Casinos exist to take your hard-earned cash out of your pocket and put it into the Casinos bank.
The rate at which they do this is called the “house edge”.
House edge is different depending on the type of game you play. The only casino game in which you can play and not have to try and beat the house edge is Poker.
Poker is a game in which you pit your skill and luck against one or many other players. The casino makes its money in a poker game by taking a “rake” from each hand that is played.
In poker, you need to at least be able to beat the rake to be a profitable player.
What Games Have The Lowest House Edge?
Casino table games have the lowest house edge. But these games also have associated “optimal” strategy that you need to memorise or have a cheat sheet for so that you don’t open yourself up to playing with the odds stacked in the house favour.
For example, in blackjack, if you keep splitting a pair of tens instead of standing then you are playing against much bigger house odds than you really should be.
This is because you are taking a higher risk.
Casino slots games have the highest house edge of up to 20%. If you play slots games you can usually expect to lose your money very quickly unless you get lucky.
And that, of course, is exactly why so many people play the lottery and slots games because whilst the odds are wildly stacked against winning the chance of winning a huge jackpot is too good to miss.
In fact, in any casino game, you will always generally lose if you play for any length of time. It is the savvy gambler who plays in short bursts infrequently that can make a profit from playing online casino games but the longer you play the more chance you have of falling into line with the expected return – which is a loss.
Taking advantage of casino bonuses and casino no deposit handouts will give you better odds but these are just ways of getting you on the mailing list and trying to entice you to deposit more cash.
So why play at an online casino if the odds are against you?
That’s a very good question!
In the short term, say a one or two hour period of playing Blackjack or Baccarat you can certainly beat the house edge and make significant gains. That’s the enjoyment of playing at a casino. The caveat is that you must learn basic blackjack strategy to play the game properly to increase your chances of success.
You could play Blackjack knowing absolutely nothing about the game and still win.
Although unlikely it is possible, you just make your odds worse if you don’t know what you are doing.
If you are going to play at a casino then play table games like Blackjack or Baccarat and take the time to learn how to play them well to minimise the house edge.
Poker is an excellent game to choose to play at a casino because technically you are not playing against the house edge, although you do need to be able to beat the rake to maintain profitability. If you don’t play a hand then eventually you will get “blinded out” of the game. It is choosing when and why to play your hands that make the difference between being a successful poker player (or a lucky one).
