Hello again!

Joseph Carducci from http://www.thegamblingcoach.com

Hope all is well with you and yours today.

A question that I am asked quite often is what to play in a casino. I will be totally honest with you here. I do not play in casinos too often. The only game that you have a good chance of beating in a traditional casino is poker. Then again, not every brick and mortar casino will even have a poker room, or even offer a poker game.

The problem is that these games are set up for the casino to make money! Think about it for a minute–all those beautiful hotels and fancy restaraunts were built with a lot of cold hard cash. Cash from unsuspecting players. The thing is that most people visiting a casino expect to lose. Sure, they may have the hope or germ of a thought in the back of their mind that lightning might strike. They might hit a $1,000,000 jackpot on the slots. Or they might go on the run of a lifetime at the roulette wheel. Another commonality of almost ALL casino patrons is that they do not walk in with any kind of PLAN. My friends, failure to plan is the same thing as planning to fail. I’m serious.

Ok, Joe, you are probably thinking by now, get to the darn point! Well, my point is just that you must understand that in a casino there is not too much you can play where you will actually expect to get the best of it…at least not over the long run. However, you still need to go in with a plan of attack.

A plan of attack primarily means money management. You need to divide your bankroll into sessions. Decide how many sessions you will have. Then divide your money accordingly. Now, if you are playing and end up losing all of a session’s money, then it is time to leave. You can return when it is time for your next session, but not before. Now, you also need to set win goals. Do this on a per session basis. For example, you have $1000 set aside per session. Maybe say that if you get up $200 at any session you will quit. This is your win goal. Also, never mix money from one session with another.

This is just a basic example. You can have as elaborate or as simple a plan as you like. Just make one and stick to it! If you ever have any ideas of becoming a professional gambler, you need to develop enough discipline to be able to do this.

As far as the games themselves go, I think blackjack is probably your best bet. Of course, to really turn the odds in your favor, you should be able to count cards. It helps if you have a good memory, but I believe that you can train yourself for this. At the VERY least, play according to solid basic strategy. However, I caution
you with this advice: the casinos themselves will gladly provide you with a card or chart that displays correct basic strategy decisions. Why do you think this is? Would they be doing this to increase your advantage? Or perhaps theirs? See where I am going with this?

Always remember that if the casino is promoting or encouraging you to do something, it is probably in their best interest to do so. Never assume that they will do anything to help you beat them. They are blood-sucking leeches who want only one thing. That is every dollar in your wallet. They have a huge marketing machine that preys upon the weak and the compulsive/obsessive. This is why I consider any time that you are in a casino to be a battle. It is warfare. It really never had to be this way, but this is what the gaming industry turned it into.

Well, enough with my rant. The best advice I can give about playing in a casino is to control your money with good management and a plan, and stick with blackjack as your primary game in the casino.

Having said all that, there are times when other games become attractive. The main situation I am referring to is when a casino is running a special promotion. They may change the payoff odds during certain times. This is an example of when the odds could actually favor the player. Of course, it depends on what game, and how the odds are changed. If they offer say a double payout for a royal flush on video poker, for example, that might not be a great player opportunity. The simple reason is how often will you receive a royal flush. On the other hand, if the promotion is paying off blackjacks at 2-1 (intead of 3-2 or even 6-5), that would be a GREAT deal for a player. In fact, I might even get on a plane and come out if I could get a deal like that…even if it was for only one or two hours a day.

This is another reason why you need to have a familiarity with various games, and know a little about math. At least how to figure out probabilities. You need to analyze each promotion that you think might provide you with an advantage and then work the numbers. If you have questions, definitely post a comment and we can help you in this area.

I also want to say a word about roulette. Many people think that there are easy ways to beat roulette. I have a good friend who spent the better part of 20 years trying to prove that he could beat roulette. Now, before you jump to conclusions, let me just say that this person was THE most persistent sob I have ever met. I
have personally seen him lose thousands of dollars at roulette and sit there 40 hours at the table just grinding his money back. And all of this started when he was within $20 of his win goal! THE best roulette player I have ever known. And he will freely admit that he cannot beat the game. Let this be a lesson to you.

There are many “systems” out there that claim they can show you how to win at the game of roulette. Most of these use a betting system called the “Martingale.” Here is how this works–make an initial bet on a wager that has as close to a 50-50 payout as possible. For example, this could be a wager on either red or black for this example. Say $1 just to be simple. Now, if it wins, great. Make your next bet for $1. Eventually, you will lose a bet. Then your next should be $2. If you lose this one, bet $4. Assuming you lose again, bet $8. In other words, after each loser you simply double the amount of your last bet. Well, there are several problems with this “system.” First, when you win a bet, you are only $1 ahead for that series. Even if you bet $1024 and won, you are still only $1 ahead for that series. Personally, I do not like the fact that if I happen to hit a bad run (which happens more frequently than you might think), I could be betting over 1,000 times the amount of my minimum bet, only to come out $1 or $5 ahead. Incidentally, you would reach a $1024 bet after 10 consecutive losers. Don’t think that could happen? I have seen it many times. The second problem with the Martingale is that eventually you will either run out of money or will reach the table limits. If you are not able to place the next bet, or you must bet less than your ’system’ calls for, what then? Assuming you still have a bankroll, you will be forced to either stay at the table maximum and HOPE for a good run, or improvise. Improvisation in the middle of a ’system’ is never a good thing…it means you are losing and your fail-proof ’system’ did not work!

If you ever use a Martingale, it may work for a while. However, sooner or later you will reach disaster. It has happened to me in my younger days. And I have seen it more times than I care to remember. In a future post I will give you a better way to use a modified Martingale system if you just cannot resist the urge to play a
game like roulette.

That’s all for now.