Popular Casino Games
When you're playing at a casino for the first time, you might have a difficult
time choosing which games to play. Looking across the floor of a huge casino can
be a little bit daunting. Pulling up the games screen at an online casino can
have the same effect. You might know a little bit about a few of the game, yet
still lack full knowledge of what you are getting into.
If you want a quick rundown of the best options at a live or
online casino, look no further.
Here's a list of the most popular casino games going right now. This should give
you an idea about which games are for you.
Poker
Poker is an All-American favorite. It is the game people think about when they
hear the word gamble. Whether it's seven-card stud, five-card draw or Texas
Holdem, people love to play a game of poker. The bluffing aspect of the game
appeals to peoples' need to feel clever about themselves.
Once the World Series of Poker became a mainstream phenomenon on ESPN, amateur
gamblers across America wanted to take a trip to the casino. Now we have a whole
generation of Phil Hellmuth Jr. starter kits in the casino. Luckily, these
people don't understand the game like Phil, so most of them are easy marks in a
casino.
The same goes for online
poker. If anything, the anonymity bestowed on users by the internet
encourages people's natural "eccentricity".
Blackjack
Blackjack is
another game most of us grew up playing. Unlike poker, the game does not pit the
players against one another. It is you versus the dealer. If the dealer busts
out, then several of the players around the table win at once.
Blackjack, often called 21 by novices, typically is for a quieter sort than
poker. These players enjoy calculating odds. One thing expert blackjack players
know is that their games has some of the best odds in the casino. Playing with a
1% house edge is not uncommon. And if you find a casino which uses a small
number of decks, card counting might give you slightly positive odds. You just
aren't going to find that at a craps table.
Craps
They say the craps table is the place to be in a casino. It has the most action
of any game in the house. There's something about everything riding on the roll
of the dice. It keeps players and spectators on the edge of their seats.
There is a special camaraderie around a craps table, too. Though players are
allowed to be against the dice thrower, it is considered good form to bet along
with the dice. That means most everyone at the table is together in the betting
stakes. This game dynamic creates a bond between the gamblers.
Of course, those who bet against the table bring a certain "spirit" to the game.
Craps is a game for those who like emotional highs and lows. So craps is always
an interesting game to be around.
Roulette
Roulette is an easy game to learn. It requires almost no strategy. This makes it
a great start for people who are new to a casino.
There are a few elements of the game you must learn. The bets can confuse people
sometimes, though they are quite simple once you go over them once or twice.
Inside bets, outside bets, straight bets, split bets and so on are fairly
self-explanatory. If you aren't interested in all of that, you can take the
simple route and bet red/black or even/odd.
You also should know the different in American or European roulette. The
American version adds an extra space on the roulette wheel: the double zero. If
you see "00" on a space, that means you are playing American roulette. That also
means there is one extra space for the ball to land on, which means your odds
aren't as good. So play on European roulette wheels if at all possible.
If you don't understand what you are to do, ask questions of the croupier. The
croupier is a fancy title for dealer. He is given a different title in roulette,
because there are no cards dealt.
Slot Machines
Around 70% to 80% of all casino revenues come from
slots. That's
because there might be a thousand to fifteen-hundred slot machines in your
average run-of-the-mill casino. At the same time, a casino might have only fifty
table games going at once. Once you do the math, you realize that the slots are
pulling in a lot of money.
The problem is, there are a dizzying number of different
slot machine games.
That's okay, because if you learn how to play one, you can learn to play them
all. And once you learn to find the machines with the best bonus games and the
highest progressive jackpots, you'll be playing like an old pro.
One of the advantages of the slot machines is the fact you don't have a whole
lot of rules to learn. You choose a quiet corner of the casino and you spin
several hundred times an hour. If you get tired of looking at one type of game,
you move on to another. If you get the idea one machine isn't going to pay off,
you find a machine which will.
It's the same with online slots. Internet casinos have every game variation you
will find in a live casino. Start an account and try every game the casino has
to offer. And the great thing about online play is that quiet little corner of
the casino is right in front of your computer.
Video Poker Machines
At first glance, video
poker machines look a lot like slot machines. Given a closer look, they
reveal a poker style game going on. Video poker is just that; it's a game where
you build poker hands on a computer screen.
Instead of playing against other players or a dealer, you play against a payout
schedule in video poker. For instance, in Jacks or Better video poker, a player
wins money only if that player can make a hand with a pair of Jacks or better.
Jacks or Better is the most popular video poker game, because it has some of the
best payback percentages.
There are other variations, though. Many of them use wildcards, giving players
more winning options. Examples of these are Deuces Wild and Joker Wild.
Other Casino Games
There are several other standard casino
games you'll find at a casino. Most of these are poker variants which are
simple to learn. Examples are Caribbean stud poker, Three Card poker and Pai Gow
poker.
Caribbean stud was introduced to the gaming public on Caribbean cruises during
the 1990's. It became one of the most popular new games of the nineties, because
it was simple to learn and encouraged camaraderie among the players at the
table.
Three Card poker is great for beginners, because it is played relatively slowly.
The dealer also is allowed to give tips to the players. The novelty of 3 Card
Poker is that you start by placing three ante bets. Once you see your cards,
though, you are allowed to pull back two of the three antes.
Pai Gow poker derives from the Chinese symbol game of Pai Gow. This is one of
the rare games where each player has the option to be a banker for a turn. If
that's too much of a burden for you, a player can pass on being the banker when
it's his or her turn.
If you want to play on the Internet, check out the
free online casino games at
Casino Game HQ.