ROULETTE________________________________________ The Wheel There are two different roulette wheels.

The European wheel has 37 slots numbered 0-36. The house edge is 2.63. The American wheel has 38 numbers because the added a double zero (00). The addition of the extra number increases the house edge to 5.26 percent. The Layout The game of Roulette originated in France. The modern day layout we find in the casino dates back to 1842. Roulette layouts have two betting areas. The inside betting area contains the individual numbers on the layout. The outside betting area has boxes for the columns, red/black and odd/even and different groups of numbers. The numbers on the inside are arranged in 12 rows of three numbers making forming three vertical columns. The 0 and 00 are at the top of the columns. Buying In You must purchase special roulette chips when you sit down to play. To avoid disputes each player receives a different color chip. These chips are good for that table only and you must cash them in when you get done playing. You will them be given regular casino chips to take to the cage. You cannot cash in the roulette table chips at the cage. Each roulette table has a minimum and maximum bet. You cant combine your inside and outside bets to meet the table minimum. If the minimum bet is five dollars you have to bet $5 on the inside and $5 on the outside. You cant bet $3 inside and $2 outside. Inside Bets There are several inside bets that you can make. You can bet a number straight up or straddle the line between numbers to select a combination of numbers. The payouts are as follows. Straight Up bet is a wager on a single number. It pays 35 to 1. Split Bet is a wager on two numbers and it pays 17 to 1. You make this bet by placing your chip so it straddles the line between any two numbers. Street bets or line bet and it pays 11 to 1. You make this bet by placing your chip on the vertical line separating the outside and inside betting areas. The chip straddles the first number in the row. Corner bet or Quad bet pays 8 to 1. You make this bet by placing a chip so it is touching the four corners of the numbers you are betting. Basket bet is a five number bet on zero double zero and numbers-1-23 which pays 6 to 1. On the double zero wheel it has a house edge of 7.89 percent making it the worst bet in Roulette. Double Street bet is a wager on six numbers and pays 5 to 1. You place your chip on the line separating the outside and inside area as you do for the street bet but let it also straddles the row above or below. Outside Bets The outside bets are any of the bets made in the boxes surrounding the numbers. Red Black Odd and Even are all even money bets. You place your chips in the boxes on the layout. Dozens bet are made on the 12 consecutive numbers. You place your wager in the boxes marked 1-12, 13-24 or 25-36. These bets pay 2 to 1. If the zero or double zero comes up you lose. Column bets are also 12 number bets. Instead of 12 consecutive numbers they consist of the numbers in one of the three vertical columns and are made in the boxes at the bottom of the layout. These bets pay 2 to 1 as well. The Dealer Dealers are required to keep the wheel moving at all times, even between spins. They spin the ball in the opposite in the opposite

direction of the wheel. This causes the ball to jump and spin before landing on a number. The dealer marks the winning number with a marker. You are not allowed to place your bet for the next spin until the dealer removes the marker from the previous winning number. Make sure you wait for them to pick it up before putting down your chips. Playing Tips Roulette has a high house edge but if you play at a full table you will only get about 30 spins an hour which slows down the time your money is exposed to the house edge. It will also increase your comp time. If the number you want to bet is covered is already covered with chips, dont worry. It is permissible to stack you chips on top of the other chips. This is another reason why each player has their own color chips. You are allowed to place bets after the dealer spins the ball. The dealer will tell you when to stop. As the ball slows down the dealer will wave their hand over the table and call out No More Bets. Some people claim that they have a sure fire system for winning at Roulette. The truth is there is no system that will change the house edge. Dont waste your money buying a Roulette system. BACCARAT________________________________________ Part of what makes Baccarat a great game is that it's so simple. The Player's decision is limited to deciding what kind of bet to make. From there on it's in the dealer's hands and you collect or pay when it's over. In Mini Baccarat, which is the only version most of us will ever see in play, you don't even get the option of handling the cards. In the "whale" games of European Baccarat they get to mangle the cards whenever they like just for personal entertainment. But then they're dropping $1000 or more a hand and you can bet that that buys a lot of replacement cards. Betting Bet on your own hand (Player) and you face a house edge of 1.24%. Bet on the Banker's hand and the edge is either 0.6% if there's a 4% House cut or 1.06% is their cut is 5%. Finally there's the Tie bet which at best gives the house almost a 5% edge (Pay 8:1) and at worst 14+% (Pay 9:1). Forget the Tie bet for obvious reasons. Unless you can find a game with 4% vig on Banker bets, betting Player or Banker is six of one, half a dozen of the other. Strategy The first thing a casino player asks themselves when stepping up to a game is "how do I improve my odds?" The answer in Baccarat is easy: you don't. Other than avoiding the Tie bet there's nothing you can do. What about card counting you ask? After all, everyone seems to do it on TV. Save yourself the trouble because it's a facade. Statistical analysis has shown that card counting in Baccarat is totally ineffective until the game hits the bottom of the shoe and even then it's a miniscule advantage. It basically boils down to paying yourself $10 an hour for risking $1,000,000. You're better off getting a squeegee and washing people's windows for spare change. As to playing the game, that's it. As to knowing what's going on, it's a matter of strict and fixed rules, and here they are: The Objective

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The objective of Baccarat is to draw a two- or three-card hand that totals closer to 9 than the banker. 10, J, K, Q count as 0, A is a 1 and all other cards are face value. If your total is more than ten, you drop the ten. So a 7-9 hand totals to 6 (16, drop ten). There is no such thing as a "bust" hand.

The Rules

has an edge of 1.06%, so betting on Banker is the best Baccarat play. The low 1.06% edge includes the 5% commission you have to pay on winning Banker bets. (Binion's Horseshoe in Downtown Vegas took only a 4% commission on the Banker bet for years until they went out of business in 2003. They reopened with a new owner but didn't resurrect the 4% commission.) The dealer keeps track of the commission and you pay it when you at the end of your session. Even with this commission, betting on Banker still has a lower house edge, because the Banker hand is much more likely to win against the Player hand. You can also bet that there will be a tie between Banker and Player, but this carries a whopping 14.4% house edge. In the snooty Baccarat rooms with the high table limits, each player gets a turn to deal the cards. On the casino floor there's no such perk, but some casinos like the Orleans will deal the cards to a player so the player can turn them over. Baccarat is appealing because there's no strategy to learn. Most games with a low edge require you to learn some strategy. But with Baccarat, you get the some low edge no matter what, because the only decisions you make are how much to bet and which of the two low-edge hands you want to bet on, Player or Banker. The only way to screw this up is to make the Tie bet which carries a high edge. If you play with Asians then the play is generally very slow, because they take a long time to make their betting decisions. It's even slower if the casino lets them handle the cards. This can be a good thing, because the slower you play, the less you'll lose per hour. Check out our Expected Loss table to see how much you're likely to lose for a weekend of Baccarat play. When you play, you'll notice the other players meticulously keeping track of which hands won. They're looking for trends so they can figure out whether Player, Banker, or Tie is "due". All this effort is completely wasted, though, because the past rounds have no bearing on the next round. It's like when you toss a coin -- it doesn't matter what came up before, the chances of heads on the next flip are always 50/50. There's more about this on our page about the Gambler's Fallacy. Drawing rulesHere are the rules which determine whether a third card is dealt, just as FYI -- because you have no choice about whether a third card is drawn, and you can't base any strategy on it. When Player's first 2 cards Player will: total... Draw one 0-5 card and Dealer Will: (see next table)

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The banker and the player each draw two cards. If either the player or banker total 8 or 9, both automatically stand, no exceptions. If the player's total is 6 or 7, the player stands. If the player stands, the banker hits on a total of 5 or less. If the player's total is 5 or less, the player automatically hits and the banker gives the player a third card. If the player receives a third card then the banker draws a third card according to the following: o Banker's hand totals 0,1,2: Banker always draws a third card. o Banker's hand totals 3: Banker draws if Player's third card is 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9-0 (not 8) o Banker totals 4: Banker draws if Player thirds 2-3-45-6-7 o Banker 5: Banker draws if Player thirds 4-5-6-7 o Banker 6: Banker draws if Player thirds 6-7 o Banker 7: Banker stands. Once the final cards are dealt, the one with the total closest to 9 wins.

Baccarat (pronounced BAH-kah-rah) is a card game that's popular with Asian players. James Bond also played it in one of the movies. The house edge is just 1.06%, making it one of the best bets in the casino. It's also one of the simplest card games around, because there's not really any strategy. It's kind of like roulette: You choose what you want to bet on, then the cards are dealt, and then you see whether you won or lost. There's no deciding whether to hit, stand, raise, or any of that. Just pick your bet and wait to see the result. That's it. So it's a good game for those graduating from slots, who want a better chance of winning, and the ability to lose a lot slower than with slots. Here's how it works: Two hands are dealt, and the higher hand wins. You can bet on either hand to win. One hand is called "Banker" and the other called "Player", but that's purely arbitrary, and you can bet on either hand. The "Banker" hand has nothing to do with the casino, and the "Player" hand has nothing to do with you. They might as well call the hands Hand 1 and Hand 2. Note also that there's only one "Player" hand dealt no matter how many players there are, because the "Player" hand isn't really the player's hand, it's just one of the choices you can bet on. There's no such thing as busting in Baccarat. Only the last digit of the total is counted. For example, 9+5 is really 4 (not 14). And 6+5 is 1 (not 11). Aces count as 1, and face cards have no value. Initially two cards are dealt to each hand, and complicated rules determine whether a third card is dealt to either hand. You don't have to worry about this, because if a third card needs to be dealt, the dealer will deal it automatically. But for those who want to know, the third-card conditions are listed further down. Betting on Player has a house edge of 1.24%, and betting on Banker

Draw if Banker has 5 or less, 6-7 Stand Stand if Banker has 6 or more 8-9 (Natural) Stand (see next table) Banker DRAWS Banker STANDS When Banker's when player's third when player's third hand totals... card is: card is: 1 or 2 any card (always draws) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 3 8 10 4 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 1, 8, 9, 10 5 4, 5, 6, 7 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10 6 6, 7 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10 7 Stands Stands 8 or 9 (Natural) Stands Stands

BLACKJACK_____________________________________ Some players call the game blackjack and some call it twenty-one. No matter what you call it, the object of the game was best described in the title of Edward O Thorp's 1963 best selling book that started the blackjack revolution. The title of the book and the objective of the game is Beat the Dealer! Blackjack is played with one, two, four, six or eight decks of cards. Some casino are also using continuous shuffling machine. In single and double deck games the dealer holds the cards and deals them out. In multi-deck games the cards are dealt out of a tray like box that is called a shoe. The casinos are stating to look at continuous shufflers that are a shoe that shuffle as well as hold the cards. In hand held games the cards are dealt face down and the player is allowed to pick up his cards. In a shoe game the cards are dealt face up to the player and you are not allowed to touch your cards. The basic play for either game is the same. Objective The objective of the game is to beat the dealer. If your cards total higher than the dealer's cards without going over 21 you win. You are not trying to get close to 21. If your hand or the dealer's hand goes over 21 you "Bust." If you bust you automatically lose. If the dealer busts and you do not you win. The player must act first. If the player busts he loses regardless if the dealer busts or not. Card Values The suits of the cards have no affect on the game. Cards 2 - 10 are counted at face value without regards to their suit. All face cards have a value of ten. An ace can count as either one or eleven. A queen and a five would equal 15. An ace and a five would total either 6 or 16. A hand that does not have an ace is referred to as a Hard Hand because it has only one value. A hand that contains an ace is referred to as a Soft Hand because the value can change. If you draw to a soft hand and the three cards total a number where counting an ace as eleven puts you over 21 then the hand becomes a hard hand. Example: You are dealt an ace and a three. You have 4 or 14. If you then draw a ten you now have a hard 14 because if you count the ace as 11 you would have 25, which would bust you. Blackjack Table Blackjack is dealt on a special table that is shaped as a semi-circle. There is a separate circle or square for each player. When you sit down you must buy chips from the dealer or bring them from another table. See How to Buy Casino chips. The player puts his bet in the betting circle if front of his space. Only chips put in the betting circle count as your bet. After all bets are made the play begins. Learning how to play blackjack is not difficult. To learn blackjack, all you have to do is seek the help of this free blackjack guide. It is widely understood that Blackjack is played with the objective of accumulating 21 points or with the objective of getting as close to 21 as one can, without crossing the point tally of 21 and getting bust. Few things are as far from the truth as the fact that the sole objective of the game Blackjack is to beat the dealer or make him go bust. Step by step guide to blackjack. To make the game of blackjack intelligible, a step by step guide to blackjack is provided in the following paragraphs. These are the basic steps and all the variants of blackjack follow these. Step 1 The dealer shuffles the deck and one player on the blackjack table cuts it. After discarding one or more cards (burn cards), one card each is dealt (face up) to all the players. Afterwards the dealer deals one card (face down) for him. This is called a hole card. Step 2 The second card is dealt to each player, again face-up.

Card Value Aces of all the suits are valued at 1 or 11. The decision of what value the Ace should take (in any hand) depends mostly on the Blackjack players discretion and the condition of the game. The card value of Jacks, Queens and Kings is 10. The values of the other cards in the deck correspond to their printed numbers. Card with Value One (1 or 11)

Cards with Value 10

Cards worth their face value

Blackjack Table Layout To play blackjack, you should have the sufficient knowledge about the layout of the table. The layout is quite simple. Maximum 7 players can play on one blackjack table.

Step 3 Now the process begins. Each player will now decide whether to draw the next card or not. This process starts from the player sitting on the extreme left to the dealer, and moves further clockwise. Step 4 When all have made up their minds and completed their hands, the dealer draws a card to complete his hand (the dealers hand). Situations you win in

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Player by player, players reveal their hands and the dealer will determine if your hand beats his. The dealers are trained to pick out each player's best hand, but you should also be able to tell what your best hand is. Make sure you know what beats what in poker. The game goes strictly by those poker hand rankings.

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If the player has the higher hand, he/she wins. The house pays 1-1 on all bets, and the ante as well. If the player loses, the house takes all the bets & the ante, too.

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If the sum total of the value of your cards is greater than the dealers total. If the dealer busts and you dont.

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Progressive Jackpot Wagers: If players have made Progressive Jackpot Wagers, the dealer checks to see if the player's hand wins a bonus. This bet is independent of the five-card poker hand, and may be a winner even if the player's hand is a loser.

The dealer is not free to make decisions on his own; rather, he is governed by a certain set of rules. The rules are:

Progressive Jackpot Wagers usually pay out for a flush or better. Tips: 1. 2. Don't play this game as you would a regular game of five-card stud. You cant win this by bluffing -- only the best hand wins. If you have two pair or better, always stay in. I would say you should usually stay in for a pair or better as well.

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The dealer must draw another card if the sum total of his cards is equal to or less than 16. The dealer must not draw another card if the sum total of his cards is equal to or more than 17.

CARIBBEAN STUD POKER_________________________________ A poker-based table game found in casinos around the world is Caribbean Stud Poker. Basically, the game pits each player against the dealer in heads-up hands of five-card stud. Unlike stud though, all the players get all five cards at once and they are all face-down or closed -meaning you only see the cards you have, and none of the other players. The dealer will show just one card face-up but keep the rest a secret until the end. Like in stud, whoever has the best five-card poker hand at the end, wins. As in Blackjack, you only have to beat the dealer's hand to win, not the other players. Here are the basic rules. Difficulty: Easy Time Required: 15 minutes Here's How: 1. To start playing, each player puts up an ante wager, and have the option of putting up a progressive jackpot bet as well (usually a dollar). Each player and the dealer are dealt five cards, face-down. The dealer will show one card face-up. If you want to play your hand, you put down a bet that's exactly twice the amount of your ante. In other words, if your ante bet was $5 and you want to play, you have to put down exactly $10. If you decide not to play and fold, you lose your ante bet. When betting is done, the dealer checks his hand. He will only play against you if his hand contains Ace-King or better. Otherwise, he folds and you get even money on your ante, but just get your second bet back. If the dealer's hand qualifies to play, he then reveals his hand.

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