The casino advantage, and
then there is the graveyard advantage
3 March 2003
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark,
If the casino advantage on a game like blackjack
is under 1% for those of us who use perfect
basic strategy, how come I have read the house
"drop" is reported at around 15% at blackjack?
Gary O.
The casino "advantage" in all games is correctly
called the house percentage. The house
percentage applies to each gaming decision in a
casino, be it each roll of the dice, each spin
at the roulette wheel, each pull of a slot
handle, or each hand at blackjack.
The aptly named "drop" percentage is always much
higher than the house percentage and refers to
what the player will drop into the casino's
appreciative hands. Most players play too long
at their game of choice, allowing the house edge
to gnaw away at their stakes. An obliging
gambler who loses on average nearly one percent
per hand will, if he sticks at it for an
extended period of time, wind up dropping
(there's that word) about 15% of all the money
wagered.
Casinos dearly love players who Crazy-Glue
themselves to the tables, and will happily offer
lifetime supplies of the stuff for free. They
know that you simply cannot play any casino game
over an extended time period and come away a
winner; they set the rules that way, you see.
Their percentages <house advantage> will always
methodically devour your bankroll. Why? You are
always bucking a minus computation. Even the
most favorable game, blackjack played with
perfect basic strategy, is just the least
favorable for the casino, eating you in nibbles
rather than gorilla gulps.
Dear Mark,
Curious as to thoughts on playing blackjack on
graveyard shift? I do okay with less quality
players on the game (those that play poorly have
already gone home); though, those free late
night cocktails do more damage to my bankroll
than even the hottest dealer does. Daniel F.
Love the question! Gives me a chance at
etymology. With England being both old and
small, there has been a persistent problem as to
where to bury their dear departed. In days of
yore, one solution was to dig up coffins, take
the bones to a "bone-house," brush out the
coffins and then reuse them. But oh-oh, on
reopening the coffins, they found that 1 out of
25 had scratch marks on the inside.
Oops! To avoid burying people alive, they would
tie a string to the wrist of the supposed
deceased, lead it up through the ground to a
bell, and then ... Someone sat in the graveyard
all night long ("the graveyard shift") to listen
for the bell. Thus, someone could be "saved by
the bell" or be certified as a "dead ringer."
Percentages of each never published. On the
casinos' graveyard shift, they just bury drunken
gamblers, lifeline unattached. Those literally
saved by the bell avoid the intoxicant effect of
free spirits. Plenty of dead ringers litter the
shift by mixing alcohol and late night gambling.
Any chance you're one of them?
Gambling quote of the week: "Slot machines are
the cotton candy and the McDonald's of the
casino. Everyone knows that they're bad for you,
but few can resist their junk-food appeal."
Andrew Brisman.
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