Mastering Pai Gow Poker: Strategy, Odds, and How to Play Like a Pro

If you enjoy poker but want a slower-paced, lower-volatility casino game with a unique twist, Pai Gow Poker might be your ideal game. Blending traditional poker rules with the ancient Chinese game of Pai Gow, this table game offers plenty of opportunities to reduce the house edge with smart strategy and patience. Here’s a quick overview of how to play as well as some probabilities and strategies to give you a great start to winning ant Pai Gow!

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Mastering the Wheel: Roulette Strategy

Roulette, one of the most iconic and enduring games in any casino, combines simple rules with suspenseful gameplay. At first glance, the spinning wheel and bouncing ball may seem like pure chance—and to a large extent, they are. But savvy players know that understanding probabilities, bet types, and strategic approaches can improve both enjoyment and decision-making at the table. Here’s a guide to the basics of roulette, the best strategies to use, and the statistical realities behind every spin.

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Basics of Baccarat: Best Bets and Systems


Baccarat is not a game of strategy beyond deciding which bet to make. Whether the banker hand, player hand or both get a third card is played out by rule, with no options for bettors or the dealer. Instead, methods for attacking the game focus on whether to bet banker, player, or, for the adventurous, tie. And they focus on how much to bet.

No hand belongs to any individual bettor. All may wager on the banker hand or the player hand, or make a tie bet. House edges are low on banker (1.06 percent) and player (1.24 percent), but a much-too-high 14.4 percent on ties.

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Casino Strategy: Short-Run Decisions

When you read gambling books and articles, you sometimes see a distinction made between the “short run” (tonight, this weekend, this week, this month) of a few hundred or a few thousand decisions, and the “long run” (a few years or more) of millions of decisions. In the short run, anything can (and does) happen. Players can go on incredible streaks of improbable wins or equally improbable losses.

The long run is a very long time. Usually, it can be stated as the amount of time, or number 
of decisions, necessary for the probabilities to be within a given range of results. A coin flip will be, in the long run, faster than a roulette wheel because a coin flip has only two possible decisions and a roulette wheel has 37 or 38, depending on the type of wheel. As I stated, in the long run, the math of a game will win out over any aberrations that take place tonight. (more…)

Travel Aficionado – Planning Your Trip


In some ways, taking a vacation today is more troublesome than ever. Long security lines at airports, the prevalence of airline delays (customer satisfaction with America’s airlines continues to nose dive), the rising cost of fuel, a weakened dollar and the need for passports even to fly from the U.S. to Canada have all conspired to make travelers grumble. According to the Bureau
of Transportation Statistics, 24.3 percent of flights in the United States arrive late; 21.3 percent register a late departure.

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Destination Deadwood: South Dakota’s Casino Hotbed

The town of Deadwood, South Dakota was born in the heady days of the Black Hills Gold Rush. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills in 1874 and in Deadwood Gulch in late 1875 led thousands of settlers to the area, erecting a town almost overnight in 1876. Many of the most famous (and infamous) characters of the Old West passed through the town at one time or another. Outlaws like Jack McCall and lawmen like Seth Bullock spent considerable time in Deadwood, and the city remains an integral component of the mythology of the Old West.

Deadwood has a special place in the American consciousness, these images established by countless cowboy and outlaw dime store novels, films, video games, and television shows that celebrate the rich history of the town. However, times have changed and these days, Deadwood has been transformed from a rough and tumble mining town, to a world-class destination for casino gaming, outdoor excursions, historical tours, historic preservation and more. (more…)