About casino card games
Modern-day online casinos tend to offer a stunning selection of casino games, from slots, to card games, to craps. While slots are the undeniable favorite among the casino audience, gambling card games are stepping on their heels. The choice of gambling card games varies across online casinos. However, each respectable gambling site nowadays offers three types of casino games:
- blackjack;
- poker games;
- baccarat.
Let’s make a basic overview of each of these iconic gambling card games and casino card game rules.
Blackjack
Blackjack is a casino card game which is played with a standard 52-card deck. The goal of this amazing casino card game is to collect a total as close to 21 as possible. Each card is assigned a certain value. For example, any face card is worth 10 points. Cards 2 through 10 are calculated as their numerical values, e.g. a 4 is worth 4 points. As for the Ace, it has a fluctuating value. It can be worth either 1 or 11. Each player can choose from a limited suite of moves. For example, you can take an extra card (Hit), refuse to take an extra card (Stand), split your hand into two separate hands (Double Down), and so on.
If you have a Natural blackjack on your first hand, you get paid 3 to 2. If no one has a Natural Blackjack, the game continues. If you end up with a hand that comes closer to 21 than the dealer’s hand, you get paid 2 to 1.
Poker
Poker is another iconic casino card game that uses a standard 52-card deck. The number of players varies from 2 to 10. While poker comes in numerous variations, Texas Hold’em is commonly considered to be the basic version of blackjack that everyone starts with. When playing Texas Holdem at a casino, your goal is to build the best 5-card combination in each hand and collect as many chips as possible. Your betting options include: Call, Raise, Fold, Check, and All In. And of course, even if you’ve never played poker in your entire life, you must’ve heard the names of poker hands, such as Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four-of-a-Kind, Three-of-a-Kind, Flush, Straight, etc.
While poker may seem daunting at first, it’s not quite so. You shouldn’t believe the myths telling how difficult and hard-to-learn this game is. Don’t let this idle gossip put you off and kill your enthusiasm. You simply need to get into the groove with this casino card game. Once you’ve grasped the main idea behind poker, it’s all downhill from there. Top popular poker variations include Texas Hold’em, Omaha Poker, Seven-Card Stud Poker, etc.
Baccarat
Compared to blackjack and poker, playing baccarat feels like a Hawaii vacation! This casino card game stands out through its simplicity. Plus, unlike the two other gambling card games, the outcome in baccarat depends purely on luck. Basically, baccarat is an exciting guessing game that doesn’t require any skills or analytical thinking.
You have three betting options. You can bet on the Banker, the Player or the Tie. The dealer deals cards to players and themselves. Both the players and the dealer are allowed to take extra cards (hit) or stand. There are certain rules for when the dealer and the players are allowed to take additional cards, depending on the current hand total. After everyone has made their move, the hand totals are calculated. Like in blackjack, face cards (King, Queen, Jack) are worth 10 points each. An Ace is calculated as 1 point. As for cards 2 through 10, they’re worth their nominal value. To be announced the winner, the player must have the total that comes closest to 9.
Gambling card games vs Slots
If you’re growing tired of slot machines and want to exercise your mind, go ahead and explore blackjack or poker. These two casino card games offer a major change from noisy online pokies. Blackjack and poker allow you to make your own decisions and boost your winning chances. These casino card games give you an opportunity to put your strategic thinking and analytical skills to work. If you like the sound of it, you’re sure to enjoy blackjack and poker! Plus, these are the only casino card games where you can reduce the house edge by applying a winning strategy. Yes, these gambling card games each have strategies that really work!
As for baccarat, it’s drastically different from blackjack and poker. Despite some obvious similarities with blackjack, baccarat is, in fact, a game of chance. Your aim is to guess who will end up with a winning hand. Since you make your bet before the game starts, there is nothing that could guide you in your decision. When playing baccarat, you should listen to your gut feeling and rely on your intuition. It’s the only thing left to do. If you like the games where your gambling performance lies in the hands of luck, baccarat is the best casino card game for you! If, for some reason, you’ve been ignoring baccarat so far, it’s high time that you put it on your list of casino card games!
FAQ on casino card games
- What is the most popular gambling card game in the world?
- While there is no accurate statistics on which of these three casino card games is the most played, we’d say that blackjack is one of the biggest attractions at any online casino. Although it can’t quite beat the super popular slots, blackjack still has a huge following among both new and seasoned gamblers. Along with classic blackjack, casino fans can try their hand at entertaining blackjack variations, such as Blackjack Switch, Spanish 21, Super Fun 21, Atlantic City Blackjack, Face Up Blackjack and many others. These games vary by a number of aspects, including rules, payouts, house edges, and strategies. Mastering each blackjack variation requires your dedicated attention and lots of training.
- Should I play gambling card games for free or for real money?
- This depends entirely on your skillset. If you’re just starting to explore the world of casino card games, you should stick with free demo mode. Give yourself time to get the gist of gambling card games with no stress or pressure. When playing in demo mode, you’re not risking any money. This way, you create a healthy, safe environment for training your skills and learning the optimal strategies. If, however, you’re good at casino card games, you can venture into making real-money bets. Avoid growing overconfident, though. You must always be on your guard. Make the habit of setting the stop loss and stop win limits and actually sticking to them.
- Can I beat the house at blackjack and poker?
- Unfortunately, the answer to this question is “no”. While you can gain a short-term advantage over the casino, there is no chance you can beat it in the long term. Don’t despair, though. You can still significantly improve your player edge when playing both blackjack and poker. The basic blackjack strategy takes down the house edge to a nice 0.5%. As for poker variations, they have a player-friendly house edge to begin with. For example, for Three-card Poker and Pai Gow Poker these values are 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively. If you’re committed to honing your poker skills and using a good strategy, you have all chances to lower these values even further.
- Is there a winning strategy for baccarat?
- There are several baccarat winning strategy, however the player must always guess the outcome of the game. This is what separates baccarat from blackjack and poker. The only tip we can give you is to keep betting on the Banker’s hand. This bet has the minimum house edge (1.06%). According to statistics, the Banker wins more often than the Player. As for the rest, your best friend when playing baccarat casino game is your intuition. A word of advice: Avoid betting on the Tie - unless you have money to burn. While this bet comes with a royal payout, it has an exorbitant house edge of over 14%.