By John Grochowski on Thursday May 24, 2018

Games work for casinos only if customers will actually play them. A game that seems too complicated or that intimidates players won't do its job of encouraging wagering. Craps has a reputation of being difficult for newcomers to learn yet is the second most popular table game behind blackjack. Everybody who plays was a beginner at one time. I asked some craps players how they learned. GARY: I never even thought about not knowing the rules. It looked like people were having fun, so I bought in and gave it a try. I'd played mostly blackjack and some slots before…

Games work for casinos only if customers will actually play them. A game that seems too complicated or that intimidates players won't do its job of encouraging wagering. Craps has a reputation of being difficult for newcomers to learn yet is the second most popular table game behind blackjack. Everybody…

By John Grochowski on Wednesday May 16, 2018

I've mentioned there are several optional pay tables at Pair Plus in Three Card Poker. The most common has a house edge of 7.28 percent, and differs from the 2.31-percent version that made its popularity breakthrough in Mississippi in the 1990s by paying 3-1 instead of 4-1 on flushes. That prompted a reader to ask for background. "Why isn't the pay table standard?" she asked. Players should understand that many games come with variable house edges, and casinos choose which to offer. Slot machines are available with different payback percentages, video poker games of the same type have varying pay…

I've mentioned there are several optional pay tables at Pair Plus in Three Card Poker. The most common has a house edge of 7.28 percent, and differs from the 2.31-percent version that made its popularity breakthrough in Mississippi in the 1990s by paying 3-1 instead of 4-1 on flushes. That…

By John Grochowski on Tuesday May 8, 2018

Players who try to sort good bets from the bad sometimes find difficulty with new games that involve more than one round of betting. Those games have two figure that could fairly be categorized as house edges. A reader recently pointed out that wizardofodds.com lists a house edge of 4.91 percent for Mississippi Stud Poker, but also an element of risk of 1.37 percent. "Can you explain what that means?" he asked. "A 4.91 percent house edge seems to say this is a pretty bad game, almost as bad as the 5.26 percent on roulette. But that 1.37 percent compares…

Players who try to sort good bets from the bad sometimes find difficulty with new games that involve more than one round of betting. Those games have two figure that could fairly be categorized as house edges. A reader recently pointed out that wizardofodds.com lists a house edge of 4.91…