Imagine you are walking the Vegas strip with your buddies and stopping at casino bars along the way to have some $15 drinks. At your current stop you notice that the people playing bar top blackjack aren’t paying for their drinks. You look at the machine: it’s Game King BJ, $1 denomination.
You figure you might as well gamble the $15 and get a “free” drink, hoping to win, break even, or lose less than $15. At least there’s a chance of coming out better than you would if you just gave up the $15 without trying, right?
Now, these bar top BJ machines are usually terrible for the player, with a casino house edge of around 5 percent on average. Against a 5% house edge, if you play correctly and bet in $1 increments, you expect to lose just $0.05 a hand in the long run.
As long as you play fewer than 300 hands per $15 drink, this is a money-saving venture. You may not realize it, but this is an advantage play.
Example: You plan on drinking three drinks at a cost of $45. Instead of buying the drinks outright, you play $1 bar top BJ for an hour, during which you play 300 hands. In the long run, you will save $30.
$300 of bar top BJ at a house edge of 5% means you will lose $15 in the long run ($300x.05=$15).
If you already planned on spending $45 on booze, you essentially “made” $30 by playing for the drinks instead. Of course, you’ll have fluctuations where you win or lose more than $15, or even more than the $45 you originally budgeted, but in the long run your loss will be around $15 for every $300 you play through, and this will be less expensive than buying drinks without playing.
Whether on table games, video poker, slot machines, promotions, sports, or something more complicated, casino advantage play is essentially about finding hidden value. Casino advantage players look for unbalanced situations like the example above—usually where the payout is in cash instead of booze—and make a living doing it over and over again on a large scale.
April 14, 2017 @ 1:54 pm
If the machine player does not play 5 coins every hand, the house edge is going to be greater than a full coin player, thus your example is wrong.
April 14, 2017 @ 2:19 pm
Bosox,
The number of coins played DOES have an effect on the house edge when playing video poker. This is due to the royal flush payout being shorted when you are not betting the full 5 coins.
This is NOT the case when playing video blackjack (which is what game I used in the example) since there is no royal flush.
April 14, 2017 @ 4:25 pm
Thank you for correcting my missing and assuming the game you wrote about in the article.
April 15, 2017 @ 2:33 am
Lee Jensen, looking forward to reading the new material in your blog . I hope the site is a big success. BoSox
April 15, 2017 @ 8:03 am
It would be great if you put up the “bugs” for sharing on Facebook and Twitter. It will get you some more traffic.
April 15, 2017 @ 12:11 pm
Good idea and Thanks for the tip Munchkin.
April 15, 2017 @ 9:52 am
Read the first article. Spot on nicely done.
Freightman
April 16, 2017 @ 8:02 am
Very relatable example for a beginner, keep up the good work!
April 17, 2017 @ 6:04 pm
Just want to say I enjoy you blog. I came across it by a post from a member on a blackjack discord channel. I look forward for more to come.
Theorem (Opportunity) There is an edge in every game.
April 20, 2017 @ 9:56 am
When in Las Vegas, I do not walk the strip much less walk the strip with friends. When you used the term ‘$15.00 drinks’ I thought you meant gamble and lose fifteen dollars but get a free drink. I do not pay fifteen dollars for drinks and I do not ever pay for drinks in Las Vegas. So the “avoided cost” premise does not apply to me.
The only advantage of a bar top blackjack machine is that it usually offers a much more comfortable seat than a video blackjack machine on the casino floor. The disadvantages of a bar top machine are dealing with the bartender and the seductively un-clad female who suddenly fills the vacant seat next to you.
April 20, 2017 @ 8:46 pm
Fleastiff,
If you gamble, you are paying for the drink in the form of money lost on the house edge of the game. That money though, can be less than what the drinks would actually cost. That is the point in the post.
If there is some way to not pay at all for drinks when walking the strip please share.
Lee
April 24, 2017 @ 9:05 pm
Seeking out the best bars that will serve video BJ or VP players free drinks can definitely be a good advantage play. As an example, the old high limit room at the M Resort had a little bar that served Johnnie Walker Blue, and several fancy tequilas and grappas. All free to players. It was a quiet, stylish place with a terrace with a great view. The bar and machines are still there, but sadly the bottles are gone and the pit has moved.
April 26, 2017 @ 9:49 am
Now that seems like a worthwhile advantage play!