Category: English

Individuals who find the greatest pleasure in gambling do so with

– Realistic intentions
– An understanding of the odds
– An informed strategy
– Some skill, depending on the game

To paraphrase the character Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, it’s no great shame to lose at gambling – but it’s no great honour, either. I emphasize that gambling can be a fun experience whether you win or lose … but it’s a lot more fun when you win.

In that spirit, I hope to arm you with the understanding and knowledge you need to maximize your enjoyment and success at casino gambling. Before you take a step into a casino, I suggest you answer the following ten questions to measure your grasp of gambling and the world of casinos. If you answer them all correctly, congratulations! And if not? Not to worry; you’ll soon pick it up by reading hte articles on this site.

The questions

1.    To come out ahead overall at sports betting, you need to win approximately

A.    50 percent of the time.
B.    53 percent of the time.
C.    20 percent of the time.

2.    You’re playing Annie Duke at the final table of the World Series of Poker. She makes a big bet         and then starts blinking her eyes rapidly. Is she
A.    Flirting with you?
B.    Having contact problems?
C.    Bluffing?
 
3.    At which game would you lose more per hour (on average)?
A.    Playing a 25c: Double Diamond slot machine
B.    Playing $1 video poker
C.    Playing single-deck blackjack for $100 a hand
 
4.    You’re at the roulette table and a black number has come up five times in a row. What are the     odds that the next number will be red?
A.    47.3 percent
B.    75 percent
C.    50 percent

5.    How many US states have legalized gambling?
A.    48
B.    52
C.    2
 
6.    Players who bet on the pass line in craps are hoping the first roll is a
A.     12
B.     Yahtzee
C.     7
 
7.    Video poker is adapted from what poker game?
A.    Texas Hold’em
B.    Strip poker
C.    Five-Card Draw

8.    Which of these games can you play while in the bathroom?
A.    Keno
B.    Bingo
C.    Slots

9.    Where is the biggest casino in the world currently located?
A.    Monte Carlo
B.    Connecticut
C.    Las Vegas

The Answers

1.    B. In sports betting, a gambler needs to win approximately 52.4 percent of his bets to break even because the house charges a commission (or vigorish) on every bet.

2.    C. This could be a trick question because Annie Duke has bluffed and flirted on the same hand. However, rapid eye blinking is often an indicator of bluffing.

3.    C. Surprisingly, playing high-stakes blackjack can be easier on your wallet than low-limit slot machines. Assuming you know basic strategy, your loss in a good single-deck game should be less than $14 an hour. Likewise, video poker (Jacks or Better 9/6) is a good bet and also will only set you back about $14 an hour. Neither one of those is very bad, considering that three quarters going into the slot machine every spin adds up to over $15 an hour.

4.    A. No matter how many times one color or number comes up, the odds for the next spin aren’t related to past spins. And the answer isn’t 50 percent because there are also two green numbers (0 and 00) on the roulette wheel (in addition to the 18 red and 18 black numbers).

5.    A. Currently 48 states offer some form of legal gambling, but just 20 years ago, there were casinos in only two states, so C was a reasonable answer. However, if you picked B, you may want to retake that high school geography class.

6.    C. Seven is an automatic winner for pass line bettors on the come-out roll (first roll). B is incorrect because prowess at Yahtzee rarely translates into winning at the craps table – the pit boss is never happy when you try to throw all five dice.

7.    C. Video poker has many versions, but all are based on Five-Card Draw. So you never need to worry about losing your shirt (or your socks) at this game.

8.    A. Keno is one of the few games in which you don’t have to be present to win. It’s even possible to play from your room or the buffet line.

10.    B. The Foxwoods Casino just outside Hartford, Connecticut, is the biggest casino on the planet.

The following quiz may clear up some of the confusion that faces a prospective slot-machine player when deciding on where and what machines to play:

1) Can you win playing a slot machine?
Yes. Slot machines are set to pay back a certain percentage. In New Jersey, by law, slot machines must pay back 83 per cent of the money played. In Nevada, it’s 75 per cent. In the UK, the machines are required to payout between 72 per cent and 98 per cent. The more competition in a local area, the higher the payout percentage generally is. But even at 72 per cent, a player can hit a lucky streak and go home a winner. Sure, most players may not win anything, but there are plenty who do win if they
know the secret.

The key to beating the slot machines is to quit while you’re ahead. Money management is sometimes an overused term in the gamblers’ world, but it applies here. Set a reasonable win goal. If you have a budget of £100, don’t try to double your money. The chance of that happening is remote. Quit when you are £25 ahead. Go to a film. Get a meal. Or simply watch the other players. And when you get home, you can say you beat the casino.

2) How many coins should I play? Won’t my money last longer if I play one coin at a time?
Yes, your money will last longer, but by playing only one coin, you’re either giving up the chance of hitting the big jackpot, which usually pays a bonus for playing the maximum amount of coins, or you’re not activating all the lines on a multi-line machine, therefore excluding yourself from the chance to hit more frequent jackpots.

Always play maximum coin, or in the case of multi-line video, play enough to activate all the play lines. If you can’t afford the £1 machines, drop down to SOp machines. But whatever you do don’t miss out on the chance to win the big or frequent prizes.

3) How can you tell which machines payout more than the others?
Checking the payout of the casinos in the areas you plan to visit gives you a head start. These are sometimes publi hed in newspapers or gambling publications. It is unclear what the reporting requirements will be in the UK, but in the absence of such data simply choose a casino that makes you feel comfortable or part of the family.

It gets a little more difficult when you get to the casino. You can’t tell which machines pay more than others ju t by looking at them. It takes study and intuition.

First decide upon your gaming budget. To play £1 machines, you should have at least a couple of hundred pounds. If you’ve got less than £50, head for the cheaper reel-spinners or the cheaper multi-line video games.

Then take a walk around. Check out the action. Try the three-pull rule: put the maximum number of coins in the machine three times. If you hit a small jackpot, keep playing. If you don’t get anything back, move on. You’ll know when you’re comfortable and things are flowing.

Play the machines at the end of the aisles that are near other banks of slot machines. Sources say that slot executives place higher-paying slot machines in locations that are visible to other players so that they will lure players to other, lower-paying slot machines.

Avoid slot machines surrounding the table games. Table players may get up to stretch and drop a few coins in a nearby machine. Casino executives don’t want those table players to get lucky and continue to play slot machines instead of table games, so they put the tightest machines around the tables.
Likewise, avoid machines near food outlets where people wait in line. Since these players merely drop a few spare coins into the machines with no expectations of winning, there’s no reason for the casino to put loose machines in those prime locations.

If you’re still confused, ask a slot attendant which machine pays out more than the others. They work the slot floor all day long. Maybe they’ll steer you to a machine that they see payout more than others. If they help in this manner, don’t forget them. Slip them a few pounds, and you’ve found a friend for life.

4) Can the casino change the payout on a machine whenever it wants?
The answer is a qualified “yes”. When a casino buys a slot machine, it will tell the slot manufacturer to deliver it already programmed to pay back a certain percentage. Unless there is a major change in the slot marketing policy of a casino, the percentage will not change.

If a casino does decide to change the payout percentage (and when they do this, it’s usually done to increase the payout, rather than decrease it), it is done over a period of several weeks so the change will be gradual. This is not a common occurrence, because a change in percentage requires the purchase of a new game chip and a considerable number of technical alterations and rearrangements, all clearly in the presence of regulatory officials, who verify the new payout percentage.

5) Is it better to play a machine with a progressive jackpot or one that has lower payouts?
It depends upon your objective. If you want to go for the life-changing jackpot – something that will allow you to tell your boss where he can put your job – a slot machine with a big progressive jackpot will give you a thrill. The chances of hitting that jackpot are quite remote, to say the least, but it will no doubt be exciting to dream about it.

If you want to have a chance of taking home a little more money than you arrived with, you might want to concentrate on the machines that offer lower, but more frequent, payouts. The way to determine which machines fall into this category is to read the display. Check for multiple payout combinations and you’re probably aiming in the right direction.

6) What is a random number generator?
The random number generator (RNG) is the heart of the slot machine for the player’s purposes. It is a software program written into the computer chip that constantly cycles through the numbers entered into the computer program at the factory. Each number corresponds to a reel result, and there is duplication for the lower-paying combinations; ie, more numbers will be assigned to each of the low-paying and non-paying combinations, and only a few to high-paying combinations. In this manner, programmers use the laws of probability to achieve the theoretical payout percentage desired by the casino.

7) Aren’t slot clubs just a way for the casino to make sure you don’t win too much money?
Slot clubs have very little to do with winning or losing. The card readers attached to nearly every modern slot machine allow casino management to compile data on the players. It tells them how much the customers play, what denomination, how many coins per pull they deposit and, yes, how much they win or lose. How much a player wins is not the issue here, however. Casinos know that statistically they will win a set percentage from each player over the long run … and they mean the L-o-n-g r-u-n. A player could beat a casino every day for a year, and it wouldn’t change how the casino treats that person.

A slot club determines how many freebies (rooms, meals, shows, cash back) a casino can give individual players as a reward for their loyalty. It only makes sense to register for the slot club in a casino before you play so you qualify for its rewards.

8) Why do casinos sometimes shut down a machine for a while after it has hit a big jackpot?
Today’s slot machines are electronic wonders, with safeguards built into them to prevent tampering. But slot cheats are only one step behind even the most advanced slots technology, so when large (or even smaller, hand-paid) jackpots are hit, the casino will want to examine the machine to make certain the jackpot was hit honestly, and not through some type of malfunction or player tampering. So not only do the regulatory agencies generally require it, but the casino also wants to verify the jackpot to protect itself against fraud.

9) Most progressive slot systems (Megabucks, Quartermania, Pokermania) payout their jackpots
over a 20-year period. What happens if the casino goes out of business during that time? What are the payout percentages for these systems?
In the case of Megabucks, Wheel of Fortune, MegaJackpots, Thrillions and other multi-casino linked systems, the manufacturer and supplier of the jackpot network maintains a trust system. Let’s say a player hits a £1 million jackpot. The slot manufacturer and the system’s participating casinos will deposit an amount of money in a bank annuity account that will spin off £1 million over a 20-year period. The amount of money they deposit depends on the prevailing interest rate, but the player is
guaranteed to receive the whole £1 million over the course of 20 years. Even if all the casinos, and the slot manufacturer, went bankrupt during that period (not a very likely possibility), the jackpot winner would still receive the prize.

Participating casinos in a linked-slot system get together to decide on the payout percentage. In Nevada, for instance, the payout percentage for Megabucks is typically 87-88 per cent. When the jackpot is hit, the percentage will soar to the upper 90s or more. But averaged out for the entire year, Megabucks pays less than the typical £1 machine (89.4 per cent vs 95.7 per cent). Generally, the same is true of all the progressive linked systems.

Some linked systems, by the way, pay the entire jackpot in one hit. Most of the IGT MegaJackpots quarter and nickel progressives, such as Beverly Hillbillies, and Bally’s Thrillions progressives,
such as Betty Boop, are just a couple of examples of such systems.

10) How can you tell when a machine is due to payout?
A word that should not be in any slot player’s vocabulary is “due”. No machine is ever “due”. The RNG constantly cycles and conceivably could payout two top awards in the space of two pulls, and then not pay another for years.

The only way to even get an idea about individual machines is to “scout” them over an extended period of time. Keep mental (or even written) notes about which machines you and other players seem to win on again and again. Those machines that payout consistently will be the ones on which to concentrate
your play. No, it’s not an exact science, but even a little information can go a long way

Multiple-coin machines have several definitions. On a single-line machine, the player inserts from one to five coins. There are two general categories of single-line, reel-spinning games, known in the trade as a “multiplier” and a “buy-a-pay”.

On a multiplier machine, if a winning combination occurs on the reels with three coins in, the payout will be three times as much as with one coin in. Four coins will produce a payout of four times that of one coin, and so on. In this type of game, the payout percentage and house advantage of the machine do not change whether the player deposits one coin or multiple coins.

The amount of profit the casino makes will increase substantially if it can get the players to deposit more than one coin every play. You should always gamble only what you can comfortably afford, so you should avoid playing the maximum coins on this style of game if you can only afford to play one,
even if the casino tries to entice you with attractive payouts. The only reason to play the full amount of coins would be if the slot machine rewards you when winning the top jackpot.

For instance, if one coin pays ten coins for a particular winning combination, two coins pay 20 for the same combination, and three coins pay 50, it would be to your advantage to play three coins. The disparity in the awards makes it worth it. But if you can’t afford to play those three coins, it’s advisable to find a machine that makes an evenly graduated payout for multiple coins, or drop down to a lower denomination.

On a buy-a-pay machine, each coin beyond the first deposited “buys”, or activates, winning combinations or bonus features that would not be available if a single coin is deposited. The
way to spot this type of machine is to look above the payout chart. It will say, “First Coin” over certain winning combinations; “Second Coin” over the next column, and so forth. In this type of game, the payout percentage to the player increases, and the house advantage decreases, as each additional coin is deposited, since winning combinations under the “Second Coin” column will not register, and will not pay any jackpot, if only one coin is deposited.

Another version of a multiple-coin machine is one with multiple pay lines. By depositing additional coins, the player activates additional lines that payout in the winning combinations hit. In traditional reel-spinning games, these pay lines will generally go up to five – three for each horizontal row of symbols and two for the two diagonal rows of symbols.

As with the buy-a-pay machines, the payout percentage on these “buy-a-line” machines increases, and the house advantage decreases, with each additional coin bet.

The newest – and increasingly prevalent – style of multiple coin slot machine is the multi-line video slot game. This style of game incorporates a video screen displaying five reels, each with three symbols. The pay lines on these machines typically go far beyond the five lines of the reel-spinning version to display nine, 15, 20 or more pay lines. The player has the option to bet from one to hundreds of coins on each pay line. In this type of slot machine, the payout percentage increases
and the house advantage decreases with each pay line activated, until all pay lines are “purchased” for a pin with at least one coin per line. After all pay lines are activated – for example, a wager of nine coins on a nine-line aame, or one coin per line – the payout percentage and hit frequencie are constant. This means that as long as all pay lines are activated, there is no inherent advantage in gambling the maximum coins possible. The machine’s glass will typically display prominent advertisements urging the player to “Play 45 Coins”, or whatever the maximum wager is, but that is only to entice you to increase your stake. As long as the pay lines are all active, you need only to bet what you can afford to garner the maximum payout percentage.

Slot machines – often called fruit machines in the UK and pokies in Australia – have been around for many years. In the UK, there are many varieties of machines. Some are located in casinos or arcades in major cities. Others are tucked away in the corners of pubs or snooker clubs. Still others are lined up along the bulkheads of the large ferries. Most are classified as AWP machines, meaning Amusements
With Prizes, with limited jackpots and infrequent payouts. Anyone who is familiar with AWPs will feel at home in a casmo.

In casinos, the slot machines can offer huge, life-changing jackpots. But let’s go back to the start to trace the slot machine’s development. Many years ago, casino executives were surprised to discover that the money they were making at the table games was beginning to decline, and the profits generated by the slot machines were growing. But the casino executives just weren’t paying attention. With computers becoming a vital part of everyday life, young people developing an attraction to video games, and instant gratification turning the modern world upside-down, it was only natural that slot machines would begin to become the casinos’ main profit earner.

By the mid-Eighties, slot machines had matched table games in popularity, and by the time the decade turned, the so-called “one-armed bandits” had clearly become the casino’s favourite game. Today, more than two-thirds of casino revenue in the US is actually derived from the slot machine. Those same casino executives didn’t try to change the trend, however. They were delighted that slot machines were
exhibiting such popularity. After all, the money derived from slot machines is preprogrammed and absolutely guaranteed, while table game revenues are subject to the ebb and flow of Lady Luck. So slot machines became their cushion, with table games generally making up the difference between a great month or simply a good month.

The casinos can count on slot-machine revenues because the machines are simply computers. The profit can be programmed into the machines by the use of a random number generator that determines just how much of the money played in that particular machine will be returned as winnings.
 
So why should casino customers play the slot machines, since the casino is guaranteed to win? The same random number generator that provides the casino with its guaranteed profit, also gives the player the opportunity to win and win big plus they are a LOT of fun.

Texas hold’ em is an illusion. It appears to be a simple game, but you have to understand all the variables and how to make the correct play.

The most important, but probably most difficult aspect of hold’ em, is to know what the best possible hand – known as “the nuts” – is, and whether any of your opponents could be holding it. For instance if the five community cards are Q(D), 9(S), 7(H), 4(C), 2(H) there is no chance any player can be holding a straight flush or full house. The best possible hand would be three Queens.

By assessing the number of players in the game, and their betting patterns, you’ll get a hint about the best hand. The more players and the more raises in a game, the better the chance that one of the players has “the nuts”. It’s important that you are able to recognize when you have the best possible hand. If you have the nuts and don’t know it, you can lose out on a very profitable opportunity. But believing you have the nuts, and you really don’t, can be much more costly to you.

For example, if the community cards are and you have an Ace-Ten, you’re almost certainly a winner.
You should get as much money into the pot and milk it for all it’s worth. But if the Four of clubs is a Four of hearts, you could lose to a flush. In Texas hold’em, the betting position is more crucial than
with any other poker game. That’s because the game is a fixed-position game, rather than one where the lead-off bet has the high hand. Since the players only see the community cards, it’s not possible to discern who has the high hand in hold’em, so the betting proceeds from the player to the left of the button. Since it is always beneficial to act last in any poker game, you should be more selective of the hands you play when you bet from an early position, rather than when you are in a position near the end of the hand.

You might want to consider seeing the flop. If you pair up one of those cards, you’re in a much stronger position, I particularly if the paired card is the highest of the flop. Beware of suited cards. While they are valuable, having two in your hand is just that; it’s only two towards a flush. It I might end up costing you significant bets chasing that fourth or fifth suited card. High cards are better than low cards. If you have two downcards like throw them away. Even if you pair one or the other, there’s very little chance no one else will come through with a higher pair.

As mentioned elsewhere, starting hands are not as crucial as in seven-card stud. But that’s not to say they are not important. The following are five categories, ranked in order of importance, that are considered good starting hands and will give you an excellent chance to win the hold’em pot.

High Pairs: when you have a pair of Tens or higher, you’re in a good position. With a high pair, you have a chance to improve your hand, but even if you don’t match any cards on the board, you can steal the hand because your opponents will have no idea why you’re betting so strongly late in the hand.
A hand like is strong, particularly if not one of the five community cards is higher than a Queen. But if you match the Queen, you’re in the driver’s seat.

Small Pairs: as in most poker games, the difference between winning and losing is often the difference
between small and large pairs. A hand like will rarely win unless you’re able to improve it in some way.
The odds against improving a pair to three of a kind in hold’ em is 8-1 against. These hands should be classified as drawing hands, and must be played carefully.

Two High Cards: while two high cards are a playable hand, it is not very valuable. A hand like an Ace-King should always be played, but a hand such as should, in most cases, be folded, particularly if someone raises. If the two cards are suited, you definitely hould play it, just don’t overrate the suited cards.

Suited Connectors: two cards that could lead to straights are called connectors, but two uited cards
could also lead to a flush. Consider, for example. the following hands are only mediocre hands, but they have possibilities. If there is a gap between the cards, as in Seven of Spades, line of Spades, the hand is worth even less. Fold it unless you’re the blind and don’t have to match any raises.

High-low Suited: if you have a high card along with a low card, and they’re both suited, you have a basis for seeing the flop, as long as there aren’t any serious raises . A hand like wouldn’t be very valuable if it wasn’t for the suited aspect of the cards. But it is more valuable than a lower high card, a Queen of Diamonds, for instance. Play the Ace whenever it doesn’t cost you much, particularly if you’re the blind and don’t have to match a raise.

All other hands should be folded. The chance of making something out of two totally unrelated cards isn’t worth matching the blind and possibly meeting a raise. By carefully studying every situation, you will realise that only by getting the best chance to win with a favourable starting hand is it worth playing.

Michael quit his regular job several years ago for a new profession. He now plays poker for a living, and does very well, thank you.

Michael didn’t turn into a poker player overnight, It took years of playing poker as a hobby before he took the plunge. And now that he frequents the poker rooms of Las Vegas on a daily basis, he understands that he must play with a discipline he could only imagine when he was playing for recreation. That’s why he follow six simple principles.

Luck is often as important as skill: while professional poker players make their mortgage payment by
utilizing the skill they have learned or otherwise acquired over the years, Michael understands that in
the short term, anybody can get lucky, but, because of his experience, Michael is prepared to recognize that luck and take the greatest advantage of it. He is also realistic and understands that he will have an occasional good hand to a “lucky” player. But just because he sees bad players get lucky, Michael knows it is always important to play his best. That way, luck can find you. You don’t have to go looking for luck, When he does lose those good hands. Michael doesn’t let it get to him, because he understand that he can only win consistently if he maintain a positive attitude. He sees players get discouraged all the time and he knows that he has the advantage at that time because a player with a negative attitude is more likely to play bad hands and make bad decisions.
 
When he’s playing, Michael sees his opponents stopping the cocktail waitress every time she goes
by to order a beer, mixed drink or some other alcoholic concoction. Michael used to drink in moderation when he played for entertainment, but now that he’s a pro, he sticks with an occasional coffee. He also gets his rest every night (or day, depending upon when he decides to play), because he knows that playing when you’re tired can cloud your reasoning and create mistakes.

Because he depends upon his winnings for his living, Michael is cautious about betting more than he can
afford. But that’s nothing new. Michael knows that players who bet the rent money are nervous and on
edge, a loser waiting to happen. It’s a tired adage, but remains true nonetheless: never bet more than you can afford to lose.

As a professional, Michael knows all the tricks. One he doesn’t like to use, but often can’t avoid, is when a player shows his cards. Sure, it’s inadvertent, but poker players are looking for every edge, and a player who is careless with his cards deserves to lose. Keeping your cards secure is one of the fundamental elements of playing winning poker.

Most of all, Michael quit his regular job because he enjoys playing poker. If you’re not having fun, it
becomes just another job. The same holds true for playing for entertainment. If it becomes a chore,
there’s no reason to continue playing – it is supposed to be fun after all.

Several strategies are called for in specific situations. If you make the hand you’re looking for, bet it to the limit. If you pull a flush on sixth street, for instance, you should not check. Since some of your cards must be exposed, your opponent will suspect a flush, and not bet into your check.

That means you’ll lose a chance to get a double bet by every active player into the pot. If you check and give the active players a chance to get another card, there’s a chance they may draw a hand that might beat your flush, costing you the entire pot. If you’ve got it, bet it.

If your opponent draws a third suited card, or a third card to a straight, check or call. This isn’t a point to play aggressively because if you raise, your opponent will undoubtedly raise as well. It could end up costing you serious money.

Another situation to beware of is when a player pairs an exposed card on the board. This gives him a good chance to have three of a kind. Even if he doesn’t, he may have a quality hand. Unless you can beat him with a better hand, or you’re looking at a particularly good pot, retire.

Once you have decided to bet on fifth street, it rarely makes sense to fold before the river. The only exception to this rule is if you can clearly see that your hand cannot be improved enough on sixth street to beat a threatening hand held by an opponent. If you decide to go through on sixth street, do not fold on the river. If your opponent is bluffing, you have a chance to catch him at it, and you only have to expose a bluff once in a while to make it worth your while to go all the way.

In seven-card stud, it costs nothing or very little to see your first three cards. It’s important to be able to evaluate the value of those hands to decide whether you want to play them.

For instance, let’s say you get three cards of the same suit. The correct play here would be to begin to bet, and hope that within the next four cards you receive, at least two will be in the hearts suit. But if you look around the table, and see three or more hearts already revealed, it’s best to fold.

Chances are, you’re not going to make that flush. You have to understand how the number of players affects the cards you are holding. For instance if you have a high pair you are better off playing against just a couple of players.

High pairs usually fare better when only a few players are competing, and you’ll have the best chance of winning. But if you have a hand you’ll want plenty of players in the game. When you have a high hand, you’ve got yours and the others have theirs to get. When you have a drawing hand, or one that requires improvement, you will rarely make the hand, so that when you do, you want other players around to build up the pot you will win.

On the other hand, small or middle pairs are the most dangerous. These hands can cost you money because you’re tempted to stay in, in the hope of getting a matching card or being able to “steal” the
pot, winning it with a mediocre hand after everyone else drops out. But while you’re waiting to improve or get lucky, your opponent can easily match a higher pair that will make your pair look puny in comparison. The opposite is true, as well. When you have high cards in your hand, and it appears that the most any opponent can have is a middle or low pair, you are in a good position to improve your hand. With a hand like you’re in a good position to improve your hand by catching either another Ace or Queen.

Given the importance of the decisions made on third and fifth streets, once you’ve decided to pursue a pot, it’s frequently a good idea to see it through. Many hands aren’t made until the last card. But you must be aware of the possible combinations of your opponents’ hands. If you’re chasing that high pair, and an opponent is raising with a hand like you’ve got to assume that he’s either made a straight, or wants you to think he’s made a straight. A high pair won’t be of much help in the first case, and it might cost you a good deal of money to prove the second case.

The most famous game in the casino is poker and it gives skilful players the best chance to make money, but you don’t have to wear a stetson and drink whiskey to learn the ropes.

Of all the casino games, poker is the most familiar. There is some dispute as to the roots of the game, but most agree that it is European. Most game historians say that it comes from an eighteenth-century French game, poque, but others say it derived from a German game called pochspiel. Still others look to the opposite side of the world and attribute the name to a Hindu word, pukka. Whatever the derivation, it’s clear that poker became popular in the US in the 1850s. Poker is today a staple in any gambling hall, legal or illegal.

More Americans have played poker than have played golf, tennis and backgammon combined. And whether they play for big stakes, nickels and dimes, or for matchsticks, the players’ enjoyment of poker is the reason it is undoubtedly the most popular card game.

Even when casino gambling was legal only in Nevada, poker could regularly be found in fire halls, social clubs, church basements, and fraternal organisations. It is now played legally in more than half the US, and semi-legally in all the other states and territories.

As you might suspect, casino poker varies a bit from your kitchen table variety, but the basics are essentially the same. What is most different in the casino is the skill levels of the players. You might be the card shark of your neighbourhood, but when you play poker in a casino, there
are many other factors to consider, other than which player has the best hand.

You’ve seen that there are professional blackjack players who can make a living playing a game in which they can reduce or eliminate the house advantage. And you learned that good sports gamblers can handicap a sporting event through knowledge of specific details unknown to the average bettor.

But since poker is a game that has no house advantage, you must be prepared for a large collection of players who are trying to make a living from the game. There are more professional poker players than any other type of gambler.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that all the “professionals” are playing the high-limit games, and if you play games with £1 minimum and £2 maximum bets, you won’t have to worry about the pros. That’s not true. You’ll meet the professional poker players at every level, whether they are on the way up the ladder, or have been knocked down and are looking to get back up.

Should this deter you from playing the most popular game in a casino? The answer is a qualified “No”.Because poker requires skill, it’s not something where you can hope to stumble across enough good luck to win. While there is some debate on how skill is acquired (are good poker players born or made?), you can read enough about the game to understand its nuances and sit down and enjoy a lively session. Just remember that you never stop learning about poker. After appreciating the basics, your education is just beginning. The various plays, the different combinations, but most of all, the variety of players is what often makes this game the most fascinating of all.

There are many different kinds of poker games. Five-card draw and five-card stud may be popular around the kitchen table, but are now a rarity in the casinos. Forget about the “wild card” games you’ve read about. You won’t see any Deuces wild, one-eyed Jacks, or Jokers added to a poker game in a casino. The two most popular poker games by far in a casino are seven-card stud and Texas hold’em. While there are many other poker permutations that you can find – Omaha hold’em, Omaha Eight-or-better, razz, lowball draw and many more – for purposes of brevity and comprehension, you’ll be wise to concentrate on the two most popular games, which will be covered in this book.