GameMasters Secret's Page
The GameMaster's Secrets
Casino Edge = Zero

What I want to do here is tell you about several different casino games where the 'house' has either no edge at all or, or is even offering a game where the skilled player can actually get an edge over the casino! Before we discuss the ramifications of all that, let me say that the word, "skilled" doesn't call for all the mathematical mumbo-jumbo that I usually include in an article like this. I'm going to show you several games where the 'skill' called for is exactly that of flipping a coin! Exactly.

But first, why would an honest casino ever offer a game where they may not make any $$$? Well, they do it all the time. Go to Las Vegas and I'll point you toward 10 casinos where you can play Video Poker which has a long-term return that is 100.7% or more. For the longest time (until about 1962), virtually every Blackjack game in Las Vegas returned over 100% to the skilled player; it's just that there weren't that many skilled players around, so the casinos made a profit on the game due to players' mistakes. That's the case today with 100+% Video Poker games; the unskilled ( and under-financed) players far outnumber the players who can make a profit at the game. I see it all the time, players 'taking a shot' or using an approximate Jacks or Better strategy at an All American machine. The game they're playing may offer a return of over 100%, but the average player - (don't worry our readers are by no means average, so this doesn't include you) - doesn't have the skill to get the $$$. Or, even if they do, they don't have a bankroll large enough to see them through the inevitable downswings which will occur. Let me give you another example of bets with no house edge. If you play craps, you hopefully know about the 'free odds' bet. Virtually every casino in the world that offers craps also allows these bets on which there is no house edge! That's right, in the long run, a casino doesn't make a penny on odds bets. It's only because a player has to make a pass/don't pass bet before making an odds bet that the casino makes any $$$ at all.

So, if bricks-and-mortar casinos will offer games with a payback at or over 100%, why shouldn't an Internet casino? The same 'skilled/unskilled' situation applies and a cyber-casino has a lot fewer operating expenses than a 'real' casino. That's my biggest argument to those who run around flatly declaring that all Internet casinos are 'rigged'...they don't have to cheat! They have a built-in edge on almost all their games (and, if you've read my reviews, you'll see that some of them have a BIG edge on their games) so, with much, much lower operating expenses, these guys can make some serious cash. So what if they blow a few bucks on a promo? They don't have to buy you dinner or comp your airfare or give you a place to sleep at night, so they offer good deals to players in the hopes that you'll become a faithful customer. My advice is to take advantage of these, but do so with discipline and prudence. Just because some fine opportunities will be presented here, it in no way constitutes a guarantee that the casino involved is 100% honest. Let's face it, we have no sure way of determining that.

Before I get to what's specifically available at this time, let me explain how to keep up with promotions like these. You need to become a regular visitor to our Online Casino Message Board, a great (in all humility), free resource. Notices about a lot of good games are posted there by me and our beloved readers, so it's definitely worth your time to visit regularly. Please remember that the games listed below were available on the date this was written, but some may have disappeared by now. That's another reason to check the 'board'.

Wild American Roulette: This is a unique and exciting approach to a game that I've avoided for years. The casino's edge is usually too big to consider playing Roulette in the U.S., but it's a very popular game in Europe. That's because over there, the wheel has only one zero, as compared with a zero and double-zero on most American games. That has, I'm happy to report, been changed. One Internet casino has been an innovator in bringing low-percentage Roulette to the Web and they have, once again, taken the lead. Global-Player Casino (http://www.global-player.com) recently announced their new version of Roulette where the wise player can make bets with no 'house' edge!

Here's how it works. If you place a bet on the 'outside' (columns and dozens, which pay 2:1 and/or High/Low; Red/Black or Odd/Even, which all pay 1:1) and the "0" comes up, you lose. ("Yo, GM - I thought you said there was no house edge.") Stay with me here; this is the good part. If you have a bet on those spots and the "00" comes up, you win! So you can see that, in effect, the house edge is zero. Do you see the marketing genius at work here? Sure, you could play roulette at $5 a pop and see four 0s come up and you'd be down $20. But, if you hang in long enough, you'll eventually get your $$$ back and might even get a few $$$ ahead. In 'the long run', some will win, some will lose but it will cost the casino nothing. They won't make anything, either, but they'll likely have a bunch of people at their site, betting away and more than a few will put a buck or two on their 'lucky' number and that bet has a house edge of 5.26%. In addition, when players see that their $$$ didn't disappear like Bud Lights at a Superbowl party, they'll be more confident about the concept of Internet gaming and they just might become a loyal patron of Global-Player Casino. It sure makes sense to me. By the way, this game is available only for real $$$ play and the layout looks the same. But check the "Help" section on their website for all the details.

Now, are you guaranteed to win (or at least not lose) at this game? In a word: no. Don't forget that, while the casino doesn't have an edge here, neither do you. This is the equivalent of a coin-flip and heads can come up more often than tails. If you have $25 to risk at this venture and bet $5 at a time on Red, and Black comes up 5 times in a row, you might go away feeling that you were cheated. Perhaps, but more likely, you were the victim of what we call 'variance'. In an honest game, Black can come up 5 times in a row fairly often. But, if you're able to hang in there, things will come close to even, eventually. Notice that I didn't say, "exactly even." If you were to bet on Black for 100,000 spins of the wheel, it would actually be amazing if the final result was 50,000 Red and 50,000 Black. More likely, it will be something like 49,952 Red and 50,048 Black, so if you had been betting $5 per spin on Red, you'd be down by $240! This is what's sometimes called "The Law of Large Numbers". As the number of spins increases, the percentage difference between Red and Black will get smaller and smaller, but the actual difference between the occurrence of Red and Black gets larger! In the example above, the difference is 100 out of 100,000 or 0.001. At 500,000 spins, the difference may be half that, from a percentage point of view (0.0005), but the absolute number difference is 250. Now, be honest with yourself: If you played that much and lost $1250, would you feel you were cheated? Or would you understand that hard mathematics prove that it can happen in an honest game? Well, it can.

But keep in mind that the opposite has the exact same chance of happening. You might win your first bet on Red and never look back. For every big loser, there will be a big winner. Hey, the casino is playing the same game. Red bets may get ahead and never stop, so they could take it on the chin, too. So, you need enough bets to give yourself a chance at this, yet you naturally want to bet enough to make the effort worth your time. An even game like this is a great place to try all your crazy betting schemes like doubling the bet after a loss, etc. Just bear in mind that there's a betting limit here which is the primary way such 'Martingale' systems are defeated.

What strategy recommendations do I have? Hey, it's a coin toss.

Chuck-a-Luck: I normally wouldn't recommend this game if you put a gun to my head, but I have found a version worth playing. Much like the Roulette above, there's just one bet in the game where there's no house edge, and it's a coin-flipper as well. The casino in question is Carry On Casino (http://www.carryoncasino.com). You've probably seen Chuck-a-Luck at some church 'Vegas' nite or some other such event. Three dice are in a cage which is rotated to produce a 'toss' and the player may bet on the numbers 1 to 6. If the number bet comes up, it's paid at 1:1. If a pair of those numbers come up, the bet pays 2:1 and trips produces a payoff of 3:1. The house edge here? Oh, just under 8%. But, at Carry On Casino, there are two even-money bets where there is no house edge. One is called "Over 10 " and the other is "Under 11". There are 16 possible combinations that 3 dice can make; here I'll list them as they appear one on side with the corresponding total on the other side of the dice:

3 and 18
4 and 17
5 and 16
6 and 15
7 and 14
8 and 13
9 and 12
10 and 11

As you can see, half are over 10 and half are under 11, making this is a straight 50-50 proposition.

So, if this is an honest game, virtually everything I said about the Roulette above applies. By the way, avoid the Field bet. While it looks like a 50-50 play (8 numbers win and 8 numbers lose), it's deceptive, because those numbers can be made in more than one way. The house edge on the Field bet is 3.7%.

Blackjack: Now we're getting into the area where skill is a factor in the game ....a very important factor. But, on the Internet, it's possible to play Blackjack perfectly. Just print out a copy of the proper basic strategy for the game you wish to play, follow it religiously and, if the rules of the game are favorable, you can get a long term edge over the casino. Which casinos offer such favorable rules? Generally, the casinos which use Bossmedia software for a single-deck game give the player who uses perfect playing strategy a very, very small edge of about 0.08%. What this means is that a bet of $10 per hand produces an 'expectation' of $10 X 0.0008 = $.008 or eight-tenths of a cent per hand. So, at a rate of play of 60 hands per hour, a player can expect to make 48 cents. Not big, but it's better than the break-even situations mentioned above. This site is full of money management lessons and other writings on Blackjack, so I won't go into it here. But, with such a small edge, you can't expect to take $100 and double it every week. Where most people fail at a game like this is in being underfinanced. Losing streaks are going to happen and you must be prepared. First of all, there's no reason to vary your bets from hand to hand (of course, you'll split pairs and double as indicated by the Basic Strategy), so I wouldn't try this with less than 150 bets. If you play $5 a hand, set aside $750 for your adventure.

Bossmedia has a website where all their affiliate casinos are listed at http://www.casino.com/. I've reviewed a couple of them: Jackpot Palace and Gold Club Casino.

Video Poker: This is the most common game where the long-term return exceeds 100%, but you need to remember the words "long term". Much like Blackjack, there's a lot on this site about how to play Video Poker, so I won't go into all that here. Just remember that the pay schedule determines the correct playing strategy for a Video Poker game and the percentages which I quote for the various 100+% games out there include the Royal Flush, so one must typically play 5 coins (I'll point out some exceptions) to realize that return. This endeavor requires considerable $$$, but the rewards can be significant. I have included only casinos which I've reviewed, because, while a good payout is paramount, you may want more information regarding the minimum purchase, credit cards accepted, etc. For that, see our "Online Gaming Reviews" section.

Oasis Casino http://www.oasis-casino.com
Deuces Wild II: 100.2%
Joker Poker, Kings or better: 100.6%
Both games are available in $.05, .10, .25, .50, $1 and $5

Fair Deal Casino
http://www.fairdealcasino.com
Deuces Wild: 100.7%
The minimum is $1, but the pay table is proportional, so it's like betting 5 X 20-cents.
Warning: This is Java-based and it's painfully slow.

Casino St. Louis
http://www.casinostlouis.com
Deuces Wild 100.7%
Available in both quarter and dollar denominations.

Winward Casino
http://www.winwardcasino.com
Deuces Wild 100.7%
Available in both quarter and dollar denominations.

Club Monte Carlo
http://www.clubmontecarlo.com
Jacks or Better 100.8% (approx.)
This is a strange variation of the game; it's in a 9/6/5 format with a progressive Royal, but the Ace is always a 'high' card, so you lose straights and straight flushes with A,2,3,4,5. Also, they do not accept accounts from U.S. citizens.

Go Exploring: There are a lot of good games out there, so start looking around and visit us often, because we'll be posting new ones on our message board. As the Internet gaming scene gets more and more crowded, I'll bet (and I'm not a gambler!) that even better deals will show up. Don't forget that some casinos have 'slot clubs' which rebate a small percentage of your total bets and many also offer sign-up bonuses; all that adds to your edge. But, start small, play smart and watch your $$$ like a hawk.

See you here next time.