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.
Bodog 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, two blackjack variants with a house edge under 0.2%, and my favorite, Pick 'em Poker, returning 99.95%!
Kudos to Bodog for not being afraid to give their players a good gamble.(Visit Bodog)
Try blackjack at Bodog. One click and you're in:
No popups, no download, no registration, no B.S., just the game.
Bluejay insists that I start out by
telling you about the $500 contest to redesign
WizardOfOdds.com described below, because
you might not read to the bottom of the
newsletter otherwise. So be sure to see the
contest info at the very end.
My
gambling adventures
Lately I have divided my gambling
energies between video poker and the Internet.
Here in Vegas I have been playing 9/6
Jacks
or Better and NSUD deuces
wild at various places around town.
Sometimes this play will have a negative
expected value even after considering cash back.
However my goal is to get over 100% with
mailers, comps, and tournaments. I have played
quite a bit at the Treasure Island this month.
I hope to get a combination of double shopping
points and a free cruise by earning 150,000
points. Perhaps I'll discuss that in greater
depth the next newsletter.
On the Internet I have been going after
bonuses here and there, with my usual strategy
of going for a big win early or busting out
trying. My strategy is to not waste my time and
money completing the wagering requirement unless
I already hit it big.
On both fronts things have been going well.
2006 remains a good gambling year for me. I'm
looking forward to getting really serious on the
NFL props when the NFL regular season
starts.
H.R.
4411: The Internet gambling ban
I have to worry that the U.S. is
heading towards a theocracy sometimes. The
latest example is that the House of
Representatives voted 317 to 93 in favor of
specifically outlawing Internet gambling. Only
23% voted in favor of individual freedom. That I
think is a sad commentary. I have a longer
rant about it on the website.
Lost
ticket at the Luxor
It is with much embarrassment that I
tell this story but I'll suffer that to give the
Luxor some good press. Recently I was
playing $1 ten-play 9/6 jacks or better video
poker at the Luxor. After about 30 minutes of
play I was fortunate to his a $4000 royal flush.
After they paid me I decided it was rather late
so I left on a nice high. However I still had
$910 credits on the machine, which I
accidentally walked away from. At the time I was
carrying a lot of cash and didn't notice the
difference.
A few days later I got a call from a slot
supervisor at the Luxor. He said that he had
been waiting for me to come pick up my $910
ticket. He said they waited hours for me to come
back and ask for it but I never did. Perhaps
they got my phone number from my player card
number on the W2G. The Luxor is rather far from
where I live on the west side of Vegas so they
kindly sent a $910 check in the mail.
So I would like to thank the slot
department at the Luxor for their honesty.
In particular I would like to thank the
assistant slot shift manager who called me. I'm
not sure he would want me to use his real name,
so I'll just say his initials are MP.
Pennies
"ready to pop"?
I am quoted in the August 10 Las
Vegas Review Journal in an
article on Megabucks advertising. At
issue is whenever Megabucks gets to a certain
point, IGT (the manufacturer) will take out
advertising which proclaims in large lettering
"Overdue Jackpot." In the fine print at the
bottom a disclaimer says something like
"statistically overdue, odds of winning do not
change." I've always been critical of this
advertising. It feeds into the myth that a
jackpot is more likely to be hit if it has been
a while since the last jackpot. As I have said
hundreds of times the probability of hitting a
jackpot on any given slot machine is always the
same on every spin. It doesn't make any
difference how many times it was played since
the last jackpot. The writer of the article is
also critical of the advertising and does a good
job in challenging the claim.
Microgaming
double-up controversy
In the last newsletter I reported about
a double-up
controversy with Odds On software. This
time we have a completely different controversy
with Microgaming software.
A
player reported at Casinomeister that when
doubling in Microgaming video poker the outcome
is predestined before the player ever chooses a
card. The player noticed that by mousing over
the bottom left of the screen the player's
balance is shown reflecting the outcome of the
double up bet, which had yet to be completed.
Apparently the way the game is programmed, when
the player clicks to double, the server
determines the player's card, dealer's card, and
three other cards immediately. The dealer's card
is shown immediately. Then regardless of which
position the player chooses the card he was
fated to get is shown, as well as the other
three inconsequential cards.
Some of the posters at Microgaming are upset
because they have no control over the outcome,
which is indeed the case. However I think
this is much ado about nothing. The
important thing is that the odds are truly
50/50, which I strongly believe they are. I have
it on the authority of a programmer at a major
slot maker (who wishes remain anonymous) that in
land casino slot machines the outcome of a
"pick'em" style bonus round often has nothing to
do with which icon a player picks. There are
various ways bonus rounds can be programmed. The
usual way is that the prize is determined the
moment the player makes his selection, and which
icon he picks makes no difference. The only
regulatory constraint is that if the non-picked
prizes are shown those can not be gaffed, they
must have been chosen in the same manner as the
winning outcome. So I think it wasn't good
programming to let the players discover this
secret. However as long as the odds are still
50/50 there is nothing to get riled up
about.
Ask
the Wizard!
Here's an excerpt from the newest
Ask
the Wizard, column
#172.
I'm a long-time fan.
Thanks for keeping it fresh. I just watched a
show on CGTV (Canadian Gaming TV) called "Casino
Life" that dealt with Caribbean Stud Poker. The
host of the show gave kudos to you and your site
and your strategy for this game was presented on
the show. Later, I saw that you were credited.
Does this generate income for you or is it just
good press? -- Peter from Ottawa,
Canada
Thanks for the kind words. Yes, I
gave Casino Life permission to use my
material. I'm happy they gave me a good plug.
No, they didn't pay me. I also have never
been paid for my appearances on the Travel
Channel here in the United States. I do it
for the fun and the publicity.
I'm very interested in
turning the small house edge in blackjack into
an essentially even game with the house. I know
this will not change my results all that much,
but I think it is a psychological barrier that
many players wish to pass. I play basic strategy
religiously and am comfortable with counting
cards using the Hi-Lo system, but mainly do it
just for a challenge at the moment as I don't
use much of a bet spread. -- Erik B. from
Toronto, Ontario
I hope you're happy, I spent a week
on this, off and on. Using the hi-low
strategy you'll need to spread to 4 or 5
units in a six-deck game. However, I devised
a much simpler adaptation of the ace/five
count. You can read all about it in my
section on the Wizard
Ace/Five Count.
Wizard
Ace/Five Count. This is my own
adaptation of the well-known ace/five count in
blackjack. It's an easy card counting strategy
to get the odds marginally in your favor.
Vegas
Three Card Rummy. This is a new
game offered at Real Time Gaming casinos, such
as Bodog. It is similar to Three Card Poker but
with different scoring rules and a lower house
edge.
HR
4411. The House of
Representatives has voted 316 to 93 in favor of
banning Internet gambling. In my opinion
individual freedom is at stake as the government
is striving to dictate how adults can spend
their own money in their own homes. As usual
there are convenient exceptions when government
gets a piece of action.
Nim.
In an effort to teach myself JavaScript I wrote
this classic game. It is not gambling related
but maybe you'll like it anyway.
Texas
Shootout. You've been asking for
it for years. Finally I did an analysis of this
poker based table game.
Keno
Props. Miscellaneous keno
probabilities and props.
Bonus
Video Poker. This video poker
game by Cryptologic puts the discards back in
the deck, and offers a bonus for getting them
back on the draw. This was a big project so
please have a look.
And of course there are new Ask the Wizard
columns,#167,
168,
169,
170,
171,
and 172.
Until next
time, set your expectations high.
From
Michael Bluejay....
$500
contest to redesign
WizardOfOdds.com
We're
thinking of upgrading the look on
WizardOfOdds.com, and we're inviting readers to
share their designs with us. We're
offering these prizes for the best designs:
$300 - 1st place
$200 - 2nd place
$100 - 3rd place
Copy of the Wizard's book,
Gambling
102 - 4th & 5th
places
Criteria for the
redesign
The 468x60 banner is history. We
no longer need that top banner, so don't
include it in your design. In fact, it's the
axing of that banner that prompted this whole
redesign contest.
The minimum area to redesign is the
top section, above the menus. But you
can also work with the sidebar and the menu
bar if you like. You can also change the
background and heading colors in the content
area if you like.
You can go for either a minimal
touch-up or a full-blown,
thinking-outside-the-box, major overhaul --
or anything in between. Be creative.
You can use the existing logo or
create a new one. You're not limited to
that size, either, it could be much larger.
Small, medium, large -- whatever works for
your design.
Run that menu bar all the way across
the page if you like, or not. And feel
free to stick the Search box into the menu
bar if you think it works there. You get the
idea -- be creative.
Use images, or not. Right now
we're lean on graphics. You can keep it that
way, or add a bunch of them, or anything in
between.
The design should be fluid (stretch to
any screen size instead of being a fixed
size), and should work at 770 pixels
wide. It doesn't have to look great at
that size, but it at least has to work on
monitors that small. It's fine to have
nonessential elements print only if the page
is wide enough. We do that with Javascript
for the last couple of menus and the "Who is
the Wizard?" icon.
How to
enter
Your entries can be .jpg, .gif,
or .html. Put them on a webserver and
then send us the *address* of the files.
Please don't attach the files to your
email! Email your url's to
.
Attaching files to your email will
automatically disqualify you.
Make as many different designs as you
like. The more you produce, the more
likely one of yours will be selected as a
winner. Keep in mind though that we'll be
presenting these to our readers for their
input and we don't want to throw a gazillion
choices at them, so if you submit dozens
where there are only minor differences (like
color) then we won't necessarily present each
and every design you submit.
Anyone can enter, whether a
Wizard's News subscriber or not, so tell your
design friends.
All entered designs become the property
of the Wizard, and may be used as the
future design of this website or any
other.
How to
win
We'll let our readers vote on
their favorite designs to determine the
winners. If we get a gazillion entries
then the Wizard and I will narrow the choices
down to the best 5-10 designs to present to
our readers for voting.
Don't even think of trying to stuff the
ballot box; only people who were already
subscribed when today's newsletter went
out will be able to vote.
One of the choices on the ballot will be
the current design. An entered design will
have to beat the current design in order to
win. For example, if there are three entries,
and the readers rank them like this...
New Design A
Current Design
New Design B
New Design C
...then Design A wins the $300 1st prize,
and nobody wins anything else.
Finally, this contest is separate from our
choice as to what design we'll actually use
on the site. As always, the decision about
what the site should look like is up to the
Wizard, and he might choose the 2nd or 3rd
place winner over the 1st -- or none at all,
and keep the site the way it is now (with the
exception of that top banner, which we're
killing). You don't have to please the Wizard
in order to win the contest, you have to
please our readers. But to have to please the
Wizard in order to have your design used as
our new website look.
