In today’s casino-mad online gaming world, plenty is made of the difference between skill and luck in the different games on offer. Many people see it as a simple choice. If you are skilled and experienced, they say, you can make a killing playing poker. If you are a beginner, then you stand as good a chance as anyone by putting a coin into a slot machine.
Life is never quite that simple, however. In fact, whatever game you choose to play, you will stand a better chance of success if you approach it with a strategy in mind. That is as true in a Las Vegas poker room as it is if you are enjoying a spin of the wheel at Winningroom live roulette. So let’s take a look at the strategies for some of the most popular casino games.
Poker
We could spend hours discussing poker strategy, but for the beginner, it makes sense to focus on the video poker that you can play either online or at terminals in a casino. It’s a great way to learn how to recognize a winning hand in the making, and if you play online in practice mode, you can set tutorials to remind you when you make a sub-optimal choice on which cards to hold. There are plenty of strategy cards available online, but it will become second nature to you with practice.
Blackjack
The strategist’s favorite, who would have thought such a simple game could get mathematicians arguing over the optimum way to play? Basic strategy, for example always split aces but never tens, is easy enough to learn, and once you’ve mastered that, you can start delving into compositional dependent strategy, and potentially cut the house edge to as little as 0.5 percent.
Roulette
It’s a ball landing on a spinning reel, so surely roulette is all about luck? Looks can be deceptive. The basic game was invented by Blaise Pascal, one of the most famous mathematicians in history, and if you understand the mathematics behind the game you stand a better chance of coming out a winner. The first thing to remember is that the more zeros there are on the wheel, the higher the house edge, so always play European roulette if it is available.
Slots
More than half the square footage in a casino is occupied by slot machines, and if you look online, you will see dozens, even hundreds, to choose from on every site. Today’s high tech games are a far cry from the traditional one arm bandits of years gone by, but for all the high tech wizardry, they have changed little in concept. The spinning reels are based on random number generation, just like the ball on the roulette wheel.
Your slot playing strategy will depend on what you want to get from the game, and whether you decide to play on a high or low volatility machine. The former is preferred by those looking for the big win, although they accept that their machine will often go for long periods without paying anything at all. Low volatility games pay out more often, but are unlikely to make you a millionaire.
