By John Grochowski on Thursday December 28, 2017

There are players who want to cut the house edge as far as they can, and will change games in order to do it. Most players, however, have a favorite game or a few favorite and will stick to those even if one outside their range has a lower house edge. I asked a few players who email me often in how far they go in pursuing the lowest edge, and whether they'd change games to get a better deal. SAM: Sam's my name, blackjack's my game. That's not going to change. I don't like craps, and I'm not going…

There are players who want to cut the house edge as far as they can, and will change games in order to do it. Most players, however, have a favorite game or a few favorite and will stick to those even if one outside their range has a lower house…

By John Grochowski on Monday December 18, 2017

For most of us, hitting a really big jackpot is a rare event. You never know when -- if ever -- the next will come. The event has seemed to be not so rare for one woman, according to a reader who wrote that his sister-in-law had two $20,000 jackpots in a month and a dozen or more of $10,000-plus in the last three or four years. "I asked her how she does it, and she said she was just able to recognize the machines that were ready to pay off," he wrote in an email. "There was nothing she…

For most of us, hitting a really big jackpot is a rare event. You never know when -- if ever -- the next will come. The event has seemed to be not so rare for one woman, according to a reader who wrote that his sister-in-law had two $20,000 jackpots…

By John Grochowski on Tuesday December 12, 2017

Mississippi Stud Poker calls on you to raise your bets or fold after seeing three cards and again after seeing four cards. Your raise can be from one to three times your ante, but as a practical matter, two times is never the right play. Either the hand is strong and you stay with a 3x raise, the hand is less strong but good enough to play instead of folding, or weak enough to cut your losses and fold. The dividing lines can seem arbitrary, but they're not. For those who play basic strategy for Mississippi Stud, the dividers are…

Mississippi Stud Poker calls on you to raise your bets or fold after seeing three cards and again after seeing four cards. Your raise can be from one to three times your ante, but as a practical matter, two times is never the right play. Either the hand is strong…

By John Grochowski on Tuesday December 5, 2017

Most of the contact I have with readers is about game odds and strategies. Less often, someone will ask about hypotheticals and playing philosophy, and in this recent email: "You're in a casino, having a tough day, and you're down to your last $5 with time for one more bet before you go home. What do you do?" I replied that I leave and keep the $5 in case I need it for something on the way home. But if I'm to play along with the hypothetical and bet the $5, I might just try to double the money with…

Most of the contact I have with readers is about game odds and strategies. Less often, someone will ask about hypotheticals and playing philosophy, and in this recent email: "You're in a casino, having a tough day, and you're down to your last $5 with time for one more bet…