Wikipedia defines casino games as games where “the players gamble cash or casino chips on various possible random outcomes or combinations of outcomes”. Besides at “offline” brick-and-mortar casino venues, casino games can be played at online casinos or even outside the casino world at parties, school competitions and other occasions.
In most cases, players gamble against the casino, but in some games like poker, players play against each other and the casino earns a commission. The games can be conducted by a dealer, called also a croupier, involve a random number generator, or both.
Casino Games Rules Determine the Outcomes
Every casino game is based on a set of rules that determine how the game is played, what kinds of bets can be made, and which players get to be the winners and the losers.
The rules and betting options may vary a little from venue to venue and from game to game: for example American roulette has two “Zero” pockets instead of one, but things like card values and basic game concepts usually stay pretty standard for each game.
Understanding the rules of the specific game you play, together with the odds and probabilities these rules create, can give you a crucial toehold when making decisions about what risks to take or avoid.
Casino games revolve around chance, but being aware of the mathematics behind the odds at play can improve your luck’s chances to win, especially in games like blackjack where the element of skill is strong.
Casino Days: Reliable Source of Online Casino Games
The vast library of more than 4,000 casino games at Casino Days supplied by around a hundred game providers has abundant offerings in any gaming genre. Featured titles include the whole array of classic Western casino games like roulette, blackjack, and baccarat, as well as Andar Bahar, Teen Patti, and all other traditional Indian games.
Each individual game at Casino Days is licensed and 100% free from scams and rigging. The games’ integrity is additionally guaranteed by independent certification testers such as GamingLabs and eCogra.
This means that the games’ rules are true and fair, and are fully legitimate to those you would find in land-based casinos, the difference being that you can play them comfortably laying on your living-room sofa wrapped in a soft hoodie.
From Blackjack to Roulette: A Beginner's Guide to Popular Casino Games
Now that we know the importance of game rules, we can take a closer look at a couple of the most popular casino games in the world, roulette and blackjack:
Roulette
The most iconic casino game of all time, Roulette, is named after its unique feature - the famous roulette wheel. The word “roulette” itself translates from French as “Little Wheel” and the game in its complete form was first played in Paris in the second half of the 18th century.
The original roulette wheel had 38 pockets - for the numbers from 1 to 36, plus “0”and “00”; 18 pockets were red and 18 - black, a bit later green was introduced for the “Zero” and “Double Zero” pockets.
The croupier would spin the wheel in one direction and then spin a small metal ball in the opposite direction. Players would bet on any of the numbers straight up, or on smaller or bigger combinations of numbers, like on a square or a column, or odds or reds, with the objective to guess in which pocket the ball would end up.
When the ball lands, the croupier collects the unsuccessful bets and pays out the winnings. The smaller the probability for a bet to win, the higher the potential payout it may bring.
Today, the double-zero set up is used only in the US, Canada, South America, and the Caribbean region in the so-called “American Roulette”, while the rest of the world plays a version with one “Zero” pocket known as “European Roulette”.
At the same time, digital technology has allowed a number of innovations in online roulette games streamlining and enhancing gameplay or introducing completely new versions of the game like Lightning Roulette or Speed Auto Roulette.
Blackjack
Blackjack is older than roulette, even though the present name of the game stuck to it much later. The first known reference of the game under the name of “Twenty One” is in a 1602 book by the Spanish novel writer and author of Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes.
This is a card comparison game, conducted by a croupier who stands behind a semicircular table and starts by dealing two cards to each player. The objective of blackjack is to collect a higher card value than the dealer without exceeding 21.
Players then get to decide on their next move, and they can either “Hit” - ask for another card from the dealer, “Stand” - continue with their current hand, “Double Down” - double their bet and get one more card, or “Split” - if the player’s hand is a pair, they can split it into two hands placing a second ante bet on the new hand, and receive one new card for each hand.
If a hand goes over the value of 21, it is eliminated from the game, and the hand which is closest in value to 21 wins. Many game variants offer side bets which can bring huge payouts of up to 250 times your bet.
Just like with roulette, advanced digital technology has allowed blackjack to expand to a great variety of games in addition to classic blackjack, including Infinite, Lightning, and Speed Blackjack variants with or without live dealers.
Know the Rules, Win the Game: Tips for Learning Casino Game Rules Quickly
Understanding where, when and why the odds are more favorable can make a great difference in a game of chance by improving a player's performance and increasing their chances of winning. The only way to have this advantage is to learn the game rules and their mathematical consequences, and get to be comfortable around them.
Even though it does involve a little bit of math, studying the game’s rules can rarely be a challenging task. Still, it is always wise to dedicate the necessary time to it. Using some simple learning strategies, like breaking down the set of rules into smaller parts or practicing with online tutorials and free demo games, can make the task easy, quick, and even fun.
Knowing the rules well in a casino game like roulette will make a player aware of what outcomes can be expected from different betting behaviors and tactics, and what are the chances of each of these outcomes actually happening.
Navigating the rules well is even more important in blackjack where a lot of the winning potential is based on the choices made by the player during the game.
Blackjack outcomes depend not only on the chance which has determined how the cards are shuffled, but also on the player’s decisions whether to hit, stand, or make another move, and this makes it the preferred game of choice for many players.
The Importance of Knowing Casino Game Odds and Probabilities
The world is full of stories about people and even organized groups who have attempted to “beat the odds” or find a “loophole” to circumvent game rules. Such a thing is of course impossible, at least in the long run, because of the tiny mathematical advantage that has been built in every casino game and allows casinos to pay their costs and maintain their business.
To easily understand the difference between odds and probabilities, let’s take a regular deck of 52 playing cards. If we draw one random card from the deck, the probability that the card is a spade is 1/4, while the odds against drawing a spade are 3 to 1.
In the same way, if we place a straight-up bet on the number 17 in a game of European Roulette which has a total of 37 pockets, the odds against the ball ending up in “our” pocket are 37 to 1. These are the “true” odds against this bet winning, but if the bet does win - the standard payout from the casino will be “only” 35 to 1.
Thus, mathematics guarantees that casinos will stay in profit in the long run: betting on “Red” has true odds of 18:37 or a 48.6% probability of winning; nevertheless, this bet pays out 1:1 as if the probability was fifty-fifty.
It is again mathematics ensuring that for a statistically significant number of bets on roulette, the casino will retain on average 2.7% from each wager. This figure represents the “House Edge”, or how much the casino can expect to profit in the long run from the total bet turnover.
Or in other words - how much the player can expect to lose. The rest of the wagered amounts - the 97.30% for European Roulette, and 98.65% for French Roulette which has some special bet options, is the sum that the casino will return to the players in the long run, or the so called “Return-To-Player” (RTP) ratio.
This is the maximum RTPs of some of the most popular casino games:
- Blackjack: 99.5%
- Slots: 94% - 99%
- Roulette: 98.65%
- Baccarat: 98.5%
Knowing the odds can help players make informed decisions and avoid betting at bad RTPs. For many games like roulette, knowing some simple math formulas can do the job, while for blackjack, for example, novices are advised to use basic strategy cards.
These cards show the moves with most favorable odds at the different combinations of card values in the player’s and the dealer’s hands. Using basic strategy to ideally play every hand can bring the RTP of blackjack from around 98% to 99.5%.
Such simple and perfectly permissible tricks can greatly increase anyone’s chances to win and give a significant advantage even to perfect amateurs.
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