There are a number of things that are important for a player to be aware of when you are gambling at a casino or online.
As well as knowing the rules of the different variations of games such as poker, there are also some other things that players need to know.
The first thing to realize is that a casino is a business, and like all businesses, their main aim is to make money.
Unless any business can generate a profit on top of their operating costs, then they will not be able to survive.
The same goes for casinos.
If they simply operate to make losses and pay out winners, they won’t be around for too long.
The House Edge
This is why all games in casinos, both real ones or an online kaszino, are all slightly in favor of the casino, rather than the person playing.
This advantage is what is known as the “house edge”, and it is important that all players are aware of what this means and how it can affect your chances when gambling.
The very purpose of the house edge is to make the casino money.
Though the casinos will not win every time, and a lot of the time, other players will win, more often than not, the casino is always making through each time a bet is played.
The true odds of a bet are not what the casino is paying out, so they will always make something with each game played.
All things are Not Equal
Not all casino games are equal in terms of the odds that they offer. Some games will have better odds than others.
In fact, in some games such as live poker, the players are competing against each other and not the house, so there is no house edge in some situations.
Sometimes the same game will have different house edges, based on the version being played.
For example, American roulette has a slightly different house edge than European roulette.
The type of house edge that a casino has can be one of three different categories – low, medium or high.
Low House Edge Games
Some of the games that will have a low house edge, and therefore more chance of a player winning include blackjack, which has one of the lowest of all casino games and can range between 0 – 2% depending on the game.
Others include the popular card game of baccarat, which has an average house edge of 1.2%, and craps, which has an average of around 1.4%.
There are also a few variants of poker that have a low house edge such as video poker, which is usually between 0.5% to 3%.
Medium House Edge Games
Some of the games in the medium house edge range include a few firm favorites of people who play in casinos such as roulette, which has a house edge of 5.3%.
This is for the American version of roulette where the wheel has two green pockets – 0 and 00.
The European version only has a single green pocket for 0.
Another popular casino game with a medium house edge is Caribbean stud which has a house edge of 5%, while three card poker has a slightly lower edge at 3.4%.
There are also a number of slot games that fit into the range of the medium house edge range.
High House Edge Games
The game that has the biggest house edge is Keno, which ranges from between 20% – 40%.
This is a popular game that is very similar to bingo, and is one that does require skill and knowledge about the various strategies that can be implemented when playing.
Though it has very high house edge percentages, it is still an extremely popular game that, should you win, you’ll be rewarded handsomely.
There are also some slot machines that are in the high house edge category, but again, if you do win on these, then your payout will be a lot greater than it would if you were on one of the medium slot machines.
It is very important that you are aware of the house edge on the game that you are playing or plan to play.
To put it in simple terms, if you are not aware of the chances that are available to you in order to win, how are you going to put that advantage to good use.
Spend a little time before you start playing at a casino online, to check what the house edges are, as they can give you a much better indication of how you might do when you play, rather than simply rely on lady luck making an appearance.