The Easiest Casino Games to Learn

The House Edge

The house edge is the percentage of money bet that the casino will win over time. For example, in an honest coin flip, there is a 50/50 chance of heads or tails. If a coin flip was a casino game, then the house edge would be 50% and the return to player would be 50%.

Every casino game has a house edge. Some games, like certain blackjack variants have extremely small house edges, less than 1%. In fact, some video poker variants actually have a negative house edge! Therefore, when deciding what casino game to learn, it is essential that you take the time to look into the house edge before you start to play.

Roulette

Roulette is a game that can appear overwhelming due to its layout, which is crammed full of numbers, patterns, and many different methods to gamble on the game.

The game centers upon a spinning wheel that is split into numbered segments. European and French Roulette use a wheel with 37 numbered segments (from 0 up to 36) while American Roulette wheels feature an additional ‘00’ segments. The numbers do not run consecutively around the wheel and the segments are colored alternating red and black, with the exception of 0s, which are green.

A ball is released into the roulette wheel and the aim is to bet on which segment it will stop on. However, the reason why roulette looks so complicated is that there are many more bets than just betting on a single number.

You can also bet on groups of numbers and there are several different types of groups. For instance, you can bet on numbers that share certain characteristics, such as all the red numbers, all the black numbers, all the odd numbers or all the even numbers. You can also bet on different sized groups of numbers formed on the betting area.

It takes no time at all to understand the different roulette bets and once you have, you will soon start having hours of fun.

Video Poker

All video poker games are built upon five-card draw. The games work in a very simple way. You are dealt five cards, you choose which to hold and which to discard, and then you are paid based upon the strength of your hand.

There are several video poker variants and each offers something a little different. For instance, Jacks or Better requires you to hold a least a pair of jacks to win a payout while in Deuces Wild, all the 2s are wild cards.

The game really takes no time to learn and it has one of the smallest house edges of all casino games, so it is definitely worth spending some time with.

Blackjack

Blackjack is built on a very simple principle. The game is sometimes known as 21 as the aim of the game is to build a hand of cards that has a value closer to 21 than the dealer’s hand. However, you don’t want to exceed 21 as this means that you have bust and lost the round.

There are a few more rules to master in Blackjack, such as understanding when to hit, double or stand. However, it is possible to find strategy guides to Blackjack that explain it all in a very simple way. One of the great things about Blackjack is that by using the strategy correctly you will reduce the house edge to almost nothing, making it a truly attractive game.

Slots

It doesn't take much time or effort to understand how to use the slot machines found at casinos and online sites. Simply set your bet and then start the game. The reels then spin and if you land enough matching symbols, you win a payout.

There are of course subtle differences between games that you need to understand. For instance, some games have a fixed number of paylines while others have fixed paylines. Furthermore, each game will have its own bonus features and it is important to take the time to understand them so that you do not miss out. However, you will find all the information you need in the game’s paytable and it is always easy to understand.

Baccarat

There is a huge amount of mystique surrounding baccarat, but it is potentially the simplest of casino games. There are actually three main version of Baccarat, but online you will only ever find Punto Banco, and it is always referred to simply as Baccarat.

The game features two positions, Player and Banker. However, they could be called anything, as the player has no control in the game after placing a bet. The idea is to bet on which of the positions will have a value closer to 9 when all the cards have been dealt. Two cards are dealt to each position with the cards worth their face values. However, if the position’s total is higher than 9 (i.e. 10 or above), then 10 is subtracted. For example, a Jack and a 6 is not a hand of 16 but a hand of 6.

There are certain circumstances in which a third card may be dealt to each hand, but the dealer will take care of it and you don’t really need to worry about it. In fact, the only thing you need to know is that statistically, betting on the Banker is more likely to win and therefore, some people say that it is the only bet that you should place.

Conclusion

There is such a large and diverse selection of games that can be found at online casinos, however, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to learn the basics of them all. Once you have found some that you enjoy, you can then begin delving into advanced strategies to take your playing to the next level.