What's The Difference Between Hold and Edge?

In your question of the day response on December 18, you noted that the average hold of table games is 15% to 20%. That is a lot higher than the published casino edge for almost all table games. Is the fact that the hold is so high because most players do not play at optimum strategy? Or is that all the number so high because almost all players bet the same chips multiple times in a session and the house edge gets multiplied again and again?

[Editor's Note: For this answer, we turned to Arnold Snyder, who has a propensity for breaking down math into easily understandable components.]

A casino’s hold on a game isn't the same as the house advantage.

Your speculation that the hold might be “because almost all players bet the same chips multiple times in a session and the house edge gets multiplied again and again” is getting closer to what the hold is. But still no cigar.

Analysts use three indicators to evaluate a casino’s performance on its table games over any specified time period: drop, win, and hold.

The drop is simply the amount of money that players buy in for. You give the dealer a $100 bill for chips. He drops that bill into the “drop box” and gives you chips from his rack. You just added $100 to the drop on that game. If 100 players buy in for $100 each over the course of a shift, the drop is $10,000.

The win is the amount of money the casino wins on that game, minus the amount the players win. For example, if the casino wins $10,000 on a blackjack table over the course of a shift, but the players win $8,000 on that game during that same time period, the house win is $2,000.

Hold is simply win divided by drop. From the examples above, if the house win was $2,000 and the drop was $10,000, we divide $2K / $10K = 0.2 or 20%.

So your speculation is in the ballpark of why hold percentages tend to be greater than the house edge, but you need to understand that the math is more complicated. A player might buy in at a table, then walk with his chips to another table or even move to a different game, or not play the chips until the following day, or just not play the chips at all and cash them out.

Likewise, a player who never cashed in his chips the previous month might show up and start playing again with chips that were purchased on the prior month’s drop tally.

So although a casino can easily figure out the win, drop, and hold on a specific table on any given shift, that number can be pretty meaningless. Casinos put more faith in these numbers as a reflection of their results over the course of a month.

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Comments

Jerry Patey Dec-30-2021

Traffic tickets.

You never answered traffic ticket for red light speed control.  This is not a ticket that goes on your driving record. A moving violation requires an officer personally give you the ticket. Read the fine print. The tickets for traffic lights tickets is a no moving !!! Violation so no offer needed. Yes you are speeding but it is listed a no moving violation. All about money. Don’t believe you actually have to pay. These things are a joke. Get the tag cover that prevents camera from reading your tag.

VegasROX Dec-30-2021

Tag covers

In many states, tampering with a license plate, ie anything that obstructs seeing the plate clearly, is also illegal. Police are trained on what they from the beginning.

[email protected] Dec-30-2021

Jerry

Or even better, just obey the traffic laws and you have no worries.

O2bnVegas Dec-30-2021

Today's Qod

Thank you for the explaination of casino win, drop, and hold.  All very informative.

Candy

Kurt Wiesenbach Dec-30-2021

Still not really clear

It seems like the original question wasn't really answered 100%. I always wonder why the hold, which while it can vary greatly, but is reported as an average, is so much higher than the house advantage. My theory is that most people stay at a table when they're winning, and tend to bet more during those periods as well, and then tend to keep the bet higher as the cards flip to a losing streak (so they can make it all back quicky of course). This tends to make it so a lot less people walk away when they're up, and a lot more people playing until the chips are gone. So it may be more of a reflection of people more apt to walk away when the chips are down, which is a big win for the house.

Kevin Lewis Dec-30-2021

It's simple actually

One way that this could simply be explained, but never is for some reason, is that the hold is a function of (how many times a player bets his session bankroll) x (house advantage). The reason there can be a 20% hold on a game with a 2% house advantage is that players bet their session bankroll (the "drop") ten times on average before they leave.

A game with many decisions per hour, like craps, will have a larger hold than a game with relatively few decisions per hour, such as pai gow poker--even though the house advantages on the primary bets in both games are similar.

Question of the Day - 30 December 2021

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