Advantage gambling is a special method of gambling that primarily focuses on clean play, instead of any form of cheating as a means of winning a game. Casino cheating is considered illegal in most parts of the world, which would automatically make advantage gambling a good alternative for players who wish to increase their chances of winning in a legal way.
What Is Advantage Play?
The method consists of identifying the unique characteristics of a game in order to give gamblers the competitive edge they need over the rest of the players at the table or against the house itself. Keep in mind not all casinos openly embrace advantage play, with some countries such as the UK completely banning this method. Australia, on the other hand, has a more open policy when it comes to advantage play, even though players winning colossal amounts of money are usually banned from land casinos here as well. We can mention the example of Zeljko Ranogajec, “one of the most prolific and innovative advantage players of all time” who was also banned from a few Aussie casinos, including Wrest Point and the Gold Coast’s Jupiters Casino. The reason? He turned a few hundred dollars into millions and the casino found it rather suspicious.
However, by using the right gameplay strategy, you should be able to freely use his method without interference and get to enjoy higher chances of winning when confronting the house. Advantage play enables players to remove most of the mathematical edge the house has on them on most games. Nevertheless, slots and other similar games that rely on chance and not strategy are not part of the same list of gameplay titles that can benefit from the advantage play approach. Nevertheless, this does not mean that it is impossible to make a profit out of playing pokies. By taking a look at some of the best slot machines displaying the greatest payout percentages on the web, you could enjoy a nice edge that would bring you closer to a win.
The Mechanism Behind Advantage Play
Shortly put, advantage play uses the so-called expected value formula. This formula requires the user to multiply his chances of winning with the sum they expect to win by making a successful bet. At the same time, the player multiplies his chances of losing by the amount they will lose, should their wager not be a winning one.
Once these two sums are properly calculated, advantage players will then need to subtract the larger one from the smaller one. This will result in the probable value of the bet. The total amount of money a player may win, the money they may risk losing if they wager is not a winning one, the loss and win probabilities – these are all factors that will ultimately influence the end results.
How To Use Advantage Play When Playing Blackjack
In order to remain ahead of your direct blackjack competitors, you will need to rely on shuffle tracking. Focus on roughly estimating where certain cards are most likely to end up being placed when shuffled by the dealer. While most people believe that the shuffling will result in completely random card distribution, in reality, some cards will remain stuck together more often than not.
With the help of careful card shuffle tracking, a player should be able to roughly guess where certain groups of cards will be found after a number of shuffles. This should lead to players more easily knowing when to raise their bets once they know when these specific cards will be close to being dealt.
Edge-sorting is another blackjack advantage play strategy with good results. The player must make the dealer alternate the direction of the cards or at least the position where they are facing, depending on whether the cards are high or low. One way to achieve this is by telling the dealer that it is something that brings them good luck, with the dealers normally granting their request.
How does this strategy work? Provided the edges of the deck cards are not found in the same angle, once the smallest discrepancy is found, the player can boost his wagers when a blackjack is about the pop-up.
How To Use Advantage Play When Playing Poker
Poker enables players to enjoy the best advantage play opportunities in the long term, given the fact that players compete against one another, and not the house itself. More good news: the casino house is not directly interested in the outcome of a game of poker. This means poker advantage play can be used repeatedly in an attempt to win several times without fear of being banned or blocked by the casino.
Pod or implied odds are a couple of the most successful advantage play methods used by real money poker players. They enable them to determine whether they should hunt for a straight draw or a flush and find any gameplay patterns that their opponents might be using and learn how to use them in their favour.
A player who bluffs all the time can be trapped with the help of mock calling, by having them expose all their winning cards. If a player is known to make lots of large bluffing bets, while placing good hands on smaller wagers, you could try to reveal these patterns and make better-informed calls within the game.
Your opponents' behaviour when playing live poker games can also be used for advantage play. Some gamblers are known to repeatedly raise their eyebrows as they are getting ready to make a huge calling. Identify these peculiar behaviours and use them to your best advantage.
