In the game of roulette, both the player and the casino have taken their shots at cheating a game that, in my opinion, can’t be “beaten” any other way. Some favorites?
The rigged wheel comes to mind as the oldest trick in the roulette book. What easier way is there for the casino to make money then to roll out a rigged wheel for the suckers to take to? This worked fairly regularly up until 1931, where new laws make it clear you could lose your gaming license if your equipment was seized and found to be less than on the level. And since the places were and would continue to make good money by offering a legit game, the rigged wheels all but disappeared faster than you can “Always bet on black.” Thanks, Wesley.

Magnets is another fun casino cheat. Of course, in order for magnets to have any affect, you’d need a ball with a steel inside. This was used a little more selectively than the rigged wheel, and would simply allow the casino to “guide” the ball to a less than advantageous area of the wheel for the players. See what you could’ve learned how to do had you stayed in school?

On our end of the wheel (the player), late betting is still being used up to this day. Unless there’s a rule in place of no betting after the ball has been spun, you can count on someone trying to slip in a late bet. In that split second where the dealer is looking at the wheel before shifting his or her eyes back to the table, a clever rouse is to slip the bet in – after the wheel has stopped, of course. I always found this to be a difficult task to begin with. There’s so little to time to pull this off even if you knew where you’d be placing your bet. But to have to wait until the number is set, THEN place your bet, all before being seen…that’s a talented cheat right there.

And, to close, the most desperate attempt to cheat is to tamper with the wheel, including such things as putting glue in the pockets to affect the bounce of the ball – although I don’t know how they can count on any less randomization this way, anyway.

So, word to the wise, if a pit boss comes around looking for a cheat, make sure you wash your hands between sessions.

Let’s start with what, before we inevitably ramble on to why…or more to the point…why in the world. The “what” requires even less skill than you might think possible. It’s basically a contest among many obviously seasoned slots players that pits them against each other in a fast-paced race to the finish line. There’s a time limit, and whomever wins the most takes the title.

Now, far be it from me to inject my two cents into this corner of the slots world, but it would stand to reason in a game where the odds are so far out of your favor, the last thing you’d want is to play into the fast-paced environment. All that’s going to help you do is lose money at a faster rate. If I ever was forced at gunpoint to play in one of these things, I think I’d flip my first quarter in my hand over and over again until the time expired and take my chances that I’d be in the top group just by leaving with what I’d started with. Now that’s strategy, ha!

Seriously, what irritates me isn’t necessarily the lack of skill, talent or strategy so much as it is the fans of slots readily admit and are proud of these traits. The selling point is that anyone can play. And I know if you’re not smart enough to realize you’re a sucker, the saying goes you deserve to have your money taken from you, but I have to be honest here. If you’re a down-on-your-luck, underemployed, just getting by average Joe who never went to college and barely graduated college, and it takes you a little longer to catch on than everyone around you – please, take a hint. You shouldn’t be gambling at any level. Not even bingo.

Especially not bingo.

However, I will give slots one thing. They do keep all these people as far away from me at the poker and blackjack tables as possible. I know, I always seem to give slots a hard time. It’s not right, really, since it’s such an easy target. Next time I cover slots, I promise to do it completely free of sarcasm.

Now THAT takes skill.

This guy was calling out “odds down” after the point hit once as a strategy to maximize his odds – basically by conceding to win less and less but somehow the risk/return made more sense after hitting once. I’ll get to whether I agree with this tactic or not, but my main point of interest was his observation of how the dealers responded. And that was to say, in an irritated tone. This guy claimed he got nothing but flack from the dealer, going so far as to make “chicken” noises, shaking their head or simply ignoring the request unless pressed again to change the odds. It’s probably worth mentioning this happened in Atlantic City and not Vegas.

There are a few reasons why he could be getting this reaction, of course (outside the possibility that it’s his personality). First, the dealers might think it’s an intelligent move and they, therefore, have less of an opportunity to clear the players’ chips. Second, it could be the exact opposite, that the dealers see this as a poor strategy, and are trying to offer backhanded assistance with the message that you need to keep your odds the same or press them up by a unit. And, probably the most likely, they just don’t want the hassle of dealing with it.

The strategy behind this was based off the reasoning that if the point came up multiple times, he wasn’t maximizing his winnings with odds. And I tend to fall into the camp of believing this to be poor strategy. It’s not, in actuality, maximizing your play. If you play craps and bet the come bet, you’re taking the stance that you believe numbers will repeat. That’s the point of the come bet. So backing off that stance is wishy-washy and ultimately counter-productive to your ultimate goal, which is to win as much money as you possibly can. Reducing your odds in this situation just doesn’t make sense.

Also, this guy thought he was “pushing his luck” after the first poin thit, but in actuality, his luck is being pushed equally even before this happens. This is the biggest fault to the betting strategy.

Another strategy, probably better suited for what this guy wanted to accomplish, was to use place bets. These are much more flexible – you can take them down, make them, increase and decrease them anytime you want.

It turns out, much of the comparisons to waiters is accurate. Like any service industry, the amount of your salary is somewhat tied to the quality of the establishment in which you’re working. A waiter in a diner is going to make a fraction of what a waiter in a high-class restaurant in the city is going to make. The same holds true for dealers. And while the current state of the economy has taken a bite out of every service, dealers at higher-class establishments can expect to make about $250 a shift. A “regular” casino will yield less than that, though, probably around $150 per shift. And at low-stakes, off-the-beaten-path venues, a dealer will be lucky to clear $75 a shift.

I’m hearing that in some casinos in Atlantic City, the hourly tip-earning rate is around $14…so that, coupled with minimum wage, brings their hourly total to around $20. Certainly enough to make a living on, but other casinos, like Caesars Atlantic City, pay a few bucks more per hour on average.

So, here’s the question. We all love to play cards (or whatever your game of chance may be), and we all enjoy being in a casino. That said, would you consider doing it for a living? I couldn’t do it, even for $50 an hour, but that’s just me. It’s hard enough having to answer a couple calls a day from the public in my line of work, but having to be face-to-face with them, possibly drunk, for hours on end – while on my feet the entire time – forget about it. These dealers no doubt earn every tip they’re fortunate enough to make. Keep that in mind next time you’re ready to kill the messenger. But, like in the other service industries, you only should feel the need to reward good service.

And by progressive betting, I mean increasing your bet when you’re a winner, and dropping it back to a predetermined “starting” level as a loser. I know and have seen players be successful with this approach in blackjack, but it’s the first time I’ve really heard about it being applied to the roulette table. And the discussions for roulette have it being used in combination with another system of betting. But for the purposes here, I’m keeping the bet increases independent of any other player activity.

It might surprise you to read I’m not 100% against this, and might give it a test run next time the mood strikes me to hit the wheel. What I like about it is you’re going into the game with a plan, and while I never expect to win as often in roulette as I do in blackjack (we’re talking hands or spins here, not total amount), it adds a structure that roulette players must have. With it, though, should be a ceiling of winnings or losses where you cap yourself off and walk away. That can be a dollar amount or a number of spins, but you have to see that structure through all avenues of a goal-oriented betting system.

For me, something like winning money on 6 spins in a row (obviously with more than a single-number bet being placed at once) to walk away. Or if my overall losses exceeded $150, I must have the self-control to get up and leave the table. The strength of a betting system is only as good as the self-control of the player using it, anyway.

Finally, you have to determine before hand what your starting bet will be, and what your incremental increases will be, and then you have to stick to those numbers. If you win 3 hands in a row, you can’t decide to triple the amount in which you increase your chip stack, because if you lose, you’ve hurt your entire structure and nullified what you were working to set up in the first place.

I have a few theories, but my main one rests solely on the irrational selfishness of human nature – amplified by the money-making environment of the casino. What am I talking about? Let me boil it down for you. When a scenario like this presents itself, rational thought is thrown by the wayside in favor of the powerful notion that if there’s the slightest chance you can take advantage of some information, the last thing you want to do is pass it up and risk allowing someone else to experience that good fortune instead.

The closest thing I can compare this to is when you see something (anything) on sale and there’s only a limited quantity available (think Amazon.com’s lightning deals). You’re there, you saw it and there are still some available, your sense of selfishness almost completely takes control of your decision-making process and you “get in on it” while you still can. Doesn’t even matter most of the time if you need or want the product, you find a way to rationalize it to yourself, and the rest is history. So bring that behavior over to the slot machine world and you can see where I’m coming from.

Of course, if you stop to think for even a moment, common sense would tell you those machines that just dumped are less likely to pay out, or at least drop the percentages of hitting a progressive jackpot, because it’s likely the amount of said jackpot has reset to something much lower than it previously was. In that sense, while the odds of winning might not have changed, the risk/return has certainly become less enticing.

And finally, while I’d like to believe this isn’t true, you can safely assume that these machines are configured not to give payout after payout in short periods of time. In fact, if the movie “Casino” is to be believed, someone in a big cowboy hat is supposed to go unplug the machine that just paid off anyway.

I read an article about players breaking down the math on this bet, and coming to the conclusion that it actually pays less than if you just placed a bet, instead of putting it on the on come plus odds. The example used was a 5 dollar come bet plus 25 odds on, for instance, the 5. The payout on the come bet is $35 odds plus $5 flat for a total of $40. Placing the 5 for $30 outright yields a $42 payout. So over the long haul, while the odds bet seems enticing, it actually yields a lower reward than just placing the number.

Add to this the fact that when the point is off, a flat bet becomes a risk factor due to a lack of control. Now we’re staring down two concrete reasons why the come bet is a bad choice. It yields a lower return and puts clamps on your freedom as a player. So if that last number hit was a 5, this method of thinking strongly suggests it makes more fiscal sense to just place the five than the come bet plus odds.

I have to say with craps, some of the intricacies of comparing the different betting options hasn’t been a priority of mine. That’s not to say that it shouldn’t be, I need a more disciplined approach to the game if I’m going to expand my knowledge and return, so reading things like what I just discussed is crucial. This especially holds true for craps, as it might be an easy game to “get into” and get started playing, but the sheer number of betting options available to the player leave the door open for the non-studios types to miss out on capitalizing the maximum return on their wagers.

The standard machine: These are all Five Card Draw machines, so I’ll mention it once and then it’ll be understood. You get five cards, and you push a button or touch the screen to identify which cards you want to retain before the draw. Unlike some home games, you can pretty much dump all 5 if you really want. You make an initial bet to determine how much you win for each hand. There’s always a multiplier (x3, x5, etc…) that increases the payoff depending on how much you bet on the front end. Usually, you have to get at least a pair of 10′s on a standard machine to even win back the amount you bet, and you need two-pair to actually make money on the hand.

Bonus video poker: Ah, what would the casino world be without the word bonus. This is similar to a standard machine, only witht he addition of XX amount of coins for any pairs, trips or four of a kind hands. You also get a huge bonus for four Aces (unlike a home game where all you get is accusations of cheating).

Double, double bonus video poker: Yes, it starts to get crazy with all the extra doubles you see on these machines, often accompanied by super-enticing hands of Royal Flushes painted on above the video screen. And as the name would suggest, it just offers you a multiplier of the amount a straight bonus poker machine offers you. This is the first time I’m going to tell you to stay away from these machines. The double double machines only pay off 1:1 on a two-pair or higher, if you’re lucky, making the risk/return just not worth your time. Statistically, you’re at such a long-shot to hit 4-of-a-kind (the minimum value hand that really pays you anything), you’ll be pumping back in your winnings 5 times faster than they’re coming out. So in the end, you’re always going to walk away with – pardon the antiquated term – an empty bucket.

Wild card games: They suffer the similar disadvantages of the aforementioned machine, although they slide further down the slope and often don’t even pay out 1:1 until you get 3 of a kind. Sure, it’s “easier” to make that hand, but the return values for anything even including a full house are so small, it’s not even worth your time unless you’re really just looking to kill an hour before a show starts. Even then, I’d say get a drink and just strike up a conversation with someone, save your money for another time at the real poker tables.

Don’t get too excited, because if you want to try this, you need time. Lots of time. Unemployed amounts of time. And since I’m guessing most people who read this aren’t playing any of these casino games for a real living, time is a precious commodity, and that’s why we let the experts and those dedicated to breaking these games down do the testing for us.

But, for the sake of argument, here’s what you do if you want to try it for yourself – just make sure your casino is OK with you sitting down with a pen and pencil and taking a seat up for, oh, days on end without betting.

What we’re looking for here is a bias in a wheel. And this is exactly why I’m open to trying this method out. Because a true honest wheel is random and there’s no way around it. But a defective wheel – even to the slightest amount that it’d only be recognizable if you watched thousands of spins? Fully exploitable.

And that’s just what you have to do. Record 5,000 spins or more and record every number. Then find the ones that come up more often than the others and make bets on just one or two numbers. Each number is 35:1, so when the numbers come up every 25-30 spins, you make a profit over the long haul.

This is a ridiculous roller coaster, though, so it isn’t for everyone. There’ll be nights that are quite successful, but other nights where you might be down four digits. Remember, this is a long-term strategy.

How do you even know if you’ve got a bias wheel? That’s what the recording trial is for. If you can’t find those favorite numbers, you know you’ve got to move on to another table.

There are actually a few different ways a player can make a put bet. I’ll discuss a couple of them now. The first is basically a combined flat and odds bet on a point number. While you could make a separate bet on the come line, or bet just a number after the point is established, this put bet approach helps maximize your odds and possibility of larger return. And as opposed to the come bet, you can take odds on a put bet.

The second put bet is adding to a pass line bet during the course of a game after you’ve made the pass line bet. If you take maximum odds on a regular flat pass line bet – again say the bet is $5 – you’re looking at 5x return. So by doing the simple math, your max return there is $25. In this scenario, although you can’t increase your odds bet, you can “put” another $5 into play on your flat pass line bet, which doubles that bet to $10. So now, you basically increased your maximum odds to 10x with a possible $50 return. Yes, you had to put up twice as much money to do this, though.

When would you want to do this? Usually in the middle of a hot roller’s streak. You want to get on the train while it’s running a full speed, and this is the best way to do it. I’ve a new convert to the method and have seen moderate but certainly positive results thus far. Give it a try next time you’re in a casino.