What Is Advantage Play? | Las Vegas Advisor

In a recent QOD one of your "seasoned" slot machine gamblers mentioned "advantage play." What does that mean and how do the increasingly greedy casinos restrict or change it?

Because we've been involved in advantage play (AP, which can also stand for an advantage player) for so long, we sometimes don't take into consideration the fact that not everyone knows exactly what it means.

Advantage play, however, is a straightforward term that refers to any strategy that legally exploits some weakness in a casino game or its procedures in such a way as to give the player an advantage over the house. In most games, the casino has a mathematical edge on the game, known as the house advantage, but APs employ numerous techniques to turn the tables on the casino.

Card counting at blackjack is the classic advantage play. But hole-carding, shuffle tracking, ace sequencing, edge sorting, loss rebates, and show-up money are all part of the advantage-play arsenal at casino blackjack.

The most effective APs can gain an advantage over the house at other games as well. New table games can be vulnerable, if the developers haven't done all their due diligence in figuring out where and how big the edge is. Certain table-game side bets are exploitable. Sometimes casinos offer promotions without thinking them through and APs can take advantage of them. They "vulture" slot bonuses that unknowing players leave on machines. They jump on anomalies in the sports book. We recently read a manuscript about a dedicated team of APs that spent decades working on the challenge of beating roulette -- and succeeded.

Some APs dismiss the "legal" part of the definition we offered above. Though all advantage players aren't cheaters, all cheaters are advantage players. And there can be a fine line between the two.

Some of the most powerful (and expensive) books ever published on gambling have been about advantage play. Huntington Press and the Las Vegas Advisor were funded, originally, by advantage play, which has also helped out the financing along the way.

We've barely scratched the surface here; as you can see, advantage play is a world all its own.

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Comments

David Sabo Dec-22-2019

Back in the day

Seems like giving Charles Lund a mention for his two Huntington Press published slot AP books would have been appropriate. Yes the are out of date but still a solid basis for any "vulture ".

Kevin Lewis Dec-22-2019

Cheating isn't advantage play

At least not per your definition of AP as "legal." Some cheating isn't against the law per se (like hole carding), but most of it is definitely in violation of one or more specific statutes.

Of course, in Nevada, the definition of "cheating" has been expanded to include "winning consistently by any means." For old-school casino bosses and suits in particular, winning is ipso facto proof of cheating. Advantage play is illegal or immoral or fattening, or something.

Advantage play can and should be viewed as simply finding and taking advantage of bargains. The housewife who clips coupons and only buys things that are on sale is an AP. The investor who only buys stocks in a bear market is an AP. Et cetera.

Dec-22-2019

Beating roulette?

You wrote: "We recently read a manuscript about a dedicated team of APs that spent decades working on the challenge of beating roulette -- and succeeded." Well, don't leave us hanging. How did they do it?

AyeCarambaPoker Dec-23-2019

@Al

Beating roulette is easy - you just need a table with no limits and an infinitely large bankroll so you can keep doubling your bet every time you lose playing red or black

Annie Dec-23-2019

@Kevin Lewis

Someone who only buys things on sale and/or with coupons thus obtaining goods for less than the seller's cost could be called advantage play.

However, buying stocks only in a bear market is not advantage play. Other than in hindsight, it can't be known whether a bear market in general, or the price of a specific stock, has bottomed out. A stock that has experienced a steep decline may continue to decline or remain below cost indefinitely or forever. Risk has not been eliminated. 

Historically, stocks in general have always risen given enough time, so buying a large group of diversified stocks (or an index fund) and holding them through bull and bear markets is similar to advantage play, but that technique doesn't rely on market timing. It's not exciting, but not as insanely time-consuming and tedious as what Bob Dancer does.

Buying stocks or selling them short on valid and valuable inside information is advantage play, but it's also illegal.

Pat Higgins Dec-23-2019

Advantage play

There is a game that with some instruction one can become a long run advantage player.  The game is craps.  You need three things—a controlled throw, proper betting, as well as a decent bankroll where you bet 1 to 2 per cent of you bankroll to avoid the risk of ruin.  Do these things & you can become a winner.  The internet can provide you with some information.

IdahoPat Dec-23-2019

@AyeCarambaPoker

You would truly have to have an unlimited bankroll, because even by just going full Martindale after each loss, you're not accounting for the 0/00. Eventually you'd lose everything.

IdahoPat Dec-23-2019

Martingale. Excuse me ...

NM

Question of the Day - 22 December 2019

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