The Casino's Advantage
All successful casino players understand the advantage of each game. The best place to start here is with the casino advantage, this is made up of two components, the first and easiest to understand is when you lose. When you lose a bet it is lost, its as simple as that.
The second part of this is what you lose when you win? Sounds strange I know, how can you lose when you win. This is all to do with the payout you receive and if that is a fair payout or not. For example a fair payout for a $1 wager on roulette is $37, however, the casino only pays out $35, it keeps the $2, you can think of it like a tax. This $2 disappears into the vaults of the casino, most people don't even realize or care, they are happy because they have won. This is how the casino makes its money, different games have different payout percentages so some are more profitable for the casino than others.
What you need to know is how much is this hidden tax and what you can do to reduce it. Because the lower you reduce this tax or casino advantage, the greater will be your chances of winning more or at least minimizing your losses.
The following table summarizes the casino's advantage for games where a player with a little luck has a good chance of winning. A positive casino advantage means the casino has the edge. A negative casino advantage implies the player has the better of it. Most casino games have several different types of wagers, which is why you see a range of casino advantage for most games.
- Blackjack (with basic strategy): 0% to +0.5%
- Blackjack (with basic strategy and card counting): -0.2% to -1.05% (Player advantage)
- Craps: +0.2% to +17%
- Pai Gow Poker: -0.2% to +2.5%
- Baccarat: +0.1% to +14.1%
- Roulette: +2.6% to +7.9%
- Video Poker: -0.1% to +5.0%
- Sic Bo: +2.8% to +47.5%
- Slots: +0.5% to +10% or more
The following games are the ones with the lowest potential casino advantage
These are the casino games, which offer you the highest potential of maximizing your winnings or minimizing your losses, and should be a part of every player's game plan.
Blackjack (with at least basic playing strategy)
Craps (but only specific bets)
Pai Gow Poker
Baccarat
Roulette (European)
Video Poker (full pay machines with expert strategy)
Slots (only at high payout Casino's)
The following games are the ones with the highest potential casino advantage
These are the worst games you can play at a casino, in all of these games the house advantage is higher than 3%
Keno
Double zero Roulette
Caribbean Poker
Blackjack with no basic strategy
Craps - Middle bet
Video poker with no strategy
Slot machines with less than 98% payback
Sic Bo
Let It Ride
Red Dog