A friend of mine, Steve, is someone I know from square dancing. He is retired and recently decided that he wanted to increase his monthly income by gambling, so he asked me which game he should learn first. I told him Full Pay Deuces Wild for quarters. It’s a relatively easy game to learn and it’s available in a few places close to where he lives (specifically Sunset Station, Fiesta Henderson, and Sam’s Town — possibly other places as well). He will only make $6 an hour or so playing the game and he needs significant study to get good enough to even do that. Still, it’s a place to start. Continue reading Simple Math for Deuces Wild
Author: Bob Dancer
Comparing Strategies in Deuces Wild
There are many, many Deuces Wild pay schedules found around the country. Unlike games such as Double Double Bonus where all pay schedules are played approximately the same way, in Deuces Wild there are some great differences in strategy necessitated by the pay schedule changes.
These strategy changes are systematic — meaning once you know the code, you can get pretty close to a correct strategy just by knowing the pay schedule. Today we’re going to be looking at four different variations of Deuces Wild to see how the strategies change in some pretty basic hands. Continue reading Comparing Strategies in Deuces Wild
Musings About Dishonesty in Casinos
I’ve recently written about Dan Ariely’s free course that I’ve also been taking. One of his books is called The (Honest) Truth about Dishonesty.. I’ve been wondering how some of what I’ve learned by reading that book can be applied to my normal life — which for me means life in casinos.
Today I want to apply this to an on-going promotion that is offered at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas. Variations of this promotion occur elsewhere as well. Continue reading Musings About Dishonesty in Casinos
Risk Aversion for Gamblers
A few weeks ago, I strongly recommended that my readers take the free course on Irrational Behavior offered by Dan Ariely. I have no idea how many readers actually followed my suggestion, but I’m now in the middle of the course, enjoying it, and learning from it.
One of the topics discussed in the course is risk aversion. Consider the following experiment: You are offered a chance to flip a fair coin. If it turns up heads, you win $1,100. If it turns up tails, you lose $1,000. Would you willingly do this? Continue reading Risk Aversion for Gamblers
How Do You Play These Hands?
Most of us occasionally switch from game to game. The strategy for each game, and even each pay schedule, is a bit different. Today I’m going to give you eight different hands with three games each. In each case, two of the games will have the same play and one of them will have a different play. Also in every case, the reason for the differences in how you play the hands is determined by the pay schedules.
Continue reading How Do You Play These Hands?
Good Bye, Jackie Gaughan
John D. “Jackie” Gaughan (1920 – 2014), one of the founding fathers of Downtown Las Vegas, passed away last week. Gaughan had a number of casino licenses through the years, but is probably best known for the Union Plaza (later Jackie Gaughan’s Union Plaza), El Cortez, and Western. Howard Stutz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote a nice tribute which may be read here.
My recollections of Jackie are more personal. For six months or so back in 2007-2008, I sat in on marketing meetings at the El Cortez. I didn’t last long at this because my suggestions to the El Cortez management were not very well received. Continue reading Good Bye, Jackie Gaughan
Sign Up for this Course Today!
I started college 51 years ago. I earned some degrees and over the years went back and took a number of non-credit courses. I enjoy the learning process and I’m positive that this is one major key to my success as a gambler and instructor.
There’s a new way to learn, called MOOC, which stands for Massively Open Online Courses. A year ago I heard about a free MOOC course offered by Dan Ariely of Duke University called “A Beginner’s Guide to Irrational Behavior.” I was too busy to take the course, I concluded, and so I skipped it. 140,000 students found time to take it. To me that’s a startling number. Continue reading Sign Up for this Course Today!
Seeking Out Unfair Games
Many times I’ve written about video poker games that I consider fair. And what I mean by “fair” is that every unseen card has an equal chance of appearing next.
Most people seem to accept my definition — or at least understand what I am talking about.
However, I recently received an email at [email protected] from someone who calls himself “Reno Master.” The email read as follows: Continue reading Seeking Out Unfair Games
A Look at American Roulette
On the January 23, 2014 Gambling with an Edge radio show, Anthony Curtis and Richard Munchkin both said good things about American Roulette, a book by Richard Marcus. So I went to the library and checked it out. (Understandably it’s a title that’s easy to find in a Las Vegas library but perhaps not so easy if you live in Peoria.)
Continue reading A Look at American Roulette
18th Annual Blackjack Ball — Part 2 of 2
This is a continuation article. To revisit Part 1, click here
The winner of the blackjack skills competition wins the Grosjean Cup, named after three-time winner James Grosjean. Runner-up gets the smaller Munchkin Award, named after my co-host, who also won three times but took longer to do so and is also a bit shorter.
Continue reading 18th Annual Blackjack Ball — Part 2 of 2