Wizard Of Odds Weekly Update October 24, 2018
Last week I wrote about the kidnapping of my friend "5Dimes Tony". I'm sad to report that the Costa Rica Star has reported his body was found by the police. I'm at a loss for words, so I'll write about something else this week.
One of the more interesting games I've seen lately is called Blackjack X-Change. It is based on conventional blackjack, but lets the player buy or sell any card in his hand for a random card. There is a specific price offered for each situation. All things considered, the prices to exchange a bad card, as well as the price paid to exchange a good card, are 2.5% to 3.0% off expected value, in the game's favor, of course.
Blackjack X-Change can be played at the Caesars mobile casino. This was a fun one to analyze. You can find all the rules, analysis, and strategy on my new Blackjack X-Change page.
In yet other news, I continue to preach what a sucker bet the MegaMillions is. My voice seems to be drowned out in all the excitement over the current $1.6 billion jackpot. Yesterday I posted that if you would be satisfied to win $1.6 million, the odds are much better parlaying a sequence of roulette and baccarat wagers than in the lottery. To be specific, I show the probability of parlaying $3 into $1.6 million has a probability of 1 in 637,183. Compare that to a hypothetical jackpot only lottery game, which would be 1 in 1,056,687. You can find that post at Wizard of Vegas.
Until next week, may the odds be with you.