Going to Vegas, what are some odds?

Factual Questions
1

So I’m going to Vegs in April with my GF and another couple. This will be my third trip to Las Vegas. We’ll be there for 4 nights. I’m not really a high-roller, I’ll have between $50-$100 US dollars to spend a day on gambling.

I love playing Roulette (I only play the inside, black 13 baby!), but was thinking of maybe trying my hand (pun intended) at playing Black Jack.

I don’t mind playing slots either.

My question to the dopers, which game will give me the most bang for the buck (last the longest)? Roulette has a pretty good payout on the inside, Black Jack gives you the best odds of winning (if you memorize a half dozen or so “rules”), and slots I don’t really know about.

Please let me know.

MtM

2

There are some descriptions and odds of the most popular Las Vegas casino games here, as well as some tips for playing them–more geared towards enjoying the experience than winning big bucks and breaking the bank.

Enjoy your trip!

3

This site says:

I only ever play roulette. I don’t have the skill for the card games, and besides the minimum stakes are usually higher. Roulette has an average payout of around 97%, so if you find a $1 or $2 table, your money should last a good while.

4

Slots are the biggest money makers for casinos, ergo, stay away from them.

To make your money last longer:

  1. Bet minimal amounts. Betting a dollar at a time will stretch things out. Betting $20 at a time and you’re cleaned out before the waitress brings your drink.

  2. Be absolutely rational. No emotions at all.

  3. Yell “Hi Opal!” when rolling the dice.

The second means that you won’t enjoy gambling in the least, so that’s yet another big reason to not gamble at all.

5

If you know what you’re doing, Blackjack has the best pure odds. However, you have to train yourself enough to know what you’re doing.

Craps also has very good odds with the basic bets, and measured on a time basis, you’ll do better. (that is, depending on the rolls, it may be a long time before your “Pass” bet wins or loses.)

Slots take even longer to lose your money, but are more sure, and IMO incredibly less fun to boot.

Roulette’s only advantage is that you need no training to play. With the exception of the 0/00/1/2/3 bet, all bets have the exact same payoff ratio, so it doesn’t matter what bet you put.

Hope this helps. IMHO, given your situation, if you want to play a table game, learn the basic bets at craps and stick to those. (Basic bets include Pass, Don’t Pass, Come, Don’t Come, and possibly laying on the 6 and 8). Be aware that $50-100 will probably not last very long even at a $5 table… my guess is 30 min or less on average. Even though “taking odds” is a better mathematical payoff, it is not a wise move for you given your small stake. If you think slots are entertaining, that’s where to waste your money.

6

Take particular note of muttrox’s last point.

In gambling the biggest thing (maybe even bigger than your odds) for lasting is your proximity to the lower limit (busting) compared to the house’s proximity. The more you bring to gamble, the better your odds of staying in longer (by giving you more chances to play).

All things equal (and they won’t be), $50-$100 just won’t give you that many chances to stay in.

7

The house has a certain advantage over you at a minimum. Each game is different, so rather than spew out all possible odds, know this:

From best (for you) to worst, some popular choices:

Best: Black Jack - If you play ‘basic strategy’, which is an actual standard of hitting/standing/betting, then the house has a 1-1.5% advantage over you. (free advice: Don’t take insurance on BJ as a rule) This is why ‘card counting’ can have some serious affects. If you can adjust your bets based on the conditions of the remaining cards, you can tilt the advantage to your favor.

Next is Craps - playing the best bets as mentioned in a previous post gives the house the smallest advantage of 2-2.5%

Roullete is next

LAST is slot machines (Well, maybe the money wheel). Slots: The 97% payout hype is just that: HYPE. Think of BJ as a 99% payout rate when played by basic strategy.

8

$50? That’s not even enough to really get your feet wet. Better stick to the nickel slots.

The house advantage in roulette is 5.26%. It’s the worst table game for the player, in terms of odds.

In craps, if you stick to the pass line bet, the casino advantage is 1.4%. And you can get that even lower if you place the odds bet after a point. But craps is a fast moving game and you can lose very quickly. At a $5 minimum, you could potentially lose your $50 in 10 minutes.

In blackjack, if you play perfect basic strategy, the house advantage is close to that of craps, but you better buy a book and study it, or keep one of those cheat sheet cards and reference it every single bet. You can find lower minimums downtown. I’ve never seen anything less $5 minimums on the strip. 10 Lost bets and you’re out.

Slots vary greatly in their payouts. House advantage can be anywhere from 20% to 1%. So if you’re gonna play slots, look for the advertisements screaming “99% return slots!”. The problem there is the good machines are usually dollar slots, and you need to put all three coins in to get the best odds. So that’s just 16 bets to lose, and you’re out. You might last a half hour.

Don’t even think about keno. House advantage can be as much as 35%.

My advice: Plan on more than $50 a day, learn blackjack, and play downtown at the $1 or $0.25 minimum tables. Scout out the fuller tables, because the action is slower and you can play longer before the casino advantage eeks away your bankroll.

The general rule is never sit down without 50 bets at the minimum. This will protect you somewhat from unlucky streaks that could otherwise end your gambling fun prematurely.

9

Someone explained the odds to me at one time, but I think BJ is the best, followed closely by craps, then baccarat, then pai gow, then lastly roulette. Look at this way, the traditional games (which are all table) have the best odds. In terms of payout, I think craps is the best, but I could be wrong. Anyway, for better info on odds see wizardofodds.com; it has basic (and somewhat intermediate) betting strategies and playing strategies. FWIW, I think Carribean Stud is one of the worse games out there, if not the worst.

If you’re going to play BJ, you’re going to need to bring a bigger bankroll. I don’t know what you do for a living, nor how much utility you put into money nor at what dollar amount, nor how much you like gambling; i.e.: Do you expect to win? Do you like winning more than you expect to win? Does it matter what amount? If your answers are “no,” “yes,” and “no” in that order, then you don’t need to bring that much more cash with you. If you’re like me, then you’re playing min $50 (I like to count) BJ tables ($5 min on craps (I just like rolling dice)), $2k session bank, 3 sessions/day (I try to win as much as i would sitting in the office).

Anyway, stick to BJ and Craps, and play downtown. April might have more gambler friendly table amounts, but the odds aren’t usually better. In BJ, look to play 6 card decks; ideally 1 deck, but the odds don’t get too much worse from 2 to 4. Avoid 8, too hard to count and really limits the availability of a good count. At a $5 table, look to bring at least $200 ($50 at a $1 table). Counting is more important and needs to be precise at any level, but particuarly at the lower number of decks per shoe. Be prepared to stomach huge swings in your bank roll. My second to last session I played, I won $75 over the course of 3 hours. My last session, even though a huge winner, I lost 10 bets in a row.

If you’re going to play craps, play downtown. I’m convinced that there is no where worth while on the strip. Look for at least 10x odds. I’ve seen some true high rollers (well, those interested in winning rather than throwing cash around) go downtown and play $1 pass line, and put max odds (sometimes $100 on hot rollers). Last time I was downtown, I was at a $3 min bet table. Personally, if I were you, I would probably play craps, if you were looking to win. It builds great comraderie, it’s exciting, and you’re level of concentration need not be as great. Good luck!

10

Lawboy, but that advice does not hold up. A player with little experience in Blackjack would be crazy to try and count cards. It is hard enough to learn basic strategy for a casual player. To add card counting on top of that is far too difficult, and for little gain. In fact, the probability is that he will not learn counting well enough and will end up hurting himself.

Secondly, as I mentioned previously, taking odds is ridiculous with such a small bank roll. One $5 bet at 10x odds – you can get wiped out on the second roll of the dice.

Elisieus, do you have a cite for craps having better odds than blackjack? Im sorry I don’t remember the exact number off the top of my head, but I have always believed that blackjack has better odds than craps. (That is, the basic strategy in blackjack has better odds than the craps pass line bet.)

11

The odds advice given above is fine & dandy – BJ has the best, followed by craps; baccarat isn’t bad from what I hear (bet on the banker) but I don’t play it. Roulette-- if you can find a single zero table, instead of the usual double-zero, it’ll help your odds.

But holy smokes, you’re going to need more money, even downtown. Last time I was on the strip the Venetian had a bazillion blackjack tables – exactly one of which had a $10 min. All the rest were $25 and up. I think I saw some $5 tables downtown, but not many.

There’s a $1 table at Circus Circus in Reno…might be the last one in the state of Nevada.

12

Sorry if I was unclear. I said it was “close”. Perfect basic strategy will indeed be slightly more favorable than straight pass line bets. But if you bet $1 on the pass line, then place a $10 odds bet, craps will have a much lower house advantage.