Dear Mark: For the average player, is there
any mathematical advantage to playing two
hands of blackjack versus one? Jason F.
Playing two hands and what advantages or
disadvantages it brings your way depends on
your skill level.
A skilled player using perfect basic
strategy gives up the same approximately
one-half percent edge to the casino on both
hands. A card counter might actually gain a
small advantage over the house by playing an
additional hand. But if you are the Average
Joe, you will reap exactly the same results
on both hands, minus approximately 5% to the
house, creating no edge whatsoever.
An added drawback when playing more than one
spot is that you will be dealt more hands
per hour. Because the casino already has a
commanding edge over the Average Joe’s play,
is reason enough, Jason, on why you wouldn’t
want to be playing two spots. You are just
as likely to keep on losing, but at a faster
clip playing two hands.
The key advantage for playing two hands
occurs only for card counters. If the deck
is positive, counters, knowing they have an
edge on the next hand, typically play more
than one spot. Because they are playing two
spots instead of one, they have twice as
much chance of getting the high value cards
as the dealer has.
Dear Mark: As a video poker player,
what should my beginning bankroll be? I
typically play $1 machines. Norm N.
In the gaming business it’s called “risk of
ruin.” The risk of ruin is the chance that
standard deviation will wipe out your
bankroll before you have a chance to win
what your pre-determined win goals were.
What you need in order to weather risk of
ruin is a decent sized bankroll. If your
bankroll is too small to handle the swings
caused by standard deviation, you can get
your clock cleaned.
Video poker players should have an adequate
bankroll of at least 40 times their typical
bet, if not more. With an adequate bankroll,
you can last through a cold streak and still
be in action when a hot streak comes along.
So, Norm, on a dollar machine, you should
have a bankroll of at least $200 (five coins
in per hand times 40).
Dear Mark: What are your thoughts on
players who like to believe that one video
poker machine that they regularly play is
luckier than another? Every time my sister
and I go to the casino she runs to one
particular machine that she claims pays out
more. June D.
It doesn't make one iota of difference
whether she always plays her “favorite”
video poker machine or bounces around. As
long as the paytables are the same, she can
expect the same long-term payback.
What I can’t rule out, is that your sister
accidentally happened on a video poker
machine that has a much better paytable than
the other machines surrounding it, so yes,
June, it would pay out more.
I once had a favorite video poker machine at
the Club Cal Neva in Reno that I would play
after pitching cardboard for eight hours. It
was a bar-top, so along with my
after-shifter, I figured it was worthy of a
couple of bucks before I headed up to the
lake (Tahoe). I hit a royal and a dozen
four-of-a-kinds over the year that I worked
there, and I’m sure I cashed out more than I
put in. But deep down I knew, or would like
to think that I should have known, that the
probabilities of royals or four-of-a-kinds
appearing remain the same on all the
machines, on every hand.
Gambling Wisdom of the Week:
"All losers praise their own systems.” VP
Pappy, Midwest Casino Guide
