According to today’s statistics, the average casino has to thank its slot machines for about seventy percent of its total income. A rather disproportional piece of the pie considering the countless different casino games offered both in the brick and mortar casino and in many online gaming sites. So, for the only game that requires a coin bucket in an offline casino or that pins the player’s luck on the mathematical odds of a slots machine, what is it that made this game so popular for so many years?
Like many other simple inventions of our time, the slots machine too came from an even simpler thought. At the end of the nineteenth century a basic machine with colored drums and a side lever was integrated into the interior of various California and west coast taverns to add some fun to the establishment’s entertainment offerings. Bar patrons were invited to place either a nickel or a dime in the machine and try their luck at attaining a winning poker hand from the drums’ different symbols. Initially the rewards were not handed out in prize money, but rather in the form of free drinks, cigars, or even plain chewing gum. This simple and straightforward approach to gambling quickly gained great popularity and spread across many bars in the country where it would later be nicknamed the “one-armed bandit” due to its single lever resembling an arm. So great was the popularity of the early slots machines that at one point its manufacturer could not produce enough machines to meet the high demand!
Riding this massive wave of popularity in the bars, the slots machine made a rapid and smooth transition to the casinos, where eventually rows of slots machines would welcome every guest who walked in and were impossible to miss. With the advent of the internet and the popularity of online gaming, slots retained their status as an irreplaceable part of any version of the casino and starred in many online gaming sites, where some sites, such as goldrockcasino.com, focus mainly on providing a large selection of slot games which form the heart of their gaming software.
The tremendous popularity of offline and online slots is undoubtedly a result of its fundamental simplicity and easy manner in which it produces immediate results for the player. Unlike a blackjack game or a poker competition where a player sits down at a table amongst other competitors or just the house dealer, slots allows the player to take some time off from the mayhem of the casino and enter a personal quiet “spell” to the background sounds of coins dropping and reels turning. The results from each game are immediate as the reels display the symbols only moments after the lever is pulled. On top of that the required sum to enter a game is usually small and un-intimidating, hence allowing the player to continue playing even after a row of less successful rounds.
The slot machine has stood the test of time and done so gracefully. Its popularity has not rested and its secure standing as the casino’s most treasured centerpiece has driven slot developer to creating bigger and better games with more intricate features. Though no longer offering mere bubble gum but big money prizes, the slot machine still holds onto its old western charm and nostalgic appeal.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Learn to Play Craps - Tips and Strategies: Variance
Be smart, play smart, learn the right way to play craps!If the casino has such an advantage over the player, why on Earth does anyone play the game? My guess is that most people don't have a clue they're playing a losing game. Others are so arrogant they think they can outplay the casino and turn a negative expectation into a positive, even over the long term. Others know they'll lose, but play anyway for fun and excitement. As a knowledgeable player, why should you even bother playing a game you know will beat you? As a knowledgeable player, is there any hope you can walk away a winner, at least once in a while, even though you're at a statistical disadvantage?Craps is a game of numbers and statistics, with the house having a built-in advantage. Since craps is based on statistics, let's find a way to use statistics to our advantage. You'll never beat the casino over the long haul, but you can, indeed, beat it in the moments of time when the distribution hiccups and things go your way.
Let's talk about "variance," which is the average squared deviation of each number from the mean of a data set. Huh? Don't worry; we don't need a Harvard math degree to understand this. It's simply a measure of how spread out the data is. Let's consider the familiar coin-flip example.
Suppose we flip a coin 10,000 times. We expect heads to appear about 5,000 times and tails to appear about 5,000 times. Suppose we bet $1 on heads for each flip. If these are even-money bets, we expect to break even--or close to it after those 10,000 flips. As illustrated in one of my other articles, the house doesn't give us even money when it loses. In our coin-flip example, instead of paying us $1 for each loss, suppose they pay us only $0.96. With this built-in house advantage, our negative expectation is to lose about $200 after 10,000 flips. Here's the math. If we expect about 5,000 heads and about 5,000 tails to appear, then we expect to lose 5000 x $1 = $5000; and win 5000 x $0.96 = $4800. $5000 - $4800 = $200. This is called "negative expectation."
Now, of those 10,000 flips, suppose we focus on only 30 of them, and we continue betting on heads. Of those 30 flips, we might see heads 25 times and tails only 5 times. This data fluctuation shows that, for a limited number of flips over a short period of time, we can get lucky and experience Nirvana where things go our way. I call it a "Nirvana hiccup" in the distribution that causes a relatively high variance. In this example of only 30 flips, we win $24 for the 25 heads (i.e., 25 x $0.96 = $24), and lose $5 for the 5 tails (i.e., 5 x $1 = $5), which gives us a net win of $19. This short term variance temporarily removes the long-term negative expectation, which means there are, indeed, times when we can walk away a winner.
Although you'll lose in the long-term, there are times when you'll win because of variance. Suppose you take a three day vacation in Vegas once a year and play four one hour craps sessions each day (i.e., a total of 12 hours for the trip). You could conceivably get extremely lucky and hit that Nirvana hiccup during each session, and then go home a big winner. In that case, you go home thinking you're a genius, a craps god, invincible, a world-class gambling stud. Yeah, sure, okay. I don't recommend quitting your day job.
Now, suppose you're a Vegas local who plays an hour every day after work. In this case, it's clear that whatever few Nirvana hiccups you experience will be properly adjusted over time such that you'll lose your shirt in the long-term.
Therefore, the infrequent craps player can, indeed, consistently win if she's lucky enough to hit those Nirvana hiccups. However, the frequent long term player has no chance of coming out a winner at the end of his craps life. Part of the secret to craps is knowing how to be around for those occasional Nirvana hiccups where the dice fall your way.
If you don't want to lose your shirt, you must learn the secret to craps. Don't fall for bogus winning systems or ridiculous dice-setting claims. Distribution variance is the only thing that makes you a short-term winner. Nothing else. No silly dice setting technique. No bogus winning system. It's the distribution variance and nothing else. Got it? Be smart. Play smart. Learn the secret to craps.
Let's talk about "variance," which is the average squared deviation of each number from the mean of a data set. Huh? Don't worry; we don't need a Harvard math degree to understand this. It's simply a measure of how spread out the data is. Let's consider the familiar coin-flip example.
Suppose we flip a coin 10,000 times. We expect heads to appear about 5,000 times and tails to appear about 5,000 times. Suppose we bet $1 on heads for each flip. If these are even-money bets, we expect to break even--or close to it after those 10,000 flips. As illustrated in one of my other articles, the house doesn't give us even money when it loses. In our coin-flip example, instead of paying us $1 for each loss, suppose they pay us only $0.96. With this built-in house advantage, our negative expectation is to lose about $200 after 10,000 flips. Here's the math. If we expect about 5,000 heads and about 5,000 tails to appear, then we expect to lose 5000 x $1 = $5000; and win 5000 x $0.96 = $4800. $5000 - $4800 = $200. This is called "negative expectation."
Now, of those 10,000 flips, suppose we focus on only 30 of them, and we continue betting on heads. Of those 30 flips, we might see heads 25 times and tails only 5 times. This data fluctuation shows that, for a limited number of flips over a short period of time, we can get lucky and experience Nirvana where things go our way. I call it a "Nirvana hiccup" in the distribution that causes a relatively high variance. In this example of only 30 flips, we win $24 for the 25 heads (i.e., 25 x $0.96 = $24), and lose $5 for the 5 tails (i.e., 5 x $1 = $5), which gives us a net win of $19. This short term variance temporarily removes the long-term negative expectation, which means there are, indeed, times when we can walk away a winner.
Although you'll lose in the long-term, there are times when you'll win because of variance. Suppose you take a three day vacation in Vegas once a year and play four one hour craps sessions each day (i.e., a total of 12 hours for the trip). You could conceivably get extremely lucky and hit that Nirvana hiccup during each session, and then go home a big winner. In that case, you go home thinking you're a genius, a craps god, invincible, a world-class gambling stud. Yeah, sure, okay. I don't recommend quitting your day job.
Now, suppose you're a Vegas local who plays an hour every day after work. In this case, it's clear that whatever few Nirvana hiccups you experience will be properly adjusted over time such that you'll lose your shirt in the long-term.
Therefore, the infrequent craps player can, indeed, consistently win if she's lucky enough to hit those Nirvana hiccups. However, the frequent long term player has no chance of coming out a winner at the end of his craps life. Part of the secret to craps is knowing how to be around for those occasional Nirvana hiccups where the dice fall your way.
If you don't want to lose your shirt, you must learn the secret to craps. Don't fall for bogus winning systems or ridiculous dice-setting claims. Distribution variance is the only thing that makes you a short-term winner. Nothing else. No silly dice setting technique. No bogus winning system. It's the distribution variance and nothing else. Got it? Be smart. Play smart. Learn the secret to craps.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
When Casino and Bingo Players Can’t Smoke
Imposing No Smoking prohibited is becoming popular in meeting places or heavy crowed places in different places in the world. Some casinos and bingo halls are becoming non smoking organizations as health concerns prompt local regulators. Bingo is basically lottery game a game of luck. Bingo players are gamblers and most of the gamblers are smokers. Some of them are chain smokers, for them quite difficult to sit for long time and playing bingo game continuously. Proscription smoking in bingo halls causes many players to skip the game at the land-based establishment. Many players would rather favor to spend their time doing something else than go without smoking. Most bingo halls that have smoking bans have experienced a go down in their revenues, just as casinos have.
Players who have habit to smoke frequently can not enjoy themselves so they just leave the game because of his addiction. Those that do appear to play at the land-based establishments obviously spend as little time inside as possible. They take breaks outside so they can have a cigarette. This means they spend less on refreshments and drinks because they spend their time outside smoking instead of inside drinking. But for those players the best option is to play bingo on internet. On internet player can play online bingo with heavy crowd and enjoying his play time with online players.
Many players, who find themselves not capable to smoke at their favorite land-based bingo establishment, stay home and play internet casino and bingo games. The whole smoking issue is solved that way. Casino gamblers are free from the gambling dress code while they are playing free online casinos and gambling games. They are in the privacy of their own home where they can smoke whenever they want without bothering anyone. They can also play according to their own schedule instead of the bingo hall’s schedule. When bingo players can not smoke at their local bingo organization they find something else to do. Since they can not enjoy the game, many of them stop attending and stay home and play online bingo games.
Players who have habit to smoke frequently can not enjoy themselves so they just leave the game because of his addiction. Those that do appear to play at the land-based establishments obviously spend as little time inside as possible. They take breaks outside so they can have a cigarette. This means they spend less on refreshments and drinks because they spend their time outside smoking instead of inside drinking. But for those players the best option is to play bingo on internet. On internet player can play online bingo with heavy crowd and enjoying his play time with online players.
Many players, who find themselves not capable to smoke at their favorite land-based bingo establishment, stay home and play internet casino and bingo games. The whole smoking issue is solved that way. Casino gamblers are free from the gambling dress code while they are playing free online casinos and gambling games. They are in the privacy of their own home where they can smoke whenever they want without bothering anyone. They can also play according to their own schedule instead of the bingo hall’s schedule. When bingo players can not smoke at their local bingo organization they find something else to do. Since they can not enjoy the game, many of them stop attending and stay home and play online bingo games.
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