7 Things You Need to Know if You’re a Newcomer to the GemdiscoPH Bonus Casino
One of my favorite lines in any movie is from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. At one point in the film, Spock tells Saavik, “For everything, there is a first time.”
For some of my readers, their next visit to the casino will be their FIRST visit to the casino.
This post is for them.
These are seven facts you MUST know before gambling in a casino for the first time ever.
1 – Those Drinks Aren’t Really Free
Some casinos don’t even offer free alcohol anymore, but keep this in mind when you’re in one of those casinos that does offer free alcohol:
The casinos are in the business of making money.
They’re getting you liquored because, on average, drunk players lose more money than the cost of the drinks they’ve been served for free.
In fact, this is true of any kind of freebie or comp you get from the casino.
Casino management has the art of giving away comps down to a science. They have a good idea of how much more action they can get out of a player in exchange for what manner of comps.
They use that to offer just the right amount of cashback and free stuff.
You should still take advantage of it, but just be aware that it comes with a cost.
The free drinks are the most dangerous comps because the first thing to do when you start getting drunk is your judgment.
2 – The Odds Are Against You
The casinos don’t cheat at their games. They really are just as random as you’d think. And yes, you can go home a winner some of the time.
But the math behind the games is set up in such a way that the casino always has a mathematical advantage that can’t be defeated in the long run.
This advantage is called “the house edge.”
It’s expressed as a percentage, and it’s just the average amount of each bet that you’ll lose over time based on the difference between the odds of winning and the payout odds for the bet.
For Example:
A game with a house edge of 5.26% is one where the casino expects you to lose $5.26 on average for every $100 you bet on it.
In the short run, the house edge means almost nothing.
But in the long run, the house edge means almost everything.
3 – Slot Machines Cost More Than Any Other Game
The house edge on the slot machine games is usually higher than the house edge on almost any of the other games in the casino.
But you don’t even know what the house edge is, because you don’t know the odds of winning. Without that piece of information, you can’t even calculate the house edge. (The house edge is a function of the probability of winning and the amount you’ll win when you do.)
The other problem with playing slot machines is that they’re easy to play fast. I’ll have more to say about why speed of play matter so much soon, but for now, understand the risks of slots.
Three factors determine your average losses at the casino:
- How much you’re betting
- How many bets you’re placing
- How high the house edge is
Increase any of these, and you’ll increase the amount of money you lose.
Increase two of them, and your amount lost will increase exponentially.
4 – Learn HOW to Play the Games Before Playing Them
At one time, you pretty much had to rely on the kindness of the dealers or a casino gambling mentor of some kind to teach you how to play. More recently, casinos have started offering classes on how to play their table games.
You should take those classes. They’re excellent.
But one thing you should avoid is the strategy advice offered in such classes. The casino dealers aren’t in the business of giving you good strategy advice. In fact, sometimes their strategy advice is flat out bad.
Remember, they’ll encourage you to take insurance in blackjack, which you should never do.
Of course, with the internet, you can learn how to play any casino game you can imagine without even wagering real money on it.
I hear that a lot of people have handheld devices that act as phones and computers at the same time. You could probably use one of those to practice on for a few minutes before playing a game for real money in a live casino.
My only piece of advice is to use caution when playing for real money online. You can learn just as easily playing free games.
5 – How Fast You Play Is More Important Than Anything Else
Earlier I listed the 3 factors that determine how much money you can expect to lose playing casino games. And they are literally factors because you multiply them by each other to determine your loss rate.
Here’s an example:
You’re a blackjack player, and you’re betting 200 hands per hour. The rules are okay but not great, so the house edge is 1%. You’re betting $5 per hand.
Your expected loss for that hour of play is 1% of (x) 200 hands times (x) $5 per hand, or $10.
If you find a slower table or one with more players, for example, you might only see 100 hands per hour.
Your hourly loss drops from $10 to $5.
Guess how many bets the average player makes on a slot machine in an hour?
If you guessed 600, give yourself a prize, although some fast players get in more like 800 spins per hour.
What’s the difference in losses for these two players on the same machine?
Let’s assume they’re playing for $3 per spin, and that the house edge is 5%.
- The 600 spins per hour player is putting $1800 per hour into action, so he’s losing $90 per hour.
- The 800 spins per hour player, though, is putting $2400 into action each hour. He’s losing $120 per hour.
What’s the moral of this tragic story?
Slow down. Take breaks. Anything you can do to place fewer bets per hour will decrease your average loss rate.
6 – If a Strategy Sounds Too Good to Be True, It Surely Is
You can find countless casino game strategies for sale on the internet. They’re all equally worthless, so please don’t spend any money on them. You can get the same worthless casino game strategies for free on various sites.
Most of these strategies don’t work because they just involve raising and lowering the sizes of your bets based on what happened on your previous bets.
But the odds of winning and losing don’t change based on what happened on the previous bet.
If it seems easy and like a sure thing, don’t bother with it.
The only casino gambling strategies that really work require YOU to work, too. They’re hard.
Counting cards is an example of a casino game strategy that really works, but you shouldn’t try this on your first visit to a casino anyway.
7 – The Best Casino Game to Play Is Blackjack
The house edge on a good blackjack game is well below 1%, but only if you play “with perfect basic strategy.”
What does that part in quotes mean?
Basic strategy is just the mathematically correct way to play every hand in every situation. It’s easier to memorize than you think, because there are only a handful of possible totals and even fewer possible face-up cards for the dealer to show.
The house edge for blackjack goes up if you don’t know how to play – sometimes by a lot. I’ve seen statistics that indicate that the actual hold for blackjack in most casinos is between 2.5% and 4%. That means that most blackjack players are NOT using basic strategy when they play.
The low house edge isn’t the only reason why playing blackjack is the best, though.
It also offers everything you could ask for from a casino game.
You can socialize with the other players at the table if you want to, but you can also play at a table where it’s just you and the dealer. You don’t have to socialize at all in that situation.
Blackjack also gives you the opportunity to make meaningful strategic decisions as you play.
Conclusion
I’m sure that any veteran casino gambler has his own list of seven facts you need to know before going into the casino for the first time, and he might even have a different way of prioritizing them.
What did I leave out?
Where do you disagree?
Let me know in the comments.