Speaking of side bets, if anyone wants to hear a really good story, watch Elliots video below. If you like AP stuff, you should love it. If you are a gambling fan in general you will like it.
A brief summary...
Elliot had come up with a strategy that could beat the Dragon 7 side bet in Baccarat. So when you hear Baccarat side bets are beatable, give thanks to Elliot. He was able to publish this strategy on the Wizard or Odds site. Before publishing it, he ran it by another math guy to verify all the numbers were correct and it was +EV. Prior to him publishing this strategy, very few people knew this Baccarat side bet was beatable, and if they did know about it - they likely developed it on their own. Even seasoned AP’s were not aware of this. Anyway, it happened to be published right before G2E (Global Gaming Expo) which is the largest casino gaming trade show. It’s basically where game manufactures show off there new games. Anyway, everyone in the business had seen his strategy. The head guy for the company that owns the Dragon Side bet (Yes, casinos pay large fees to the game designers/owners until the patent is up, then any casino can provide them royalty free) approaches Elliot and he was furious for 2 reasons. First, his company was going to present a new Baccarat side bet at G2E and now has to put it on hold because word is out that Their Dragon 7 side bet is beatable. Second, he has calls from pretty much every table games director in the country asking is it true that their game is beatable, and has to call them all back and give them an explanation. Lol
During this period, some casinos actually stopped letting customers bet this side bet, as they thought people would flood the Baccarat table to exploit this bet. Elliot said it is also rumored that a large shareholder sold off much of his stock in the company that owned the Dragon 7 bet as it was one of their biggest and widely distributed games, since it’s future was uncertain. This particular game/side bet would definitely impact their stock price.
Anyway, very interesting story...