How To Play

Blackjack offers some of the best odds in the casino for those who take the time to learn basic strategy. But not all blackjack games are created equal. Casinos choose among a mix-and-match set of rules, some favorable to the player, some padding the house advantage.

In our first blackjack quiz, let’s take a look at some of the hows and whys of blackjack:

Read more

Gaming expert John Grochowski answers reader mail regarding Vegas resort fees, downloaded credits and video poker.

Read more

It’s hard for me to remember the very first time I played poker. It might have been at summer camp or on the playground. In those first games, we didn’t have chips or even pennies. We played with toothpicks or Legos … whatever we could amass a few piles of. And – it almost doesn’t need to be said – we weren’t playing Texas Hold’em.

Read more

Stud Poker is a classic, like Sinatra. Hold’em is mainstream, like U2. Omaha is still somewhat of a rogue’s game. I don’t know if it’s punk rock or alternative country, but it’s an action game that seems to be gaining more attention every year.

Read more

My friend Ralph has played blackjack for decades, probably longer than I have. He’d never really studied the game, but absorbed enough through all that play that he was zeroed in on basic strategy, as long as we were talking only about hard totals. If he had a hard 16, he was going to hit if the dealer had a 7 or higher and stand if a dealer had a 6 or lower.

Read more

There are slot machine myths that have waned through the years or become obsolete because of technology. I can’t remember the last time I heard from anyone who believed that you were better off playing slots with fresh money, because the machine could detect the warmth of coins fresh out of the game’s hopper. That was never true, but a few players believed it. Now that we don’t drop coins into slots anymore, no one thinks about it. Some myths persist, though.

Read more

It was a busy night in Las Vegas, at the end of a busy day. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, all the restaurants were crowded, and I found myself dining at the counter of a casino coffee shop. From my stool, I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation to my left. A man and a woman, late 20s or early 30s, were going over their plan of attack for the roulette wheel. “That’s all we have to do,” he told her. “I’ll bet red, you bet black. Wins balance losses. We’ll get our comps for free.” I stayed focused on my roast turkey and dressing, but apparently my smile was obvious.

Read more

Time is money in the casino world as much as anywhere. And time is on the side of whoever has a mathematical edge on the game. Unless you’re a skilled card counter at blackjack or an expert on certain favorable video poker games, that’s not you. The more chances you give the house edge to work against you, the more likely it is that the house edge will grind you down.

Read more

If you’ve ever watched a movie about gambling, there was probably a character that was a cheat. “The Sting” is all about an elaborate horse racing scam. There’s the backroom scene in “Casino” where a blackjack cheat has his hand broken with a hammer. Ed Norton in “Rounders” is what we call a mechanic, someone good at physically manipulating cards. Paul Newman in “The Hustler” is a pool con artist. There’s team of card counters in “21.” The list goes on.

Read more

I’ve had a crazy couple of weeks. I managed to finish third out of 166 players in a Full Tilt Poker medium buy-in Pot Limit Omaha Tournament, and then got crushed in live games with pretty much the best hand or coin tosses for the next two weeks. The tournament was a blast and my wife, Stephanie, was watching the final table as we made a list of restaurants where we’d celebrate depending on my finish.

Read more

It seems like a lifetime ago, but in the early days of legalized gambling’s move into markets outside Nevada and New Jersey I was talking with a long-time casino executive, one who had made a career in Nevada but now was on of those new-fangled riverboats. I asked if the move into new markets had forced changes in procedure.

Read more

“Check Raising the Devil” is the autobiography to date of one of poker’s more colorful characters, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow. I’ve been watching Mike play for years and haven’t known much about him beyond what I’ve seen on TV. His reputation is that he’s a constant talker and can be a little – no, considerably – inconsiderate of his fellow players. That said, he’s moneyed in a bunch of WSOP and WPT events and has three WSOP bracelets dangling from his wrists as well. He’s won over $7,200,000 in tournaments and millions more in live play. He’s very good, to say the least.

Read more

I started playing poker a long time ago. By that, I mean before it was on TV. Sure, ESPN covered the main event of the World Series of Poker. In the ‘90s, the event was played in one day, it was always held at Binions in downtown Las Vegas and the audience never saw hole cards unless there was a showdown and the players turned them over. The entire experience was so different. By not knowing what the players were holding, one couldn’t really judge how well anyone was playing. You couldn’t see the bluffs. You couldn’t see the slow plays. Of course, all that made for a boring viewing experience.

Read more

Looking to play the horses and have some fun? The days of stale win, place and show wagering have largely been superseded by multi-race exotic wagers that offer very high payoffs for a stake amount you can control. Try your hand at Aurora’s Arapahoe Park.

Read more

The largest jackpot ever awarded on a penny slot machine was just shy of $3 million – $2,995,071.87 – on an IGT Twilight Zone slot in Laughlin, Nev., in 2005. Progressive jackpots keep growing until somebody wins. A percentage of each wager is added to the jackpot. So it’s theoretically possible for a penny jackpot to get as high as $42.9 million, but in practice, years, and perhaps decades would have to pass without anyone winning. To say it’s unlikely would be an understatement.

Read more

Last month I visited the new Aria mega-hotel/casino in the City Center project of Las Vegas to see the newest poker room on The Strip. After a few hours I got a feel for the place and started making a mental list of the pros and cons of poker in Colorado vs. Vegas.

Read more

Sitting at a blackjack table in Black Hawk, I found myself with one of those hands. You know the kind. With the dealer showing a 10, I started with a 5 and a 4. Then I drew another 5. Then a 2. That’s one ugly 16. It’s also a hand almost nothing will help. Hit, and you’re more likely than not to bust. Stand, and the dealer will make 17 or better and beat you about 80 percent of the time. Players who know their basic strategy will bite the bullet and hit, figuring they have to take a risk and try to improve the hand to have a chance. Average players will hem and haw, moan and groan, then probably stand, not wanting to risk busting.

Read more

Everyone knows how casino games get named nowadays. The game inventor, or perhaps the marketing department in a large company, decides what best describes the game, or what will sell the game to the public. Someone at Shufflemaster decided, “Hmmm … You can choose to pull a bet back or let it ride for another card … we’ll call it Let It Ride.” Blackjack, craps and keno weren’t named by anybody’s marketing department. Let’s play the name game, and try to decipher why we call these games the names we do.

Read more

There are days at the poker table that can be incredibly boring. You just keep getting dealt bad cards that you know you shouldn’t play. When I have days like these I pull out my iPod to keep me from doing anything stupid. I mean, let’s face it, you didn’t drive up to the card room, wait 45 minutes for a seat and miss out on seeing Lost or American Idol to sit there folding cards for two hours. The temptation after seeing so many bad cards is to want to play something. Anything.

Read more

Every casino game has traditions and terminology. Craps has its “hardways” and “yo” bets. Blackjack has “anchors” and roulette has “corners” and “columns.” But poker … poker speaks a language so strange it can freak out new players.

Read more

As with any topic, reading gambling books is a good way to clear the cobwebs, learn the ropes and advance your skills. Here are a few tomes, covering poker, blackjack and craps, that will help give readers a leg up when visiting Colorado’s casinos.

Read more

Q. I often play Multi-Strike poker, which has random “free rides.” It seems to me that frequency of the free rides is controlled by the casino and can be adjusted to suit them. The frequency is not posted as part of the payback table, therefore, although the player has more pay back information than a slot machine would give him, he has significantly less than regular video poker provides.
A. I have come to believe that, where I play, dollar machines are “free riding” more than the quarters. Apart from denominations, a machine could be programmed to free ride more with a max coin bet. A machine could be programmed to simply make more money.

Read more

The basic rules of craps are pretty simple and the game, despite lots of lingo, is easy to learn. The dice are rolled by a player, and everyone at the table bets on a variety of outcomes. The person rolling is just facilitating the dice. They can bet any way they want to. There are lots of places to place chips on the table, but we’ll focus first on the basic bet called the “Pass Line.”

Read more

In craps, The Odds are such a good wager for the player that the craps table doesn’t even advertise it.

Read more

In other columns, we’ve discussed the favorable bets on the craps table, including pass Line, Odds and Place bets. There’s also a big area in the middle of the table that players like to play despite the odds being pretty tough. The dealers like to make calls “advertising” these areas and players like to make a big show of betting them. Some of bets you’ll hear called out are “C and E,” “Hardways” and “Horn Bets.” We call all of these bets “Proposition” bets.

Read more

Following are a few clues to playing at the casinos.

Poker a great choice
What’s the best game to learn if you really want a long-term chance of winning? Hands down, it’s poker.
Poker players are not playing against the house, as in all the other casino games. They’re competing against the skill of other players, as well as a modest “rake” of the pot by the casino as a percentage cost for operating the game.

Read more

Maggie is a friend of a friend of my wife’s, someone I met at as holiday party when someone told her I was just the person she needed to talk to about slot machines.

“Tell me how to win,” she said, and I laughed. That’s the most common request I get about slot machines, and it’s one I can’t fulfill. There’s nothing you can do to change the results determined by a machine’s random number generator.

Read more

Poker rooms can be intimidating. I usually peak inside at the players around the tables and then keep on walking to the blackjack pit and video poker machines. Sometimes, I’m tempted to make a splashy entrance, shout my hellos, give everyone a high five — you know, just to break the ice. But there never appear to be many willing high-five partners. Some players seem more likely to give me “closed fives.”

Read more

Before I even get into this issue I need to qualify that if you’re new to the game of poker, you’re excused in advance and not the target or subject of this wrath.

Read more

Looking at gambling by the numbers is the usual way of going about things – house edges, payback percentages, odds. Let’s do it by the letters for a change, with some ABCs of slot machines.

A is for Adaptive Gaming, the WMS Gaming line that starts with Star Trek. As you play, you collect Federation medals, unlocking new themes. And through WMS’ Wage-Net wide-area network, the system can even remember where you were and keep new games unlocked the next time you play.

Read more

The Lodge Casino in Black Hawk has a new players’ reward program, with two tiers. Casual players earn $2/hour in comps for 1-2-100 and 4/8, and $5/hour in comps for 10/20 and higher. There’s an option to also take cash in lieu of comps at half that rate. Comps can be used for hotel rooms, merchandise, and food and drinks. More serious players can qualify for the Premium Choice Club by playing an average of 75 hours each month from January to March. These players earn double comps, $4/hour in lower limits and $10/hour in 10/20 and above. These points and comps do not expire and are better than anything offered anywhere in Colorado.

Read more

Every year promises to be one of new games, new ways to play, new technology, and, of course, some old problems.

To a casino player, the most important of those problems is that sometimes the money just goes too fast. When it does, make sure you’re in control, and not let your losing day spiral into bigger problems:

Read more

The action of roulette is fast and fun, whether you are playing or watching, and is a favorite of social people. The language of the game is just as interesting, with bets such as the corner, street, alley and the Carmelo (straight up 15) or Elway (7). You can place easy, safe bets such as red or black, even and odd – or cover the board with wild combinations of numbers. All have different odds and pay back varying amounts to the winners.

Read more

Every year at the Global Gaming Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center, slot manufacturers show of their latest and greatest wares, the games that will be drawing in the crowds in the coming months.

Some of these already have been approved by regulators and are in casinos. Most are a little further down the line. Either way, these are a few of the games that caught my eye at G2E 2009:

Read more

I’ve found that the Denver Public Libraries have some amazing resources for card players. Some of the following are out of print and only available used or from the library, others can be bought directly from the publishers or via Amazon.com. Either way, you can save a buck and hone your skills on the following DVDs and books. Star ratings are based on five-star potential.

Read more

By Mark Lasser

A few days ago I was playing in a fairly wild 1-2-100 game at Ameristar. Players were very loose (six to eight players in hands that had been raised before the flop) and extremely aggressive. Almost any raise would be re-raised, even with rags. This makes it really tricky to put reads on other players. Anyone who watches Poker After Dark on NBC and witnessed maniac Dario Minieri beat up on poker greats Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson knows what I’m talking about.

Read more

By Mark Lasser

I recently got an e-mail asking about a poker rule often posted in card rooms. The rule states that the cash poker games have a “third man walking” rule in effect. Yesterday, I encountered the ruling in actual practice. I had been playing the 2-5-100 cash game at Ameristar in Black Hawk and hadn’t taken a break in a few hours. I got up to get a drink and the dealer notified me that I’d be the fourth man walking. That’s where the story gets interesting …

Read more

Slot machines also are programmed in a way that will lead toward a targeted payback percentage. That mix — programmed, yet random — is something that has confused many a player in the decades since slots went electronic. Slot manufacturers have to be able to program payback percentanges to comply with the law in states that set minimum and maximum returns. And the machines still have to be able to meet state randomness standards.

Read more

By Mark Lasser

Tilt. It’s the demon that lurks beneath the surface of even the best players. It’s about losing control and playing with raw emotion instead of brains as a result of getting beaten by a ridiculous long shot or a player that has no idea what he’s doing. Tilt is the opposite of a Zen state. It’s Elmer Fudd blowing steam out his ears as Bugs Bunny gets away again and again and again despite having laid the
perfect trap.

Read more

By John Grochowski

It happens when players walk down the aisles of casino slot floors every day. A hot new game catches your eye. You give it a try – and you like it. You like the game play, you like the bonus rounds, maybe you have a couple of pretty good wins. You seek out the game each time you go to the casino. You become old friends.

Read more

By John Grochowski

Q. I recently saw 21+3 blackjack games for the first time. The side bet on the player’s two cards plus the dealer’s up card combining for a flush, straight or three of a kind, paid 9 to 1. I assumed with that payoff, the real odds are probably more like 10 or 11 to 1, maybe even higher. I saw a lot of people lose a lot of money on that side bet. What are the true odds on the side bet?

Read more

My friend Jack had just had one of those days at the casino, and he phoned me to vent.

“You know those days when nothing goes right? This wasn’t quite one of those,” he said.

I asked if that meant he didn’t lose his bankroll for the day.

“No,” he said, “but not for lack of trying. I brought $500 with me for the day, and figured I’d play some $5 blackjack and some quarter video poker.”

A man after my own heart.

Read more

Q. This may be a dumb question, but I understand the hitting soft hands in blackjack to try to beat the dealer’s up card, but what if I get a worse hand? Do I go back to hitting a 14, 15, 16 as I normally would? Even after I may have doubled down?

Read more

By John Grochowski

An e-mailer apparently was feeling aggrieved about a perceived lack of attention paid to his favorite game. “You must really hate roulette,” he wrote. “You’re doing your readers a disservice. They’re missing out on one of the best games. It seems like it’s almost an even bet.” Now, I don’t hate roulette. I’ve had some good times at the game, mostly when my wife and I have played together at the cheap tables in some of the older joints in Las Vegas. Let us loose at a table with dollar minimum bets with chips that can be broken down to 25-cent level, and we’ll play family birthdays to our hearts’ content.

Read more

This week we’re going to cover a great hand played at the Lodge, and, in the adjoining piece, I’m also going to cover some poker etiquette that should be reviewed once in awhile by even the best players.

Read more

There can be days when you’re playing well and losing. Heck, there can be weeks, months, even years. Sometimes when you’re losing you have to examine the table and make sure you aren’t out of your league. Other times, you look back and realize you’re playing great poker and getting whupped anyway, and there’s just nothing you can do about it. Such was my July.

Read more

There are times I’m tempted to break blackjack players into two groups. Of course, there are way more than two groups – card counters vs. non-counters, pleasure players vs. money players, basic strategy players vs. hunch players and novices. But given a familiarity with basic strategy, I can pick out those who have really studied the charts from those who have just glanced them over on the basis of two hands: What does the player do with soft 17, and what does the player do with soft 18?

Read more

If you’ve watched poker on TV or played with friends on a makeshift table, you should try your hand at a professionally dealt game. Black Hawk and Central City lie only 45 minutes from Denver and offer a wealth of options for both novice and advanced players.

If you’ve never played poker in a casino, it can seem intimidating at first. Don’t worry; it’s not as difficult as it appears. Dealers and poker room supervisors will be glad to help you, and players are generally accommodating to newbies and will be patient as you get used to the rhythms and customs of the tables.

Read more

By John Grochowski

No matter how good you are, the majority of video poker sessions will be losers. There’s a lot of marking time, accepting losses until the royal flushes and other big-paying hands come.

Read more

By Mark Lasser

Big changes have hit Colorado’s poker rooms. The old limitation of a $5 cap on bets created some habits that may be hard to break as the limit is raised to $100.

Colorado card rooms have typically dealt two types of Texas Hold’em as well as a few 7-Card Stud games and an occasional Omaha Hi Lo. Most Hold’em has either been 2-5 or 5-5. These numbers indicate the blinds, so in a 2-5 game, for example, the small blind is $2 and the big blind is $5. Betting on the flop can be anywhere from $2 to $5 dollars. In the 5-5 game, every bet and every raise is exactly $5. This tends to be a more aggressive game with large pots.

Read more

By John Grochowski

No doubt you‚ve heard that certain skilled players — blackjack card counters and video poker experts — can swing the math and gain an advantage over the house.

Read more

By John Grochowski

If someone guaranteed they could make you a winner at casino games, what would you do?

Read more

Craps is an exciting, fast-action game that allows you to wager with or against a shooter (the player throwing the dice). Traditionally, play starts on the “come-out” roll, which is the first roll of the dice for the shooter’s pass line number. Betting options and payoffs are varied, as are the different ways to win.

Read more

By Mark Lasser

Poker tables are like Colorado weather. They can change from warm and sunny to cold and frosty to violent and frightening in seconds. Well, maybe not seconds but certainly in hours. Sit at a table for 24 hours and you’ll see the progressions. All of these conditions can be profitable, but they all require different adjustments.

Read more

Generally speaking, I’m a big advocate of disciplined and tight aggressive play. That doesn’t mean you should be a rock. Playing only big pocket pairs and top suited connectors is nearly as bad as playing every hand. This is particularly true on loose tables where almost everyone wants to see the flop and there’s not a ton of raising or re-raising pre-flop. In fact, there are certain late position situations where I’ll call with just about anything.

Read more