Tag: #CasinoGambling

Your Casino Bankroll Requires Planning – Questions and Answers

Leave a comment
$100 Funny Toilet Paper

 

Your Casino bankroll requires planning. How much money to bring to the casino depends three questions:

  • what games will you be playing?
  • what denomination will you be playing at?
  • how long do you expect to stay?

I am often asked, “How much money should I bring to the casino?”  In other words, what should your bankroll be? Think of it this way – “Retirement is like a long vacation in Las Vegas. The goal is to enjoy it the fullest, but not so fully that you run out of money.” — Jonathan Clements. If you think about it, every time you visit the casino, that’s the goal. To enjoy it the fullest, but not so fully that you deplete your bankroll.

Consider these before your next visit 

1)  “How long am I going to stay?”  Decide before you go.
2)  If using bus transportation, “Do I have plans on how to spend my free time?”  (Time without bankroll)
3)  “If I get ahead on a slot or video poker machine, how will I establish a stop value to cash out?”
4)  If it’s a longer visit that spans over a meal time, “Do I have a plan for dividing your sessions?”  and “Am I taking enough money to include downtime, tips, and meals?”
5)  MOST IMPORTANT – “Does my allotted bankroll equal the allotted time for my visit?”  In other words, will your time expectations match the $$ you brought?  (If not, be careful not to make that ATM your friend)

Related Post – Your Bankroll is $250 – What New England Casino Would You Visit?

Bankroll Suggestions

Keep in mind that the following are suggestions.  While a suggested bankroll might give you the best run at a certain percentage of lasting, the opposite is also true. The house edge might not change in your session, but your success can get crazy bad or crazy good in a short session – after all, it is casino gambling. Remember, your casino bankroll requires planning.

SLOTS – John Grochowski says, “….as a general rule of thumb, to have a 90% chance of staying in action for three hours on the slots, your bankroll should cover 250 bets. If you’re betting 40 cents a spin on penny slots, a $100 bankroll gives you that 90% chance. If you’re betting 75 cents on quarter slots, the bankroll need rises to about $187.50, and when you bet $3 per spin on dollar slots, it’s $750.”

Ticket In, Ticket Out! TITO

Ticket In, Ticket Out! TITO

BLACKJACK – according to CountingEdge.com, “….always buy-in with at least 50 times the minimum bet. No exceptions. In other words, to play at a $5 minimum bet table you need to buy-in with $250. At a $10 table you need $500, and so on.

CRAPS – Its my understanding to bring to the table 7 to 10 times the amount you are betting. So a $5 table with 3-4-5x odds pass line w/ odds only ave betting $25.00, so $175 to $250.

VIDEO POKER – 150 bets to cover 400 decisions per hour (average player with perfect strategy).  In other words, playing quarter VP and five coins per single line, $1.25 X 150 = $187.50 (round up to $200).  Of course, the lower the pay table pay out, the more you will need.  Also, higher the volatility (Triple Double Bonus Poker as compared to Jacks or Better) would me a higher bankroll.

Related Post – Playing Video Poker is More Than Video Poker Pay Tables

They Represent Real money! Treat these chips as real money.

OTHER TABLE GAMES – Casino Player writer Basil Nestor, from “Casino Player” writes “…Blackjack and other table games are best played with a minimum of 50 bets. The only exception to this rule is Let It Ride, which requires 150 bets. For table poker, it’s 100 bets.”

Remember, my fellow recreational gamblers, it’s great to win.  But if you lose, only lose the bankroll you bring and the money you can spend for fun.

That’s all for now.

Binbin

Roll The Bones By Dr. Schwartz

Leave a comment
"Roll the Bones" by Dr. David Schwartz

“Roll the Bones” by Dr. David Schwartz

Roll The Bones By Dr. Dave Schwartz Is A Must Read for many reasons:

  • If you gamble, buy it!
  • Are you interested in the history of gambling, read it!
  • Does the correlation between history and social practices interest you, it should be in your resource library
  • If you visit Las Vegas, AC, Monte Carlo (the one in Europe), or Asia, this book will make every visit more meaningful than ever before.

YES, IT’S THAT GOOD!

What is “Roll the Bones” about?

In “Roll the Bones” historian David G. Schwartz tells the epic story of gambling, beginning with its early emergence from divination rituals and ending with today’s global gaming culture. In a sweeping, rollicking narrative, Schwartz looks at the betting games people have played since the dawn of history, and argues convincingly that gambling has always been a crucial part of the human experience.

“Roll the Bones” Roll the Bones by Dr Schwartz is the first narrative history of gambling, spanning the Stone Age to the Internet era. It examines how gambling evolved with, and influenced, human civilization. I started reading it and I couldn’t put it down – and I really don’t like reading anything more than the sports page in the newspaper!

It opens with an introduction about the Connecticut Pequot / Mohegan history. Dr. Dave explains how the emergence of these two giants in the industry follows along the vast history of gambling itself.

Related Post – New England Casino History

Dr. Dave Schwartz, Professor at UNLV

Dr. David Schwartz

Dave Schwartz, or Dr. Dave was dubbed “gaming’s leading historian” by Global Gaming Business magazine. He is in charge of the Center for Gaming Research within Special Collections in UNLV’s Lied Library. In addition to overseeing the holdings of the Gaming Collection, Schwartz maintains the university’s gaming studies portal.

The Associated Press, UPI, Reuters, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Las Vegas Review-Journal quotes Dr. Dave often as an expert gambling historian.

Card Player Magazine says “When you sit down to play poker, in a cardroom or online, you’re taking part in a drama that spans human history, and Schwartz has written the definitive account of that history in Roll the Bones.”

Dr. Dave himself says it all on his website, http://www.dgschwartz.com , “Ultimately, Roll the Bones explains how the human predilection for a wager shaped human history from the Ice Age to the Information Age. People spend nearly one trillion dollars worldwide on gambling a year–wouldn’t you like to learn a little about how we got there? ”

Related Post – Another Must Read From Dr. David Schwartz – “Grandissimo”

That’s all for now.

Binbin

Caribbean Stud Poker Basics

Leave a comment

Some friends of mine still enjoy going to the CT casinos to play Caribbean Stud Poker. Based on a classic form of poker, Five-Card Stud, Caribbean Stud borrows the most basic concepts from the original. It is a fast-paced game of chance where you play against the house, rather than the other players. Even though it was one of the first “carnival” table games, it has lasted in casinos. So, let’s revisit Caribbean Stud Poker Basics.

A Brief History of Caribbean Stud Poker

CaribbeanStudOnline.org says “According to popular Caribbean Stud history, it is believed the game originated in Aruba, an island in the Caribbean some time in the 1980s. Some stories state the game was officially discovered after it was found being played on a cruise ship that was sailing to Aruba. Unusually, for such a recently developed game, the person who created the game is yet to be found though several individuals have made claims they invented it. The most famous of these is renowned author and gambling expert David Sklansky.

Before you play Caribbean Stud Poker, know the official poker hand rankings. Once you understand that, the game is very straight forward.  Here’s how it works:

Playing Caribbean Stud Poker. 

Step One – Ante

Like any form of Stud poker, you begin the game by placing an Ante. The size of your ante is up to you, but must be within the table’s designated minimum and maximum bet amounts.

Step Two – Look at Your Cards

After all players have ante’d the dealer deals each players five cards. The players cards are all dealt face down, while the dealer turns one of his five cards face up. Players are not allowed to talk about, or show their hand to any other players on or off the table.

Step Three – Bet or Fold

After looking at your hand, you are required to either bet or fold. If you fold, you forfeit your ante and wait for the next hand. If you bet, your bet must be exactly equal to twice the amount of your ante.

Step Four – Dealer

Once all players have chosen to fold or bet, the dealer turns up his remaining four cards. If the dealer does not have a hand equal to or better than Ace-King high (meaning they have both an ace and a king in their hand), all players are paid 1:1 on their ante, and are returned their bet. If the dealer’s hand is equal to Ace-King high or better, then the dealers hand is said to “qualify”.

The dealer then compares your hand to their own. If your hand is worse than the dealer’s qualifying hand, you lose your ante and bet. If you hand is better than the dealer’s qualifying hand, you receive even money (1:1) on your ante, and payment on your bet in accordance to the pay scale.

Caribbean Stud Poker Progressive Jackpot

Players can also bet the progressive jackpot side bet. An additional $1 during the ante stage of play is required. Players are then eligible to win a piece of, or all, of the progressive jackpot.

To win a piece of the jackpot a player must have a premium hand (flush or better), and it must beat the dealer’s qualifying hand. The player receives a percentage of the progressive jackpot after these conditions are met.

Basic Strategy – Not too difficult

If the dealer’s one show card is either an Ace or a King, you should only bet if you can beat an Ace King.  In general you should bet anytime you have ace-king or better.  It’s a guessing game whether or not the dealer will qualify, thus it’s often not worth risking three times the amount of your ante to potentially make back only 1:4 on your money.

When I played, it did seem to be a team game – everyone trying to beat the house without the worry of making mistakes that supposedly “hurt” the other players.

So, try it with some friends.  Bring this playing strategy on a card – most casinos don’t mind because they know that game gives them an advantage of over 5% with perfect strategy.

Related Post – Poker Based “Carnival Games” on the Casino Floor

That’s all for now.

Binbin