Dear Mark,
A casino in Reno has a
cash-your-paycheck video poker machine with a big payout of $1,000,000
for a sequential royal flush. The machine has been there for about four
years with no winner. What are the odds of ever hitting the big one, and
can the machine be set to miss it? Joe Q.
Question your way, Joe. Which do you
think is easier? Hitting a sequential royal flush, or hitting 6 solid of
51 numbers in your typical state lottery? You would be wrong, Partner,
if you think hitting a sequential royal flush is easier.
Let's crunch the numbers: The chances of
hitting a 6/51 lottery are 18,009,460 to one. For an ascending royal
flush in any suit, they are 77,968,800.
If it is suit specific, for instance, it
must be in spades, then the chances are one in 311,875,200.
As to the
latter part of your question, there wouldn't be a need to program a
machine to never deal a royal when the chances of its occurrence are
infinitesimal. Either way, not only has no one hit a sequential in four
years, I am willing to make an eat-your-hat wager no one ever will.
Sombreros preferred, hold the tabasco; takers get back to me pronto.
This "gimmick" bonus is nothing more than
a marketing scheme to induce cashing your paycheck at their joint, and
then, while you're so close, registering for one-armed-banditry 101. And
while we're in an academic mood, how tall would a stack of 311,875,200
dollar bills be, and what would it weigh? Prizes for the worst answers.
Dear Mark,
You possibly answered
this following question incorrectly: True or false: The joker is always
wild in Pai Gow Poker? Jason C.
Your answer was; "The correct answer,
Jason, is false. In Pai Gow Poker, the joker acts as a special card, yet
not as a wild card in every scenario. The joker's only uses are as an
ace, or as a wild card to complete a straight, a flush, a straight
flush, or a royal flush."
I agree with your answer, Mark,
however, kindly be advised the joker is always wild in the underground
houses in New York's Chinatown (since banned) and the casinos in
California. Wilson M.
Of course, Wilson, you do understand that
because this column runs nationwide, at times I will need to generalize
and omit or suppress blind pig action played in the fetid grottos of the
earth. I do appreciate, though, the heads-up on Pai Gow Poker action in
California.
Dear Mark,
Often, I notice you
recommend making a pass line wager. Seldom do you recommend making the
don't pass bet. Isn't the don't pass a better wager than the pass line?
Danny S.
Yes, Danny, the don't pass bet (seven
rolling before the point) is a "marginally" better bet — a 1.4%
casino advantage versus the Pass line's 1.41 percent. But, I have always
enjoyed the kibbutz esprit of a live craps game, you know — all us
sweating infidels against the establishment, together, trying to beat
the oh-so-cool house.
By betting the don't, you become one of
them, a renegade sneering at the majority, hoping the seven wields its
ugly face, wiping the rest of us out. Boo hoo to you!
While I'm at it, Danny, if you become a
don't pass bettor, never scream out, "Come on, seven!" Betting against
most players is bad enough, but rooting against them and gloating after
a win is terrible table etiquette that will not get you to paradise.
Gambling quote of the week:
"A slot machine never talks back to you (although some of the newer ones do
talk to you), never criticizes your play, and never cusses you out.
Sounds like the kind of friend we'd all like to have." -The book,
Gambling For Dummies
