Speed Kills!
Dear Mark,
What do you think of shuffle machines? Susan C.
Personally,
Susan, I do not like them at all, in spite of these shuffle
mechanisms finding wide acceptance by casino operators and
players alike.
With a shuffle machine, dealers do not have to waste time
manually shuffling cards. From the casino perspective, time
is money. The more hands you are dealt per hour, the better.
From a player's perspective, your perspective speed kills
in a casino environment. The more time you are
exposed to the house advantage, the more it will wreak havoc
on your bankroll. I recommend playing each hand correctly
with the lowest table limit you can find and with the fewest
decks possible. These conditions force the dealer to shuffle
more, which, with smart play, keeps your
exposure to the casino's edge at a minimum.
Dear
Mark,
Is there any value in counting cards at video poker? I figure
that if I count down the 10s and face cards, I will better
my chances of when to bet five coins for the royal flush.
David M.
In
past columns, David, I have exhausted in depth the reasons
why you should always play all the coins required to get
the bonus money. As for counting the cards down, spare yourself
the effort. Each hand is dealt from a freshly
randomized deck. No card counting strategy can yield a higher
payback for video poker, since each hand dealt is independent
of all preceding events.
Your advantage against the casino comes from knowing how
to select the best cards to hold and to discard.
Dear
Mark,
Next month I am going on my first cruise. Do you happen
to know what the
return is on the slot machines? Do cruise ship slots have
the same payback
as casinos in the US? Carl C.
Before
setting sail, Carl, know that you are over your head in
such waters,
as your chances of winning on a cruise ship are less than
in most casinos in
all major U.S. gaming jurisdictions.
Because no gaming commission nor other governmental agency
oversees gambling
on cruise ships, there is no way of knowing how much cruise
ship slot
machines return. In speaking with some friends who were
former casino
executives on cruise ships, the inside scoop is that most
machines return
between 80-92 percent. Besides selling a sailing vacation
experience, these
flotillas of chance increase on-board revenue by maximizing
the amount of
money taken in from the casino. The casinos, Carl, are one
of the biggest
money makers for the cruise lines. The sinking feeling you
may experience
while on the briny deep will most likely come from the lower
(than
shore-based casino's) payout on slots.
Dear
Mark,
Is there ever a case where you would break up a hand that
had four cards to the royal flush? I was dealt one but instead
kept a straight flush (9, 10, J, Q, K of spades). Did I
play it right or should I have dumped the 9 and gone for
the Ace? Karen S.
You
made the correct move, Karen. If you have a hand that contains
four cards to the royal flush, you should always discard
the lone aberrant card and draw to the royal with two exceptions:
1) a naturally dealt straight
flush or 2) four-of-a-kind. Your "pat" straight
flush is considerably more valuable than four cards to a
royal.
Gambling
thought of the week: "My advice to the unborn is, don't
be born with a gambling instinct unless you have a good
sense of probabilities."
Jack Dreyfus of Dreyfus Mutual Fund
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