Gambling tutorials & e-books

There are several variations of the “en prison” rule that also affect the house edge. In Atlantic City all even money bets follow a variation of this rule. In the event the ball lands in 0 or 00 the player will lose only half of any even money bet. This lowers the house edge to 2.63% on these bets. This rule does not apply on single zero wheels. On single zero roulette tables using the European “en prison” rule the house edge drops to somewhere between 1.35% and 1.39% for even money bets depending on the variation of the rule. This rule does not affect non even money bets. Single zero roulette wheels can be commonly found online and outside of the United State. The odds for a single number changes from 1/38 to 1/37 on single zero tables. This drops the house edge to 2.70%. In standard U.S. casinos these tables are generally only found in high roller rooms

It is difficult to summarize the basic rules of poker due to the many different variations of the game. Poker uses a standard deck of 52 playing cards, some poker games use more or less depending on the variation. A common poker rule variation is to add wild cards such as jokers. The cards are ranked from highest to lowest as follows; Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. In certain poker rule variations the Ace may also be the lowest card. All suits are valued the same.

The dealing of the cards is dependant on which poker rule variation you are playing. In a standard 5 Card Draw game, 5 cards are dealt face down to each player. In some poker rule variations, such as Texas Hold’Em Poker, certain cards are dealt face up for everyone to see, called Hole Cards.

Unlike craps or blackjack, roulette is more of a “spectator sport“. Your only involvement in game play is placing your bet (chips) on the layout. The dealer does all the work. Note that due to it’s French origins, a roulette dealer is called a croupier (pronounced croop-ee-ay). Also unlike blackjack, you can still play if there are no open seats at the table. You’ll just have to reach in between two seated players to place your bets.

Every roulette table has a lighted board that shows which number came up on the most recent rolls. What does this board really tell you? Absolutely nothing. The “law of independent trials” dictates that each roulette play is completely random and has nothing to do with any previous plays. Just because red came up the previous six times doesn’t mean black is “due” to come up. Red has as much chance of coming up on the next play as it did the previous six plays. The wheel has no memory. Those lighted boards are their for the casinos advantage, not yours. Why? Because people don’t know about the law of independent trials and if they see one color come up several times in a row most of them will bet the opposite color, and lose. The casinos put those boards up because they win more when players pay attention to them. In short, ignore the lighted boards.