Thinking of playing other games.

I am thinking of betting on Horses, but am concerned that my Horse could fall down and cost me my money. They do say I can play the Horse numbers at a 10 cent minimum, does that mean I can give a dime and choose 3 horses, or do I have to give them a dollar and 10 different plays?

I am thinking of playing Blackjack, but the cheapest Blackjack game is $5. Errm. :/ I don't really like playing $5 on one game or spin.

Do you know how to play charades?

Quote: Kentry

I am thinking of betting on Horses, but am concerned that my Horse could fall down and cost me my money. They do say I can play the Horse numbers at a 10 cent minimum, does that mean I can give a dime and choose 3 horses, or do I have to give them a dollar and 10 different plays?

I am thinking of playing Blackjack, but the cheapest Blackjack game is $5. Errm. :/ I don't really like playing $5 on one game or spin.

Think house edge, Kentry. For example, the right blackjack game has a lower house edge than many other games. The same money that you blow through a slot machine in a short time could last hours at the table. Of course variance is always lurking and it's not always good. You could also lose at blackjack faster than you can say double down.

You can find blackjack games on the internet where you risk $0 each hand

Quote: TomG

You can find blackjack games on the internet where you risk $0 each hand

Actually you can just play all the no deposit bonuses and have some zero risk +EV. There's a ton of them.

If you happen to make any money doing that, you can use that to do some 100% deposit bonuses.

I think Win-a-day is a good place to start for a free bonus. I'm sure its on the top of LCB affiliate list.

It depends on whether you're trying to make money last (i.e. accept that the odds are against you) or make serious money.

I can only base my assumptions on UK-based racing and that the book values in the US (assuming you're taking the prices rather than SP or the tote) are similar to those here.

NB These figures aren't necessarily correct - but make the maths easier. If you can count, learn perfect strategy, then you might halve these figures easily.
If you play Blackjack at $5 a hand then, it might be 1% (or less) and (say) 100 hands per hour. Thus you should lose, on average 5c per hand, or $5 per hour.

I'm not really sure what the accepted minimum is and am guessing it's $5; obviously if you can play for $1 or $2 then your hourly cost is even less.
If you watch various race meetings and (say) find a race every ten minutes, gamble $5 (In the UK you could bet £1!), then your total bets in an hour would be 6 x $5 = $30. Assuming the payback is 83% (in the UK races with fewer runners it might be 90+% and more runners <70%) then your hourly loss would also be $5.

Thus it's a close call - so let's consider other things. On Blackjack your result isn't likely to be wildly different and the game, more-or-less, is the same day in day out. Whereas on the horses on a good day you might find more than one winner and come out ahead; and the tracks and races are different every-day. Also you might learn the form, recognise a "good thing" etc.

The final point, which might be a factor, is what reward system the casino offers for your play. I imagine there's some reward for playing Blackjack and little for betting the horses; but whether it swings the decision is unlikely. Unless you're trying to beat the casino (by counting or studying form) at the end of the day it's the one you enjoy the most.

Quote: Kentry

I am thinking of betting on Horses, but am concerned that my Horse could fall down and cost me my money. They do say I can play the Horse numbers at a 10 cent minimum, does that mean I can give a dime and choose 3 horses, or do I have to give them a dollar and 10 different plays?

Can't answer your questions, but if you try to get instruction about house edge and all that from Wizard sites you should know the HE is very high with horse racing, around 20% IIRC. Perhaps that can be whittled down with good handicapping, but is that you?

Quote:

I am thinking of playing Blackjack, but the cheapest Blackjack game is $5. Errm. :/ I don't really like playing $5 on one game or spin.

I am curious to know why you decided to explore gambling at all?

Quote: odiousgambit

Can't answer your questions, but if you try to get instruction about house edge and all that from Wizard sites you should know the HE is very high with horse racing, around 20% IIRC. Perhaps that can be whittled down with good handicapping, but is that you?



I am curious to know why you decided to explore gambling at all?

He was trying to find a way to pump up his allowance.

I decided to go into Casino Gambling after scratch off and draw games Lottery tickets were eating my bankroll. I decided to go into slots, and I ended up winning roughly $200 on a Saturday after only playing $50, and roughly $1,000 on that Sunday after playing roughly $100. So, I had wom about $1200 in just two days after only playing roughly $150. I remembered thinking, "The slots are treating me way better than the Lottery tickets!" :D

Quote: Kentry

I remembered thinking, "The slots are treating me way better than the Lottery tickets!" :D

They are better, lottery tickets are highway robbery as are all those state-run things

On the other hand, there is the question about gambling at all when funds are lacking.

On the other hand, if a person lives paycheck to paycheck, it has always occurred to me that it might be a matter of buying lottery tickets or an extra 12 pack of beer. The money will be gone either way. The lottery ticket makes more sense [the issue of saving money being mute]

Quote: Kentry

I am thinking of betting on Horses, but am concerned that my Horse could fall down and cost me my money. They do say I can play the Horse numbers at a 10 cent minimum, does that mean I can give a dime and choose 3 horses, or do I have to give them a dollar and 10 different plays?

I am thinking of playing Blackjack, but the cheapest Blackjack game is $5. Errm. :/ I don't really like playing $5 on one game or spin.

Hi Kentry,
Sincere welcome to WOV.
Your horse could also fail to win. That costs you too.

Don't worry too much that some members here don't take you seriously. Like myself you are very small fry to the world of gambling. Worry about $5 though and you are in the wrong hobby.
Your comments about risk seem to indicate that you are not at all familiar with house edge and variance. You also sound like you don't have much bankroll that you are prepared to lose. Find and read articles by Romes.

House edge on horses is huge: You are likely to lose significant amounts of money quickly. If you ever win, it will be short lived.
Lottery tickets and scratch cards are possibly the daftest way of throwing your money away. Absolute mugs game and you will barely see them discussed here.
Slots, at least here in the UK will rob you blind. My typical 20 minutes playing a bar room slot machine would usually mercilessly take £25-£50 off me. The modern US slots with video screens bore me silly.

With blackjack and a modest budget of £100 you can have literally hours of entertaining play and typically lose it or double it over that time.

It's all about entertainment value. what gives you the most entertainment for your money?

The game I play for money preservation due to the amount of pushes and the relatively few hands per hour is Pai Gow Poker. I would love to learn Tiles, but I would rather learn that game with someone who knows how to properly play it.

I don't know about Pai Gai Poker. Some guy named Michael Borovetz is hooked on that game and trolls Airports, scamming hundreds if not thousands of innocent people for money to play it. He even mentioned that he knew there was a huge possibility that he would end up trying to scam someone who was a Member on a gambling forum and he still went ahead and kept doing it.

Quote: Gabes22

...relatively few hands per hour is Pai Gow Poker. I would love to learn Tiles, but I would rather learn that game with someone who knows how to properly play it.

(I) While Pai Gow Poker might be slow, unless you're banking the House Edge is fairly high; also the minimum stake tends to be higher. Thus I feel it would eat your money faster than playing Blackjack.

(II) Pai Gow Tiles - I first played it in Sydney (knowing little about it other than wizard's old strategy) and the inspector was fairly kind. However one can only really learn the basics by watching some hands and then memorising the tiles and the scoring methods. Once I realised the tiles had four groups and some order, it was much easier ( (a) GJ, 66 11 ..... (d) 9, easy 8, mixed 7, 5 ). It still takes me a while to find all the possible scores (i.e. which combination gives best high or best low), but that will come with practice. You can also create a set from two sets of normal dominoes (Hi 6 is actually 3-3). Understanding House Way will work when learning, but there are some exceptions worth learning later on.

Where are you playing five dollar blackjack? I'll help you with the house edge if I knew where