What Are the Best Ways to Play Casino Games?

Short Answer: If you are playing for entertainment, then you can simply play with the games and betting strategies you enjoy. If you are playing to win, you have very limited options involving card counting, dice control, and discipline with must-hit-by slots ... skills that most people do not sufficiently have for significant wins. Even with these skills, winning at these games requires a long-term strategy, highly repetitive actions, and a significant starting bankroll.

Slots

Slot machines are the biggest money-maker of the casino industry. The older slots have just one or a few lines on three spinning wheels. The new machines are digital and can have several reels, progressive jackpots, bonus rounds, and be quite entertaining.

Slot machines have better odds than the lotteries, but they are still relatively poor bets. Slots are hard to predict, but many seem to have a long 'cold' period where they do not give much money followed by a short 'hot' period where wins occur. Casinos can change the return-to-player on any given machine at any given time.

Advantage play with slots is limited to a few types of machines that actually give an indication of when a win will occur. This includes the must-hit-by (with regular counters) and pseudo-must-hit-by versions (with irregular counters). These must be left in an advantage state by another player to be useful.

Overall, there is not much incentive to play the slots. It is tempting because it can be a big win without other people involved. But it can also be a big long slow loss.

Roulette

Roulette is one of the classic staple games of the casino. It is a relatively simple game where the croupier spins a ball and a wheel to randomly select a number between 0 and 38. The player / wagerer will try to guess which number will be selected. As with any game using randomness, this cannot be predicted.

The house edge is primarily made by having the zero, double zero, or triple zero green section which causes all other bets to lose giving the house a 2.7, 5.4, 7.7 percent house edge. A large amount of wagering options (such as straight, split, street, square, etc.) have been added to the table leading to innumerable betting strategies that could be applied.

There is no advantage play to the roulette table. Progressive betting strategies like Martingale or Fibonacci can win for awhile but will lose big when they lose.

Long term strategies that include many rolls work best. The Twenty Step bet on the outside boxes [given by Father] is relatively safe, but still waits for a winning streak to make a modest amount. Following the past two numbers is a little more risky, but carries greater wins and can be used more publicly. Following the 6 Bead pattern of baccarat looks somewhat good as well. Some double streets are better bets than others. Wagering on green is easy, but also risky.

Blackjack / Twenty-One

Blackjack is a relatively simple card game where both the dealer / house and the player(s) try to get cards totaling as close to “21” as possible without going over.

The house edge can be small and it is based upon the player going first. The house then either has more information or it does not have to try because the player busted. The strategies and statistics of reaching twenty-one are well known, but many people are too timid to play the best strategy (including doubling and splitting) and, therefore, give the house an additional (and sometimes big) edge. Side bets are quite common. There are a large amount of side bets and sometimes they vary according to 'house rules'. Most of these bets have a large house edge.

There is an advantage play to blackjack if the house is using hand dealt cards rather than being continuously shuffled by machine. Card counting can help in both the main bet and some side bets. The simple high-low count will help, but more complex counting methods will improve the odds even more.

My approach is to play an aggressive best strategy when the count is negative and play a no-bust strategy and bet on certain side bets when the count is positive. I prefer the Freebet version with the Push 22 and Pot of Gold side bets.

Poker

Poker is one of the primary, and perhaps most well known, casino card game. Using a full deck of cards, it is a complex game with many variations (including draw poker and hold'em poker), but they all aim to have a rare combinations or cards that is worth more than the opponents.

The house edge is made by taking a rake when hosting players or by determining the payback on digital games. When playing against other people, psychological tactics (such as bluffing) also come into play.

There is no real advantage play to poker, especially if it is digital. And, quite honestly, without the betting poker is quite simple and rather boring.

As I have no interest in taking money from people, if I play it is the versions against the casino (three card poker, let it ride, carribbean poker, etc.).

Baccarat

Baccarat is a card game. The cards are dealt for banker/dealer and player and both try to get as close to nine as possible without going over. In the United States, mini-baccarat is used rather than the full table version. The dealer tends to have a slight edge from going last and thus having more information. The rules of dealing the cards are strict and leave no room for decisions. As is somewhat typical, a game with no decisions is quite popular.

The cards give a close to 50/50 chance … and the play of the main game is such that card counting will not help. As such, many betting strategies can be used … but all can fail. There are many types of side bets available and are sometimes modified by house rules.

There is a limited amount of advantage play in baccarat. Some side bets can be counted. The Dragon 7 and Panda 8 are more likely with a negative medium count as three cards are required for these side bets. A Tie should be slightly more likely on a positive count. Where available, the Double Sevens can also pay better when three cards are used. As with other games, counting seems to get stronger as one goes through the shoe.

Flat betting with alternating after one side wins can do well … until a dragon tail forms. Betting the opposite of the previous column on the bead table also seems to work well for fibonaci or martingale strategies (it seems unlikely a column will repeat itself).

Craps Table

Wagering on the roll of the dice is an ancient form of gambling. The modern version used in casinos is the Craps Table. The game is complex and offers a wide range of bets offering small, medium, and large house edges. It is usually staffed by multiple people and up to a dozen players can be there at one time (which makes for a relatively slow game).

The game has two phases. The first is the 'come out' roll where a person can win, lose, or set a point. If a point is established, then the second phase comes in as the shooter tries to match that point. After a point is established various bets can be made including: taking odds, come bet, place bet, single roll bets, and field bet.

With so many betting options (including side bets), there are numerous betting strategies. As usual, they will all lose in the long run. The advantage play in craps is to control the roll of the dice – attempting to have only single axis rotation which reduces the possible outcomes and, therefore, increases a persons odds of winning. It is very difficult to achieve such control and the casinos have tried taking many measures to cause the dice to tumble randomly against that control.

I have not settled on one strategy yet. Attempting to roll a seven on the come out roll or trying to roll pairs have been attempted. The small, tall, and all side bets are tempting, but difficult. Better control of the dice is needed for any strategy.

This page is under construction. My apologies for any misspellings, repeated text, missing references, etc. Please visit again later for a more complete treatment of this topic.