Black jack side bet
Of all the side bets offered in black jack, the last one you’d think to look for is one that just pays straight up for hitting an actual blackjack. What fun is that? The easiest to learn, this side bet sets itself apart from the others because of the large spectrum of house odds depending on the number of decks and payoff amount you’re looking at. But hell, even at the worst odds, you’re playing the game to hit a black jack anyway, so what’s another little more put up on the side in hopes of cashing in many multiple times what you’re regular bet would pay? Let’s find out.
As you’d expect, the odds are greatest for the player (meaning the lowest house advantage) with the highest payout, which tends to be 19:1, and the lowest number of decks. This side bet can be found at many black jack casinos, both large and small, across the country. If you do manage to get lucky and find that one-deck game that pays 19:1, you’re only looking at a 3.5% house edge. Those are odds worth sinking some money into, at least in the casino world where a 25-30% edge isn’t uncommon or frowned upon, which we’ll see in a second.
Staying with the one-deck odds, if the payout drops to 18:1, the house edge more than doubles to just over 8%. A 17:1 payout pushes the house edge over 13%. 16:1 takes it to near 18%, and a 15:1 payout (the lowest commonly found with this bet) takes it all the way up to almost 23%, which pretty much puts you in the same league as other implausible games, although with a much higher percentage of return.
At the other end, if you see it played on an eight-deck black jack online table, you’re already looking at a 5% house edge for the best possible payout of 19:1. 18:1 brings it up to 9.85%. 17:1 is at 14.5, and so on. The worst possible house edge for the player is the 15:1 payout on the eight-deck hand, which is just over 24%. At that point, though, the difference between the eight and one deck games is really negligible. Maybe if you’re playing 1,000 hands it makes a difference, but for the average player, it’s still worth betting if you want to put more money down on a blackjack coming up.
Surface Betting in Roulette
Many people who play slots online also bet the roulette wheel with the right intentions but flawed logic. Some roulette players bet their favorite numbers, while others wager on the birthdates of loved ones. Still others seek out lucky or hot numbers, while other roulette players bet a few successive numbers. While betting numbers in this manner is fun, over time the roulette player is statistically likely to go broke. There is a method to the roulette player’s madness in terms of why they are betting the specific numbers, but players will find the roulette wheel unsympathetic to their cause more often than not.
Some roulette players find themselves in the right church but the wrong pew, however. Often, a new roulette dealer will come on shift, citing a number such as 8 has been hot all week. This often prompts roulette players to bet the number eight, as many gamblers welcome inside tips from trusted roulette dealers. This method of chasing the lucky number, however, falls short more often than not, as players frequently watch the ball fall within a few spots of 8 a few times while totally missing other times.
If the player watches closely, however, they can observe another trend, which may potentially explain why the number eight might seem to occur more often than other numbers for the specific roulette dealer. Humans are creatures of habit. The dealers are very mechanical in nature and often release the ball around the same number each time. Maybe the hot number is eight, but that is far different from the dealer’s lucky number in most instances.
When at the roulette table on a site like golden casino, ask the dealer which number is his lucky number. He might tell you 28, for example. Watch his release to see if his lucky number coincides with his release. In many instances, it does. When such a pattern occurs, bet one or two numbers on either side of the number the dealer described as the “hot number” (and of course lay a wager on the stated hot number as well). By covering the surface surrounding the hot number, a roulette player stands a far better chance of capitalizing on the habits and routine of the roulette dealer. Additionally, if the roulette dealer’s release is the same each time, he is partially the cause for the lucky number’s frequent occurrence. As a result, your bets are strategically placed to capitalize on the ball’s attraction to the surface surrounding the hot or lucky number.
Tennis Odds for the US Open
When betting on tennis, a bettor can bet on the actual match, or he can venture a guess and wager on who might win a particular competition, such as the US Open. Betting and speculating on the US Open and tennis betting competitions of similar nature can be done by way of the tennis futures market. With the futures market, each tennis player receives odds, which they pay out if they win the entire tournament. Because we are betting in advance of the actual competition, we are speculating on which tennis player we think will win the US Open. Often we can find value within the tennis odds for such competitions.
When betting the futures in a competition such as the US Open, not only can we speculate on the winner, but we can also speculate on when certain players will be eliminated. For example, Roger Federer has won the US Open five years consecutively. Last year he knocked off Andy Murray in straight sets. A tennis bettor can speculate on how Murray fairs in this year’s US Open by way of the futures market.
Should we believe Andy Murray shall be eliminated in the opening round, we would be rewarded with $850 on our $100 bet. If we successfully predict his ousting from the Open in the second or third round, we would win $4500 or $1000 respectively, as his odds for second round elimination are at +4500, while round three elimination is at +1000. Should we believe Murray would reach the US Open Semi-finals and lose; the odds are +450, while earning the spot of runner up is at +225. Andy Murray winning the US Open outright pays $250 on each $100 wagered.
By comparison, Rafael Nadal is getting tennis betting odds of +500 to win the US Open, as well as +600 odds to finish runner-up. On the women’s side of the US Open, Venus Williams has odds of +1000 to finish as runner up, while receiving +450 odds to win the Open. Maria Sharapova is a plus 1200 to bow out gracefully in the second round, while even money to be eliminated in round three of the open.
The futures market for tennis betting provides us a plethora of tennis odds and value on different stages of the entire US Open Tennis tournament. By carefully examining the draws and match ups, value is certain to be located.
Golf Betting – Talking Tiger
One cannot talk golf or golf betting without running across the name Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods is golf to many. Often, experts view a golf tournament as Tiger Woods versus the field, and rightfully so. Tiger Woods has won 70 PGA Golf tournaments since becoming a professional golfer in 1996. Of those 70 titles, 14 of them are PGA Majors championships.
Tiger Woods is the first and only golfer to hold every majors championship at the same time, though he did not do so in the same year. Wrapping his victories consecutively over the course of two golf seasons, this is best known as the Tiger Slam, as it is often referred to as the grand slam if a player wins all the major championships in one year in sports such as Tennis.
While Tiger Woods is typically the golf betting favorite for any tournament he enters, there are some other golfers who are worthy of a wager when it comes to golf betting. After all, Tiger does take some events off, and additionally underperforms from time to time. Having only participated in thirteen golfing events this year, Tiger Woods leads the FedEx Cup player standings – with 4381 points. Steve Stricker trails by over 1000 points, sitting at 3105 points. Heath Slocum is in third place with 2855 points, while Zach Johnson and Kenny Perry are in fourth and fifth respectively, with 2229 and 2075 points. Other noteworthy golfers on the leaderboard are Phil Mickelson in tenth spot, trailing Tiger by 2669 points. Ernie Els is in eleventh with 1683 points, and David Toms sits in 13th place with 1571 points.
In fact, the top 100 golfers will be able to compete against Tiger Woods in the 2009 Deutsch Bank Championship during the 2009 PGA Playoffs. The two remaining events in addition to the Deutsche Bank Championship are the BMW Championship, and THE TOUR Championship. In the BMW Championship, the field will be cut to the top seventy golfers in the FedEx Cup Point Standings. THE TOUR Championship cuts the field even further, allowing only those in the top thirty to compete for the FedEx Cup and a $10 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup.
While Tiger Woods may be the favorite going into any given golf odds match, there are plenty of capable golfers in each of these events that are capable of giving Tiger a run for his money. However, giving Tiger’s historical performances, especially in the big matches, if given a choice between betting on Tiger Woods, or betting on the field, I take Tiger every day.