A.P Heat

I just received an email from an AP in which he told me about a play he has against Mississippi Stud (MS) that is almost beyond belief. He told me that the dealer does not collect his Ante bet if he folds pre-Flop. The dealer does collect the Ante if the AP makes a Flop wager, so from the Flop on, it's just MS played the normal way. But, there's more.

Mississippi Stud (MS) certainly has its share of game protection issues. For the savvy advantage player, just about everything works. There is one more method to beat MS that I have yet to discuss in this blog: player collusion. It's not a big play, but the fact that collusion is even possible comes as a surprise to many who operate the game. Indeed, some casinos deal MS face-up.

The Pairs bet (PB) is a non-proprietary baccarat side bet that pays 11-to-1 for a dealt pair. The player can wager on either or both of the Player or Banker side to be dealt a pair.

My posts are devoted to advantage play, but proprietary games seem to be drawing cheats like never before. I have no particular objection to advantage play. Though I am clearly on the side of game protection, advantage players have every right to try to get away with it. Advantage play is not cheating. Cheating is not advantage play.

In my opinion, Mississippi Stud (MS) is the most vulnerable proprietary game or side bet with widespread placement in casinos today. The multitude of dangers that MS poses for casino surveillance and table games management involve a wide variety of techniques spanning both legal advantage play and outright cheating.

Let it Ride (LIR) is a game that has been in casinos since the time of the dinosaurs. Because the dealer is dealt two face-down cards, the question of hole-card play naturally arises. Back in 2002 at a Las Vegas strip casino, I found a dealer exposing a hole-card, but at the time had no idea how to play against it.

In several previous posts I investigated advantage play against loss rebates.

Hole-carding Three Card Poker has been one of the mainstays of APs for over a decade. I discuss the details in this post. However, most APs have struggled to show the profit that the 3.48% edge should yield for them.

In this post, I asked for input on how Pai Gow Poker (PGP) could be legitimately beat by advantage players. An AP who posted under the name “jet” left a comment to that blog post, writing: “Actually people have beaten Pai Gow in the past.

High Card Flush (HCF)  is a relatively new game that distinguished itself by winning “Best Game” at the Cutting Edge Table Games Conference in 2012. Recently Stephen How demonstrated that HCF has a significant collusion issue (see this post at his bl

Just over 10 years ago I published an article in the Blackjack Insider newsletter on card counting the Lucky Ladies blackjack side bet (here is a link). That was my first one.

No doubt you've been paying attention to the oddity that is the Revel casino in Atlantic City. In its brief casino-life, they have repeatedly re-branded themselves, making 180-degree turns in their marketing strategy several times. The most recent turn was an admission that they are fundamentally a casino, not a resort.

I have recently been obsessing over computer-perfect play against the baccarat Tie bet and Pairs bet.

Side bets that pay out when the dealer busts were a hot area of development a few years back. I was involved with two of these bets as the primary mathematician for the game developers. One of the wagers I analyzed was Dealer Bust 21 (see this post). The other bust-type wager I analyzed was "Bet the Bust" (BTB) for the company Tech Art. BTB is the subject of this post.

Heads-Up Hold'em (HUH) is a relatively new poker variant that seems to be gaining traction. Its rules are nearly identical to those of Ultimate Texas Hold'em (UTH) (see this post). I am surprised this game even exists.