Bad Bets Gamblers Should Never Take
Like every gambler, you’re probably familiar with the old adage of “there’s a sucker born every minute”. Those were the immortal words of P.T. Barnum, and they ring as true today as they did when uttered over 100 years ago. Though the casino industry as a whole has transformed considerably over that same time period, the essential premise of the saying is the foundation of most casino games. Here we’ve listed a number of the most famous sucker bad bets so that, hopefully, you can spot them before they clean you out.
Know Your Casino Opponents
Of course, there’s not a lot you can do, if you’re unable to identify a sucker bad bet before you place it. And, just to make things even more complicated, don’t assume that the sucker bet is the worst bet you can make in that same situation. Sucker bets are not only the bet with the worst possibility of winning. So how can you know a sucker bet when you see one? Well, below we’ll list a number of sucker bet scenarios, along with the correct play in the circumstance. Here’s the thing to always keep in mind; if you can’t find a positive expected value, then it’s more than likely to be a sucker bet.
Skip the Progressive Slots
These are those mega-jackpots that pull in players from every state. Often these prizes reach up to $10 million and beyond. Even though every player is really just living the dream of striking it rich with a life-altering amount of cash, these machines offer some of the worst bad bets in the entire casino. First things first, the casino house edge is around a painful 17%. That translates as every $100 you’ll wager, you will have a loss of $17. Then think of the rate by which players are shoving in their coins or tokens. It takes very little time to run through substantial amounts of cash. As a gambler, you’re probably thinking what’s just a few dollars if the rewards are so high? But here’s the rub.
The odds of hitting the jackpot are often in excess of 50,000,000 to 1! As far as those odds go, you’re far better off playing any other jackpot games in the casino.
The Tie Bet in Baccarat is a Bad Bet
Baccarat is a lot of fun, that’s for sure. But it’s a game of pure chance. There are three possible bets in the game; the banker net, the player bet, and the tie bet. Now the banker bet has a slight edge over the player bet. So, if you want the best jackpot winning strategy, then we suggest that you stick with the banker bet. But by far the biggest sucker bets in the whole casino is the tie bet. To entice you into making this bad bet, the casino will offer a massive 8 to 1 payout. Look upon this as a baited hook which is there solely to entice the player. What the casino fails to tell you is that the tie bet has a casino house edge of a whacking 14%. If you take this bet then you have zero chance of ever turning a profit with baccarat.
Say No To Blackjack Insurance
Now, if you play the best jackpot strategies, then the game of blackjack is by far one of the safest in the whole casino. If you can stick to a basic strategy, then you can keep the casino house advantage below 0.05%. If the table you’re playing at has player-friendly rules, then you can cut the house edge to even lower figures. But, even the game of blackjack has a sucker bad bet built-in. It’s known as the “insurance bet”. At first, this seems like a fair idea. When the dealer shows an ace, you can make a second bet equal to your first bet or initial wager. Now, if it transpires that the dealer has a blackjack, then you win and the payout is 2 to 1. Many players make the basic mistake of thinking this is a 50/50 setup. So the dealer has a 10 value card to make blackjack or they don’t.
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But, in reality, there are actually fewer than 10 value cards so you’ll be increasing the house edge by more than double. Remember that when the dealer doesn’t have a blackjack, then you’ll automatically lose the insurance bet, along with your original wager. In effect, this will double your losses.
Bad Bets: Keno Gambling
Like the best progressive jackpot slot machines with their promises of untold riches, so the same goes for the Keno games. Though the prizes are not up there in the heady heights of millions of dollars, nevertheless they are large enough to attract players. or just a few dollars you’ll have the chance to win hundreds of thousands. But, once again, the one thing that’s missing from this story is the actual house edge. It comes in at an astronomical 25%! So, not only is this by far the most boring game in the entire casino, it’s also the worst to play in terms of the negative house edge. If you want to sit somewhere quiet and just shove in coins, then it’s great for that. Because the minimum wagers are so small, you can make your bankroll last all week.
American Roulette Needs to Go
Once again, yet another casino game that revolves solely around chance. Many players already know that the casino house edge is pretty high, and therefore it’s not a game for winners. Having said that, even money bets are not that bad and offer a relatively low house edge. But the sucker bet is playing on an American wheel with it’s double zero. What makes this bad bet so painful is that probably in the very same casino, there’s a wheel with just a single zero, known more commonly as European roulette. Obviously, this latter game will give much better odds than the American one.
We actually recommend that you stay well away from the double zero wheel, and if there’s no single zero wheel, then just don’t play roulette.
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