Dear
Mark,
My brother likes to play single deck blackjack games, while
I enjoy a casino that offers a decent buffet and a cocktail
waitress that comes to the keno lounge more than once an hour.
So, we cannot always gamble in the same casino. I probably
already know what you will say, but what in your opinion of
what makes "the best" casino? I am appealing to
your love of the buffet. Jack M.
Granted, Jack, I have my favorite buffet stops across the
American casino landscape, but that doesn't necessarily mean
a superior feeding-frenzy-forum equals "the best"
casino.
It is no secret that casinos have a mathematical edge over
players on all their games. This fact alone makes it tough
for players to win. The higher the casino's edge, the lower
the chances the player will end up a winner. With the casino
enjoying this mathematical advantage over the player, they
key to "the best" is to know where to play, which
games offer the best chance at winning, and learn how to beat
them.
You should judge a casino "the best" if its gaming
rules maximize a player's chance of winning. Consider this
Starving Player's Checklist: single versus double zeros on
a roulette table; blackjack dealt from a single deck with
liberal rules like doubling on anything, re-splitting and
surrender; a crap game with five or ten times odds in lieu
of two-times odds; 9/6 video poker machines; a mini-baccarat
table with low limits; casinos that advertise 98.5% paybacks
on their slot machines, and then tell you which machines those
are when you ask.
Besides, Jack, my New Years Resolution (authored by my wife)
was to avoid the buffet chow lines, but not a decent-paying
video poker machine.
Dear Mark,
I realize this question might be hard to answer in this
setting (your column), but what is the exact pronunciation
of Baccarat? Susan D.
My first inclination was to suggest you to look it up in
a dictionary, but far to many players mispronounce baccarat.
The "t" in baccarat is silent and correctly pronounced
it's ba-ka-ra, not back-a-rat (a small rodent found nibbling
on buffet leftovers).
Dear Mark,
Deuces Wild is my favorite video poker game. The casino where
I normally play offers only a four coin return for four-of-a-kind.
You suggest finding a machine that returns five coins for
four-of-a-kind. How much more of an edge am I giving the casino?
Grant S.
Plenty! Try six percent. With maximum coin play and perfect
strategy, a five-coin return for four-of-a-kind gives you
a slight edge against the house-a 100.76% return versus 94.34%
if the machine returns just four coins.
Dear Mark,
I was reading one of your columns in which you mentioned 'scared
money'. I'm new to gambling and wondered what this term means.
A. A.
It's June 1 and your rent is due. With insufficient capital
to pay your landlord, you decide to gamble, erroneously believing
you can chase down luck. That's scared money! Which leads
me to give any gambler this sagacious advice: Only bet what
you can afford to lose. Money for rent, car payments or any
of life's necessities has no place in a casino.
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