Here at Slots Play Casinos, we have become aware that new casino players have a hard time figuring out blackjack, video poker, roulette, and craps. So, we are here embarking on a two-part series for beginners on how to understand and best play these great casino games.
Rest assured that we will also be recommending playing them at an online casino such as any of the more than 30 casinos we recommend.
Roulette Can be Confusing
There are two main forms of roulette: American Roulette and European Roulette. At good online casinos, European Roulette is offered. This form of roulette has a house edge that is half the house edge in American Roulette. Unfortunately, American land-based casinos generally have only one roulette table and it is for American Roulette.
The difference is that in American Roulette, there are 0 and 00 while in European Roulette, there is only a single 0.
The next area of confusion is that there are three so-called even money bets, even though the existence of the 0 or 00 makes them less than even money bets.
Even Money Bets Confuse Some Gamers into Following a Betting System
There is a vast difference between a betting system and a playing strategy. The most famous betting system is called the Martingale System. Like all betting systems, the Martingale System does not work!
If it did work, it would quickly end the existence of all casinos, be they online or on land. Here, we will show why the Martingale System does not work. The Martingale System calls for gamers to double their bet after a loss. It fails to work because it doesn’t account for losing streaks.
In all endeavors, including business, sports, and gaming, there are winning streaks and losing streaks. Here is why the Martingale System quickly fails:
Bet #1: $5 The bet loses
Bet #2: $10 The bet loses
Bet #3: $20 The bet loses
Now you have to bet $40, and if you win, you win back the original $5 bet. Unless you are a high roller, a $40 bet to win $5 is a very foolish bet.
How Does Roulette Actually Work?
There are 36 numbers on the table, plus 0 (and 00 if it is an American Roulette table). The so-called even money bets are also called outside bets. There are:
- Red or black
- Odd or even
- First half or second half
Since these are supposed to be even money bets, if you win, you win your bet. All other bets return a little less than they should based on the mathematics of the board. For example, you can bet on three numbers by placing a chip under a row. The payout should be 12-1, reflecting the simple arithmetic, but the actual payout is only 11-1.
There are also outside bets for the first twelve, second twelve, or third twelve numbers. These should pay 3-1 based on simple arithmetic, but they pay out only 2-1.
A new roulette player should look carefully at the roulette table and at how the numbers are arranged. It is not possible to make many bets since the numbers you might want to bet on are not connected. This is a major cause of confusion among roulette players.
Is Roulette a Good Game to Play?
One truth about online roulette is that there is no whooping and hollering as the roulette wheel spins around. This happens at land-based casinos, and we admit that it does have some attraction. However, roulette at a land-based casino does entice players to make wild bets. These bets can also contradict each other.
So, we always recommend playing European Roulette at an online casino. We also recommend making only even money bets. If your sound bankroll allows, you could make one of the next level of bets, for example, a 12-number bet or a row bet of three numbers. As you get further into the riskier bets, your return-to-player rate will decrease. Of course, you could get lucky and hit a single number bet, but that isn’t as common as people think.
Make Sure to Stay Far away from The Gambler’s Fallacy
It is tempting to make a big bet on a number that hasn’t come up in, say, 50 spins. The Gambler’s Fallacy says that the number is “due’ to hit. But the Gambler’s Fallacy is wrong, which is why it’s called a fallacy.
The Gambler’s Fallacy applies to digital roulette online, where the random number generator has no sense of what has happened in the past, and it applies to the spins of the physical roulette wheel at a land-based casino. In fact, the Gambler’s Fallacy applies in many areas, not just in casino gaming!
How Does Craps Work?
Craps is a simple game with a complicated secondary set of bets. The shooter shoots the dice. If a 7 or an 11 is rolled, the shooter wins, and everyone who bet with the shooter immediately wins. If a 2, 3, or 12 comes out, the shooter and everyone who bet with the shooter loses immediately.
All of the other numbers become the point.
The name of the bet that supports the shooter is the pass line bet. If you want to bet against the shooter, you bet on the don’t pass line.
If the first roll creates a point, the shooter throws the dice until either the point is rolled or a 7 is rolled. At this stage of the game, if a seven is rolled, the shooter loses and everyone who bet on the pass line loses. Don’t pass bettors win when a 7 is rolled.
The opposite takes place when the point is rolled first. Pass bets win and don’t pass bets lose.
Now, we get to the come and don’t come bets. These are the bets that confuse gamers. A come bet is like a pass bet, and a don’t come bet is like a don’t pass bet. The difference is that the come and don’t come bets belong strictly to the bettor, not to the shooter.
So, if there is a point set and you want to set another point for yourself, you make a come bet. The don’t come bet is the exact opposite. When you make a come bet, if a 7 or 11 is thrown on the first dice roll, you win immediately. So, it could happen that you win the come bet and the pass bettors lose to the same 7 roll.
Slots Play Casinos and Learning Online Casino Games
There is an area on the right side of the home page here at Slots Play Casinos with guides on how to play some games, how to get started, and so on. This article is presented more as an addendum to the guide on roulette and can serve as a start to a fuller guide on craps.
Next, we will tackle the two main games of skill, blackjack and video poker.
Slots Play Casinos continues to do everything we can to make your online casino gaming fun and profitable.
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