The WORST Games in the Casino

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Admittedly I think Blackjack is one of the worst games in the casino. Not that you can't beat the right game . . . if you can find it. It's just that the dickwad to decent guy ratio is all out of whack at the game. But there are certainly other games that are much worse. Take Big Wheel for instance. You've seen over sized carnival game down at the end of the pit or near the casino entrance or exit. I call it the "punishment" game because it's where they send dealers who screw up so bad on other games they want to put them somewhere where they can do minimal damage to the house. Then there's Sic Bo, which I'm told by my dealer friends is Chinese for "no tip." Oh, well. Those are just a couple of mine. But I want to hear from you!

I'm not a fan of polls - in fact, I have the poll function on the forum disabled because I think they're over-used and ill-advised on most forums. But I do like to hear good interactive responses from people. So what's your least favorite game in the casino - and why? Inquiring minds want to know.

[mssthis1]

For me, it's penny slots. Watching people play $4.00 or $5.00 in a penny slot that returns 80 something percent and that same person refuses to play 1 credit in a $5.00 slot that returns over 95% makes me start singing "the wheels on the short bus go round and round. "

A close second is pai gow, solely due to the pace of the game. If you have lots of time and little money it is actually a decent game to play.

[London Shooter]

For me I just don't get the fascination people have in pontificating trends and agonising about decisions over Baccarat. The only time I ever played I found myself bored, irritated and longing to be back at the craps table within about two minutes. Maybe you need to be James Bond to enjoy this game?

However, that aside, the mother of all brain dead creations has to be Casino War. I played a session of that once, watched my money disappear very quickly into a black hole over a hi/low guessing contest and vowed never again. Akin to a coin tossing game that pays 20/21 heads and 20/21 tails.

[heavy]

Snakeeyes makes a point - without noting my qualifying statement. I said "Not that you can't beat the right game . . . if you can find it." It's almost impossible to find a good game - and if you do it's packed with card counters who flew in from all across the country to beat it until the casino figures out they've screwed up and change the rules on the game. Hence my dickwad to decent guy comment in my original post.

The blackjack game you find in today's casino is not the single or double deck hand dealt game of Ed Thorpe's day. It's an eight deck, continuous shuffle machine dealt 6-5 monstrosity that is mathematically unbeatable.

The University of Las Vegas Center for Gaming Research has published the following house advantages for popular casino games.

Blackjack - 2%

Craps (pass/come line bets) - 1.4%

Craps (pass/come with double odds) - 0.6%

Baccarat (no ties bets) - 1.2%

Three Card Poker - 3.4%

Roulette (double-zero) - 5.3%

Clearly Craps and Baccarat should be your games of choice. Especially if you are a streak bettor. Meanwhile blackjack is dying a slow, miserable death across the country. The concept of card counting and playing perfect strategy - which virtually no one does - has taken an easy to play game and turned it into a monstrosity for many players. Millennials have no interest in learning strategies or count indexes. They want fun-to-play games that will keep them entertained and give them lots of action for their money. That's exactly why you're seeing the introduction of so many carnival type games in the casino. LS mentioned Casino War. Good example. There are half-a-dozen different table games branded as some kind of poker or another. Three card poker, Mississippi stud poker, Caribbean stud poker, Ultimate Texas Hold 'em Poker, Crazy Four Poker . . . the list goes on and on. Then there are all of the "group" electronic table games. Electronic roulette, bubble craps, multi-player wheel of fortune machines. If you read anything about the debut of new games at the Global Gaming Convention in Vegas this year you may have read about the skill-based electronic games that are coming down the pike. Good grief! They're pushing a version of Pong you can bet on where you play against the machine. And ALL of those games are going to pull more money than Blackjack from the millennials and all of them will replace Blackjack tables in the casino.

So yes, I'd dub Blackjack - in its current state - one of the worst games in the casino. Twenty years ago I would not have said that. But that was then - and this is now.

You might enjoy this article from the Motley Fool on the Death of Blackjack. Tip of the hat to Wild Child to bringing it to my attention:

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2 ... lacin.aspx

[davper]

For me, it's penny slots. Watching people play $4.00 or $5.00 in a penny slot that returns 80 something percent and that same person refuses to play 1 credit in a $5.00 slot that returns over 95% makes me start singing "the wheels on the short bus go round and round. "

A close second is pai gow, solely due to the pace of the game. If you have lots of time and little money it is actually a decent game to play.

YUUP! YUUP! YUUP!
My wife does this and it drives me crazy.
Me: 'Why don't you play the quarter or higher slots?'
Wife: 'Cause I can play longer for less money.'
Me: 'Then why do you bet the max amount of up to $5.00?'
Wife: 'Because you can't win the bonus if you don't.'
Me: 'The max bet on a quarter slot is less than a penny slot. And you will play longer because the payout is better.'
Wife: 'Huh?, That makes no sense.'
Me; 'Why don't you come learn to play craps then and be with me and have social interaction and a regular waitress who can find you in the same spot?'
Wife: 'nah, The $5 minimum is too much. I will stick with penny slots'

I am bald for a reason guys. She pisses through money at those damn penny slots. She wonders why I try to go to the casino without her. Whatever edge I can get at the table, she destroys it at the slots.

There is a reason why slots is their largest revenue source.

[mssthis1]

davper: Does your wife disappear for hours at a time? I think we may both be married to the same person.

[mssthis1]

So yes, I'd dub Blackjack - in its current state - one of the worst games in the casino. Twenty years ago I would not have said that. But that was then - and this is now.

Currently there is only one decent double deck, double after split table in the entire state of Iowa with a table min of $10.00 or less that I know of.

Vegas has some good double deck games but on the strip they are usually $50.00 min on weekends.


If you are playing a "good" game where you have to bet more than your bankroll justifies to get into the game, it is no longer a good game.

[London Shooter]

Thanks for the link to the Motely Fool article, which I read but found it seemed to contradict itself.

Motely Fool starts with the premise that Millennials are "a more sophisticated generation of gamblers" which immediately got me thinking -really? I would have said the opposite.

Then I came back to re-read here and Heavy terms the same bunch in a way I agree much more with "Millennials have no interest in learning strategies or count indexes. They want fun-to-play games that will keep them entertained and give them lots of action for their money"

Realistically, these carnival games should have very few "sophisticated gamblers" playing them. To me a sophisticated gambler is mostly concerned with the HA of a game, whether there any strategies they can learn to keep the house edge to a minimum, thereby giving me a good run for my money. Yet all these games have much higher house edges than the 1-1.50% you can achieve in other more traditional games.

(On my side of the pond we should also include roulette under single zero European rules which gives a 1.35% HA if you stick to the even money bets)

I do realise that some of these carnival games may be countable and others may find hole-carding or other advantage opportunities, but again, that must be a pin prick on a fly's arse number in comparison to total numbers playing these games.

Also The Fool article made no mention of video poker. Surely if something requires skill to generate the lowest house edge, then this game has to be analysed alongside the rest, even if modern pay tables make decent games as tricky to find as decent blackjack? Maybe The Fool just wanted to look at social games where you are on a table with other live beings.....or maybe they just never slow played bar top VP drinking quality cocktails and beer whilst conversing with any other players within earshot.

But his whole aspect of Millennials a) being sophisticated b) wanting skill based games and c) wanting social games seems to fly in the face of what we see in casinos with the introduction of large banks of electronic roulette or similar and these carnival games and abundance of party pits with 6:5 blackjack.

Maybe they want a bit of social and want a bit of skill, and maybe they want a bit of sophistication (which I will define as low HA and good run for your money) but they can't want it that much otherwise they'd be queuing out of the door to play passline with full odds.

[davper]

davper: Does your wife disappear for hours at a time? I think we may both be married to the same person.

Oh how I wish. No, she quickly pisses through her money and comes looking for me to give her more or entertain her.

[220Inside]

Thanks for the link to the Motely Fool article, which I read but found it seemed to contradict itself.

Motely Fool starts with the premise that Millennials are "a more sophisticated generation of gamblers" which immediately got me thinking -really? I would have said the opposite.

I think one need look no further than who wrote that article to see why it's contradictory. The article was written by Jeff Hwang, CEO of High Variance Games LLC. From their About Us page:

High Variance Games is the braindchild of Jeff Hwang, a poker player and the best-selling author of Pot-Limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy and the three-volume Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha series. The company was formed to bring a new brand of gaming to the casino floor in the form of a range of games designed to meet the demands of the modern gambler.

Super Blackjack™ represents a complete re-imagining of blackjack, transforming blackjack from a relatively pedestrian hitting and standing game into an aggressive doubling and splitting game. Meanwhile, the poker lineup includes games which are intended to be accessible to the most casual of gamblers such as Super Razz™, a lowball stud poker variant; as well as more advanced games such as Super Stud Poker™ and Super Omaha Poker™, which were created with the poker player in mind.

These are games for a more sophisticated gambler.

[220Inside]

davper: Does your wife disappear for hours at a time? I think we may both be married to the same person.

Wait, are we all married to this same person?

I'm slowly getting my wife converted over to craps. She's finally getting fed up with the whole penny slots thing and is starting to see the light.

[London Shooter]

OK 22 inside thanks for the update.

I am now getting an understanding of what the term "sophisticated gambler" means in the casino market over there. It is what we call "mug gambler"over here - hopefully you understand the meaning to that

[SHOOTITALL]

22IN: If you want to make big bucks, write a book, "How to get the wife off slots onto something she might win at".
Bad English but you get the point. Only time I ever saw my wife at the craps table was when she needed me to stop and do something else or needed a refill in her wallet. Slots are addictive and they do not have to use their brain. The machine does all the work. This has been going on since the early seventies. It ain't gonna change. sia

[220Inside]

So yes, I'd dub Blackjack - in its current state - one of the worst games in the casino. Twenty years ago I would not have said that. But that was then - and this is now.

That qualifier is what does it for me. I have many fond memories of getting educated on blackjack with my father, who was an excellent player, and playing together in the casinos. Today though, I still enjoy the game, but the play of others at the table just kills any sort of enjoyment factor. It's not that I care so much about them "stealing" my or the dealer's card when they don't play anything close to basic strategy. It's more that there are people playing that game that have absolutely no idea what they're doing and watching them hand money over to the casino hand over fist. I usually have to get up from the table because it gets so frustrating.

So with Blackjack, I can tolerate it either playing by myself (and my son) or with others who at least have some clue about the game that they're playing. With craps though, I don't like shooting by myself and generally like to have others at the table.

Mark

[mssthis1]

Heavy: Perhaps you can do a newsletter or start a thread dedicated to managing bankroll when you better half is addicted to slots?.

[Bankerdude80]

Some of the Millennials I know would have fun playing and betting on 52 Pick Up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/52_Pickup

Certainly the ones I know are not that sophisticated. Just because Millennials grew up with earbuds instead of pacifiers doesn't make them "sophisticated". http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/20/news/ec ... s-college/
It sure looks promising for the casino industry's future.

[Blackcloud]

UNHH!!the first multi-liner BC played was a $5 penny box. UNHH!!BC learned in short order
to play from the bottom up, instead of from the max bet down. It carried over to all the others.
UNHH!!BC has made sizable deposits to the bond fund using this method, and allowing the box to be generous.

[heavy]

A better article would be what to do when mama is looking over your shoulder at the craps table and you get a case of the yips.

[mssthis1]

A better article would be what to do when mama is looking over your shoulder at the craps table and you get a case of the yips.

Mine learned the hard way when she was a host to never bother a craps player when they have the dice.You'll get blamed for all the bad things that happen. She only comes around when she needs more slot money. If I have the dice she stands back out of sight until the dice move on.

[mssthis1]

UNHH!!the first multi-liner BC played was a $5 penny box. UNHH!!BC learned in short order
to play from the bottom up, instead of from the max bet down. It carried over to all the others.
UNHH!!BC has made sizable deposits to the bond fund using this method, and allowing the box to be generous.

That's the same way I play and it works very well as long as I'm disciplined and tell myself "Today isn't my day" and do something else on the days it just isn't working.