While casinos themselves seem to be constantly changing in appearance, the fundamentals remain the same. The house has an edge, but players work at ways to improve their chances. From dice-rolling techniques hundreds of years ago to crunching numbers today, not all that much has changed at casinos online.
Advanced Card Counting Techniques
Card counting is a good place to start because it has a long history and is quite easy to understand. The Hi-Lo system remains a staple within Blackjack and it assigns tags of +1, 0, and -1 to cards based on their value. The idea is to count whether the deck accumulates, and it should reflect a feel for what’s left in the deck.
More complex systems like the Omega II and Wong Halves have emerged and these give even more precision in tracking the deck’s composition.
Shuffle tracking is where things get real dicey. This involves following specific cards or sequences through multiple shuffles as a way to offset the RNG of dealer shuffling. This is gaining traction among advanced players, and is becoming a real problem for physical casinos.
Regarding online casinos, shuffle tracking is impossible, and card counting is simply less realistic. But, it doesn’t mean that tactics are thrown out the window, as there are still optimal plays given the cards on the table.
Exploiting Machine Learning for Pattern Recognition
Machine learning has been around for decades, but its power is only now being realised by the average person. The main power behind ML comes from pattern recognition, and this is clearly something that could be used in the casino.
By analysing vast amounts of data from online casinos and slot machines, AI algorithms may be able to subtly spot patterns that indicate a game’s vulnerability. Whether or not this is allowed is still a grey area.
However, it can be used in player-to-player games like poker, where it learns human behaviour, makes predictions about them, and generates suggestions. This is somewhat cheating, but again, some players could use it in a contained environment simply to learn from. Otherwise, there is still a lot to learn about online slots and how random they truly are.
Advantage Play in Modern Video Poker
Video poker remains fertile ground for advantage players. Skilled players focus on identifying positive expectation machines through meticulous paytable analysis. By combining perfect strategy with casino comps, some players achieve an overall positive expected value.
The “Dream Machine” phenomenon, where certain video poker variants offer a theoretical player edge, continues to attract advantage players. For example, the Full Pay Deuces Wild game, when played with perfect strategy, can offer a 100.76% return. However, finding such machines has become increasingly rare as casinos become more aware of these opportunities.
Exploiting Casino Bonuses
Advanced bonus hunting techniques are perhaps where the best-expected value lies. There have never been so many casinos, and each offers competitive bonuses to lure players in. Players can now leverage, through math and even software, the expected value of promotions, taking into account the wagering requirements and game restrictions.
Conclusion
As casinos and players engage in an ongoing battle of wits, each develops their own new ways of gaining an advantage. The casino typically has an inherent advantage that it’s trying to retain, while the burden is more on the player to chip away at this. Although AI and software pose a threat to casinos, it’s becoming a struggle to clearly define what is and isn’t cheating.