TABLE GAMES

YOUR ARIZONA GAMING BANKROLL

Examining Minimum Wagers At Table Games

By Al Moe

Just because Arizona raised the maximum per-bet limit on table games to $100,000 (yikes!) doesn’t mean you have to bet more money to have fun. The slots are still ringing, “Bingo” is still getting screamed, and you might even find some $5 or $10 limit table games at six in the morning. Want the prices low? Go when it’s slow!

Yes, the casinos adjust their limits based on the crowd, so slow crowds bring lower limits and busy weekends and holidays bring premium prices. Now that you know, go with the flow. But keep your eyes open. Check the on-table signage or ask the dealers to avoid confusion about table game limits. They won’t mind.

While blackjack with a $15 to $500 limit is pretty straightforward - $15 minimum wager, $500 maximum - other games can be confusing. When I was a kid in Nevada, you could play craps for 25 cents. That won’t ever be the case in Arizona, but hamburgers don’t cost 59 cents anymore either. Most craps games in Las Vegas and Arizona start at $15 or $25.

There aren’t that many craps games. It takes four workers to deal the game and, because the games take up the space of several blackjack tables, they aren’t cheap to offer or to play. Still, that $15 minimum wager is deceiving. It’s $15 to bet on the Pass line, but you can bet less on proposition bets like “12” or the “hardways.” Again, ask the dealers and you’ll know more.

ROULETTE MINIMUMS

The roulette signs might also be confusing for new players. You might be walking around looking for a game and quickly read “Minimum $1” and think, “Wow, that’s cheap.” And it is. But read the whole sign. They usually say, “per chip,” so when you buy in and get your own colored chips, that’s the minimum for each chip. Higher limits are likely!

In addition, when you take a color, there’s a minimum number that you must wager each spin, and it’s usually three chips. If the table says “$5 per chip - minimum three,” you must wager $15 or more each spin. The other sign you see, such as $10 to $500, means that’s the minimum wager for a bet with regular casino chips, not the colored roulette chips. That $10 wager can be bet on any combination of numbers, or it can be on a column, color, or section. When you win, you’ll get paid in regular chips, not the colored chips designed for players who are mostly wagering on numbers.

Confused? That’s alright; it’s easy once you’ve played. Confused about craps? Go ahead and be - seven you win, seven you lose, it’s tough at first. But after you’ve played for an hour, it’ll all make perfect sense.

As for your bankroll, nothing has changed with the introduction of new games. If the game takes multiple mandatory bets like Let it Ride, you need to know your bankroll must be higher than single-wager games like blackjack or even craps if you just bet the Pass Line and take odds.

If you are playing roulette mostly on individual numbers, they only hit once in 38 spins on average so, yes, you’ll probably need more of a bankroll or less expensive chips each spin to survive! $

Writer Al Moe has worked in the casino industry for many years. He has lived and worked in Las Vegas, Reno, and Lake Tahoe. He also attended the University of Nevada, Reno. He is an avid writer and blogger. His book, “Vegas and the Mob," is available online at Amazon.com. He is also the proud father of four beautiful girls.

UP YOUR GAME

How To Go From Amateur To Pro

By TJ Jorgensen

So you have practiced basic strategy at home and have it memorized perfectly. You think you’re ready to go out and beat the casino. Well there are a few additional things that you need to put in your arsenal to give yourself the best chance of winning. First of all, you need to leave your emotions at home and out of the game. No matter what happens good or bad, if you take your emotions out of the game you will make better decisions.

For example, most players buy in for a certain amount and they play until they win a little or lose their entire bankroll. Try this instead: If you lose four hands in a row, wait until the shuffle to resume play or switch tables. The reason I say that is your odds of losing four hands in a row is only 14%. If you have managed to accomplish this feat, it is probably not going to be a winning table for you.

I was in Las Vegas over the weekend and playing late at night around 3 a.m. A young man was having a pretty good run of luck and he was saying out loud, “You Can’t Beat Me!” It was a $100 minimum table and had managed to get ahead of the casino about $4,000. His friends were ready to leave so he put it all on one bet, one hand for $4,000 saying, “You Can’t Beat Me!” I was thinking to myself, if he wasn’t playing on his emotions he would be happy just quietly coloring up and walking out with $4,000 of the casino’s money.

Well, as it turns out, he got blackjack and did the “happy dance” around all the blackjack tables and made good on his claim that the casino couldn’t beat him. But, if it had gone the other way, he would have regretted the next morning not walking away $4,000 ahead.

DID YOU KNOW?

Did you know that 70% of all the money you will win at blackjack comes from the hand of twenty, and blackjack? If you are pushing or losing on twenty, you are not going to win at that table. Don’t get mad and say to yourself “I’ll show him!” Just pick up your chips and switch tables.

Remember, anger is just one letter short of danger. You would probably be surprised at the number of times I switch tables before I find the one that I like. Another consideration before you sit down to play is to observe the players sitting at the table and see how many chips they have. If one player has two chips and another one has three chips, it’s probably not going to be your table either. All the players at a blackjack table tend to have similar results. Blackjack is a very streaky game. If you play frequently, you can almost feel when it’s going your way, or going the casino’s way.

When I’m winning, what I do to make sure I walk out a winner is set aside my original buy in and then set aside another $100. If I keep winning, I will keep adding to the amount I am setting aside. But if it starts going the other way, I cash out and make sure I walk out a winner.

How many times have you heard someone say, “I was ahead $700!” Then you ask ,”How much did you win?” They say, “Well, I lost the $700 plus another $500!” If they just had the discipline to put aside an amount and walk out a winner. I guess that's why a lot of players are losers.

If you decide that card counting is for you and would like to take your game to the next level, I cover card counting in my new book. My system keeps track of all the cards as they are dealt, and has a betting and playing strategy according to the count. By playing this way you have a mathematical advantage over any casino. Then it will be you, not the house, who has the advantage when you sit down to play. My new book “How to Become a Blackjack Jedi,” by TJ Jorgensen, is available in digital and printed versions at Amazon.com. $ Writer TJ Jorgensen has been a professional Blackjack player for over 20 years. He is well known for his tournament play and has beaten some of the top tournament players in the world. He has also won the World Series Of Blackjack. His newest book “How To Become A Blackjack Jedi” is available online at Amazon.com.