(.) Minus the commission of the casino. This table tells us: The best-paying bet is the one with the lowest odds of winning. The tie bet has a house edge of 14.44% and this is a very high rate. Hence, the probability of winning this bet is unbelievably low. From Pechanga Resort and Casino comes Best Bet Casino, your BEST bet for FUN, FREE social casino game play! Explore the rich casino lobby and receive royal treatment in this online casino app. From 10+ variations of video poker to world-renowned real casino slots games to awesomely themed bingo rooms, Best Bet Casino has it ALL! Sports Betting Poker 100% up to $1,000. CardPlayer.com is the best poker information portal for free. As well as years of data of poker player results and casino poker tournament pay-outs. Best Bet Casino has all of your real casino favorites like free casino slots, video poker, blackjack, keno, bingo and more! Have all the fun of being at the casino right in the palm of your hand!.
Knowing which is which can help make you a winner
by Frank Scoblete
This article began innocently enough. My editor, Len Butcher, sent me the following email: 'Frank, I need a piece on the top 10 best and worst casino bets for the December Casino Player issue. Lion pride game. Deadline is October 16. Thanks, Len.'
This should be a snap, I thought. I can write this in my sleep. I immediately thought of the worst game, Keno, where the house edge is about 25 percent—which means you lose about 25 cents for every dollar you bet at the game. Surely that would be at the top of the list for the worst bets you can make in a casino.
So I started writing, but then it dawned on me that something was amiss. In Keno, playing every game, maybe four games an hour at some casinos, betting one dollar, you lose about a dollar per hour. Now if we take a good bet like mini-baccarat's 'bank' bet (which has a 1.06 percent house edge) and you bet $10 per decision, and play 150 decisions (which is not unheard of), then you'd lose a whopping $15.90.
So which is the worse bet? In terms of the house edge, it's Keno. But speed-wise, mini-baccarat is worse. Then I realized there's another consideration. Some games are just not found in a lot of casinos. Some of the worst bets in all of casino history are at Sic Bo—where the house edge can soar into the 40 percent range. Should I count these bets among the worst, even if you might never see a Sic Bo game in your life?
And what about video poker, where there are so many machines that the entire article could be about these games?
To keep things simple, in this article I will use the 'house edge' as the primary criteria of judgment, but I will mention the speed of the games as well, to give you a more complete picture. And I will limit my list to games that are found in almost all casinos. There are even worse bets out there, but they're games that haven't made it to most casinos (thankfully).
As for video poker, I'm not mentioning it among the 'best bets' although some video poker machines can be positive expectation games if played properly, and others have house edges of between one-half and one percent or so. I'm limiting this list to table games; finding and playing the right video poker machines is another story unto itself. And, finally, I'm not going to bother mentioning the various 'side bets' you'll occasionally see at the tables. These bets come in many different forms, but they're almost always a bad idea. Avoid them.
With that said, here we go—the worst first.
The 10 Worst Bets
1. Keno
Yes, this is probably the worst bet you will find in most casinos. The average house edge hovers around 25 percent, which is better than state lotteries, but that's not saying much. Still, the pace of the game is slow and if you only make one bet per game you won't lose much money.
2. Any Seven (Craps)
This is a one-roll bet that the next number rolled will be a seven. The house edge is a monstrous 16.67 percent. If you make this bet on every roll, even if you only wager a measly dollar, you can lose about $20 per hour!
3. Progressive Slot Machines
Yes, those gigantic multi-million dollar jackpots sure are tempting, but progressive games are the very worst machines in the casino—no matter what the denomination is. The house edge ranges from 12 to 17 percent. This means you lose between $12 and $17 for every $100 you wager in the long run. Making the situation even more brutal is the fact that people tend to play these games very fast. How much can a $1 slot player lose on an inter-casino linked progressive? Upwards of almost $400 per hour. Yikes!
4. Tie Bet at Baccarat
This bet comes with a house edge of around 14 percent. With traditional baccarat, played in the high roller rooms, the game is relatively slow; at mini-baccarat, however, the speed of the game is very fast. This bet is bad in both games.
5. 2 and 12 (Craps)
Snake eyes (2) and boxcars (12) have house edges of 13.89 percent. These are one-roll bets for the unwary and unwise craps player.
6. Whirl or World (Craps)
This is a multiple number (2, 3, 7, 11, 12), one-roll bet that has a house edge of 13.33 percent. Steer clear of this one.
7. The Horn (Craps)
Another multiple number (2, 3, 11, 12) one-roll bet that comes in with a house edge of 12.5 percent. There is a saying, 'See a horn, bet a horn.' The real saying should be, 'You have to be an idiot to bet the horn.'
8. 3 and 11; Hard 4 and Hard 10; Any Craps (Craps)
Ironically, the 11 has an 11.11 percent house edge, as do the rest of these bets. These bets should hold no interest for you, since making them on each and every roll will cost you $11.11 per $100 wagered.
9. 5-Cent Slot Machines
The low denomination, non-progressive slot machines also have high house edges—around 10 to 12 percent—and most people play them fast, causing their losses to add up quickly.
10. Hard 6 and Hard 8 (Craps)
At this point we've left the double-digit house edges behind us, but these two bets are still pretty bad with a house edge of 9.09 percent. They are not active on every roll, which helps a little.
The 10 Best Bets
1. The Pass, Don't Pass, Come, Don't Come with Odds (Craps)
Some casinos in America are still offering craps games with 100X, 20X, 10X and 5X odds. Here, the house edge is a small fraction of a percent on these games if you utilize the odds bets. Without odds, the house edge on the above bets is about 1.4 percent—still very good. Also, not every roll impacts you, so that's a good thing too. Most players will be on about 50 percent of the decisions betting this way.
2. Blackjack Basic Strategy
If the game you are playing is a traditional blackjack game with the house paying 3 to 2 for blackjacks, with the dealer standing on soft 17, and with the right to double on any first two cards, split and double after splits, the casino will have about a half percent house edge. That means you lose about 50 cents for every $100 wagered—a very good bet indeed. Blackjack is a moderately fast game, but with such a low house edge you still have a very good shot at winning some money on any given session.
3. The Bank Bet at Baccarat
The house edge at this bet is 1.06 percent. Remember that traditional, high-roller room baccarat, where the players deal the cards, is a slow game. Mini-baccarat is a fast game.
4. The Player Bet at Baccarat
The house edge on this bet is a mere 1.24 percent. See #3.
5. Blackjack Pays 6 to 5 for Natural (Basic Strategy)
This new game is three times worse than traditional blackjack, as it pays only $12 to $10 for a blackjack as opposed to $15 to $10. Usually these games also have the dealers hitting their soft 17s. The house edge on these games is around 1.5 percent, depending on the casino's rules.
6. Place the 6 or 8 (Craps)
This bet must be made in multiples of $6. It pays $7 on a win since the house has a 6 to 5 edge on the bet. The house edge is 1.52 percent and the bet is active on 11 of 36 decisions, which means most of the time you will not have your money acted upon.
7. Spanish 21 (Basic Strategy)
In this variation of blackjack, the 10-spot cards are removed but there are all sorts of special awards for premium hands built into the rules. With the proper basic strategy, the house edge is around 1.8 percent, give or take, depending on rules of the casino.
8. Three Card Poker
There are two games in one here. The main game of ante and wager has about a 2 percent house edge. The secondary game, called Pair Plus, has about a 2.3 percent house edge. The game is relatively fast, so you might want to sit out some hands every so often.
9. Lay the 4 and 10 (Craps)
Here, you are betting that the 7 will appear before the 4 or 10. The house edge is 2.44 percent.
10. Caribbean Stud and Pai Gow Poker
Two of the first 'carnival' card games are still going strong in casinos. The house edge is about 2.5 percent if you play your hands properly. These are relatively slow games.
So there you have it—the worst bets and the best bets you'll encounter during your next trip to the casino. Good luck, and play smart.
Frank Scoblete is the #1 best-selling gaming author in America. He is executive director of the Golden Touch advantage-play seminars in craps and blackjack. His websites are www.goldentouchcraps.com, www.goldentouchblackjack.com and www.scoblete.com in association with CasinoCityTimes.com. His recent books are The Golden Touch Dice Control Revolution! and The Golden Touch Blackjack Revolution! His new DVD is Golden Touch Dice Control DVD showing over 200 controlled dice throws – many in slow motion. For a free brochure or to order Frank's products, call 1-800-944-0406.
The Best and Worst Bets in the Casinos.
Baccarat is one of the easiest casino games to play. With just three possible bets to make, it's easy to mix things up and feel good about where you're choosing to drop your chips. But not all bets are created equal. Did you know that one specific bet comes with the best odds while one other bet should be completely avoided?
Today, we're digging deep to show you which bets you should stick with and which to avoid. And if you think that the Banker's hand is always the bet you should stick with, there's a lot more to the story worth considering. Here are three best Baccarat betting strategies:
- Bet on banker's hand – banker bets have a 1.06% house advantage.
- Bet on player's hand – save the 5% house commission on banker's bets.
- Avoid the tie bet – tie bets have a 15.75% house advantage.
Your Best Bet: Banker's Hand
Baccarat is truly unique. Unlike Blackjack or other card games where you are the player, and you vie head to head against the house, in Baccarat you have the option to bet on whether the Player's hand will win or whether the Banker's hand will win.
Betting on the Banker's hand is your best bet. That's because Banker bets have a 1.06% house advantage compared to a Player's bet, which comes with a 1.24% house advantage. Don't let the 0.22% difference fool you. Even a 0.01% difference is a big deal, especially when you're playing casino games for real money.
A Bet Worth Considering: Player's Hand
When you win by betting on the Banker, the house takes a 5% commission. That's because they need to accommodate for the lower house edge. Chances are you'll win more frequently on the Banker's bet, and the house isn't just going to hand over that extra money blindly. Remember, casinos are in the business to make money, not hand it out willy-nilly.
But the thing is casino games are random. So betting on the Player is still a viable option and one that could yield big results. For that reason, Player bets are worth betting on, especially if you can't deal with watching the dealer trim a little but off the top of your winnings.
The Bet to Avoid: A Tie
Betting on a tie in Baccarat might seem like a good move. After all, when a tie hits and you bet on one, the payout is pretty sweet. But betting on a tie hand comes with a house edge of 15.75%.
To put this in perspective, one of the biggest scam bets in Baccarat is Big 6 or 8. Betting on a Place 6,8 comes with a 1.52% house edge, yet betting on Big 6 or 8 moves the house edge up to 9.09%. That's arguably one of the worst bet in craps, yet it seems like a bargain when you compare it to betting on a tie in Baccarat.
If you're still unsure of whether betting on a tie is worth it, a good rule of thumb to follow is that if a game offers a tie bet, don't bother. For example, in Casino War, the house has an 18.65% edge for tie bets.
These aren't always the three best bets
We've listed the best bets from first to worst, but you should always heed this advice. Betting on a tie is always a bad idea unless of course, you've got x-ray vision and no what's coming next. Assuming you don't, that leaves two best—betting on a Player and betting on a Banker.
We already told you that betting on a Banker is always your best bet. However, you might want to ignore this advice if you're following a Baccarat betting system. If you're employing a betting strategy system like Martingale, we recommend avoiding the Banker bet completely.
While the odds are more in your favor with the Banker's bet, sticking to this bet could eat into your profits and ruin your betting strategy. With Martingale, you're constantly doubling your bet after a loss. After a series of losses, you'll come out ahead when you finally do win, assuming you manage to do so before you hit the table maximum. But that's only if you stick to the Player's bet.
If you opt to bet on the Banker, you're paying the house a commission when you finally win. That commission could eat into your profit, which means when you finally do win, you may be looking at a net loss. Had you bet on the Player, you would be ahead in the same situation, with the same series of losses.
Test out these three best now
If you want to put these bets to the ultimate test, you've got two choices:
- Head to your local casino. If you live in Vegas, you'll probably find $10 minimums on a weekday, assuming you're not playing at a high-end casino. If you're playing at Wynn, Bellagio, or somewhere of equal caliber, those minimums could jump to $25 a hand. Of course, when you win, you'll win big. But it's not necessarily the best way to figure out how these Baccarat bets pay off (especially because they don't always pay off). That brings us to #2.
- Try playing online casino games. At CoolCat Casino, you can play free Baccarat without having to risk real money. To get started, create an account at CoolCat Casino, sign in, and choose the free option. While you won't win real money, you also won't risk real money. But that doesn't mean you won't get to play with chips. At the free Baccarat tables, you'll be given a giant stack of chips. They just happen to have a cash value of $0. By using your free casino chips, you can find out firsthand how much a waste the tie bet is, how lucrative the Banker's bet is, and how sometimes the Player bet pays off (especially if you're using a betting strategy).
When you're ready to win real money at CoolCat Online Casino, a simple deposit turns that free casino into a real money casino in a snap. Remember, we have more than just Baccarat. You'll find all your favorite games, including casino War, so you can discover that all tie bets are for suckers.
CoolCat Winners
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He was coming off a previous win, so he started betting at $60 a spin.
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But it was the final Free Game Feature that really made Matt's night. He triggered 20 Free Games and won a total of $21,785. That's a good Friday night.
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