Greetings TKP brethren and sistren (just go with it)! My fam and I are headed to Hollywood Casino in ye olde Charles Town, WV this weekend to fulfill my grandmother's 90th b-day wish of us taking a fam trip up there (for her to work the slots). Other than the typical "don't bother going" and "ATM", what will be the best/most effective methods of extracting fundage from this fine establishment? Thanks.
Should also probably mention that the most success I have experienced in these matters is from blackjack (I use basic strategy).
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Short of learning the art of card counting at blackjack or resorting to illegal methods like card marking, there really are no effective means of extracting funds from that fine establishment. To limit your losses, stick to the games with the slimmest house advantage, like craps or blackjack. But stay away from the bonus bets at the blackjack table and the bets at the middle of the craps table. These generally provide a very strong house advantage. Stay as far away from roulette as you can, as that typically has one of the strongest house advantages.
If you're any good at poker, spend your time there. I've played the poker room there once or twice and found there is often easy money to be made there. The big advantage is that you're not playing against the house, who always wins. You're simply paying the house a small fee for the opportunity to extract some funds from your fellow patrons.
The thing that annoys me is that it looks like they have ridiculously expensive tables. I don't know how much my wife is willing to put into the bankroll for this. My typical strategy is that if I lose 3 hands in a row, I walk.
Free Play Blackjack, I have come on top of that variation of Blackjack every single time.
Lmao! How many "free dollars" have you cleaned out?
its not free dollars, its actually called Free Play Blackjack. You play with house money if your first two cards are doubles or if your first two cards equal 9, 10, or 11, ex. 2 and 7, 3 and 7, 5 and 6, etc.
If you two first cards equal 9, 10, or 11, and you bet $20 originally, you can double down for $20 (or whatever you bet originally) and the house pays for it but can only take 1 more card, that's what kinda sucks, but if you get a high cards or face, you are looking pretty. So basically half of your bet is your money and the other half is house money.
Doubles you can split for house money. So again, if you bet $20 on your hand and you got 9 and 9, you can split those cards and the dealer will pay for your $20 split, so now you have $40 betting but its only $20 of yours, $20 being the house. Now, if you get two 6's for example and split those on house money, and you get a card on top of one or both of your 6's and the total equals 9, 10, or 11, you can free play it again with house money and the house gives you another $20 for one more card.
Now all is good except here's the catch, any other regular Blackjack game the dealer would bust on 22, in this game to give the odds back to the dealer, on 22 the dealer pushes.
Ah, gotcha. Thanks.
The fact you can only take one car after splitting if that is how I'm understanding the rules as you have presented them, make it a much greater disadvantage than it would seem even if "house money". How many times will you split and get a really low card and want to hit? Fairly often depending on the dealer's hand. Part of the rationale and game odds for splitting (especially 8's) is the ability to take more than one card, and possibly double down on the split.
you can take as many cars as you want after a split. I was just saying if you split 6's and on one of your 6's you get a 3, 4, or 5, which would equal 9, 10, or 11, then you can double down on that with house money since that hand equals 9, 10, or 11. So you bet $20, get 6's, so house gives you $20 to split them, and if the one or both of your splits equal 9, 10, or 11, on either or both 6's, then you can double down for $20 house money for 1 more card (meaning $60 on the table, $40 being house money) OR you can pass on doing that and play splits regularly and take as many cards as you want.
His explanation was a little confusing to me too, but the gist of Free Bet Blackjack is that you can split or double down (doubling only allowed for free if you have 9,10, or 11) with house money. The one-more-card rule applies only to doubling down, as it would in an ordinary game. I've played this game on my phone before but never seen it spread at a real casino. Sounds interesting.
It's awesome that you've had a good run on free bet blackjack, but it's a bad game for the player.
I always tell people I'm teaching how to gamble that I play blackjack to win money and craps to have fun. There is nothing more fun at a casino than a hot roller, the whole table is screaming and high-fiving. It's a blast. Blackjack can be fun too, but nothing compares to craps.
I know nothing about that particular casino, but if you are on a strict budget, you could maybe play a poker tournament or a "sit and go". You pay up front to enter, and that is all you can lose.
I will ONLY play poker - either tourneys or cash games - but if that doesn't suit you, the only other option I would recommend is video poker. Bring the MAX of what what you feel like losing, with the strategy of always trying to draw to the highest payout hands. I've heard that is how to have the best success, and it is the only way to get out of there as cheaply as possible. And you may get lucky going for the big hands, but you have to GO for them to get them. Just trying to extend your playing time by scoring with 3 of a kind to get a few payoffs is NOT the way to go.
And...I
don't usually...NEVER give this advice...but DO NOT drink heavily.There's no way to beat the house regularly. That's why the casinos are still in business. With that being said I like to sit at the roulette table and always go with the trend (red or black). You have like a 49% chance of winning. You'd be hard pressed to find any better odds in the place.
Edit: my favorite is probably the dog races, just a $2 minimum bet and fun to watch.
You're forgetting that in addition to the 18 reds and 18 blacks, there are two greens, 0 and 00. So betting on red or black gives you even money payouts on a 47.4% chance of winning (18/38), giving the house a 2.6% edge, which is one of the worst games in the house for the player, unless they happen to be one of the very few places that offers roulette with only one green space.
I didn't forget. I said "like a 49%." I didn't take the time the do the math. I just think roulette is an easy game to not go through all your money in the first hour. Blackjack is definitely your best odds of winning though.
Also, if they have Let it Ride Poker I would recommend learning to play it before you go. It's a fun game. Everyone is playing the dealer instead of each other.
Watch out for burning couches and flying bottles of piss!
Duly noted. Been thinking about renting a bod guard for my grandparents. Do you think Chris Ellis is available? Pretty sure Eers fear him.
My best advice is to drive east.
Talking about Delaware or MD H'wood??
Off track betting. Minimum bets are likely $2, and you can chill and watch the pony's. I know its not for everyone, but its a good way to be entertained without spending a ton of coin.
Learn to play blackjack for next time. Those are generally your best odds because you have some control over the outcome.
Did you catch that part below the sign?
Yep. I just read "basic strategy" as somewhere between "I know the best general strategy" and "I know how the play Blackjack." Even the basic strategy is still probably your best bet on how to lose the least amount of money, I'd wager.
Blackjack basic strategy is probably the best way to minimize the house's advantage, with the possible exception of playing really boring craps. Most places these days offer "true odds" bets on the craps table where you can, after the come-out roll, place an additional bet behind your pass or don't pass bet. The odds bet can usually be up to 10x your initial bet and it's probably the only bet in the place where you aren't at a disadvantage. If you do nothing but place a table minimum bet on Pass or Don't Pass and always back it up with the maximum allowable odds bet, you can reduce the house advantage to nearly zero. It's not terribly exciting, but it does shift the odds toward your favor a bit.
Horses are racing, and that is the only part I have been to there, so I would suggest that.
Soooo, OK, Mac. How'd ya do?
Well, I didn't clean the house like I was hoping, but I did manage to extract fundage at the $25 table. So, it was a victory. I successfully "robbed" the casino.
Well, arrite then. If you came out a buck ahead, you had a good time and beat the odds. I have seldom gambled more than low stakes friendly poker games and a few beer bets on the Hokies with no longer willing to bet loluva fan friends, but when I have, I always figured to lose what I was willing to gamble with for the fun of gambling, not for the chance of winning, which of course, I'd have been happy to do. Glad it went your way, and hope you had a great time.
I did, however, have the misfortune of seeing the most abhorrent wvu attire a couple times.
As someone who lived in Giles County for 26 years, I can say that that was an everyday thang for me. Down here at the Bay, however, WVU and UT are back there behind loluva, with maybe a slight edge for the Hokies in attire, depending on whether Deltaville folks are in town or not. Then, I am beset by lolosers and their scissor hats. Ugg.