Guide to Casino Games
Casino gambling is one of the most varied forms of gambling there is, thanks to the wide range of games available. You can visit either a brick and mortar casino or any online casino and you'll usually find a great selection of games to play. This is just one of the reasons why casino gambling is so popular.
There are actually far more casino games in existence than most people think but only a few of them can be genuinely considered as popular. These games are featured in most venues: slots, blackjack, video poker, roulette, and craps.
In this section of our website, we provided guides on all of the most popular casino games. We've covered several of the less well-known ones as well. These guides include all the information you could possibly want to know about each game such as the rules, the different variations, and some strategy advice where relevant. We'll also tell you the best places to play each game online.
You can find details of each one of our guides below, along with some additional information on the different types of games and how to choose which ones to play.
Our Top Casino Game Guides
Blackjack is an immensely popular casino game for several reasons. It's an easy game to learn for starters and it also has one of the lowest house edges. This low house edge means you stand a fair chance of winning when you play. At the very least you can make your money last a long time. There's some skill involved in the game too, so you are master of your own destiny to some extent. You're still reliant on luck but you can reduce the overall effect of that luck.
Our blackjack guide is one of the most comprehensive resources on the game that you'll find anywhere. It covers pretty much every blackjack related subject you could imagine, including the art of counting cards. The following is a small selection of the topics it includes.
Slots are easily among the most popular games found in the casino. They are easy to play and a great deal of fun. They also offer the chance to win a significant amount of money, with some games featuring jackpots worth millions of dollars. Slot games have been around for many years but they've evolved significantly over time. The modern machines found in land based casinos are a far cry from the early examples and the online games are incredibly more advanced.
Our slots guide covers a wide range of topics relating to slots game and it features detailed reviews of a number of different slots games as well. The below list is just a snapshot of what's included.
Video poker is essentially based on five card draw poker but there are no other players to play against. There are no physical cards dealt either, as video poker is played on machines and not on card tables. The objective is simply to make the best hand possible, as payouts are decided by hand strength. There are several variations of the game and there's some strategy involved in knowing which cards to keep and which cards to discard. With optimal play and the right circumstances, it's possible to make the house edge almost non-existent.
We've compiled a thorough video poker section that contains a wide range of information and advice on this game. The following are a few examples of the topics we cover.
Other Casino Game Guides
Roulette is a very famous gambling game and one that you'll find in virtually any casino you choose to visit. In our roulette guide, we provide an introduction to the game, some strategy advice, and information on the rules and betting options. There's also comprehensive information on the different variations of the game.
There are a few dice gambling games that can be played in a casino and craps is undoubtedly the best- known and most popular of them all. The basics are relatively simple, although the game is made complicated by the large selection of different bets available. There are also rules regarding which bets you can make and when.
Baccarat is one of the oldest casino games. It's traditionally associated with high rollers and in many venues it used to be exclusive to only the wealthiest players. That's not the case these days though, as players of all budgets can enjoy this game. It's very easy to learn how to play and the house edge is surprisingly low.
Let It Ride Poker is a relatively recent introduction to casinos compared to the more traditional games, although it's been around for a few years now. It's proved to be very popular, probably because it's so enjoyable. The game works on the simple premise that the better your hand is, the more often you win.
This is another simple and exciting form of casino poker. The rules of Caribbean Stud Poker are very straightforward and the game features big payouts for strong hands. Most versions of the game have a progressive jackpot which you can win if you're dealt a royal flush. There's a little strategy involved in the game but it's easy to learn.
Another of the relatively new games, 3 Card Poker is possibly the simplest of all casino poker games. It's loosely based on the traditional gambling game of brag, but it's played against the house rather than other players. Like most similar games, payouts are directly related to hand strength, so the stronger your hand, the bigger the payout.
Keno is a lottery style casino game that's similar to bingo. It's easy to play, as it's a game of pure chance. This makes it appealing for those that like to gamble without having to do too much thinking. All that's involved is picking numbers and then hoping that those numbers get drawn from the pile.
Not as well-known as some of the other games mentioned here, PaiGow Poker is still fairly popular. The game is vaguely based on the Chinese dominoes game of PaiGow but it uses cards instead of dominoes. Although the rules are a little unusual, you'll soon get used to them once you've played it a few times.
The Different Types of Casino Game
All of the casino games mentioned above, and without a doubt any other casino game, can be categorized in a number of different ways. There are several main game categories that are traditionally used to classify them and they can also be classified by the size of the house edge or the level of skill involved.
We've looked at the various types of casino games below, explaining each one more in depth. We've also given a few examples of which games fall into which categories
Main Casino Game Categories
The following are the main categories used to classify casino games. Please note that many games can fall into more than one of these categories.
This category is, somewhat obviously, for any game that's played using cards. Technically, card games are covered by the table games category as they are also played on tables. However, many people do view card games as a specific type of game in its own right. The most common card games played in the casino include blackjack, baccarat, and Caribbean Stud Poker.
These are quite simply games that are played on a table. We mentioned above that most card games fall into this category but other popular examples include roulette and craps.
This category is a little outdated, as it represents any game that's played on a machine rather than on a table. You could easily argue that this applies to all online games. In landbased casinos, it covers games such as slots and video poker.
Lottery style games are generally not among the most popular in the casino. Based entirely on luck, they tend to involve no decision making at all. The most commonly found casino game in this category is keno.
Any game that has a jackpot to be won falls into this category. Many slots and video poker games have jackpots and a number of table games do too. Caribbean Stud Poker, for example, usually features a progressive jackpot that's won with a royal flush.
Casino Games by House Edge
It's useful to categorize casino games by the size of the house edge, as there are notable advantages to playing those with a low edge. That's not to say that you should ignore those with a high edge though, as they often offer the potential to win larger payouts relative to the amounts staked.
To some extent it's up for debate what constitutes a low house edge, as what might be acceptably low for one player may be considered too high for another. There are certain games that have an indisputably low edge though and these include blackjack, baccarat, and PaiGow Poker. Some variants of video poker also have very low edges too, as do a couple of specific bets in craps.
Please note that some games with a low edge, blackjack in particular, require you to use the right strategies for the edge to remain low.
Keno has one of the highest house edges found in the casino at around 25%, which is one of the reasons why its popularity has declined. American roulette has a high edge compared to European roulette (5.26% against 2.70%) and there are some bets in craps where the edge is over 10%. The edge in slots can be as high as 15% too.
Casino Games By Skill Factor
All casino games have random outcomes, so they are all ultimately based on luck. Some of them, however, involve some degree of skill. Those with a skill factor are very popular with some players, as they enjoy contributing some influence over their results. Others prefer gambling on pure chance and putting their fate entirely in the hands of lady luck.
Blackjack is the game with the highest skill factor, as every decision made affects the player's chances of winning. It's also technically possible to master blackjack, if card counting can be mastered. This is definitely a skill and one that's hard to learn. Video poker also involves significant skill in terms of knowing which cards to keep and which ones to discard.
It could be argued that there's skill involved in craps too, for anyone that can learn dice control. There's plenty of debate over whether this is even possible, but nonetheless it would take a great deal of skill.
There are several games which involve a low level of skill. These are basically the games where your decisions have some effect on the overall house edge but not a significant one. Pretty much all casino poker games fall into this category.
Games of pure chance are those where nothing you do has any effect at all on the house edge or the likelihood of you winning. Slots are one of the prime examples of this type of game and there are many more. Roulette and baccarat are also examples of this.
Which Casino Game Is Best?
If you asked a thousand casino players this question then you would get a range of different answers and none of them would be wrong. There's no such thing as the "best" casino game really, as it all comes down to individual preferences. Some people absolutely love playing slots, while others think they are a waste of time and money. Some people love playing blackjack, while others think that it's too slow and requires too much thought.
We don't want to tell you what games you should be playing, as it's a decision you should make for yourself. We simply suggest that you spend some time playing at least a few different ones, so you can figure out which ones are best for you. There's no correct way to make a decision, but you might want to take the following factors into consideration.
The last point is arguably the most important of the four factors to consider, as casino gambling should ultimately be about having fun. However, the other factors are all worth thinking about too.
We offer some more advice on this topic in the following article from our beginner's guide. If you're struggling to make a decision about what to play, then reading this should help you.
The variety of games in the casino is a big part of the appeal. There's absolutely no need to pick a favorite or stick to playing the same few games all the time. It's fine if that's what you want to do but there's something to be said for experiencing all the options available to you. You could try a different game every single time you played and it would still take you a long time to try them all. Don't be afraid to experiment with new games, as you might have a more enjoyable experience this way.