For games with a low house edge, baccarat is about as easy as it gets. You choose whether to bet on the banker hand or the player hand. Whichever one comes closer to a total of 9 wins. The house edge of 1.06 percent on banker and 1.24 percent on player make it as close to an even deal as you’re going to get in a game that requires no strategy by the players.
Easy Betting with EZ Baccarat Read More »
Craps players who bet don’t pass face a slightly lower edge that pass players, 1.36 percent vs. 1.41 percent. And just as pass players can reduce the edge by reserving a portion of their bets for free odds, don’t pass players reduce the house edge by laying the odds.
When Betting Don’t Pass, Is There Ever a Time When It’s Smarter Not to Lay the Odds? Read More »
Among the common rules variations in blackjack, 6-5 payoffs on two-card 21s is by far the toughest on players. Paying only 6-5 instead of 3-2 on blackjacks costs 1.39 percent, an amount larger than the entire house edge against a basic strategy player at most blackjack tables. Take a run-of-the-mill six-deck game where the dealer stands on all 17s, the player is allowed to double down after splitting pairs and may resplit pairs up to three times for a total of four hands. The house edge is only 0.41 percent.
The two most commonly rolled point numbers in craps are 6 and 8. Of 36 possible two-dice combinations, five add up to 6 and five add up to 8. The only more frequently rolled number is 7, with six combinations, but that’s a losing number to most players.
Is a Put Bet Plus Odds as Good as Placing a 6 or 8 in Craps? Read More »
My email recently brought a question from a video poker player who sounded like he’d probably had a tough run of luck. “Can a video poker game be manipulated so that is shows a 9-6 game but gives a reduced payout?” he asked. “Is there a legal way for the casino to lower the payout or restrict certain hands from appearing and still display the traditional pay table?”
One of the things blackjack card counters look for is penetration — the proportion of cards put into play between shuffles. Counters want to see more cards dealt. When the count is favorable, the last thing a counter wants to see is a shuffle.
What Is “Penetration” in Blackjack, and Does It Matter to Ordinary Players? Read More »
