You may have Lady Luck on your side when you play, but then again you may not. Serious players pre-calculate a stake range – highest to lowest bet – by multiplying the number of hours they intend to play by the number of games per hour, and dividing their “bankroll” by the result, to set a maximum stake. A low stake is then set at around 20 percent of the maximum, or less. Low bets are made until a winning streak is hit, then stakes are progressively raised.
It’s a good idea to ride a winning streak. If you strike it lucky, put a profit to one side, then raise your stakes and go for it. If you start to lose, cut back or – better still – walk away. Playing comfortably low stakes offers more fun in the long run. Betting $5 one hundred times and winning some of the time gives more hours of entertainment than playing $500 and maybe losing, once.
Craps class at the MGM Grand
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Blackjack
Blackjack offers some of the best odds in the casino. The house’s natural edge is between 3 and 5 percent, and skilled players can narrow that to 0.5 percent with betting and playing combinations.
The object is to get a hand of cards closer to 21 than the dealer. Cards take their numerical value, except for face cards counting as 10, and aces, which the player can value as one or 11. The top hand, an ace with a 10 or a picture, makes 21 or “blackjack.”
Blackjack deals are usually from a six- or eight-deck plastic “shoe.” Some – mostly downtown – casinos play with a single deck, giving the player much better chances to predict the remaining cards, but payouts are usually lower.
Blackjack tables
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Craps
A craps game may look daunting, but it’s really quite simple. It also offers good odds to players. Bets are made for and against a dice roll, called “right” or “wrong” bets. The dice pass around the table. No-one has to roll, but the thrower must bet on his own game.
At the first, or “come out” roll, a throw of 2, 3, or 12 is known as craps. This is a win for bets on the “don’t pass” line, or wrong bets. The numbers 7 or 11 are automatic winners for “pass-line” right bets. Any other number rolled establishes the shooter’s “point.” The aim then is to roll the point again before hitting a 7.
Keno
Keno is hugely popular because it is so simple to play, and a $50,000 payout is possible on a $1 bet. All you need do is pick some numbers on a ticket and wait. It’s easy, and it’s fun. It’s also among the lowest player odds in the house, with a casino edge of 20 to 30 percent.
Due to a mystery of Nevada gaming regulation, Keno is not, technically, a lottery. Pay-outs must be collected immediately after each game, and before the next game starts, or they are forfeited. Take a place at the bar or café and call a Keno runner over, pick your lucky numbers and wait for the draw. If the runner returns with winnings, it’s polite to tip.
Mirage Sports Book
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Roulette
The wheel spins, the ball spins against it. The ball drops, and clatters. It bounces once, twice, and comes to rest in number 7. The dealer places the white marker next to your chip on the 7, and your $100 bet is joined by $3,500 in chips.
Or not. Pay out can be a dizzying 35 to 1, but the 0 and 00 make the odds of you predicting the right number 37 to 1. If the ball falls on 0 or 00, all bets lose, except those predicting that exact outcome. This makes the overall house edge 5.6 percent, and about the poorest table odds in town. The safest bets on the wheel are the outsiders; the “dozens” (first 12, second 12, or third 12), which pays out 2 to 1. Otherwise, 1 to 1 payouts are offered by “red or black,” “odd or even,” or “first or last 18.”
Sports Books
In the Sports Book, players rely on their expertise in predicting sports events, such as football, baseball, Indy car races, and championship boxing. But the main event in the book is horse racing, still the largest spectator sport in the US. A horse’s previous performance, or “form,” is a guide, and the simple bets – “win” or “place” – are the most profitable.
Poker
The ability to read other players at the table can be as important in poker as getting the best cards. Players who think they have the strongest hand will try to lure money into the “pot,” but players who believe they have weaker cards may bluff, to scare others out of the game. Poker is the only game where play is against other gamblers and not against the house. Instead, the house gets a cut off the top of each pot.
A common form of poker in Vegas is Texas Hold ’em. Each player is dealt two cards, face down. Through progressive betting rounds, five “community cards” are dealt, face up. Each player then makes the highest five-card hand they can from the seven cards available..