We’ve all seen the movies: a young kid with a brain is somehow a natural savant at blackjack and takes the casino for all they got. But is that really possible? Can you beat the house and get better at online casino games? It’s not a straightforward answer, and it really depends on the type of games you’re playing. This quick guide will cover a variety of popular casino titles available online at sites like https://nyxbets.org/ and let you know what you can do to try and get an edge over the house.
Blackjack
Starting with ol’ reliable, blackjack is a popular game for people to try and get an edge on over the casino. It’s also one of the few games where you can actually turn the odds in your favor at a casino. Ideally, you already have an understanding of basic strategy. Basic strategy tells you when you should hit, stand, split, or double down. There is a science behind blackjack, and not following basic strategy will cause your odds against the house to plummet.
Once you’ve mastered basic strategy, you might want to turn to card counting. Basically, every casino has gotten wise to this, however, so it isn’t as easy as the movies make it seem. Multiple decks, shuffling shoes, and anti-card-counting strategies are everywhere at online casinos. It’s also technically impossible to do virtually since the deck is likely shuffled after every hand, rendering counts useless.
Still, live dealer blackjack tables present an opportunity to count cards. You’ll have to mask your strategy, however, if you want to avoid getting caught. While most strategies tell you to bet small until the deck is “hot”, you may want to vary your bet sizes to avoid that common tell.
All that said, remember that while card counting likely isn’t illegal in your jurisdiction, it is frowned upon by casinos, both virtual and physical. You’re likely to get the boot and be banned if they find out.
Roulette
Another popular casino game, roulette, is as simple as it gets. Place bets on where you think the ball will lan,d and win big if you get the number right. You can also place bets on columns, rows, sections, and colors.
Unfortunately, there is no real way to “hone” your roulette skills. The numbers are completely random, so even if there have been ten 5s in a row, you’re still just as likely to get a 5 on the 11th time as any other number on the wheel.
One thing you can do to increase your odds of winning, however, is to choose a table with a single or double 0. Avoid tables with triple 0s, as your odds are just getting worse at that point. Every additional 0 on the roulette wheel lowers the chances of you picking the right number or color.
Slots
Slots are iconic and a lot of fun but, unfortunately, completely random. That said, there are a few things you can do to try and increase your odds of walking away with more cash than you (virtually) sat down with.
One thing to take note of is RTP, or return-to-player. This is the average percentage that is returned to a player over a large number of games. It’s often thought that the higher the RTP, the better. Look for low volatility, high-RTP slots.
A common tactic at a physical casino is to watch machines and wait for someone to leave after not having won anything big in a long time. Players feel that the machine is “due”, and while that’s not technically true, the machines are set to payout a certain amount, giving you a possible edge. At online casinos, this isn’t really possible, but you can keep an eye on progressives and jackpots. Take note of how high the numbers get before they are typically won. When you see the jackpots get to that level, you might want to sit down and try your luck.
Poker
Poker is a great game to play at online casinos because it’s the one game where the house does not have a vested interest in you losing. Casinos make money off of poker by taking a small percentage of every pot throughout the course of the game. They don’t care who wins or loses, they just want people to keep playing.
In this way, you can find yourself having an easier time trying to outsmart and beat other players rather than playing against an already stacked deck. There are no odds already against you like in roulette with the 0s.
The other best part is that there is a mountain of information out there for beginner poker players looking to hone their skills. Add in the fact that some poker tables have $0.01/$0.02 blinds and buy-in limits of a few dollars, and you’ve got a cost-effective way to grind your skill out. Learn strategy, read up on VPiP and other metrics, watch the pros, and you’ll find that poker was a better way to beat the house than playing their own games.
