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Game Speed and Decisions
for Casino Players
by Frank Scoblete
Casino games speed and how game
speed
determines your gambling decisions is the topic for
this lesson.
Once you have learned the strategies and games that keep the house edge
at bay, then you must look at game speed.
Some games are very fast and some games are more or less leisurely.
Machines have whatever speed you want them to have.
There are also some games where your money is at risk on each and every
decision.
For
just about all gamblers, the slower a game is played the better. This
dictum has one exception and that concerns players who actually play
with an edge over the house, then the faster the speed, the better for
them.
You’ve heard the slogan--“Speed Kills.”
That very same
slogan could be applied to casino games as well. Even games with
relatively benign house edges can become ravenous, malignant monsters
sucking the lifeblood out of your bankroll when decisions pile upon
decisions in short order.
Just look at mini-baccarat, a game
with a low house edge on two of its three bets (just over 1 percent),
and we can appreciate how game speed can make play deadly for the
players.
Let us take the best bet at the game, the Bank bet, and
see what happens to our hourly loss rate as we start to accelerate the
number of game decisions.
If you bet $10 per decision, you can
expect to lose about 12 cents per decision in the long run. If you play
40 game decisions per hour, you can expect to lose $4.00 per hour of
play. Now watch:
50 decisions = $6.00 per hour
60 decisions = $7.20 per hour
70 decisions = $8.40 per hour
80 decisions = $9.60 per hour
90 decisions = $10.80 per hour
100 decisions = $12.00 per hour
Okay,
you say, how many people playing mini-baccarat will play 100 decisions
per hour? The answer might startle you: almost everyone. In fact, it is
not unusual for mini-baccarat to have 150 decisions per hour – an
expected loss for the $10 player of $18 per hour!
Even with a low
house edge, the $10 player at mini-baccarat will lose almost as much
per hour as a player facing an outrageous 5.26 percent house edge at
roulette. Roulette will have about 35 decisions per
hour. A $10 player
stands to lose $18.40!
Of course, when you think about it game speed changes everything.
When gaming writers talk about which games and bets at various games
are the best, we often just talk about the house edge.
But game speed must be considered also. We ignore speed at our own
peril.
The
ideal game for the player would be one that has a very low house edge
and a very slow pace. For the casino, the ideal game is a high house
edge and a high speed.
The casino usually gets its wishes and in the
high-house-edge high-speed stakes, they come up a winner – it’s called
slot machines! Even though players can choose their own speed at the
slots, just like most motorists on highways, the players tend to think
the faster they go, the better off they will be.
Most slot players
will play approximately 8-12 decisions per minute or 480 to 720
decisions per hour – all those into house edges ranging from one to
about 17 percent! Yeow!
Here is a list of the games and the approximate house edges and speeds
that you will face:
| Game |
House Edge % |
Speed/Decisions/hour |
| Blackjack |
0.5 |
60-90 |
| Baccarat |
1.25 |
40 |
| Mini-Baccarat |
1.25 |
100 - 150 |
| Caribbean Stud |
2.6 |
50 |
| Let It Ride |
2.8 |
80 |
| Three Card
Poker |
2.2 |
80 |
| Roulette |
5.26 |
35 - 40 |
| Craps |
various |
various based
on bets |
| Machines:
VP-Slots |
1 to 17% |
480 - 720 |
So
what’s the bottom line on speed? Slow down! What’s your rush? Where are
you going with fast play? Nowhere fast!
I conclude these 2 gambling lessons about house edge, game speed and
decisions with this information.
Most
casino games do not require a high degree of skill on the part of the
player in order to play skillfully. Games such as Three-Card Poker, Let
It Ride, Caribbean Stud and most of the newer table games have simple
strategies that, if adhered to, will keep the house edge as low as it
can go. Those strategies, coupled with a disciplined money management
system while being mindful of game speed and decisions, can make a
player last for a long, long time of fun in pleasant surroundings.
Games
such as craps require only that you learn to utilize the best bets and
eschew the high house edge bets – and, of course, learn how the game is
played. Even though at first glance craps is a confusing game, it is,
when broken down into its essentials, as easy as one, two, three.
Of
all the table games, only blackjack presents us with a strategy that
does require some intense effort on the part of the player to learn.
Called “basic strategy,” it is the computer-derived play of every
player hand against every possible dealer upcard. It usually takes a
good 10 to 20 hours to memorize it.
Of course, if you are not the
memorizing type, all you have to do is pick up a strategy card and you
are in business. When confronted by a hand that is puzzling you, just
look at your strategy card and it will tell you what the right decision
is. Simple!
From
game speed and decisions, let’s talk about Casino Math
OR
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