Brother Needs To See the Light

Dear Mark,
I have been following your advice and making casino bets that have less than a two percent house advantage. I now consider myself a reformed player. My blockhead brother on the other hand makes bets with no rhyme or reason. Since we both play craps, show me why my pass line bet versus his favorite bet, hardway sixes and eights, will always do better? Susan M. Lancaster, CA

Susan, by using a simple mathematical formula, I will prove that by playing smart, your play will generally outperform your brother's.
Let's first analyze your action, Susan. A pass line bet, with no odds, has a house advantage of 1.4%. With a $5 wager and 50 playing decisions per hour, your theoretical loss (all bets lose over time) is $5 X 50 X 0.014, or $3.50 per hour. Relatively cheap entertainment. In comparison, your brother's bet, the hard six or eight, has a house advantage of 9.1%. The damage to his bankroll would be $5 X 50 X 0.091, or $22.75 in the same amount of time. Multiply that by 15 hours of play and you've got a sniveling, unhappy camper with a long car ride home.
Sibling rivalry aside, glad to see you're reforming your play. Now let's convert the blockhead.

Dear Mark,
What is the most popular slot machine in the casino? Tara C. El Paso, TX

The bulk of the lucrative slot business has been the exclusive territory of one manufacturer, International Game Technology (IGT). Their bread-and-butter comes from the most popular machine in America: the Red, White and Blue reel slot. And what makes the Red, White and Blue so popular? Player appeal. People flock to the colors that represent America. Players also love the paytable that offer's plenty of low and midrange hits with enough high-end hits to keep them coming back for more.
Note here, Tara, that the above description of "hit rewards" comes from IGT company literature, not me. Because most slots typically have a casino advantage well above my recommended two percent, avoid putting those Red, White and Blue machines in your playing rep retire.


Before I Shuffle: Bud, from Quincy, MI, wrote to ask what those funny little blackjack abbreviations like H17, RSA and DOA mean that he's viewed on either casino newspaper advertising or internet gambling forums. Authors Ed Reid and Ovid Demaris conception of DOA was the cautionary advice they gave in their 1963 book, The Truth About Las Vegas. "The surest way to beat Las Vegas is to get off the plane that has taken you there and walk straight into the propeller." It's actually the rule variations/conditions that each particular casino offers for blackjack. Below are some you would typically see.

BSE = Basic Strategy Edge
H17 = Hit soft 17 (dealer must hit)
S17 = Stand on any 17 (dealer must stand)
DOA = Double On Any first two cards
D10 = Double on 10 or 11 only
DAS = Double After Splitting is allowed
RSA = Re-Splitting Aces is allowed
ESR = Early Surrender
LSR = Late Surrender
O/U = Over/Under 13 side bets are allowed

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