Casino Gambling Strategy

Knowing how to play a game will only get you so far.

Success at any online casino depends not only on a familiarity with the game's rules, but an understanding of the underlying concepts of the game and proficiency with the best strategy.

Much of casino strategy consists of reducing, or in some cases even eliminating, the casino's advantage (commonly known as the house advantage, or the house edge). Once you understand the house edge, the strategy for minimizing it can be implemented and applied to individual games.

Minimizing the House Edge

You can find a more in-depth explaination of the house edge in the following article:
Understanding the House Edge

All forms of gambling include an inherent advantage for the casino. If you think of an online casino as a business, bets are its product. Since the casino determines the rules, policies and payouts of each game it offers, it guarantees a profit margin through a fixed commission. This is the house edge.

To understand how the house edge works, imagine the casino allows you to bet on the outcome of a coin flip. You bet $10 per flip and the rules are laid out so that each time the coin lands tails, you lose your bet. Each time the coin lands heads, you win, but the casino only pays you $9. Basic probability tells us that the coin stands an equal chance of landing either heads or tails, and thus you will win as much as you lose. This does not mean you will break even.

With the casino pocketing $1 of each of your payouts, they will continue to collect more money the longer you play. In fact, if you brought $500 to the table, you would lose your entire bankroll after 1,000 coin flips, even if you won half of them. In this example, the $1 represents a 5% house edge for the casino ($1 commission per $10 bet, divided by two coin flips). Believe it or not, some casino games have a house edge as high as 25%.

As you can see, casino gambling sites do not depend on you losing every bet. As players, we fixate on whether we win or lose. The casino doesn't care what happens, as long as we keep playing. Statistically, all major wins will be neutralized with a series of losses over time, plus the commission collected on each bet. The example above features a game that offs 50/50 odds with less than a 1:1 payout. Sometimes, the reverse holds true; for instance, betting black/red in roulette pays 1:1, but the odds of winning are slightly less than 50% (18/37 in European Roulette). Either way, the casino wins.

Game Specific Strategy

The house edge does not only vary from game to game, but within each game. Craps, for instance, carries a completely different edge depending on which bet you place. Blackjack can have the best or worst casino advantage based on how you play.

Below is a list of strategy guides for the most popular online casino games, with a brief description of what you can expect to find in each guide.

Blackjack Strategy

Here you will find a full a table of whether to hit, stand, double or split on every possible blackjack hand. Following the table can nearly eliminate the casino's edge. Also provided are various rule variants and how the affect your odds.

Video Poker Strategy

Achieve a 99% payout rate by knowing which cards to keep and which to discard. This article provides detailed tables and charts with the best mathematical move to make in every situation, and covers which video poker variants to play for the best chance of winning at any online casino.

Slots Strategy

Learn to pick the right slot machines and ensure the highest payout rate. See how variables like the number of reels affect your profit potential. This page also puts to rest several slot machine myths that are often advertised as strategy.

Craps Strategy

Craps comes in at number one for offering bets with the lowest house edge. Discover the absolute best bet you can make in the casino, and see which bets are best avoided when you step up to the craps table.

Roulette Strategy

Which bets should you place? Should you play European Roulette or American Roulette? How can En Prison and La Partage rules improve your odds? All these questions and more are addressed in this roulette strategy guide.

Bingo Strategy

Bingo strategy? Is there such a thing? There is actually quite a bit, particularly if you are gambling online. Don't start playing online bingo before you read this article; what you learn might surprise you.

Baccarat Strategy

With only three possible bets, there is not a whole lot of strategy to be had; but there is some. For example, did you know your odds improve as the number of decks decreases? Pick up a few helpful tips and set yourself up for the best chance of success at any baccarat game.

Keno Strategy

There's no way around it... Keno odds are terrible. Nevertheless, this casino games offers something many others do not: high risk, high reward. This article focuses on the big picture to obtaining the best overall Keno results.

Casino Hold'em Strategy

Casino Hold'em is one of those games that you can actually keep the house edge relatively low by playing with the proper strategy. Find out some of the basic moves to make in certain situations to help you keep the house edge down and play at an optimal level.

Caribbean Stud Strategy

If you know the game Caribbean Stud poker very well then you might be asking yourself how much strategy there can really be. Here we break that question down a little bit and show you how playing with a basic strategy can help you keep the house edge as low as possible.

Betting Strategies

Don't fall for the hype; betting systems do not work. You cannot overcome the house edge by simply manipulating the way you bet. Think about it... your wager has nothing to do with the game's outcome.

Betting Systems

We recommend this article to discover exactly why these strategies don't improve your odds. The most popular betting systems are explained in detail, with step-by-step calculations and easy-to-follow examples. Read this page before you consider using a gambling betting system at the casino.

Buying Blackjack Insurance

The insurance rule variant may be one of the least understood in blackjack. In this article, we explain both insurance bets and their even money variants, and cover the odds of each to show why they are not profitable.

General Advice

No matter what game you prefer, there are a few general strategies that should be followed. Some games offer nearly fifty-fifty odds while others are best avoided. The following two articles go over which bets carry both the best and worst odds in the casino.

The ultimate goal of casino gambling strategy is to give you the best possible chance of walking away a winner. Nevertheless, the odds are always stacked against you. Gambling is a source of entertainment that you pay the house edge to experience. The best advice we can give you is to never bet more than you can afford to lose, and seek help immediately if you feel you may have a gambling addiction.