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The Main Event of the World Series of Poker, held annually in Las Vegas, is considered the unofficial ‘world championship’ of poker and, since its inception, has produced some of the largest payouts in poker tournament history. However, the distinction of the largest single payout ever belongs to another World Series of Poker event, known as The Big One for One Drop.

Staged in aid of the One Drop Foundation – an international non-profit organisation that provides access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation – The Big One for One Drop is a $1 million buy-in, no limit Texas hold ‘em poker tournament. In 2012, The Big One for One Drop was contested by 48 players, competing for total prize money of $42.67 million. The winner that year was Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari, who took home $18.35 million.

Esfandiari was chip leader, by some way, heading into the final table and confidently predicted that he would win the tournament. His confidence was not displaced, because he quickly dispatched six of the eight finalists and, although he briefly lost the chip lead to British poker professional Sam Trickett during heads-up play, finally triumphed in the eighty-fifth hand of the final table. On the button and holding 7, 5 off suit, Esfandiari made trip fives on the flop and, after a series of raises and re-raises, raised all in against Trickett, who had Q,6 suited in the hole and flopped a flush draw. Trickett called, but failed to fill his flush draw and had to be content with $10.1 million, the biggest consolation prize in poker tournament history.

 

Nowadays, keno is a popular casino gambling games in which players attempt to ‘spot’ between one and ten numbers, from a pool of 80 numbers, 20 of which are drawn, randomly, at regular intervals. The name ‘keno’ is an Americanism, coined in the early nineteenth century and derived from the French word ‘quine’, meaning ‘five’, and the word ‘lotto’. Nevertheless, keno is of Chinese origin and has a history dating back at least two millennia.

Keno was originally known as ‘baige piao’, which translates into English as ‘white pigeon ticket’, reflecting the use of homing pigeons in the early form of the game.

Baige piao was popular throughout China from the third century BCE onwards; so popular, in fact, that under the auspices of Cheung Leung, ruler of the Han Dynasty, it reputedly financed the construction of a portion of the Great Wall of China.

Baige piao travelled to America with Chinese immigrant workers in the mid-eighteenth century, where it was initially played, illegally, by the Chinese community and hence became known as the ‘Chinese Lottery’. Over time, Keno became more widely accepted and the original ticket, which featured the first 80 Chinese characters in the so-called ‘Book of a Thousand Characters’, was modified to include Arabic numerals instead. Of course, Keno is a game that can be played alone, without interaction with others, and requires no special skills, yet offers the potential of a huge payout for relatively small outlay; these factors have led to the enduring popularity of the game.

Not to be confused with ‘slow rolling’, which is the subject of an altogether different question, ‘slow playing’ in poker is a deceptive tactic, whereby a player with a strong hand chooses to represent weakness rather than strength and, in so doing, encourages opponents to keep playing. Rather than playing a hand aggressively, by betting or raising, slow playing involves playing weakly or passively, by just checking or calling before and after the flop, and on the turn, when given the option. Slow playing denies your opponent the opportunity to make any meaningful assumptions about the strength of your hand but, by handing him the initiative, you may cause him to over-commit to the pot, which makes it more difficult for him to fold when faced with a substantial raise in a subsequent betting round.

Poker experts generally agree that slow playing typically works best against loose, very aggressive opponents, who play a high percentage of hands and frequently bet or raise after the flop. This is especially true against a lone opponent in a ‘heads-up’ situation. Similarly, a so-called ‘dry’ flop, with no possible flush or straight draws, and little or no possibility of a ‘free’ turn card that can significantly improve opponents’ hands, creates a favourable situation for slow playing a strong holding. By contrast, betting a dry flop is likely to encourage to fold marginal or drawing hands and result in a pot that is a fraction of the size possible by slow playing.

Traditionally, the American version of roulette featured 38 numbers, including a single and a double zero. The ‘double zero’ roulette table already increased the house edge to 5.26%, compared with 2.7% for the European version, which features 37 numbers, including just a single zero. However, in recent times, numerous casinos in Las Vegas have introduced ‘triple zero’ roulette which, as the name suggests, features 39 numbers, including a single, a double and a triple zero. The addition of the triple zero – effectively another pocket that is not considered red or black, high or low or odd or even – increases the house edge to 7.69%.

Originally introduced, as ‘Sands Roulette’, at The Venetian in 2016, a triple zero roulette typically offers a lower table limit than double, or single, zero roulette as a ploy to entice recreational gamblers – who may be gambling for enjoyment, rather than to make money – to play at disadvantageous odds. It can be argued that a player making the minimum bet on a triple zero roulette table will lose less, in a given period of time, than a player making the minimum bet on a double zero roulette table, but – akin to blackjack paying odds of 6/5, rather than 3/2, on single-deck tables – the lower table minimum costs 2.43% in terms of the house edge, with no increase in payouts.