ON THE AIR

Beat the Odds on Chicago’s NewsRadio 780.

Listen to John Grochowski’s Beat the Odds tips weekends on WBBM-AM, NewsRadio 780 in Chicago. John does two of the one-minute tips each week, one airing three times Saturdays -- at 6:20 a.m., 2:50 p.m. and 7:41 p.m. Central time -- and the other three times Sundays -- at 8:20 a.m., 2:50 p.m. and 10:42 p.m.

WBBM provides streaming audio along with news, weather, traffic and many features at www.wbbm780.com.

Here are some of John’s recent WBBM Beat the Odds tips:

A blackjack player wrote to say he’d found himself at a game where blackjacks paid only 6-5. "Something odd," he wrote. "They didn’t offer even-money when I had a blackjack and the dealer had an Ace up."

There’s a good reason why most casinos that pay 6-5 on blackjacks don’t offer even money. In an average 1,000 hands, betting $10 per hand, taking even money would bring you $10,000 in winnings. If blackjacks pay the standard 3-2, standing would bring $10,380. But if blackjacks pay only 6-5, your take is only $8,304.

Here's the tip: Don’t play if blackjacks pay only 6-5, but if you find yourself in a game in one of the few casinos that offer even-money when you have a blackjack and the dealer shows an Ace, TAKE the even money.

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A video-poker-playing friend of mine had a question about slots.

"In video poker games with progressive jackpots, you can calculate a break-even point because we know the odds of all possible hands. Can you do that on a progressive slot machine?"

To do it, you’d have to have access to a game’s par sheets, which break down game details for industry professionals. My colleague John Robison got hold of par sheets for Nevada Megabucks, and calculated odds at hitting the big jackpot at about 1 in 50 million, with a break-even point when the jackpot reached $28.5 million.

Here’s the tip: If a slot machine is at a break-even point or better, it doesn’t mean it’s any more likely to line up the jackpot symbols. Those Megabucks odds remain at 1 in 50 million on every spin.

 
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Blackjack basic strategy calls for players to always split 8s, even when the dealer has a 10-value card face up. 16 is such a terrible hand to play, you lose less money in the long run by making the extra bet to split the 8s.

That led an acquaintance to ask, "What if you split the 8s, and draw another 8?" The answer is that you split again.

Here's the tip: Most casinos will allow you to resplit pairs when you draw a third or even a fourth like card. And if basic strategy calls for you to split a pair, it’s still the best play to split even if you’re splitting for a second or even third time.

  
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A video poker player writes, "Are there any games where one should keep only a pair of aces when dealt 2 pair? Since quad aces pays much higher, should one maximize the opportunities for quads?"

He’s referring to games such as Double Bonus Poker, where four Aces pay 800 coins for a five-coin wager, Double Double Bonus, where a 2, 3 or 4 as the fifth card can boost that four-Ace payoff to 2,000 coins, and Super Aces, where four Aces bring 2,000 coins even without a low-card kicker.

Here's the tip: Break up two pairs to hold just a pair of Aces whenever there’s a chance at a 2,000-coin bonanza on the Aces. Also, hold just the Aces and hope for the long-shot draw to an 800-coin payoff on Double Bonus Poker whenever full houses pay 9-for-1 on less. 

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Casino regulations differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and sometimes the differences result in a different kind of game.

So it goes in California, where it’s illegal for a roll of the dice alone to decide a bet. That’s led to the rise of Card Craps. A 24-card deck is used, with four each of Aces through 6 --- simulating 1 through 6 on a die.

You can bet on the total of two cards, just as you’d bet on the total of two dice in craps.

Here's the tip: The odds on standard craps bets such as pass and don’t pass, the place numbers and the field are the same as in regular craps. You don’t get the thrill of rolling them bones, but the math and house edges are the same.