play basic strategy for Mississippi Stud, the dividers are…

Mississippi Stud Poker calls on you to raise your bets or fold after seeing three cards and again after seeing four cards. Your raise can be from one to three times your ante, but as a practical matter, two times is never the right play. Either the hand is strong…

By John Grochowski on Tuesday December 5, 2017

Most of the contact I have with readers is about game odds and strategies. Less often, someone will ask about hypotheticals and playing philosophy, and in this recent email: "You're in a casino, having a tough day, and you're down to your last $5 with time for one more bet before you go home. What do you do?" I replied that I leave and keep the $5 in case I need it for something on the way home. But if I'm to play along with the hypothetical and bet the $5, I might just try to double the money with…

Most of the contact I have with readers is about game odds and strategies. Less often, someone will ask about hypotheticals and playing philosophy, and in this recent email: "You're in a casino, having a tough day, and you're down to your last $5 with time for one more bet…

By John Grochowski on Monday November 27, 2017

Unless they play at dollar level or above on single-hand games or quarter-level or above on multi-hand games, video poker players rarely reach the $1,200 threshold that requires a tax form before they're paid. A royal flush with five quarters wagered brings a $1,000 jackpot -- a nice bonanza, but well below the tax trigger. However, some multi-hand nickel games with bonus multipliers also can hit that level. The key is combining payoffs on multiple hands, a point that drew this question from a reader. "I was playing a Triple Play Bonus Poker on nickel Hot Roll, got an 4…

Unless they play at dollar level or above on single-hand games or quarter-level or above on multi-hand games, video poker players rarely reach the $1,200 threshold that requires a tax form before they're paid. A royal flush with five quarters wagered brings a $1,000 jackpot -- a nice bonanza, but…

By John Grochowski on Monday November 20, 2017

Newcomers to craps sometimes are confused by the details. It can take a while to sort out the ins and outs of a game with so many different ways to bet. One such novice player asked me why the one-roll bet on any 7 is said to be such a weak play. "My friend who got me interested tells me that it's good to bet on 6 and 8, but bad to bet on 7," he said. "But he's also told me 7 comes up the most, so why wouldn't a bet on 7, paying 4-1, be better than a…

Newcomers to craps sometimes are confused by the details. It can take a while to sort out the ins and outs of a game with so many different ways to bet. One such novice player asked me why the one-roll bet on any 7 is said to be such a…

By John Grochowski on Thursday November 16, 2017

One challenge facing blackjack players is that the rules aren't precisely the same in one casino as another, or even sometimes at one table as opposed to another in the same casino. There are a number of optional rules, including late surrender, which after the dealer checks to see if he has blackjack, allows you to give up half your bet instead of playing it beyond your first two cards. I received a note recently from a player who found late surrender offered in an eight-deck game. He wondered if the specific cards in his hand made a difference in…

One challenge facing blackjack players is that the rules aren't precisely the same in one casino as another, or even sometimes at one table as opposed to another in the same casino. There are a number of optional rules, including late surrender, which after the dealer checks to see if…

By John Grochowski on Wednesday November 8, 2017

After 20 years of multiline video slots in casinos, I find most players don't even look to see the shapes of the paylines anymore. When there were five lines or nine lines, everyone wanted to check to see how the lines ran and how their winning symbols lined up. With 30, 40 lines or more, most players today just accept their total winnings and move on. The 243-ways-to-win slots with no traditional paylines are another matter. They've been with us for most of a decade, introduced by Aristocrat Technology as Reel Power and picked up by other game manufacturers. I…

After 20 years of multiline video slots in casinos, I find most players don't even look to see the shapes of the paylines anymore. When there were five lines or nine lines, everyone wanted to check to see how the lines ran and how their winning symbols lined up. With…

By John Grochowski on Tuesday October 24, 2017

One of the tools slot machine designers use to keep the games fun and interesting is the stacked reel, where a number of consecutive symbols are the same. Things can really get interesting when the stacked symbols are wild, matching any other symbols to help form winning combinations. A slot-playing reader wrote to say she'd recently had a stack of wilds on the last reel of her penny video slot. "I said to myself more than anyone else, 'I hate when that’s on the last reel,' she wrote. " I guess I was loud enough for others to hear, because…

One of the tools slot machine designers use to keep the games fun and interesting is the stacked reel, where a number of consecutive symbols are the same. Things can really get interesting when the stacked symbols are wild, matching any other symbols to help form winning combinations. A slot-playing…

By John Grochowski on Monday October 16, 2017

Even gaming events that you're unlikely ever to see happen can be fun to talk about, and there are enough "what ifs" that conversation about them can be endless. One that a player brought up recently involves blackjack. There are four Aces in each deck, so in a six-deck game there are 64 Aces. A player thought about the possibilities and emailed me to ask, "Pretend I’m playing blackjack and I have a hand with seven Aces. That’s still a soft 17, right? Are there any dealer up cards where I should just stand? I can’t double down, since I…

Even gaming events that you're unlikely ever to see happen can be fun to talk about, and there are enough "what ifs" that conversation about them can be endless. One that a player brought up recently involves blackjack. There are four Aces in each deck, so in a six-deck game…