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Deal Me In by Mark Pilarski

February 29, 2008

Command Performance by the (trumpets, please) Royal Match

Dear Mark: Once again, I lead off by writing that I closely follow your column in the Gazette
Journal in Reno since moving here nearly 4 years ago. In that time, I've not read a blurb about
the blackjack table adjunct, Royal Match. No doubt this is to put more money into action on the
table for the casino, and accordingly it probably is bad odds for the player. But is it? I don't
seem to have much luck with it. "EW" T.

The Royal Match is an optional side bet in blackjack that concerns the first two cards dealt to
the player. For example, if you make this alternative wager and your first two cards are suited,
such as a five and seven of spades, you are paid 5 to 2. If it is a Royal Match, (a suited king and
queen) that bet pays 25 to 1. The final outcome of your blackjack hand has no bearing on this
side wager, since the matched hand is paid immediately, well before the standard blackjack
hand is played out.

The casino's advantage on a Royal Match bet depends on the number of decks used.
Surprisingly, the more decks in play, the better the odds for the player. If playing on a six-deck
shoe game, the casino advantage is 6.67%. On an eight-deck game, the house edge is slightly
lower at 6.46%. For the player, it gets progressively worse the fewer decks there are in the
game. For four decks, the house advantage is 7.08%, for two decks it climbs to 8.33%, and on a
single deck game it's 10.86%. You can lower the casino advantage on the single deck game
considerably if you find a paytable where a non-royal match pays 4 to 1 versus 5 to 2, but
you'll take a bit of a hit on an elusive royal match that pays lower, like 10 to 1. The casino's
advantage with these rules is 3.77%.

Here's the deal, EW. You'll never find a side bet offered by the casino that is a better bet than
the basic game it decorates. These pseudo-whoopee side bets typically carry a house edge that
ranges anywhere from 3 to as high as 76%.

True, EW, the Royal Match bet has a casino advantage lower than many of the side wagers
offered by the casino, but it's still a bad bet, being that it's well over this columnist's mandated
two percent tops house edge on any casino bet you make.

Dear Mark: Would you please explain what straddle means in poker? Glen S.

Some Old Timers of the game of poker will undoubtedly correct me as to what the true
definition of straddle is. They believe it's the second of two forced blinds, usually put in by the
player two positions to the left of the dealer. They call these two bets the blind and straddle.

Today's player believes a straddle bet as an optional (voluntary) blind bet with the purpose of
increasing the stakes of the game, made by the person to the left of the big blind, and before
that player receives his or her cards. Usually equivalent to two big blinds, straddles are only
used in games played with blind structures and are normally not permitted in tournament play.

Gambling Wisdom of the Week: The two things you need to be successful in poker are, first,
find the muck, and second, don't play your own money. -- David "Devilfish" Ulliott

Tags: Gambling Pilarski

Deal Me In by Mark Pilarski

February 22, 2008

Casino lingo 101

Dear Mark: A recent article in the Biloxi Sun Herald was entitled "What are the odds?" Part of the article listed the Table Hold percentages. Twenty-one was 13-14 percent. Can this be interpreted as the average loss percentage for blackjack players as a whole? Also listed was the "expected loss" for BJ as 0.5-1.5 percent (assuming use of perfect playing strategy). Ray F.

A reader might confuse two things, Ray, the "house edge", which -- as the article states -- is 0.5-1.5 percent, assuming a perfect basic strategy player, and the Table Hold Percentages, or simply the "casino hold."

"Casino hold" is the ratio of chips the casino keeps to total chips sold, which is typically measured over each: an eight-hour period, a day, month, and year.

For instance, if one blackjack table on swing shift sold $25,000 in chips and dropped the currency in the box, and that table ended up keeping $12,500 of those chips, with players cashing in the other $12,500, then that particular table game would have held 50 percent for that eight hour shift. Now, tote up 30 tables, three shifts a day, thirty days, and $30 million dropped in the can, and that hold percentage number of 13-14 percent is a reasonable figure for the casinos' Table Hold for blackjack.

Dear Mark: Continuing with Jimbo's question last week, where you stated that you wished casinos would pay the mega-jackpot upfront, with one of the reasons you gave was the possibility of the tax liability being lower, I believe you overlooked the possibility where a winner would take his first initial payment upfront, wait a year, and then sell the remaining payments so the remainder would be taxed as long-term capital gains. Harry G.

Looks good on paper, Harry, but that's not how the IRS is going to see it. To Uncle Sam, all gambling winnings are taxed as ordinary income, including mega-jackpots, or any casino winnings for that matter, lotteries, and even winnings through illegal betting, like the Superbowl Square you might have won. Even if you sell the rights to collect future winnings, the IRS still treats it as ordinary income, and not capital gains.

For example, suppose that you hit the IGT Megabucks jackpot, which was $17,426,328.38 in Nevada at the moment I am typing this, which is paid over a 25-year period. And suppose that after collecting your first-year share, you sell the rights to your 24 future payments. The amount you get from that third party is still ordinary income -- just as it would be had you received the payments upfront or year-to-year from IGT.

Dear Mark: Once in a while a blackjack dealer makes an error in my favor - paying a push or even a loss, paying too much on a blackjack. Am I supposed to draw attention to the mistake or is it "part of the game?" Richard A.

The short, although not necessarily the virtuous, answer is no. You do not have to inform the dealer that he has made a payoff mistake. When I was pitching cardboard, seldom if ever would a player inform me that I had made a counting boo-boo. Why, if I had a dollar for every time a player said, "Hey dude, screw-up on your part. Take the money, I don't deserve it," I couldn't buy a cup of coffee, a donut, and this newspaper you're reading.

Bottom line, it's not cheating when a dealer accidentally exposes a card and you use that information, or when he or she miscounts your hand and pays you, but I also believe messing with integrity and honesty alters your karma every time.

Gambling Wisdom of the Week: All gamblers are paranoid, though they call it superstition. --Mario Puzo, Inside Las Vegas

Tags: Gambling Pilarski

Deal Me In by Mark Pilarski

February 15, 2008

Leaving Your Clan Some Cash

Dear Mark: What happens if a person dies before receiving all of the annual annuity payments paid out for some of the mega-jackpots? Jimbo L.

Most mega-jackpots' top awards are paid in 25 annual installments, unless it's an Instant winner's jackpot like Rapid Riches MegaJackpots and MegaJackpots. These two machines pay the entire jackpot immediately upon verification of your win.

If a prizewinner dies before receiving all of the annual annuity payments (as the nun said," Winning can be dangerous."), the remaining prize payments go to the prizewinner's surviving spouse and living children, unless otherwise directed by the prizewinner. If no spouse, children, or other beneficiaries exist, the remaining prize payments are made to the prizewinner's estate.

Personally, I wish that casinos would give winners the option of taking the money in a lump sum or in annual payments. Getting it in one lump sum gives you total control of your money, and, hopefully, Jimbo, you'll live long enough to spend a decent chunk of it before one of your heirs picks out your nursing home.

The problem with annual disbursements is that it doesn't necessarily help you save money for your heirs. Depending on the size of your mega-jackpot, and some of them are real whoppers, once you add estate taxes onto federal and state income taxes, you're heirs might only pocket about thirty cents on every dollar.

Dear Mark: Last week you wrote about my favorite video machine, Table Master's Three Card Poker. Normally, I play the game on a table with a live dealer, but like you said, Table Master's Three Card Poker can be had for a buck a hand, plus, I don't have to feel guilt about not tipping an animated dealer. So my question is this? Are the paybacks and odds the same on Table Master's Three Card Poker video machine as that of playing on a live game with a live dealer? Gerald H.

Last week, Gerald, I wrote that the payoffs are effectively the same as those of a live game, but again, I must reiterate that you'll also see twice as many hands per hour, and by doubly exposing yourself to the built-in house advantage, you are allowing the casino at your kitty twice as fast. So, Gerald, as long as your betting strategy is to make the "play" wager if you have at least a queen, six, and a four in your hand, the house edge on the "ante" wager is about 2.1% on each separate hand, which is the same as the table game version.

One caveat though. I noticed a missing paytable on the machine, that being the bonus payment on the "ante" wager: Typically, a hand with a straight or better qualifies for an Ante Bonus payoff. Ante Bonuses are paid on the Ante wager according to the following schedule: A straight gets you even money, three-of-a-kind pays 4 to 1, and a straight flush pays 5 to 1. It doesn't physically show this payoff anywhere on the machine proper, but in the Three Card Poker brochure attached alongside you'll find that it states, "A Straight or better pays an additional Ante bonus according to the posted paytable." That paytable, I assume, is the same as that of the Pair Plus bet, and they're just using the same payoff.

For those wanting to learn more about this fast and easy-to-learn game, I recommend you check out http://markpilarski.com/3card.html to see what all the buzz is about.

Gambling Wisdom of the Week: I believe in poker the way I believe in the American Dream. Poker is good for you. It enriches the soul, sharpens the intellect, heals the spirit, and - when played well, nourishes the wallet. Anonymous

Tags: Gambling Pilarski

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