Rules of Blackjack

If you like a fast-paced card game, blackjack may be for you. It’s the fastest table game at the casino, so maintaining your bankroll is the most important part of blackjack. It’s a game of streaks so you must learn how to take the bad with the good. That’s what gambling is all about.

The dealer is your opponent in blackjack. Others at the table play against the dealer as well. The goal is to get a hand totaling as close as possible up to 21 without going over. Cards 2 through 10 count as face value. Face cards count as 10. An Ace can count as 1 or 11. You want an Ace, because the value can change from 11 to 1 if you go over 21. Hands with an Ace are called soft hands, while hands without an Ace are called hard hands.

Casinos will use six to eight decks to keep players and card counters guessing. Online casinos use a random number generator (RNG), but your odds are still better online than on land. A tie in blackjack is known as a push and you get your original bet back. A hand totaling 21 pays out 3 to 2. Dealers are usually required to stand on a hard 17, where they can’t take any more cards.

Always hit or double down for a soft hand with an Ace and a 2 through a 6. Splitting hands is tricky. Basic blackjack strategy tells you to split 5s or 10s rather than 8s. Blackjack has a house advantage of 5%, but you can get that down to 0.5% with basic strategy. So, blackjack is a game that you can win with a lot of practice. Just be patient because even the professional players only turn a 1-2% profit over the long term.

Rules of Slots

You may think you know everything there is to know about slots, but I bet I can surprise you. Did you know that the only time there isn’t a house advantage when playing slots is the double up bonus? Did you know that a 1-reel game has 243 ways to play? Some new slot games today have more than 100 reels.

Slots are the most popular online casino game because they are easy to play and you can win life-changing payouts. Each one has a different theme, a way for you to escape from your everyday life. After all, entertainment is the root purpose of gambling. Once you read up on strategy sites like this one, you can make money at it.

There is no definitive strategy to winning at slots. Just find the right type of slot, know how much to bet and check the payouts before you start. The most popular slots today are video slots with at least five reels and multiple lines to play with a bonus. This is different than the classic 3-reel, 1-payline slots where you play fixed lines. You can now play the entire position of the reel, giving you more ways to win, such as the scatter feature.

The best slots come from the biggest software providers like Microgaming, Vegas Technology and Playtech. The best video slots are the Real Series from Realtime Gaming (RTG) or i-Slots from Rival Gaming.

As I mentioned before, the double up bonus is the best bet for a slots player. You are eligible after a win and you can do it up to five times. Always do the maximum bet when playing slots. If you can’t afford it, find a cheaper slot because you want to get the full jackpot, not just a percentage. Check the payouts percentages before playing. When you see a $1 million jackpot or more, it’s likely a progressive jackpot, where multiple slots are linked together, even at other affiliate online casinos.

Rules of Roulette

Roulette began in Monte Carlo and the French Riviera long ago for the rich but it can be found anywhere today. It’s a social casino game based mostly on luck but there is some strategy in the betting.

The object of the game is to guess which numbered pocket the roulette ball will land on once the wheel stops spinning. A roulette wheel is bowl-shaped and about three feet in diameter. The two main types of the game are American Roulette, which has 38 pockets made up of the numbers 1-36, 0 and 00. European Roulette has 37 pockets made up of the numbers 1-36 and 0. So, European Roulette has a lower house advantage of 2.7%, compared to American Roulette’s 5.26%. Because of this, European Roulette is harder to find in American casinos but it is widespread online.

Half of the 1-36 numbers are red and the other half are black. The 0 and 00 are green. All have a corresponding box and are included in other bets on the roulette layout, where you place your chips. The dealer, or croupier, distributes payouts and collects chips once you have put your chips down and the wheel has spun. Players have their own color of chips. Each table has minimum bets and table limits. Remember to get your bets down before the wheel slows down.

The roulette layout is complicated but you just need to learn the different bets. It has 48 boxes for red, black or green bets. It has 11 boxes on the border for special bets like red/black, even/odd and high/low. Inside bets are on individual numbers and outside bets are those special bets mentioned.

Rules of Craps

Craps can be confusing with all the different bets and the table layout, but the rules are simple and you just need a little practice to get the hang of it. It’s one of the most popular and social of table games so it’s a good one to learn at the casino or online for Internet gambling.

There are two roles for craps: a shooter or not the shooter. The person rolling the dice is the shooter. When you are the shooter, you want your first roll, also known as a come-out roll, to be a 7 or 11. Those are automatic wins. A 2, 3 or 12 lose automatically, also known as crapping out. Any other number like 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 is a point and you keep rolling until you hit that number again. It’s called a pass-line point and you want to avoid rolling a 7 before hitting that point again. A 7 in this scenario is a loss and you pass the dice. A matched pass-line point is a win.

Those players that aren’t the shooter bet on the outcome of the roll, such as matching the pass-line point or not. One piece of advice is to not bet against a shooter on a hot streak. You can pass and skip your roll at any time.

A craps table can have up to four staff persons. The boxman rules the game resolves problems. Two dealers stand at either end of the table to take bets. And, the stickman delivers the dice and calls out wagering options. A puck keeps track of the roll with black side labeled off for a come-out roll and a white side labeled on for a point. When a point is established, the puck is put on the corresponding number on the table layout.

Craps is a steal as far as table games go with only a 1.5% advantage for the house. Each number has odds of 1 in 36. The odds of a 7 or 11 is 22%. The odds for a crap out is 11%.

Rules of Keno

Keno is a lot like bingo, but there are a few differences. They are both lottery-style casino games that are easy on your bankroll and based entirely on luck. But keno generally has bigger jackpots and a higher house advantage.

Keno originated in China. You choose one or more numbers from the field of 1-80. The randomly drawn numbers are matched on your card just like in bingo. However, each keno game is called a race. The payout depends on how many numbers matched, how much wagered and if it was at a special rate. Just like bingo, there is no real strategy to the game.

You get to choose between one and 15 numbers for each race. Twenty numbers are drawn, so you only have to match 15 of 20 numbers to get the jackpot. The jackpot can be life-changing, upwards of thousands to millions of dollars. After all, a keno jackpot is what saved the Griswold’s family vacation in “National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation.” The average keno jackpot is $10,000.

When you match numbers, you mark your ticket with an “X” over the numbers. Payouts start at six matches when playing 15 numbers. The house edge can range from 22-50%, depending on how many numbers you bet.

There are two ways to play: a straight bet or a way bet. You pick individual numbers, up to 15, for a straight bet. The numbers are grouped into sets for way bets, which gives you more ways to win. Six selected numbers can be grouped into three groups of two numbers. It gives you four ways to win: a straight bet and three groups. It’s like playing four different tickets. Just remember to keep track by circling your numbers.

Rules of Bingo

You may think you know all there is to know about bingo. It is one of easiest casino games and can be played to fill up some time. Other games like blackjack and roulette clean you out in just a few minutes if you’re not careful. Bingo is a good game if you are gambling for entertainment. If you’re digging yourself a hole and gambling stops being fun, that’s when you need to stop.

In bingo, you match randomly drawn numbers called out to those on your card. If you miss some numbers, there should be a board of recently called out numbers so you can catch up. The numbers must be matched in a certain pattern on your card. It could be a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line. Other game options include four corners (of the card) or a pattern that resembles a butterfly.

This game isn’t limited to the bingo room of casinos anymore. You can find it easily online with different varieties or play electronic bingo at any station in the casino. Some still have the old-fashioned kind where you use a dabber, or highlighter, to make the corresponding number with a colored circle. Bingo has a field of 1-75. You have 25 spaces on a card: 24 random numbers and a free space in the center. The numbers 1-15 fall in the “B” column, 16-30 in the “I” column, 31-45 in the “N” column, etc. Just be the first to yell out “Bingo!” and you win after verification.

Five Winning Poker Strategies

Now that you know the rules of community poker games like Texas Hold’em and Five Card Draw, you need to nail down the basic strategies to read and beat your opponents. Poker is a skill game and these five strategies will help you gain an advantage over the competition.

Aggressive play: you start the wagering with an opening bet or you raise your opponent’s bet. This establishes dominance in the hand. Do it with a strong hand because if you overuse it, the other players will label you as a loose player and use it against you.

Bluff: tricking other players by betting with a poor hand. The goal is to get other players out of the hand. You do this by betting big to scare them off, even if they have a better hand. The odds of high cards in the hand dwindle as players exit the hand and your odds of winning it get better.

Check-raise: risky but lucrative strategy where you check with a strong hand. By passing to the next player, someone else will have to start the opening bet and then you can raise them when the action comes back to you. It’s like a slow play or a bluff where you deceive your opponents.

Protection play: opposite move of a check-raise. You wager a lot early to protect your hand and scare off others. It’s best done with a strong yet vulnerable hand like a pair of Jacks when there is a possible straight on the board. It protects your hand.

Slow play: opposite move of bluffing but also protects your hand. In this strategy, you are trying to keep other players in the hand by staring with a small bet. It’s best done if you have a high pocket pair for your hole cards in Texas Hold’em Poker. Other players will stay in just to see the flop. Then, you keep reeling them in with small bets until they are pot committed. Once they have put in enough chips to be pot committed, you hit them with a big bet and the hand is yours.