The best bets in the
casino are usually bets with dull sounding names,
the common-sounding Bank bet (1.17 percent house
edge) or the drab Player bet (1.36 percent house
edge) at baccarat, and the pass (1.41 percent house
edge), don't pass (1.40 percent house edge), come
(1.41 percent house edge), don't come (1.4 percent
house edge) and odds (no house edge) bets at craps.
Even in Sic Bo, a game known for its horrendous
bets, the two best wagers are uninspiredly called
the Big and the Small (both coming in with a 2.8
percent house edge).
Perhaps
the single most exciting breakthrough in casino gambling
in the 20th century for the average player was the development
of Basic Strategy at blackjack. This allowed the player
to play almost even with the house in single-deck games
and with an approximately one-half percent house edge
in multiple-deck games. And what did the player have
to do to get such a good game? Just memorize a couple
of dozen basic rules for the hitting, standing, splitting
and doubling of hands.
Still, the words “basic strategy” hold
no allure; they are as bland as bland can be.
And the most exciting strategy discovery of all
time for casino games, card counting at blackjack,
sounds like something that can give you carpal tunnel
syndrome of the mind!
Now, compare the above names for the above bets
and strategies with the following and tell me which
sound more interesting and exciting?
From craps: Yo, yo-eleven, snake eyes, post holes,
hardways, horn, horn high yo, Big Red, world, whirl,
C&E, hop, box cars, Big 6, Big 8, uptown, downtown,
and across the board. Great names, bad bets.
Yo! is a one roll bet that 11 will be the next decision.
It comes in with a hefty 11.11 percent house edge.
Yo-eleven! comes by way of the Department of Redundancy
Department since yo is eleven. Same high edge -
11.11 percent (which is ironically appropriate for
a bet called yo-eleven).
How does snake eyes sound? Evil? It has an evil
edge of 13.89 percent for the house. The post holes
are actually the hard eight, which means the four
four side on each die is showing (house edge: 9.09
percent) and the hardways (four and 10) come in
with a 11.11 percent edge and the hard six has the
same edge as the hard eight. These are hard to beat!
Want to bet the horn? That's just a bet that the
next number will be 2, 3 11, or 12. You bet four
units, one on each number. The house edge is in
the double digits. The next one sounds intriguing,
the horn high yo. You bet five units, with two units
on the 11. Double digits again on that house edge.
Big Red is also known as Any Seven and has a house
edge of 16.67 percent. The world and the whirl are
the same bets. You bet five units, one each on the
2, 3, 11, 12 and the 7. This is another double-digit
horror. C&E is either an operation or a craps-eleven,
which is the same as the horn. Want to bet on the
hop? Don't, because the house is extracting anywhere
from 11.11 to 16.67 percent on any one-roll hop
bet. What is a hop? It's either a dance or a one
roll bet where you pick which dice faces will show.
The boxcars are the two six-spotted dice. In short,
the 12. In fact, the house edge is long - 13.89
percent. The Big 6 and Big 8 are reserved for big
dopes who bet even-money that the six or eight will
appear before the seven. The edge is 9.09 percent.
(If you just place the six or eight, you get a 7
to 6 payout and a low 1.52 percent house edge!)
Uptown and downtown are place bets that the 8-9-10
will show or the 4-5-6 will show respectively. Across
the board, merely means you are placing every number
(4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10). Not a good move.
From blackjack how do these names sound: royal match,
triple sevens, multiple action, and Spanish 21?
Interesting, no doubt. Royal match is a side bet
that you will get a blackjack composed of two cards
of the same suit. High house edge in the double
digits. Triple sevens has been borrowed from slots--so
has the house edge, high! Multiple-action blackjack
is just three hands of blackjack played against
the same dealer upcard. If you're a bad player it
just triples your badness. Spanish 21 is a new form
of blackjack that can slaughter a player unless
he plays the new strategy for that game (the Armada
Strategy found in my book Armada Strategies for
Spanish 21).
From roulette we get the split, the straight up,
the street, and the corner. They all have the same
house edge on their individual components--5.26
percent on the American wheel and 2.7 percent on
the European wheel.
In general, the games with the highest house edges
also sound the most intriguing: Caribbean Stud (sexy),
Let It Ride (exciting), Casino War (epic), Russian
Roulette (dangerous), Red Dog (cool). Compare those
with: craps (yuck, disgusting), 21 (boring), blackjack
(please don't beat me over the head) and baccarat
(back a rat you said?).
Why is that? Why are the games, strategies and bets
with the highest house edges the most alluring sounding?
Since the substance of the games, strategies and
bets leaves something to be desired, the name becomes
the primary reason for playing the game, using the
strategy, or making the bets. Frankly speaking,
when Shakespeare asked: “What's in a name?”
- the casino executives answered: “Everything!”
And so it is.
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Columns By Franki Scoblete
