May 11, 2017

Old Dog, New Tricks

May 11, 2017/ Elliot Frome

Successful game inventors know that they cannot fall in love with their game idea. Just because you like it, doesn't mean everyone else (or anyone else) will. Of course, one of the issues with this is that even if you are willing to be flexible, you generally don't get endless chances. Some have suggested that you get only one, maybe two changes at tinkering with your game before you're likely going to have to abandon it. This applies to a game that has been placed in a casino and not necessarily one in the process of being showcased.

January 26, 2017

How to Pick a Game?

January 26, 2017/ Elliot Frome

I don't get jealous of a lot of things or people. I think I'm quite fortunate in my personal and business life. If there is one thing that gets me a bit 'green', it's when I come across a gambling related article that gets front page exposure on Yahoo that doesn't really say anything special. Now, this doesn't mean the article is useless. I'm just wondering how come that article gets on Yahoo and my articles don't?

December 15, 2016

Creation

December 15, 2016/ Elliot Frome

Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was the table game landscape in a casino. The first two games to come along were Let It Ride and Caribbean Stud Poker. Then there was a sizeable lull until Three Card Poker came along. This was not just another successful game as it became the 800 pound gorilla. With roughly 2000 tables in the world, nothing is really even close in terms of proprietary table games in terms of volume. One would think that Three Card Poker would've opened up the casino to a whole new world of casino games.

November 03, 2016

Follow The Leader

November 03, 2016/ Elliot Frome

I'm not sure where the idea came from. But, it would appear that lacking any real knowledge of casino table game strategy, someone came up with the idea of just following what the Dealer does. In some games, it is not a horrible idea, but it is still not ideal. In the game of Pai Gow Poker, playing the House Way will get you very close to the best possible payback. Given what it would take to memorize the few exceptions to the House Way rules would likely cost you more in errors than it would save you in added payback, following the Dealer here is not a bad idea.

June 11, 2015

Straight to the Customer

June 11, 2015/ Elliot Frome

Through my years of analyzing games, I've often been asked by friends and family about the type of clients I do work for. When I tell them that most of my work has been done by a company called Shuffle Master. Invariably the response is "who? Never heard of them." I thought it would become easier when Bally Technologies bought Shuffle Master. Everybody has heard of Bally's! Of course, almost all of them are thinking about the casino. A few are thinking about the chain of gyms. Once upon a time, they were all part of the same company, but not for a few decades. It certainly didn't get any better now that Scientific Games bought Bally Technologies. We're back to "who? Never heard of them."

April 09, 2015

Master of Your Strategy

April 09, 2015/ Elliot Frome

Gambling strategies come in all forms. For most table games, it is usually a set of rules in English. For Three Card Poker, it is a single simple sentence - Play with Q-6-4 or better. Four Card Poker strategy is a bit more complex, but can also be simplified to Betting 3x when your hand is of a certain rank, Folding when it is below a certain rank and Betting 1x for everything in between. A game like Ultimate Texas Hold'em has far more complex strategy, but again, it comes down to betting based on the strength of the hand.

November 20, 2014

Tips for Inventors

November 20, 2014/ Elliot Frome

When I decided to go into gaming analysis more than a decade ago, I did my best to tell prospective clients that I wasn't just "the math guy", but rather a true consultant. I'm now in my late 40's, and I started doing this professionally in my mid 30's. But, I've been doing this for 'fun' for over 30 years. It started by programming the high school computer to analyze blackjack. I started going to Atlantic City casino (with my parents) when I was in my mid teens. They bought me a fake ID so that I could get in without issue. My first trip to Las Vegas was when I was 18. Hopefully the statue of limitations has run out on these offenses.

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