TABLE GAMES By Daniel Cruikshank
BETTING MAGIC—PART III How To Use The Built-In Functionality Of Electronic Table Games
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his is the third of three articles on using the Magic Buttons that come with the InterBlock (IB) versions of the electronic Craps and Roulette machines. This article is devoted to Roulette. On the IB Roulette machine there are six buttons; these are: Neighbors, Splits (Black or Red), Red Snake, Complete and Finale. It is important to note that these buttons may not be displayed. If you don’t see them then look for the Hide Special Bets button. Pressing it should bring the Magic Buttons into view. NEIGHBORS Pressing this button will automatically place an equivalent bet on the neighbors to the left and right of the last number bet. The thinking is that the ball may land on the last number won, or its neighbors. The number of neighbors varies by Casino. Most e-Roulette machines make one neighbor bet for a total of three bets per button push. At Bucky’s Casino in Prescott, Arizona, the bet is two neighbors to the right and left for a total of five bets per button push. SPLITS Pressing this button will automatically place an equivalent bet covering two numbers of the same color that are right next to each other. Black Splits will cover 8/11, 11/10, 10/13, 17/20, 26/29, 29/28 and 28/31 for a total of seven bets. Red Splits does the same for red numbers next to each other, i.e., 9/12, 16/19, 18/21 and 27/30 for a total of four bets. I will sometimes bet these if a certain color is dominating statistically, 60% or better, and two or more of the split numbers are Hot. RED SNAKE Pressing this button will automatically place an equivalent bet that covers the red numbers that snake there way across the betting field. Starting from the left, this bet will cover 1, 5, 9, 12, 14, 18, 21, 23, 27, 30, 32 and 36. This sequence could vary from Casino to Casino. For example, it could begin at 3, 5, 9, 12, 14, 16, 19, 23, 27, 30, 32 and 34. In either case the bet would be the same, i.e., twelve numbers.
18 Arizona Gaming Guide | December 2020 | azgamingguide.com
COMPLETE Pressing this button will automatically place an equivalent bet that covers all numbers with the exception of the green, 0/00. There are a total of 38 numbers counting the green. The payout is only 35:1 versus the true odds of 37:1. A losing venture in my humble opinion, best to avoid. FINALE Pressing this button will automatically place an equivalent bet that covers all numbers ending with a 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9. There are five numbers ending in zero; four numbers ending in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6, I will use this bet if I notice a trend of numbers, or numbers ending with the same number, repeating quite often. I always play Final Zero if the number that just won ends in 0. Call me superstitious. SUMMARY The amount of time to place bets on Roulette varies with Casinos. If you play e-Roulette and like to make numerous bets per spin, then I would strongly recommend using one of the canned betting options. Once the bets have been made you can then slide them to cover other numbers, Hot, Cold, birthdays, holidays, “luckies,” whatever. If you are betting quarters then keep in mind that some Magic Button bets may not meet the minimum of $1. You can make multiple Neighbor, Splits or Finale bets. You can also mix and match. Good luck! We’d love to hear about your experiences playing electronic table games! Write us at Editor@AZGamingGuide.com with the word “Electronic Table Games” in the subject line. $ Writer Daniel Cruikshank lives in Arizona, is retired, and has been an Electronic and Live Table Games player for decades. He has written a book called “The Franklin Trail—A Dark Memoir,” which is available online at Apple Books and Amazon.com.
