The New York Jets are coming off a pretty disappointing 2008 season, where they went 4-12. While the team struggled to win games, they might not be that far from a break out year as 9 of their losses came by 10-points or less. A good off-season and some quality draft picks could be all this team needs. While the draft is still about a month away, the Jets have been pretty busy so far in free agency. The biggest signing came in G Alan Faneca, but they also landed the likes of T Damien Woody, DT Kris...
Read more about New York Jets 2008 NFL Mock Draft Miami Dolphins 2008 NFL Draft Needs - March 28, 2008The Dolphins were not much to watch last year as the team started out the season 0-13, before getting their only victory of the year against Baltimore, and would up finishing the season at 1-15. The team is in need of change and a lot of it. The Dolphins have had a very busy off-season so far as they have seen 14 guys leave the team, and 12 new faces join the team. The team got rid of both backup quarterbacks and look to be giving John Beck the starting job as of now. The team parted ways with long...
Read more about Miami Dolphins 2008 NFL Draft Needs Buffalo Bills 2008 NFL Draft Needs - March 28, 2008The Buffalo Bills were up and down last year at 7-9, as they started of the season 0-3 before winning 7 of the their next 10, then losing 3 in a row to end the season. The Bills really struggled on the offensive end of things finishing the season only averaging 15.8 PPG. With off-season additions mainly coming on the defensive side of things so far, with most notably being star DT Marcus Stroud and LB Kawika Mitchell. The team did lose CB Jason Webster, but have been able to bring in William James...
Read more about Buffalo Bills 2008 NFL Draft Needs 2008 Zurich Classic of New Orleans - March 25, 2008The PGA Tour finished up its time in Florida for the time being and will travel to the wonderful state of Louisiana for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. The tournament is set to take place on the TPC Louisiana golf course in Avondale, LA on March 27 – March 30. Last week golf fans witnessed something unusual as of late, as Tiger Woods was unable to win at the CA Championship. Geoff Ogilvy was able to weather the conditions for the win. While the field isn’t as strong as the last two...
Read more about 2008 Zurich Classic of New Orleans 2008 Goody’s Cool Orange 500 Odds, Picks, & Predictions - March 22, 2008NASCAR is heading to Martinsville, Virginia for the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway. This will mark the 6th race of the 2008 season and will be the second short-track event of the season, after we had the first short-track race last week at Bristol. While many thought that Hendrick Motorsports and Roush racing would dominate last week it was Richard Childress Racing that took over the track when they finished 1-2-3. Jeff Burton was able to take home the victory with teammates...
Read more about 2008 Goody’s Cool Orange 500 Odds, Picks, & Predictions 2008 Philadelphia Eagles NFL Draft Needs - March 19, 2008The Eagles are coming a disappointing season where they finished the season at 8-8, but last in the NFC East. The Eagles might not have been as bad as it seemed as they lost 5 games by 4-points or less, and were only one game out of the playoffs. This should be a good sign for Eagle fans in 2008, as they could easily make the move back to one of the top teams in the NFC with some good off-season transactions. They have already made a big splash in landing Patriots Pro Bowl CB Asante Samuel. The team...
Read more about 2008 Philadelphia Eagles NFL Draft Needs New England Patriots 2008 NFL Draft Needs - March 19, 2008The New England Patriots are coming off one of the best seasons in NFL history, but it ended in more disappointment then satisfaction. After storming through the regular season at 16-0 and winning its first two playoff games, the Patriots were just one step away from a season of perfection. But we all know that Eli Manning and the New York Giants put an end to their storybook season and the Patriots were left empty-handed. The Patriots will enter the 2008 season without their Pro Bowl corner Asante...
Read more about New England Patriots 2008 NFL Draft Needs 2008 Doral World Golf Championship – CA Championship - March 19, 2008The PGA is gearing up for its 4th and final stop on the early Florida swing at Doral for the World Golf Championship-CA Championship. This is the 2nd tournament of the World Golf Championship with Tiger Woods winning the first at the Accenture Match Play Championship. Last week golf fans got almost everything they could ask for with the Arnold Palmer Invitational coming down to the wire with one of the best finishes you will see all year. While its no surprise that Tiger won the tournament, it was...
Read more about 2008 Doral World Golf Championship – CA Championship House Edge When Blackjack Pushes Go To House - March 15, 2008Generally, charity blackjack events turn pushes into wins for the casino. Real casinos do not offer such a hard-line rule, because players would never belly up to the table when the odds are so stacked against them. There is an exception: Double Exposure blackjack. Here, as compensation for losing in pushes, all dealer’s cards are dealt face up, However, (there’s always an “however”) because you get to view both of the dealer’s up-cards, the playing rules are adjusted...
Read more about House Edge When Blackjack Pushes Go To House Odds on Craps Hardways - March 15, 2008In Craps, hard-way bets are very enticing to players. To win this bet, your number not only has to appear before the seven, it has to emerge with two dice showing the same number. For example, if you are betting a hard six, it must be a pair only (3-3) in order for you to win your wager. If it shows as a 4-2, 2-4, 5-1, 1-5, or if the seven rolls, you lose. Sticking with the six as an example, the correct odds on making the six is 10 to 1, calculated as four easy ways of making the six (4-2, 2-4,...
Read more about Odds on Craps Hardways 2008 Food City 500 - March 14, 2008This week NASCAR is heading to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 500. The race is set to get under way on Sunday March 16. This will be the first of two races held at Bristol as the will head back to the track for the Sharpie 500 later in the season. Bristol is a short track unlike any others and the history at this place runs back nearly 50 years, with the first race of this event took place back in 1961 when it was named the Southeastern 500. While Kurt Busch has dominated this event since...
Read more about 2008 Food City 500 Washington Redskins 2008 NFL Draft Needs - March 14, 2008The Washington Redskins are coming off a season of sorrow and a season of triumph all at the same time. With the unexpected tragic loss of S Sean Taylor, the Redskins were forced to play the final 4 games with out their pro bowler. At the time the team was 5-7, but was able to finished strong and end the season in the playoffs at 9-7. In one of footballs toughest divisions the Redskins will have to make improvements this off-season if they want to compete with the Cowboys, Giants, and Eagles. The...
Read more about Washington Redskins 2008 NFL Draft Needs 2008 Arnold Palmer Invitational - March 11, 2008The PGA Tour is getting ready to hit the 3rd event in Florida this week at the legendary Bay Hill Club and Lounge in Orlando, Florida. The tournament is named after one of the greatest golfers to ever step foot on the golf course. Arnold Palmer paved the way for many of the golfers today, and there is no better way to acknowledge him than have a weekend dedicated to the man himself. Last year the trophy went to Vijay Singh who was finally able to get a victory at Bay Hill, after trying since he was...
Read more about 2008 Arnold Palmer Invitational Wheel of Fortune Slot Machines - March 9, 2008If you have ever seen the slot machine Wheel of Fortune at your local casino then you probably know just how popular it is. I have seen players waiting nearly an hour just to get a sit for the chance to take a few pulls and a chance to win grand prizes. Since the game is so popular we figured we would take a look at the payback percentages on these machines, the frequency of payoffs, and how often a bonus spin appears for the play. The game is produced by International Game Technologies and is...
Read more about Wheel of Fortune Slot Machines Tic Tac Toe Chicken Challenge - March 9, 2008Maybe you have heard the rumor of the Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken Challenge that has been played at the Tropicana in Atlantic City and Trump 29 in Palm Springs. Sure enough, this is a real game that you can play at both of these fine establishments, but before you go jumping into the mix you might want to read the rest of this article by Mark Pilarski. Ginger, the chicken extraordinaire is the name that two casinos have given the animal that I know of have used to cook the goose of many intrepids who wanted...
Read more about Tic Tac Toe Chicken Challenge How Do Casinos Make Money - March 9, 2008It seems pretty obvious that casinos make money. I mean how else would they build the fancy hotels and spend so much money luring the player into their pits. There are some of you out there though who look at this and still don’t understand how it is done, so this article focuses on how casinos make their money. Casinos make money on their games because of the mathematics behind the games. The house has a well-calculated advantage on each and every bet wagered. If they didn’t have...
Read more about How Do Casinos Make Money Man Bets Life Saving on One Roulette Spin - March 8, 2008Back in 2006 there was a man who on live television walked into a casino in Las Vegas, and bet his entire life savings. This caught a lot of attention in the news, because it was such a large wager and that it was so odd for someone to risk it all. Mark Pilarski weighs in on his thoughts. The person who did this was Ashley Revell, who put up his entire net worth of $135,300 on red at the roulette table while a British film crew recorded the event. However, it was not live as your question suggests,...
Read more about Man Bets Life Saving on One Roulette Spin What is a String Raise? - March 8, 2008At our newly formed Thursday night poker club, I was informed that I couldn’t call a bet, and then raise. I used these words; “I’ll call your $20, and raise you another $20.” Someone objected and said that I couldn’t do that. I have seen this form of betting many times before, so enlighten me, am I wrong? Jeb S. Where you have seen “I’ll call your twenty, partner, then after a swig of JD, the gambler utters, I’ll raise you another twenty” is most...
Read more about What is a String Raise? Single Deck Blackjack – Common Rules & House Edge - March 8, 2008It seems like single deck blackjack games are becoming more common once again, but the trend in some casinos is to make the payoffs for blackjack 6:5 instead of the customary 3:2. Keep reading to see how this affects the overall dealer advantage. We advice players to play single deck blackjack games because if you play using perfect basic strategy on a single deck game the house edge shrinks to a meager 0.15%. Most casinos used to have single deck 3:2 games. But today, they are rarities, replaced...
Read more about Single Deck Blackjack – Common Rules & House Edge Skill in Throwing Craps Dice - March 8, 2008I was at the casino recently playing craps in a game where a guy threw the number seven about a dozen times without the point ever being made. Of course I was happy to be enjoying his luck until he starting telling us that he had the skill of willing the number seven. Of course, two hours later, he was broke. Now I don’t think there is such a thing as willing the numbers, but it got me wondering if there was any skill involved in throwing dice? The dice though have no idea who is throwing...
Read more about Skill in Throwing Craps Dice Simple Basic Strategy for Blackjack - March 8, 2008When people head out to Vegas they often want a crash course in how to play blackjack. Well it’s not quite that simple but we can make sure that you play as good as possible given your time constraints on learning the game. So here is the basic strategy that you are going to want to learn: If dealer shows 2 or 3 take cards until you have 13 or more. If dealer shows 4 5 or 6 take cards until you have 12 or more. If dealer shows 7 8 9 10 or Ace take cards until you have 17 or more. If you...
Read more about Simple Basic Strategy for Blackjack How Continuous Shuffling Affects the Odds - March 8, 2008A common question asked is how big of a disadvantage does the blackjack player have who counts cards have against continuous shuffle machines? And a related question of how often do online casinos shuffle their cards? We turned to casino expert Mark Pilarski to allow him to help assist us with these questions and more. Casinos thwart card counters by using different countermeasures. They can use more decks, which decrease the player’s advantage, or they can shuffle prematurely. The downside...
Read more about How Continuous Shuffling Affects the Odds Odds on Natural Royal Flush in Video Poker - March 8, 2008You could almost bet someone a large amount that they would never be dealt a natural royal flush on a video poker machine and feel pretty safe that you are never going to have to pay up. With a 52-card deck there are 2,598,960 possible hands, and what you’re asking for is that one of them to be dealt straight away. Those are long, tall odds. And what about all that time and money spent chasing down a natural Royal flush in hearts? Well, here’s the barnyard math. At a buck and a quarter...
Read more about Odds on Natural Royal Flush in Video Poker Video Poker Odds Royal Flush - March 8, 2008Doesn’t it seem that every time you are dealt one card short of the royal flush, when you draw you never get the card that you need? It can lead you to believe that the casino controls who and when someone hits the jackpot and takes home the cash. However, casino expert Mark Pilarski is here to deal with this nasty rumor and set you down the right path: I could bore you to tears by trying to explain how the pseudo-random number generator determines the cards you will get, but instead, I’ll...
Read more about Video Poker Odds Royal Flush Video Blackjack Odds - March 8, 2008If you want the video blackjack odds then take a look at the house edge and different strategies to help you win. We have frequently been asked about the house edge on Video Blackjack and how different rules and playing perfect strategy affect the odds against you. Many players like the smaller wager limits with the video version and the fact that they can play at my own slower pace. These visitors are right in that there are plenty of advantages to video blackjack with the low minimum bankroll required,...
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