Behind The Scenes Of Your Favorite Machines
Players usually don’t notice, or even have a chance to see, behind-the-scenes procedures that are important to the house.
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Hot Streaks, Are They For Real?
Not long ago, I received a note via email from a craps player who was taken aback when a shooter rolled five sevens in a row. “It would seem to me there has to be a makeup time to get the odds to come out right,” he wrote. “What’s the hidden factor that balances those five 7s in a row?”
Ante-bet Strategy in Three-card Poker
I remember when Three Card Poker was a new game in the 1990s, struggling to carve out a niche. It had failed to make enough money to satisfy the house in a trial at the Stardust in Las Vegas, but it was a hit in Mississippi. The success of the game in Tunica was enough to convince operators in other states that maybe the Stardust experience was an anomaly.
Setting Your Hand in Pai-Gow Poker
An e-mail brought me a tale of woe from a pai-gow poker novice:
“My friend told me to make my bottom hand as strong as I can,” the player’s lament began. “But when I put a pair of Kings in the bottom hand and a pair of 9s in the top, I was told I arranged them wrong, and the dealer took my money.”
In pai-gow poker, you’re dealt seven cards, which you arrange into a five-card “high” hand and a two-card “second-high” hand. Both must beat the dealer for you to win your bet, but you get your money back if one wins. The deck consists of 53 cards, with the standard 52 joined by a Joker that can be used either as an Ace or to compete a flush or straight.
How Stacked Symbols Affect Video Slot Play
Every year, the bag of tricks slot machine designers use to keep the games fun to play and the customers coming back grows a little. Second-screen pick’em bonuses, free spins, bonuses within bonuses, shared community style events, mystery jackpots — the list goes on and on.
Video Poker: Chance vs. Skill
Video poker is a game that mixes pure chance with a dose of skill. You don’t know which cards are going to dealt, but you need to know which ones to hold to have a fighting chance to win.