Casino Player August 2022

40% after three hours. That means your chances of busting are about equal to or more likely than winning a point on 4/10.So if you want to gamble two ways, then bring only ten bets to the table. In contrast, 30 bets ($1,650) drops your chances of busting in an hour to less than 2%, and over three hours the risk of busting is about 7% to 12%, depending on the points. My personal favorite is 45 to 50 bets which drops the risk of ruin to less than 1% in most cases. Toting around two or three large may seem like a lot for $55 bets, but you don’t have to buy in for the full amount. Just have it ready. It feels great knowing that you have a 99%+ chance of leaving the table on your own schedule with money in your pocket.That’s me. The optimal amount for you depends mostly on your temperament and how you like to play the game. Video Poker or Slot? Could you please settle a question my friends and I have: Is Spin Poker a true video poker machine or is it a slot machine? Some of us believe that since it has a pay table, it follows the rules of video poker that the cards are “dealt” from a 52-card deck, even on the re-deal. Others believe that since the cards are spinning, it’s just a random slot that doesn’t follow the rules of the pay table.Who is right? Thank you! —Michael D. Chicago, IL Spin Poker is a video poker game. The cards are randomly dealt from an initial, virtual 52 card deck. The “spinning” cards are just for show.You should use the same playing trategy for Spin Poker as you would for a traditional video poker game.

from its own 52-card deck.When you hit the deal button, five randomly selected cards appear on the bottom hand from deck #1. The cards you hold on the bottom hand also appear in the same position in the other nine hands.When you hit the draw button, the com puter will randomly deal you the replacement cards in the bottom hand from deck #1, the replacement cards for hand #2 are randomly dealt from deck #2, and so forth for the remaining eight hands. Therefore, it’s impos sible to get five deuces in one hand. Optimal Bankroll If a person is going to play craps at a $5 table and take 10x odds, what bankroll would you recommend the person has at the start of the session? —Rich Via the Internet The optimal size of your craps bankroll depends on the desired length of your session. The calculation also includes the number of simultaneous bets you make, and the degree to which you want to minimize your “risk of ruin.” Let’s say you bet $5 on the pass or come and take 10x odds (which is $55 net).A player who bets on the pass line often follows with two come bets.Tables usually plow through 90 to 120 rolls per hour.About 1/3 of the bets are resolved on the first roll at the $5 minimum. Another 16% to 20% of bets are resolved on the second roll (depending on the point), and this includes odds. About 50% of bets require three or more rolls to be resolved. The practical result is that three rolls might put you ahead or behind by only $5, or three rolls might win you $210 if you roll three consecutive 10s.Maybe you seven-out on the third roll and lose $110 (but win $5 for a net loss of $105). Or perhaps three rolls just leaves you with $165 on the table waiting for decisions. In other words, craps is a very volatile game. And even the volatility can be volatile because you may see a dozen rolls that have no effect on your waiting points. So calculations for risk of ruin are less precise for craps than they would be for a game such as blackjack where the most likely outcome of three $55 decisions would be a net win or loss of $55. Considering all of this, if you keep three base bets working and you see 90 big deci sions per hour, then a bankroll of 10 big bets or $550 has about 22% to 27% chance of evaporating in an hour, depending on the points, and that probability pushes up to near

propositions such as red/black, odd/even or high/low. So why do you insist that inside bets are not as good as outside even-money bets?That is a serious mistake in your reasoning. Frank Scoblete responds:You are right about the percentages of roulette. I never deny that. Inside bets will not be better than outside bets except in the case where even-money bets return half when a 0 or 00 hits.That gift from the casino is called“surrender” but most casinos do not offer that option to players. My reasoning for preferring outside even money bets has to do with the basic pattern of the game. If you are making outside even money bets, the back and forth can be relatively tight.You win 18 bets; lose 20 bets. When you bet the inside numbers, the losing streaks can be long, even though a hit or two brings in a lot of money. I prefer to play a game where I have a better chance of lasting than one where I need a hit to overcome a losing streak.Yes, it is true that if you hit a few numbers early, you can make a lot of money, but the long losing streaks dominate the inside game. In the end though, the house will take its 5.26 percent edge on you no matter which betting option you choose. Downtown vs. The Strip I love Las Vegas but not the Strip—too much walking.So, I prefer downtown and the smaller hotels and casinos. I am a longtime subscriber and enjoy your magazines. —Patricia N. SanAntonio,TX We agree—smaller properties often offer a friendlier atmosphere that the mega-resorts lack. And thank you, Patricia! It’s always nice to hear from a reader who appreciates our efforts! Multiplay Video Poker I play video poker,deuces wild,10 hands. If I’m playing 10 hands and the deck runs out midway and a new deck is started, who’s to say there couldn’t be five deuces dealt on one hand? Could you explain to me how the decks are dealt when you’re playing multiple hands? —Evey San Diego, CA The deck of cards doesn’t “run out” in video poker. After every hand, the 52-card virtual deck is reshuffled. In the case of playing a 10-hand video poker game, each hand is dealt

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