The most popular casino games on offer from a typical online casino are:
• Blackjack
• Crapes
• Roulette
• Online Poker
Assuming that the online casino is using an appropriately programmed random number generator, table games like blackjack have an established house edge. The payout percentage for these games are established by the rules of the game.
Blackjack is the most widely played casino banking game in the world. The standard game is played with one or more Anglo-American decks containing 52 cards. The basic rules of the game involve adding the value of an initial two card hand in hopes of being dealt a value of twenty-one. If a value of less than twenty-one is dealt, the player may choose to be dealt single cards until the total value of the hand reaches twenty-one (the best hand) or exceeds 21 (a ‘bust’, immediately losing), or until they are satisfied and do not wish to draw any more cards.
Kings, queens and jacks and tens all contribute a value of ten towards hand totals, and any of these cards may be referred to as a ‘ten’ or a ‘picture’ in a blackjack context. Aces count as 1 or 11 at the player’s discretion. The game is played against a dealer, who follows the player in drawing cards. The winner holds a hand with a value of, or nearest to, twenty-one without exceeding it.
Much of blackjack’s popularity is due to the mix of chance, skill, and the publicity that surrounds card counting (varying one’s wager and playing strategy to take advantage of knowledge of the cards yet to be dealt).
Roulette is a casino game named after a French diminutive for “little wheel”. In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a number, a range of numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even. To determine the winning number and color, a croupier spins a wheel in one direction, then spins a ball in the opposite direction around a tilted circular track running around the circumference of the wheel. The ball eventually loses momentum and falls on to the wheel and into one of 37 (in French/European roulette) or 38 (in American roulette) colored and numbered pockets on the wheel.
Craps is a dice game in which players place wagers on the outcome of the roll or a series of rolls of two dice, which are randomly generated in online casinos. Usually the counterparty is the casino itself. Online Poker, again, is simply a game of Poker played with the internet (against live players).
Probability based casino games like Blackjack clearly provide an added advantage to the gamer as he can have analytical tools, card mapping records (for card counting) and playing strategies ready at his/ her disposal during the game – something not possible in real casinos. More chance based games (like roulette and craps) don’t offer much advantage in these terms. Poker, in fact, give a disadvantage as much of the winning edge in real-life poker is decided by ‘studying’ the players’ reactions while betting. No wonder that Blackjack has emerged as the game of choice hence!
This article was written by Caroline.
Tags: Bingo, blackjack, Card games, Casino, casino table games, craps, online casino, online roulette