Gambling 102: The Best Strategies for All Casino Games

Gambling 102: The Best Strategies for All Casino Games

Plenty of gambling books explain how to play the games; that’s Gambling 101. Gambling 102 takes you to the next stage, where you’re playing in the best way with the least amount of effort. Within these pages, gambling’s “Wizard of Odds” provides proven strategies for all the casino games—from baccarat to video poker and craps to Ultimate Texas Hold ’Em—in terms that are easy to understand and implement. Nineteen quick chapters (some as brief as two or three pages) cut right to the heart of each game. They give you, first, an assessment of the odds you face, then the basic strategies you need to lower them as much as possible. When should I raise in Three Card Poker? How will reduced “juice” affect my sports-betting results? And, of course, what are the good slot machines to play and how do I pick the best blackjack game? Everything you need to play the games as well as they can be played is at your fingertips. Gambling 102 —now in its revised and updated second edition—is the product of years of mathematical analysis, computer modeling, and actual casino play. If you believe in luck or hunches, you probably need another book. But if you believe that mathematics provides the best way to approach games of chance, then Gambling 102 is the book for you. Michael “The Wizard of Odds” Shackleford was the winner of the Blackjack Ball, a competition among the world’s greatest blackjack players, in 2011. “Fermat and Pascal developed the concept of probability theory from correspondence started when the Chevalier de Mere asked them to settle a gambling problem. Today, the authority on casino games is Michael Shackleford, the Wizard of Odds.” ― The Observer Michael Shackleford took after his father with an interest in math, and after graduating from the University of California-Santa Barbara, he landed a job as an actuary for the Social Security Administration. In 1997, he introduced his website on gambling, the WizardofOdds.com. In 2000, he left his job to devote full time to the website and a consulting business for the gaming industry. Other than helping gamblers around the world improve their odds in the casino, Mike likes unicycling, solving puzzles, and participating in trivia challenges. On my website WizardOfOdds.com, I’ve analyzed approximately 400 casino games, 160 video poker games, 50 blackjack side bets, 40 baccarat side bets, hundreds of side bets in other games, and so many rule variations of popular games that I’ve lost count. This is all the product of 22 years of analyzing and writing about casino games. However, not every recreational gambler needs or wants to know about a game that crashed and burned in a field trial more than a decade ago. For the advanced recreational gambler, who already knows the rules to the major games and wants a quick and easy answer to the house edge they face and the proper strategy, this book is for you. It’s called Gambling 102 , as opposed to Gambling 101 . Plenty of books on gambling for beginners already exist. This book, by contrast, endeavors to build on a foundation of the basics by presenting a more rigorous look at the odds. If you don’t know the difference between blackjack and baccarat, this book will probably be too advanced. If you’re already a skilled advantage player in a range of games, you probably already know most of the information in this book. I wrote this book those of you who are somewhere in the middle. The first edition of this Gambling 102 was published in 2005. The casino floor is always changing. Old games die out and new ones come along. Gone from this edition are chapters on Caribbean Stud Poker, Casino War, big six, racetrack betting, sports betting in the NFL, and Texas Hold ’Em. The three table games are no longer popular. Advice on sports betting gets stale, as it’s mostly based on historical data. As an example, from 2005 to 2018, the average score in an NFL game has gone up 5.4 points, reflecting changes in the rules to make the game safer. Regarding racetrack betting and Texas Hold ’Em, I was never entirely happy with just scratching the surface, as I did in the first edition, and felt that if I couldn’t cover them thoroughly, I wouldn’t cover them at all this time. Added to this edition are popular new table games that have come along since 2005: Crazy 4 Poker, High Card Flush, Mississippi Stud, Texas Hold ’Em Bonus, and Ultimate Texas Hold ’Em. One of the new chapters of which I’m most proud is on pai gow tiles, which has been around for hundreds of years in China. I just didn’t know enough about it in 2005 to include a proper chapter. This second edition also includes a more general chapter on sports betting, including coverage of the NFL, MLB, and the NBA. It is my goal that this book not only helps you win, or lose less, in the casinos, but also conveys an appreciation of the math behind the games. If you play for the other side, I also hope you learn about the math behind the games you’re dealing or supervising