Dear Mark,
When I shoot craps, I
have the feeling that a hot roll will always be stopped by a change in
the dealers, someone touching the dice, someone crowding the shooter or
the dealer giving out the two dice on a seven, eleven or craps. Is this
my imagination or is there any kind of truth to it? Doug C.
With all due respect, Doug, your
false-premise gambling beliefs are based on an illogical point of view.
All too many players use the dial-a-psychic approach on the next toss of
the dice when something whimsical happens on the game. I believe the
true answer lies in the definition of the word superstition.
Superstition: groundless belief in a supernatural agencies; a popular
belief held without reason.
Dear Mark,
I was wondering, isn't
it better to play on a loose jacks or better 6/5 video poker machine
than on a very tight full-pay jacks or better 9/6 video poker machine?
Stanton T.
No such animal exists in the green felt
jungle. Because every hand is dealt randomly, tightness and looseness of
a video poker machine are strictly based on the machine's paytable. A
6/5 paytable (6 coins returned for a full house, 5 for a flush with one
coin inserted) would be considered tight, no, very tight; whereas a 9/6
machine (9 for a full house, 6 for a flush) would be loose.
Dear Mark,
What is the dumbest
thing you ever did in a casino? James C.
Facetiously, working in one for 18 years.
I burned out so many times they started calling me "Refried Pilarski."
More seriously, my early dabblings in
gambling where those of your typical player- playing all the wrong
games, the wrong wagers on those games, the wrong way. Ten spot Keno, 15
team sports parlay cards, field bets on a crap game, the Big 6; that was
me, making grade school wagers on a limited pay grade (my salary).
Dear Mark,
What are the chances of
any one number showing up four times in a row on a roulette table? Anita
G.
On a double-zero game, once every
2,085,136 spins. As a matter of fact, Anita, I saw it happen once, not
with one croupier, but with three separate dealers. I was a pit boss at
Bill's Lake Tahoe Casino when dealer A spun the number 25. After making
his payoffs he went on his break and dealer B stepped in to spin 25
twice consecutively. She was relieved to go home for the evening, then
dealer C immediately twirled 25 again. A sleuth roulette player would
have immediately jumped on this game, figuring it was a biased wheel in
need of repair. In this instance it was hardly worth mortgaging the
house. Single-zero never appeared again over the next seven hours of my
shift, nor were any of the numbers in its wheel section coming up with
abnormal frequency.
Dear Mark,
Why is it that when a
slotmechanic opens a slot machine the machine stops paying? Is there any
hanky panky going on? Timothy C.
No need to worry, Timothy. A slot machine
is usually opened to fill the hopper with more coins or to check for an
internal malfunction. The random number generator continues to work even
when the slot attendant opens the door. This should not affect the
casino keeping "up to" 20¢ of every dollar you put in.
If you feel uncomfortable playing a previously opened machine, you can
always move your hind end to another stool.
