Reason #3 why the Wizard likes Bovada:

Excellent Odds

In my opinion many online casinos are too stingy when setting the odds on their games. They think they will make more money that way but I believe they are misguided, because when players lose too quickly it’s not fun, and those players might not come back.

Bovada is one of the few casinos that understands this. They offer generous odds to let you play longer and get you a better chance of winning. Among their generous offerings are Full-Pay Jacks or Better returning 99.54%, six other video poker games paying over 99%, single-zero roulette, and my favorite, Pick ’em Poker, returning 99.95%!

Kudos to Bovada for not being afraid to give their players a good gamble.

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Baccarat Flashing Dealers

Last Update: Sep 02, 2007

It has been known to happen that the dealer in baccarat will flash the next card to be dealt before closing bets. For those unfamiliar with the term, to flash a card means to show it prematurely, in this case before the player makes a bet. When this happens the player has a huge advantage. This section will tell you what to bet on according to the flashed card, the probability of winning, and your advantage. All tables are for eight decks.

The following table shows the probability of each bet winning according to the flashed card.

Probability of Winning by Flashed Card — Eight Decks
Flashed CardBanker WinsPlayer WinsTie Wins
0 0.495203 0.415228 0.089568
A 0.493789 0.415476 0.090736
2 0.490844 0.417197 0.091959
3 0.487016 0.419852 0.093132
4 0.479533 0.423290 0.097177
5 0.468070 0.433347 0.098583
6 0.442579 0.450141 0.107279
7 0.409506 0.483157 0.107337
8 0.365435 0.538370 0.096195
9 0.344181 0.559462 0.096357

The following table shows the expected value of each bet winning according to the flashed card.

Expected Value by Flashed Card — Eight Decks
Flashed CardBanker EVPlayer EVTie EVBest Bet
0 0.055215 -0.079975 -0.193887 Banker
A 0.053624 -0.078313 -0.183377 Banker
2 0.049105 -0.073647 -0.172369 Banker
3 0.042813 -0.067164 -0.161812 Banker
4 0.032266 -0.056243 -0.125407 Banker
5 0.011320 -0.034723 -0.112753 Banker
6 -0.029691 0.007562 -0.034488 Player
7 -0.094126 0.073651 -0.033967 Player
8 -0.191207 0.172935 -0.134245 Player
9 -0.232490 0.215281 -0.132787 Player

All things considered, the player advantage, if the dealer always flashes, is 6.76%.


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