| Everyone
is tried to play online casino gambling. Unfortunately,
most of them don't know what they're doing. It's
not the players' fault. The public hasn't been allowed
much practice for nearly a century. And of course
casinos are happy to explain the rules, but they're
less eager to explain odds and strategies. In some
cases the casinos don't even know the optimal strategies.
Why should they? Gamblers are on their own and it
shows.
Most casino games are designed to keep between 1%
and 10% of a player's money. Yet players lose on
average about 20% to 40% of every dollar they take
into a casino.
Much of the loss can be attributed to the practice
of repeatedly risking the same money (pressing bets),
but some of it is simply the result of playing badly.
It's amazing, but millions of players lose billions
of dollars every year because they make mistakes.
They use faulty strategy and flawed systems. They
throw away the wrong cards, hit when they should
stand, call when they should fold, bet when they
should walk away, and otherwise stack the odds to
their disfavor.
People could win more (or lose less), but they don't.
This bizarre phenomenon is reflected in the latest
generation of video poker games that have a certified
player advantage. Casinos actually promote these
games. Guess what? Players still lose!
It's obvious that some people don't even try. They've
been thoroughly conditioned to believe that players
should never win. When they do it's considered a
freak aberration, a stroke of rare luck. Hey, that's
gambling right?
No, that's losing. Gambling is a series of contests.
It starts when you pick odds that are favorable
(or at least not too unfavorable). The house has
an advantage. Sometimes you win. More times they
win. Strategy plays a role. This is true to varying
degrees for all casino contests, even slot machines.
Of course, there is no amount of expertise or information
that can make anyone a guaranteed winner. That wouldn't
be gambling, and it wouldn't be fun. Guaranteed
money comes from having a job, managing investments
or being a wealthy scion. That's work. Gambling
is entertainment. We pay for entertainment. The
contest determines the price.
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