Those table games can be brutal.
I didn't know how wicked they can be until I spent a couple of hours, notebook pad in hand, watching people play them at BestBet Casino in Jacksonville, FL. recently.
The casino has over 50 tables for cash games and tournaments. A smaller part of the casino is reserved for table games like Three Card Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold'em, One-Card Poker, and Pai Gow.
I have never played the table games in a casino. I know they are House Games, meaning they are structured to give the House a percentage edge. But a lot of players who cannot play skill games enjoy them for the action and because they don't have to make a decision in their play.
Table games are simply a brainless way to win or lose money. And after what I saw the other night, the games are often a losing proposition for the average player.
The first game I observed was three-card poker. This is a game where the player must ante and play his three cards against the dealer's three cards. There is nothing startling about the game except that when a dealer makes a big hand, he or she beats everybody at the table. But if the player wins with a pair he just wins the size of his bet unless he makes a straight, flush or three of a kind, whereupon he is paid more according to a structured scale.
The second game I watched was One-Card Poker. Remember the game you played as a child called 'War' where you and a friend dealt a single card to each other. If you had a jack and he had a 10, you won. If he had a king and you had an eight, he won. That is the way One-Card Poker is structured. Again, when the dealer wins, he collects from everybody, so the House has an obvious advantage over the players.
Ultimate Poker has each player receiving two cards and the dealer gets two cards. The dealer turns over five cards in the middle of the table. When the betting commences, he reveals the first three cards, whereupon the player can bet. Then he turns up the last two cards. If you have the best hand, you win. If the dealer has the best hand, he collects from the players he beats. There is no raising, no checking.
I also observed the Pai Gow game. Each player is dealt seven cards and the dealer deals himself the same number. The players must make a high hand on top and a lesser hand beneath from their cards. The dealer does the same. The strategy lies in what cards you place on the bottom and what cards you use on top.
One of the players I followed was John, who sells golf equipment in the Jacksonville area. John was in his 30s and he turned out to be a real gambler holding $1,000 chips and carrying a pocket full of $100 bills. In Three-Card Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold'em and Pai Gow, all of which he played, he bet as much as $500 per hand.
The cash swings were wild. I saw him win $500, $1,000 and more in a single hand. I also saw him lose the same amount.
Over a period of two hours, he lost considerably more than he won. By my own estimates, his losses totaled upwards of $7,000 during that time period.
He took his losses well. Either that or he had a great poker face.
When I told him I wrote for an international gambling website, he nodded.
'Just use my first name,' he said. 'No last names. Okay?'
I said, 'Okay.'
Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.
(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).