Gambling - What's your favorite game?
 

What's your favorite way to gamble?

I used to have a weekly poker game when I lived in LA. I'd still be going to it today if I had stayed on the West Coast. I haven't picked it up since being out here though.

I just got back from a cruise and I played in a hold 'em tournament... and my rust showed. But I had a lot of fun playing roulette. I think its my new favorite.

Used to love going to the Meadowlands and playing the ponies(trotters).

Now I gamble by getting into my car and driving US1 9 miles to work...a wreck every day and (knock wood) I haven't participated in one yet....

I like to put a dollar bill in the toilet and flush it down...same chance as winning the lottery........xoxoxoo

Russian Roulette.


seriously though, i try to stay away from gambling. im a sore loser when money is involved.

the only bets i ever make always seem to go something like this:
"Hey dude, i bet you 10 dollars you cant make it over"

I occasionally but a lottery ticket, but I don't usually have money I can spend on frivolous things. Just as well, the lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math.

Baccarat. It's the only card game I can win with any consistently. That and "bullshit", but they don't have bullshit in Vegas.

Seriously though, I love baccarat.

I generally play the slot machines. The other half likes them so I sit there nursing 20's while ordering drinks and watching her play. Just won over $6k in Vegas that way too. :)
I'll play blackjack once in a blue moon.

I used to play marbles in grade school. I stopped playing in grade five when I realized the bitter realities of gambling. It does, however, remain to be my favourite game in this respect.

Poker. Either strip or for chips.

I used to play backgammon for money but haven't played in years.

Guilt edit: :p

I completely forgot about these:

The summer I turned 18, I was working in Manhattan and my boss' son and I would pool and place OTB bets together during our lunchbreak, based on whether or not I like the horse's name.

When I moved down to Florida, I had a group of friends that were Jai Alai fanatics. I spent probably about six months watching the hotties play and betting on the ones I thought were the hottest.

I suppose its good to be wary of gambling and its dangers. I am, too. I never put up more than I'm willing to pay for entertainment.

Craps. Play the don't pass line. Everyone calls it the "dark side" since you're playing against everyone else. However, that style has the best odds of any game in the house...they only have you by half a percent. And if the point is a 4 you're really going to have a great chance. And never start playing at a noisy table becuase you probably won't win!

i´ve never gotten the whole "play for money" thing unless it´s for charity where you are expecting to lose money. over a few years i convinced my dad to stop playing the lottery and my mum shares my sentiment. in terms of games i´ve become quite good at poker and i was shown recently some iceladic card game which i forgot the name of but seems to make time fly dangeously fast (something´s gotta get you through the 20hr nights in winter...)

I'm in with everything except the last line. I love craps for the camraderie. A noisy table is a fun table, and generally people are noisy because they're winning. There's nothing like being the shooter for a half hour and making folks lots of money - including yourself.

Other than the sports book, there isn't much else in Vegas that holds my interest for more than 5 or 10 minutes.

Hold 'Em with friends is about as far as I go. I love casinos, but more for the people-watching than for the gambling. My grandfather lived in Reno for many years, and so I traipsed through many a casino without gambling as a youngster. I actually find it sort of odd that now I can go to those places and play. If I have a few bucks on me while I'm in one I might play some video poker, but that's usually to attract a free drink, not to actually gamble. I cash out before I lose anything. In the Indian casinos here in Oregon, they don't serve alcohol on the floor of the casino, so I don't gamble while at one--there's no reason to.

I do buy scratch-its now and again without much regret, since part of the stupid tax of buying such a thing goes to state parks and schools, and occasionally I win enough to offset the cost of purchasing a scratch-it. Plus they're kind of fun.

Blackjack - best odds.

If I'm playing for fun, poker.

I hate slots. Well, the casino kind.

If I'm going into a casino blackjack is my game. Most of the time I never come away with any real money and I never walk away leaving any real money. The main things I'm looking for are nicer casino, lower number of deck, no shoe if possible. I can keep a running count usually pretty well up to three decks. I'm also very fond of sloppy dealers who let you get a slight glance at their hole card. I prefer Reno to Vegas. I like to sleep during the afternoon and head out around ten. I walk from casino to casino looking for a dealer I like, I'll try to follow that dealer from table to table. The slower they deal the better for me. I drink only water and use the "Knock-Out BJ" count system. I try to get up a few bucks, which I'd guess happens about 65% of the time. Around 3-5 am I cash in everything but $100, step down to a $5-$10 table and switch to Jack Daniels. I stay until either I'm too tried to go on, too drunk to go on, or out of chips. Head to breakfast, then my room and do the whole process over again the next night. My goal is always to leave town with same bank balance as when I arrived and have a good time.

I like the slot machines with red/white/blue 777's. But I prefer the nickel machines. Or my pc, if possible.

Sports gambling on hockey and football

Unfortunately, the noisy table means people are winning by betting on the pass. If you are betting the don't pass you will also be losing at the noisy table. That is, unless all your buddies are also betting on don't pass and becoming noisy - then, go for it.

Capisca?

umm.. looks like im the lone non-gambler here!

ive never put money on a horse, ive never bought a scratchie, ive never played poker machines.

ive played heaps of cards but not for money.

i did buy basketball cards as a teenager.. a gamble of some sort. but thats about it!

i just dont see the logic in giving someone else my money. u always end up losing more than u win. for me its that logical.

anyone else agree?

sorry for the threadjack

I don't because me and the people who I gamble with are very knowledgeable regarding what and whom we gamble with. We rarely let emotion, feeling or gut instincts drive us. We are all about the odds given and believe it or not, 99% of the time we don't even care who the underdog or favourite is, unless something happens at the last minute (ie starting quarterback hurt, goalie sick etc) and if we see nothing that will profit us or at least break even, we don't gamble.

I can understand why people think it is illogical because they see and hear about people continually losing more than winning. Honestly if you lose more than you win you shouldn't gamble. It means you are not good at it. Gambling is a skill and if your guessing instead of doing your homework, you will lose.

You don't win everytime but winning 65-75% of the time is very successful, and if you are smart about it, is very possible.

When i play Hold 'Em with friends, the buy-in is only $5-10 and I get a whole evening of fun with my friends out of it. It doesn't cost any more than a night out at the movies would, and it entertains me for as long or longer than a movie would (depending on how many people are playing, how fast people deal, etc). Plus, there's always a chance that I will walk away with the pot--upwards of $30. But I see it just like any other form of entertainment I spend money on.

I started playing poker in 4th grade, during rainy recesses we'd play for ur Matchbox cars.

By 5thgrade during the summers we'd tear apart the Life game for the wheel and I would run a casino on our front porch. Playing for Monopoly and Life money.

I loved poker and gambling while playing golf or any other games. It wasn't a game unless money was involved.

But my favorite, my truest passion in gambling, was going to the thoroughbred tracks, buying the tip sheets, handicapping the horses, betting and then watching hem run. Poetry in motion they are. Never got into he trotters too slow and too easily fixed, much easier than the thoroughbreds.

Every year around this time I get antsy to go back to the track, it's soon to be the king of all races the KENTUCKY DERBY. Hard to believe this will be the 9th consecutive year I will not have bet on it.

I don't miss the gambling but I miss the track and watching the horses run.....

I'm not much of a gambler--I try to not gamble when I can. But when I do go to the casino, which is extremely rare, it's black jack. Once my friend and I won almost 500 bucks in one night.....only to lose them all when we came back the next morning.....idiots.

With my friends, it's poker and "thirteen," a Vietnamese card game. Again, doesn't happen very often. I suck at gambling so all I'm doing is giving people my money when I play.

I will bet on anything as long as I think I have an edge.

I learned to count really well. My downfall was being too aggressive and obvious about it, I'm trespassed in three downtown Vegas casinos. Turns out counting BJ is not for me.

Luckily Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP not a year after my horrible debut at counting in Vegas so I got on the Hold'em train. Made some pretty good coin at Party Poker between 2004 and 2006 playing 5/10 limit hold'em, then the "Party was over" and most of the fish went away. I'm now a fish at that level of play and am frankly bored with it. Now I just play low stake hold'em tournaments online, I've been trying to get my tournament game polished. Who knows, ya might see me on Tee Vee one day.

When we go to Vegas, hubby plays poker and usually wins enough to pay for our food and lodging, which is fine with me.

I'm not much of a gambler. I usually set aside $20 or so for slots and milk as many free drinks out of it as I possibly can. I enjoy the lights and sounds and people watching while playing the slots more than I actually enjoy playing, but playing slots is a Vegas tradition for me and I don't think I'd quit. I've never won more than $60 playing slots...it's more for entertainment than really trying to "win" anything.

After 13 years of engineering school, I find myself mentally calculating the odds on each and every game. Gambling isn't fun to me, it's more like homework.

Being honest with Mrs. Hat. Always a gamble.

Reenlisting.

Blackjack.

I love my blackjack.

Craps. Avoid the "inside" bets and maximize your odds bets. Start betting with small amounts until you have some of the house's money, then bet bigger. Go to a table with at least one little old lady, if you want to win - they always seems to get on a hot streak. If you loose 50% of the chips you start with, walk away, if you double your money walk away - you can always come back. If you are winning make a bet for the "dealers", make 'em earn their tips.

I have to ask...

Will you be sporting the cold snoot and bad toupee?

Ok, you win.

BTW- Have I told you I want to steal your avatar?

I'm going to take my wife to Vagas so I can play roulette all day and poker all night. ;)

CRAPS!

I love it.

Odds are the best and I've made the most money on loud noisy craps tabels. with pass line bets, come, and hardways... the longer the roll the better the come the more odds on the table, the more chips on my stack.

I'm going to have to play this next time in Vegas.

Alway remember:

Liquor in the front, Poker in the the rear...

I enjoy an occasional walk through the casinos but I won't play against their odds. If the "house" always has the edge on odds I'm not playing their game. But while there I like watching high rollers play baccarat where a single pot is like a couple years income for me. Strangely enough, when somebody tells me they're going to Vegas, I usually give them $10 to play on #30 on the roulette wheel.

As for playing, I really like poker games with a bunch of cardplayer friends. We don't play for a lot, usually a couple or few hundred bucks and at this level I win more than loose. All sorts of games are allowed, dealer calls the game, nothing too crazy, but any of the five or seven card studs and variations on straight poker are typical. Years ago I also bet on horse racing, but my interest waned since I didn't get into the details enough so it was almost like pot luck.

I'm a fan of hold 'em. I can't stand going to the casinos but I really enjoy getting together at a buddies house to play.
To those of you who don't get the whole gambling money thing, most of the time when we play it's a $20 buy in with maybe one re-buy. Most you are out is maybe $40 but you will usually get several hours of fun for said forty bones. Really when I go into a poker game I only bring money with me that I consider to be spent already on a fun night. If I win, hey great. If I lose, I spent forty bucks or so on a night of good fun.

Hmm. The bad toupee might be a good idea... could be hard to bluff someone who looks so ridiculous.

When I was in high school I worked a summer as a groom at River Downs Race Track in Cincinnati taking care of 18 thoroughbreds. The trainer I worked for gave me several tips that summer which paid off nicely. It helps your odds immensely if you know which horses in the race the trainers are really trying to win with and which ones are just in the race because they are due to run and fit the race criteria.

In casinos the only game where the odds are on your side is blackjack when you count if you can do it without getting tossed. I guess if you are a skilled poker player you can do well against unskilled players but everyone in those games is paying the house.

And they will toss you too, happened to me. You start winning and they don't like it one bit. I've been told by a lady friend down here who used to be a dealer that the eye in the sky has a computer. They use it to see if you're using systems like Knock-out. One way to counter this is to place a larger bet on the top of the deck. Counters usually never up their bet until they know the count or deck is in their favor.

Want to get tossed quickly? Go into a casino in a group. Sit at a table and start making comments, loudly, like "I've got the count at -4!" You won't be there long.