Gaming Blog

Gambling for fun or profit

There are lots of things you can do to learn more about your favorite casino game and how to become a better player. It’s really quite simple. To become a good player, you need to master three basic concepts: gambling know-how, self-control, and a lot of common sense. Gambling know-how can be greatly helped by simply getting and reading a good book about your game. Self-control is setting some win and loss goals, along with some good money management techniques. Lastly common sense is knowing when to quit and move on. The majority of players seen in today’s casinos don’t practice any of those traits. However, if you follow these concepts you will be more successful than ninety percent of players in the casino. Take some time and study these traits and compare them to what you have been doing.

Some Poker Wisedom

It’s been said by many before me, that poker genius requires technical knowledge as well as courage. You can learn a lot by reading books and studying charts but you need the experience and courage to call that all-in raise at a live table. Most players would rather play it safe; however, to be successful, the player must learn to take risk and to be bold at times.

Great plays are not seen with the eyes, they are seen with the mind. You know what your hand is; you really want to know what the other players might have. What reaction did they take after seeing their cards? Did they check, call or raise? Are they known to be a tight or a loose player? Do they seem interested in your actions or do they appear bored, indicating strength or weakness? All these things plus other indicators will help you judge your competition.

Consider poker skill at three levels: level one is studying and playing your two cards. Level two would be studying other players’ cards. Level three would be what other players think your cards are. The whole idea is to use your knowledge, experience and courage to lower the risk during play. Remember, it’s not gambling if you know what you’re doing, but it is considered gambling if you just throw chips at it and hope and pray it will turn out ok.

Baccarat, a fun and easy game

The game of baccarat has a very low house advantage and is one of the simplest table card games to play in a casino. The objective of both baccarat and mini-baccarat is to correctly guess which of the three possible outcomes will appear on the next round of cards. You can bet on the player, banker or tie. If you bet the player, the house edge is 1.36 percent; if you bet on the banker, the house advantage is only 1.17 percent; and if you bet a tie, the house advantage jumps to whopping 14.4 percent. If the player and dealer hands do end in a tie, and if you had not bet the tie, it’s a push, with no win or loss for the player.

There is one more important thing you should know about baccarat, there is a type of “service” charge when you win the banker hand. A five-percent commission is exacted on the winning banker bet, but not on the losses. For example, if you win $10 on banker, you owe 50¢ in commission; if you should win a $100 banker bet, you will owe the house $5. The reason is the banker bet has an actual player advantage of winning 50.68 percent of the time while the player only will win 49.32 percent of the time. If the setup were allowed to stay that way all players would bet the bank and the casino would not make any money. The commission returns the house edge to minus 1.17 percent for the player. Also, rather than collecting the five-percent banker commission after each round, a record of what is owed by each player is kept on the table in numbered boxes corresponding to each players seat. Players pay this accumulated amount after the finish of each shoe and before leaving the table.

The game itself is dealt from a six or eight-deck shoe, and the overall objective to get a hand closest to 9. The 10’s and all face cards are counted as zero. For example, if you get a hand like king-7, you would have a total of 7. All the other cards including the ace are counted at face value. The game starts as each position, player and banker, are dealt two cards each. What makes the game so simple to learn is the dealing of the cards is entirely done by a set of fixed rules. The dealer will draw or stay on hands depending what the total 2-card hand of the player and banker.

The game is a good one for the player because of the low house edge, and on the mini-baccarat game, the table limits start at a very low minimum. So on your next visit to a casino stop by the mini-baccarat table and pick up a booklet, which has all the drawing and standing rules, and play a few hands.

Gaming Tip

When playing blackjack against the single deck, with good rules, we recommend a two unit or twice your minimum bet at the start of the new deck. This is because the odds are slightly in favor of the player when playing Las Vegas strip rules. On the other hand when going against the shoe game, we recommend a one unit or minimum bet. In this case the odds favor the house with a little over one percent, therefore a small bet would be in order for the shoe game.