What Is Advantage Play and How Does It Work?

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There’s this common saying in gambling; “the house always wins,” meaning physical and online casinos always have the edge over all the casino games gamblers wager on.

However, there are ways gamblers can legally stack the odds in their favor while playing various casino games. These strategies are known as advantage play.

Read on to learn about advantage play and how it works in different casino games. And if you want to learn more about a specific casino, you can find its review here https://hawacasino.com/.

What Exactly Is Advantage Play?

Advantage play is any strategy or technique gamblers can use to exploit the weaknesses in various casino games legally, turning the odds in their favor.

Typically, physical and online casinos always have an advantage over gamblers (house edge percentage). However, individuals can find loopholes where they can legally turn the odds in their favor. One of the most common advantage play techniques is card counting in online blackjack.

Here’s a breakdown of how advantage play works in different casino games.

Advantage Play in Online Blackjack

There are many advantage play techniques gamblers can use while playing online blackjack to get the odds in their favor. The most common one is card counting. With card counting, the aim is to get a “natural” by determining the ratio of high cards to low cards.

Usually, a “natural” in online blackjack occurs when a player’s first two cards are a “ten-card” and an ace, which add up to 21. If a player has a natural, the dealer pays them one and a half times their bet amount. So, how can a player get a natural more easily?

Individuals can estimate the ratio of high and low cards in the game. If there are more high cards than low cards, they have a better chance of getting a natural. But if there’s a higher number of low cards than high cards, the chances of getting a “natural” are lower.

Gamblers can determine the ratio of high cards to low cards by keeping count of the values assigned to the cards in the game. High cards in blackjack are typically given the value of -1, while low cards are given the value of +1.

When the total count of all the cards in the deck is positive, chances are there are more high cards than low cards. On the other hand, when the total count of all the cards in the deck is negative, chances are there’s a higher number of low cards than high cards.

Keeping count of the ratio between high and low cards enables gamblers to make a more informed decision on whether to raise or lower their bets.

Another advantage play technique in blackjack is edge sorting. It’s illegal to mark cards while playing blackjack. However, gamblers can try and recognize any group of cards in the game with many ten or ace cards, then place a wager on it. That way, their chances of getting a 3 to 2/ natural increase.

Advantage Play in Online Roulette 

Gamblers use many advantage play when playing online roulette. One of the easiest is keeping track of the numbers that have hit on the casino’s scoreboard.

Many physical and online casinos have a scoreboard where they display numbers that have hit in online roulette games. And in most cases, roulette wheels will have one or two numbers that have hit twice or more times in several spins.

So, gamblers can study the scoreboard, and if they notice that numbers have had a hit twice or more, they can note it down and bet on them.

Advantage Play in Slot Machine Games

There are also a lot of loopholes gamblers can take advantage of while playing slot machines to tip the odds in their favor. A common one is identifying “advantaged” slot machines. These kinds of slots are those that the previous players have stopped playing when the bonus feature is near. Since the bonus feature is still active in the machine, another player can continue playing and take advantage of the bonus feature.

Another advantage play strategy gamblers can use while playing slots is taking advantage of programmed progressive slots.

Typically, most progressive jackpot slots pay out their jackpots randomly. However, some slot machines are programmed to pay out their jackpots at a specific amount. While these jackpots are usually small, individuals can make a fortune if they determine exactly when the machines pay their jackpots. That way, they can begin playing around that time frame to win the jackpots.

Conclusion

Both online casinos and gamblers want to make money out of gambling. And unfortunately, casinos are the ones who are always benefiting from gambling. But thanks to advantage play, bettors can identify loopholes in various casino games and take advantage of them legally without cheating.

Keep in mind that casinos don’t like advantage play. Most casinos can ban gamblers from their websites or buildings if they realize they are using advantage play strategies.