Ask the Wizard #175

Ignoring leap day, the probability of all three different birthdays is (364/365)*(363/365) = 0.99179583. So the probability of at least one common birthday is 1 - 0.99179583 = 0.00820417.

Thanks for the compliment. The answer depends on how the jackpot is determined by the bingo site. If it is a percentage of total cards sold, which is usually the case, then it wouldn’t make any difference. However, if there is a fixed prize for the winner, then it would be better to play one game at a time, lest you compete against yourself.

I’ve addressed this before and I disagree with your hypothesis. As I have said many times, all betting systems are equally worthless. Thus, if the casino had no house edge it would neither win nor lose money over the long run. Let’s say every player had the goal of winning $1,000,000 or go bust trying. Most would go broke but the few players that won the $1,000,000 would even things out.

That is a good question. Here in Vegas it varies by casino. I would say that most of them exclude odds in comp calculations, others only count odds up to a point, like 2x, and some count the full amount. I would love to name names but casinos are protective of their comping policies and much of what I know was given “off the record.”

If you can trust the player to make the raise bet when he raises his own bet then you should put the tip on the ante. However, if the player will never make the raise bet for you, then the tip would carry a 10.11% house edge, making the Pairplus the much better bet.

I wish I had a good answer for you. Usually cash back or free play is a percentage of points earned. However, it doesn’t sound like this is the case with your casino. Mailers are often a mystery. Here in Vegas, professional gamblers often exchange information about play vs. mailer, to try to determine the least amount of play required to get the best mailer. It also sometimes has to do with the average play per trip. So often it can hurt you to play just a little bit per day. Tournaments and comps can get even more mysterious. Yes, casinos do indeed share information with other casinos in the same company, which sometimes results in getting offers from casinos you rarely or never play at. It also sometimes helps to play hard-to-get. If you play on a regular basis, the casino’s rating formula may peg you as somebody who will play regardless of incentive. However, an intermittent player may need more enticing to get through the door. If the casino told you everything about how it rewards players, managers would be concerned that you may discover the system and begin playing as little as possible to get the greatest reward.

Two suppliers of gaming tables I am aware of are TCS John Huxley and Midwest Game Supply. They probably do sell to the public. The price of a craps table at Midwest Game Supply is $3,950. If a used one will suffice, the Gambler's General Store sells used tables.

Assuming six decks, the probability your cards will be suited, but not suited to the dealer’s up card is (77/311)*(234/310) = 18.69%. The probability your two cards and the dealer’s up card will be suited is (77/311)*(76/310) = 6.07%. From my blackjack appendix 4, we see the probability of a win in blackjack is 42.39% and a loss is 49.10%. The probability of a win before a loss is 42.39%/(42.39%+49.10%) = 46.33%. So an action chip is worth about 46.33% of face value. The value of this promotion is 46.33%*(18.69%*$5+6.07%*$10) = 0.7142, or about 71 cents per hand. The expected loss on a $5 blackjack bet is about 3 cents. From my blackjack appendix 8, we see the house edge on the over-13 bet is 6.55%, so the expected loss on a $5 bet would be $5*0.0655 = 0.3275. Therefore, the expected loss due to the house edge of both bets is about 36 cents, and the expected gain is 71 cents, for a net gain of 35 cents per pair of bets.

The reason is players make more mistakes in Blackjack Switch.

Thanks. This game is just a rip-off of Spanish 21. Note that the bottom of the card says that all queens are removed.