Ah, those knife-edge
distinctions
12 November 2002
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark,
I like five-card draw poker, but have not found
a game here in Reno. Is Texas Hold'em the same
game? Catherine B.
Though five-card poker, and several variations
of it, is well established on any video poker
machine, you will not find your favorite kitchen
table game of 5-card draw spread in most casinos
or poker rooms. A kissin' southern cousin, is
Texas Hold'em, probably the most popular poker
game played in casino poker rooms. It's the game
that is used to determine the world champion at
the World Series of Poker.
The contrast is that Texas Hold'em is a
"community card" game, meaning that some cards
are dealt face-up in the middle of the table and
shared by all the players. Each player has two
down cards that are the player's alone; and
those are combined with the five community cards
to make the best possible five-card hand. The
best five-card poker hand-a canny combination of
the player's two private cards and the five
communal cards-is the winner.
If you want to give Hold'em a try, Catherine, I
had better mention the "skill" factor. Though
Texas Hold'em is deceptively simple to learn,
playing the game at a proficient level does take
some expertise. If you are innocent of such
wayward skills, you can start your training
head-to-head against a cyber video opponent who
does not blow smoke in your face or tell
off-color jokes. Then when you are good enough,
go beat up on the smoke-'n-joke set.
Dear Mark
In sports wagering, when is the best time to buy
a half point? Jerome B.
Depends; read on, friend. Many sportsbooks allow
the speculator the option of moving the point
spread 1/2 point to his advantage on all
straight bets. The extra outlay for this
half-point move is a buck; you play $12 to win
$10, instead of the typical $11.
As to the most favorable time to buy a half
point, those who dabble in purchasing "the hook"
do so when one team is favored by 7, 6.5, 3, or
2.5 points. Their reasoning is that many games
end in a 3 or 7 point difference, so the extra
half-point could turn a loss into a push or a
push into a win.
Best tactic though, Jerome, is to shop for
value. If you like Green Bay -7, you will like
it even better if you can find it for -6.5 or
even -6. A one-half-to-one point variance in the
line is not uncommon from casino-to-casino.
Dear Mark,
Isn't the Come bet on a crap table the exact
same wager as the pass line bet, both in its
rules and its house edge? Eugene M.
The Come bet, Eugene, has the same rules and
casino house edge as the Pass Line bet. The
contrariety consists in that you can make this
wager only after the point on the pass line has
been established.
As to its mechanics, it's analogous to a Pass
Line wager: once your point has been
established, re-rolling the point wins, seven
loses, and any other roll does not affect your
pass-line wager.
Correspondingly, after you place your Come
wager, the next sequence of dice rolls will
establish the Come point. You lose if it is
craps (2, 3, 12), win if it is a natural (7,
11), and set the point if any of the remaining
numbers are rolled (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10). Like a
Pass Line bet, the point needs to be repeated
before a 7 is rolled to be a winner; if a 7 is
rolled first, you lose.
Without taking any odds, both the Pass Line and
Come wagers hold a paltry 1.4% casino advantage.
Gambling thought of the week: "If craps didn't
already exist, it's doubtful whether anything
this complex would be introduced today." Alan Krigman
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