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Casinos use several tricks like bonuses, free risk bets, free spins, match plays, and Funbooks to attract more players. Perhaps you have seen a Funbook before. Funbooks are sets of coupons offered by casinos and can be used for free drinks, show tickets, casino logo stuff like pens, and so on.
Match plays are valuable casino promotions that most players are not aware of. For this reason, I put together this guide about match plays so you can get the most out of these coupons next time you sit at a casino table.
What Is Casino Match Play And How Does It Work?
Casinos use the old trick-Match play coupons and chips- to bring more players to the table games.
Matchplay coupons are popular casino promotions aimed at table games. Match plays are mostly used to bet on tables having alike or higher numbers of regular chips. For example, blackjack, baccarat player or banker hand, and craps pass or don’t pass bets. In short, with a match play, you can have a free bet at casino table games. However, as the name suggests, the casino will match your bet. In other words, to use a match play coupon, you must place a bet first. For instance, suppose you have a $20 match play coupon for blackjack and bet $20 along with the coupon. In this particular case, if you win the hand, you will be paid $40. A $20 for your original bet + a $20 for the match play coupon.
Similarly, to play a Matchplay chip, you have to bet a chip of your own of the same value. In fact, you cannot just bet a Matchplay chip by itself. Also, you will lose the Matchplay chip regardless of the bet’s outcome. Let me give you an example: Suppose you are playing roulette. You place a $10 bet on black, and you use a $10 Matchplay chip while making that bet. Now, if the ball lands on a black number, you will win $20. You can keep your $10 chip, just like you always would, but you lose the Matchplay chip regardless. The concept is pretty much similar to the casino bonus or a no deposit bonus offer.
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Match Play Action Chip Explained
Casinos offer you more chips than your amount of money and call them action chips. For instance, if you get $125 in chips for $100, this means the casino is offering you action chips. Action chips are also referred to as non-negotiable, non-neg chips, or dead chips.
However, you should know that action chips are not identical to regular casino chips. In other words, when you win using an action chip, you will be given a standard chip for your winnings. In fact, you cannot cash it in like you can a regular chip, and the only way to get rid of an action chip is to lose a bet. Basically, for $100, you get $125 worth of action.
The main takeaway about action chips is that you should always bet them first. So, If you bet real chips before your action chips, you simply make a big mistake. Because if you lose, you lose the chips that you can exchange for real money.
5 Interesting Facts About Casino Match Play
There are a couple of things to keep in mind about match play at casinos:
- Although they come in different denominations, normally the maximum is $20.
- You can only use them once. If you chose not to maximize them, for example by only betting $10 on a hand, the coupon will only be worth the size of your bet. The coupon denomination is the maximum you can claim a match for.
- Matchplay bet coupons are not always a 100% match. For instance, you might get a $7/$5 coupon. So, if you bet $5, you will potentially win $7 from that hand.
- Matchplay coupons can be used for other games, too. For example, depending on the casino that offers them, you can use them on craps or roulette.
- Typically, you can use match play coupons only on even money bets.
What Are Casino Funbooks?
Often, match play comes after you get a funbook. As I mentioned earlier, casinos offer books of coupons and call it a Funbook. Usually, it offers things besides just Matchplay coupons, too. In some cases, the coupons are good for free drinks. In other cases, you can get dinner for half-price or buy-one-get-one-free. Also, it is common to get cheap or discounted show tickets or swag like ballcaps with the casino’s logo on them.
Typically, the easiest way to get a funbook is to take a bus trip to the casino. Because these promotions are specifically designed to get groups of gamblers to visit the casinos. However, sometimes, you can also get a funbook from a casino just by asking for one.
At the same time, you can get funbooks from magazines and websites. Casino Player often advertises such coupon books. American Casino Guide is also a good source for funbooks.
However, the best place to get funbooks is via Las Vegas Advisor. Because this subscription-only service specializes in curating the best discounts and making them available to casino gamblers.
The Best Casino Match Play Strategy + Example
If you want to use a Matchplay coupon in a casino, go to the players’ club desk and sign up for the players’ club to get your coupon. I suggest setting up specific emails for specific casinos. If you have a Gmail address, use your regular email address and add +casinoname to the end of your name. For instance, yourname+wildcasino@gmail.com could be the email address you’d use. It is a good trick to find out if a casino is selling your email address to other companies.
Also, I recommend setting filters when setting up your email address. Who likes to get bombarded by players club emails all the time?
Remember, your funbook coupon is not what you can use at the table while placing your match play bet. Because the players’ club will give you a specific chip or coupon in exchange for your funbook coupon.
A tactic you can try with match play is asking another gambler at the table if you can use your Matchplay chip with his bet. This way, you will not risk any real money of your own. However, remember that it is customary to offer that gambler some of the bonus winnings if you win.
Take this example:
The guy sitting next to you might be betting $50 on black. You ask him if he’d be willing to let you use your Matchplay coupon in exchange for $25 if the bet wins.
This is literally a win-win scenario for you and your new friend you’re playing real money roulette table with. But remember that if the bet loses, you still lose your Matchplay coupon and that is always the risk, regardless of whether you’re risking any of your own money or not.
I should also note that even though a Matchplay coupon isn’t something you can cash in, mathematically, it does have value. For instance, if you have a $50 Matchplay chip, it’s worth at least 47.37% of $50, or $23.68 which is based on the expected value of a bet placed with the chip.
How To Use Match Play At Blackjack Table?
Some players say it is best to use match play at a blackjack table, while others say it is not. I don’t back up any group. Instead, I outline a couple of things you should consider while using match play at a blackjack table:
- Make sure the casino lets you keep the coupon if you win using it. Although normally they do, some casinos have been known to pay out on the coupon and then take the chip away.
- Do not use the coupons on blackjack if you lose the coupon on a push. Statistically, 9% of your bets will be pushed, and 48% of your hands will lose. In other words, the house has too much advantage in this case. So, in cases like this, it is recommended to use your coupon on another game like roulette.
- Many expert blackjack players stand on 16 when using match play coupons, whereas they would normally hit. Because 16 is a fair hand, the extra advantage the match play coupon gives them makes it worth standing on 16 versus the risk of going bust.
- If the casino allows you to keep the coupon when you surrender, it makes sense to do so more often. For example, if you make a $10 bet and surrender, you will lose $5 of your own cash and still can keep your $10 coupon. If in doubt, surrender.
- The match play coupon is irrelevant to the case of doubling down. In this case, you must decide according to blackjack basic strategy regardless of whether or not you’re playing with a match play coupon.
- If you play blackjack with a match play coupon, also consider splitting. Generally, splits are advantageous to the player.
Final Thoughts
Matchplay chips and coupons are an exciting aspect of casino gambling which has been overlooked by many sites and casino experts don’t write about it as often as other aspects of casino gambling.
I hope you have learned enough from this article and can apply what you have learned.
My final tip is before using match play coupons to bet on blackjack, fully understand the conditions of the coupon. For instance, make sure you can keep your coupon in the event of a push. If not, it’s probably best to use your coupon on another game like craps or roulette.
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