Difference Between Bluffing & Semi-Bluffing
March 8, 2008
I’m sure if you have ever watched any poker on television then you have heard the terms bluff and semi-bluff. A lot of beginners do not know the difference and I’ve even hear them make the mistake of thinking that a semi-bluff is just a bluff for less money. In reality bluff and a semi-bluff are only very distant cousins and not distinguished by the amount of money at risk. In poker, there are generally two ways to win a hand. One is for your opponent to fold, conceding the pot; and...
Doubling Down After You Lose in Blackjack
March 8, 2008
Have you ever heard someone say that they have a foolproof way of winning at blackjack? The best part is that you don’t have to be very smart, good at math, understand probabilities, count cards, or even really know basic strategy. It’s one of the one of the oldest and obviously fallacious ones around, simply doubling your bet every time you lose. When you win, just go back to your basic betting unit, $10.00. Sounds too good to be true? That’s because it is. The system described...
How Continuous Shuffling Affects the Odds
March 8, 2008
A 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...
Video Poker Odds Royal Flush
March 8, 2008
Doesn’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...
Two Year Olds Gambling
March 8, 2008
Today Mark Pilarski is giong to prove that two-year-olds gamble. Seems like an outlandish statement right? Well keep reading. First, let me give you two examples of children gambling casino style. On the Boardwalk in Atlantic City children can freely walk into an arcade and play true slot machines by exchanging quarters for tokens. They win crummy prizes in exchange for the tickets the slot spits out. Another example is at the children’s arcade at the Circus Circus in Reno. A child can play...
Things for Kids to Do in Las Vegas
March 8, 2008
If you are deciding on whether to take a family trip to Las Vegas or Disneyland, then the age of your children is important. If you have the younger crowd then Disneyland is more appearling, while if they are old enough to gamble then you could have a good time in Sin City. Mark Pilarski gives his recommendations here. If you’re looking for total family entertainment, choose the latter and take your family to Disneyland. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Las Vegas-just not as a family destination....
Splitting Eights in Blackjack
March 8, 2008
If you have ever taken a look at a basic strategy card, book on blackjack, or an experts column online then you will always see they recommend splitting eights against a dealer 10. However, many players realize that they are going to end up losing even with two different 8’s going against the dealer 10, so they depart from optimal play and just hit instead of splitting. While this is a hand that hurts most players, you have to realize that the perfect strategy tries to minimize losses at...
Pass Line Odds Compared to Hardway Sixes & Eights
March 8, 2008
When it comes to casinos, there aren’t many people out there who know more about the odds than Mark Pilarski. This week a reader asks Mark to help her show her brother how much more he is going to lose over the long run by betting hardway sixes and eights at the craps table over the pass line. Always remember, the pass line is one of the best bets you can make in the casino since it has such a low house advantage.By using a simple mathematical formula Mark proves that by playing smart you...
Best Casinos
March 8, 2008
Everyone has their favorite casino, but what really makes the best casinos so great? Some people think it’s a single deck blackjack game, while others prefer a good buffet with cocktail waitresses that make frequent rounds. Mark Pilarski worked in more than his fair share of casinos and has his own take on what make the best casinos so great. Even with his love of buffets that line up on the American casino landscape, a great lineup of food isn’t going to equal the best casino. It...
What is Pyramid Poker
March 7, 2008
Mark Pilarski was recently asked if he had ever heard of an abbreviated game of Pai Gow poker that uses less than the traditional seven cards? Below was Mark’s reply: Pai Gow Poker is a seven-card poker game played with a standard 52-card deck and a joker. The art of the game is to skillfully arrange your cards into two poker hands, one of five cards and the other of two. To win, both your five-card hand and your two-card hand must beat the banker’s corresponding hands. When setting...
