How to Maximise Your Chances of Winning at the Casino
Everyone who plays on pokies or tables games dreams of taking the casino to the cleaners by winning big. Casinos stack the odds in their favour in order to turn a profit, but there are steps you can take to maximise your chances of winning both online and in a brick and mortar casino.
We need to briefly discuss how casinos make their money before we show how to maximise your chances of winning. All casino games are based on mathematics. Some say maths is the universal language of the world. Odds and probabilities are the same concepts regardless of the game you play. What you need to understand is that the casino always wins in the long run. The long run, however, is much longer than you think.
The odds of pokies are in the casino’s favour, this is known as the house edge. Pokies usually display the house edge in the form of RTP, or Returned To Player. An RTP of 95 percent means the house has a five percent edge. The higher the house edge, the less likely you are to win and vice versa. You also tend to find games with lower house edges have lower potential big wins.
Think of it this way, a house edge of five percent means, on average, for every $1 you wager, the casino wins $0.05. Sometimes you will win, but over the long term the casino wins $0.05 for every $1 wager. Now let’s look at how to maximise your chances of winning at the casino.
Play One on One With a Dealer
Blackjack is a game where four or five seats are available at the table. You should try to play one on one against the dealer whenever possible to maximise your chances of winning. Pit bosses in an actual casino will often send more players to fill the table. This does not happen in an online casino where you can play against the dealer to your heart’s content.
The reason you want to play one on one with the dealer is you will see less volatility. You can play a perfect blackjack strategy but if you are playing alongside morons, you will struggle to win. How many times have you seen a player hit and draw a 10 when they should have stuck? How often, in that scenario, would the 10 have helped you win? I rest my case.
Change Your Roulette Bets and Tables
Roulette is a game where you can win huge amounts, but also lose the same large sums. It is what attracts millions to the wheel every day. Many of you here will likely play the safer outside bets in an attempt to lower the house edge. Betting on red or black is common, pays 1-to-1 and gives you 18 chances to win. Instead, bet on two columns or two of the dozens. These payout 2-to-1 but betting on two of them at a time reduces your payout to 1-to-1 for obvious reasons. Betting on two columns or different dozens give you 24 chances to win at 1-to-1, better than red or black!
Avoid playing roulette that has a double zero in addition to a zero because it almost doubles the house edge. The house edge of roulette with a single zero is 2.7 percent. This increases to 5.26 percent with a double zero added. Maximise your chances of winning by avoiding double zero wheels.
Avoid Side Bets to Maximise Your Chances of Winning
There is a trend for certain casino games to add side bets for you to play. Popular side bets are found on blackjack tables and include the likes of perfect pairs. Avoid them like the plague because they are there to drain your money. Betting perfect pairs in an online casino using eight decks in blackjack increases the house edge by around eight percent!
Play Max Coins on Video Poker and Max Lines of Pokies
We covered video poker in a previous article and explained playing maximum coins is the way ahead. Most video poker machines offer a bigger jackpot for hitting a natural royal flush when using the maximum coins.
Pokies players should play all available paylines on the machine even if this means lowering your stake. You want as many chances as possible to win, therefore lowering the house’s edge and maximise your chances of winning.
Conclusion
Making fewer mistakes and playing games and pokies with a lower house edge maximise your chances of winning. Learn basic strategies for the games you like playing and research the house edge for each of them. Then and only then should you take on the casino and hopefully come away a big winner.
