In a casino, the house always wins, but here are ten ways you have a fighting chance of coming out ahead.
Top 10 Best Casino Bets
1. Casino Poker
Poker includes a huge element of skill and judgement with players usually competing against one another with the house just taking an overall cut. Learning a good percentage poker strategy will help stack the odds in your favour.
2. Roulette
European versions of roulette get pretty close to 50-50 bets, with just the single zero giving the house a small edge. Roulette is a game of pure chance no matter what anyone ever tells you about “strategy”. But it’s great fun to play and the most entertaining roulette tables online often add a few bonus features to make it even more fun.
3. Counting Cards at Blackjack
If you play a strict card-counting game at Blackjack or “21” as it’s sometimes known, you can gain a 1-2 per cent edge over the house. But be careful in a real casino as you may well get politely asked to leave if they see you’re a counter!
4. Video Poker
As with number one on the list, video poker is a game of skill and strategy with only a small house edge for player playing a strict percentage game only. In fact, some video poker machines have a house edge of less than 0.5%.
5. Blackjack Basic Strategy
Less complicated than card-counting, a Blackjack basic strategy is capable of lowering the house edge to less than 1%. There are lots of online guides demonstrating how to play a basic strategy with different hands – and it gives you a fighting chance of beating the house.
6. Craps
With craps, you have two basic options but the so-called “Don’t pass & don’t come” bet is a better percentage bet than the “pass line” wager. The house edge here is 1.14%, but you can get this to just 0.59% by laying double odds.
7. Pai Gow – playing banker
With Pai Gow you can choose to play as the banker whereby you must pay a 5% house commission. But you then win the betting stake money of all the players you beat and an experienced and skilled Pai Gow player playing a steady strategy has a big advantage over less knowledgeable players.
8. Baccarat – playing banker
Similarly, playing banker at Baccarat is a good percentage strategy. The banker in Baccarat has a smaller house edge than normal players, but you have to pay a win commission – so the house edge is just 1.06% for the Baccarat banker bet.
9. Baccarat – playing
The Baccarat player bet also offers a reasonable edge – with a house edge of just 1.24%. But avoid making any “tie” bets.
10. Craps – place 6 and 8
Placing the 6 and 8 at craps is one of the best percentage bets you can do. With these bets, the house edge is just 1.52% as the 6 and 8 have a 27.77% chance of coming up versus the 7’s 16.66%.
