The written world and internet is littered with articles that promise to help rookie gamblers beat the odds and win a fortune, but the question must be asked, do they really work?  Can a system be employed that is legal and gives a player a significant advantage over the house?  In this article we will investigate some of the systems available for four of the main casino floor games, Poker, Blackjack, Craps and Roulette and see if the gaming systems available can turn every budding wannabe into a top player.
Texas Hold’em Poker is the most popular form of the game and the one that is played most commonly in casinos and online.  For that reason alone, we shall focus our attention on a number of the strategies that are available to novice players that they can access without paying for the privilege.
When players begin to play poker, they are often troubled by two things.  The first of which is knowing when a hand is worth playing and the second is playing too often.  For problem two most poker strategists recommend that players adopt a tight-aggressive approach to the game.  This put simply is avoiding playing too many hands (playing tight), but when a hand is played the player should bet and raise often (aggressive).  It is also widely agreed that table position plays a large part in poker success.  The further from the small and big blind players you are the more information there is available. This is why more hands are played later and generally won than earlier.
The first problem for the players is knowing which hands to play, or which hands might give you the greatest chance for success.  The easiest way to do this is to adopt a points system for the two cards the player is dealt and proceed to play the hand if a certain total is met.  For example the higher the value the higher the points assigned to it.  This system might assign an ace 16 points, a King 14 points down to a 10 receiving 11 points and then the numbered cards have a points total equal to their number.  A player would then add further points if their cards are paired, of the same suit, in a sequence or if they have a gap between them of one or two cards.  Further points can be added for a middle or late table position.  This gives a novice player a good idea that the cards they have are worth playing or not and simulations have proved that hands that total 30 points or more win at least 17% of the time.  Unfortunately poker isn’t quite that simple, as there are other factors that can influence play.  Bluffing, how a player bets, table image are other ways to influence hands of poker but they are more subtle and it is better to learn the basics.
For a novice player these systems are the perfect way to begin to play Hold’em Poker.  It reduces the chances of player playing too often when they begin and also prevents them playing with hands that have small chances of success.  Once these have been mastered then a player can start to develop more advanced techniques that will serve them well against more experienced players in the future.

Craps, like Roulette, is a game of pure chance and it is impossible to conduct a system.  Unlike Poker and Blackjack which are based upon skill to improve your chances of winning lady luck is an overwhelming factor.  To improve your chances of success in Craps it is important to utilise the bets that reduce the house edge the most.  Avoid betting on individual numbers, particularly 7 and focus on the pass line bets and pass line points bets.
One system recommended was applying CPR on the pass line point bets on the numbers 6 and 8 as these are the most likely winning combinations once the shooter has failed to roll a 7 or 11 on their first throw.  CPR stands for Collect, Press and Regress.  The system is if you select the number 6 then place $6 as the bet.  Should the shooter roll a 6 then the player will win $7 which should be collected.  Then should 6 be rolled once more, ask the dealer to Press the bet and just return a single dollar, leaving $12 on the number 6.  Should a six be rolled once more it is then time to Regress the bet back to $6 earning the play a total of $22.  This is great in principle but it still based entirely on chance, although selecting the two numbers that have the second highest number of combinations reduces the odds in favour of the player.  As a result of the chance element, this system can easily fail.
It is also important to play the maximum odds available on your passline bets.  This also reduces the house edge to below 1%, one of the lowest percentages in the casino.  It is felt that many inexperienced Craps players often don’t take advantage of these opportunities presented.  In a game of such luck, it is of the highest importance to make the most of all the chances you have.

Back to gaming systems part 1.