profitable strategies
8th question down from top.
"You say there's no winning system in roulette..."
part of answer from the Wizard:
...his I would call a strategy, as opposed to a system.
There are lots of profitable strategies for beating the casinos, but zero profitable betting systems. February 14, 2007
So here the Wizard himself says "There are lots of profitable strategies for beating the casinos, but zero profitable betting systems"
Can we name the "profitable strategies"?
I think some could be:
1) card counting at blackjack
2) buying don't bets at craps
3) sports betting on underdogs
Maybe the Wizard can clue us in to the "lots of profitable strategies for beating the casinos"
My English is well at reading but worse at writing.
5)banking slot machines
Quote: teddys4)positive-play video poker
5)banking slot machines
1) blackjack: card counting
2) craps: running a crap game (and no other profitable strategy exists)
3) knowledgeable sports betting (not "always" betting on any category or situation)
4) +EV video poker
5) bonusing slots
6) -EV video poker but with slot club benefits/mailers/promotions factored in
7) free, or +EV tournaments
8) live poker/tournament poker
9) drawings
10) any table game where earned comps > -EV
11) promotions
12) sign-up bonuses
13) giveaways
14) Using coupons, such as those in the Las Vegas Advisor or American Casino Guide coupon books
15) Funbooks
Quote: FleaStiffWhat does 'banking slot machines' mean?
There aren't nearly as many of these as there were several years ago, but they are machines that accumulate a bonus, based on a relatively frequent event, and pay off that cumulative bonus based on an infrequent but inevitable event. Examples are Diamond Mine, Red and Green Bingo, and Bonus Cherry Pie.
At some point, at least in theory, the bonus becomes both large enough and imminent enough so that the game becomes +EV.
Quote: mkl654321There aren't nearly as many of these as there were several years ago, but they are machines that accumulate a bonus, based on a relatively frequent event, and pay off that cumulative bonus based on an infrequent but inevitable event. Examples are Diamond Mine, Red and Green Bingo, and Bonus Cherry Pie.
At some point, at least in theory, the bonus becomes both large enough and imminent enough so that the game becomes +EV.
Both banking (or "accumulator") slots and progressive slots can go +EV. There are already statistics on when this happens with a VP game + royal flush progressive (or other progressive, like quads). Banking slots were really popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but they've gone out of vogue due to the effect of "bonus vultures". A bonus vulture is a player who waits for a game to get most of the way to a bonus, then uses rude behavior to cause the player at the game to leave, sits down, plays until the bonus is won, and then cashes out. The net effect is that the bonus vulture gets +EV play, while the "good" customer (the regular player who left the game) realizes a significantly worse -EV -- and has a worse time due to the rude player. Those good players quickly learned to avoid the accumulator games, so they underperformed and the casino stopped offering them. More basically, as players grew more savvy, they'd look for games with at least a few ticks toward the bonus, and often would skip playing a game if the bonus reset had just occurred. I did a game once with multiple overlapping accumulators to mitigate this effect (you were always part-way toward at least one bonus.)
Accumulators are still popular online, where game state is not shared by the public. I've also recently seen an accumulator or state-based game from Atronic with a state-reset condition of 0 credits. I thought this was interesting because it motivates the player to keep putting in money when the meter runs low rather than letting the meter run out entirely and naturally ending a session.
Quote: MathExtremistBoth banking (or "accumulator") slots and progressive slots can go +EV. There are already statistics on when this happens with a VP game + royal flush progressive (or other progressive, like quads). Banking slots were really popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but they've gone out of vogue due to the effect of "bonus vultures". A bonus vulture is a player who waits for a game to get most of the way to a bonus, then uses rude behavior to cause the player at the game to leave, sits down, plays until the bonus is won, and then cashes out. The net effect is that the bonus vulture gets +EV play, while the "good" customer (the regular player who left the game) realizes a significantly worse -EV -- and has a worse time due to the rude player. Those good players quickly learned to avoid the accumulator games, so they underperformed and the casino stopped offering them. More basically, as players grew more savvy, they'd look for games with at least a few ticks toward the bonus, and often would skip playing a game if the bonus reset had just occurred. I did a game once with multiple overlapping accumulators to mitigate this effect (you were always part-way toward at least one bonus.)
When the Bellagio opened up, they had an immense variety and number of these machines--it was coincident with their heyday. Well, it didn't take long before the "dirtbags" (that's what we called the "bonus vultures") showed up--in fact, it took exactly one day. They were almost all Oriental, and about the same age--so we thought they were working together. Ha! They would hover at the end of slot aisles, eyeing the machines and each other. When a player got up, leaving a "hanging bonus", they would scramble, racing each other, for that machine--sometimes three or more at once. I saw people get knocked down or shoved aside in the mad scramble dozens of times. The really funny part was that these dirtbags were so numerous and so competitive, they often grabbed plays that were still -EV. The Bellagio tolerated them for a long time--MUCH too long, IMHO--and then kicked a few of the worst ones out, due to numerous customer complaints. Eventually, they took most of the bonusing slots out, but a few persist, even today.
