Beginner gamblers often go into the casino without a plan or direction. This is exactly what the casino is hoping for because it’s easier to take their money.
Real money casino games are based on basic math. They are strategically designed to give the house an edge in the long run. If beginners are not following a casino strategy, these players are only adding to the casino’s advantage.
The best casino strategy can even flip the odds against the house. Card counting is beyond what a beginner should learn. However, a good card counter and advantage player can turn the odds in their favor.
Before learning about advanced gambling strategies, it is important to get the best casino strategies for beginners down pat.
The best lessons are often the mistakes we make in life. So, do not worry if you make mistakes at the start of your gambling career. This is all part of the process. However, if you follow our helpful casino strategy guide, it can be a lot easier to have success at online casinos or your favorite land-based establishments.
How To Win At The Casino
It’s safe to say that the reason why we gamble is to win money at the casino. However, for many gamblers, winning can be difficult especially if you are a beginner. The goal of this casino strategy guide is to put you in an optimal position for success by lowering the house edge, pointing out the best bets, and teaching you how to manage your money.
But, before putting your casino strategy into action, ensure you are of sound mind. In other words, if you are angry, upset, sad, or under the influence, only consider gambling when you feel fine.
Also, make sure you are financially capable of gambling too. Don’t gamble with money that you can’t afford to lose. With that said, let’s get into the meat and potatoes of this guide.
Our casino strategy guide includes the following tips:
- Bet A Small Percentage Of Your Bankroll Per Wager
- Play Games With The Lowest House Edge
- Play At Tables or Machines With The Best Rules
- Use A Basic Blackjack Strategy Cheat Card
- Never Take Insurance Or Side Bets In Blackjack
- Bet On The Banker In Baccarat
- Stick To The Pass Line and Don’t Pass Bets In Craps
Keep in mind, you can choose just one of these casino strategies or combine a few of them to create your own best casino strategy.
1. Bet A Small Percentage Of Your Bankroll Per Wager
Bankroll management is the foundation for your casino strategy. If you are not going to follow a bankroll management strategy, then do not bother playing at real money online casinos.
Gamblers that do not manage their money properly in the casino are best friends to the house. This is why we are putting out a public service announcement to manage your bankroll.
For instance, with sports betting, bettors should only wager 1% to 3% of their bankroll per bet. This same system can be applied to casino games.
For casino table games, we suggest 3% of your bankroll per bet. If you want to play $5.00 blackjack, roulette, craps, and so on, a bankroll of around $170.00 should be required.
The 3% rule ensures that you can withstand the volatility of the game. There are going to be ups and downs. You must have the right bankroll ready to ride the waves.
2. Play Games With The Lowest House Edge
One of the worst things casino beginners can do is run over and sit down on a game with a bad house edge. Most beginners are attracted to the flashy lights on slot machines. Slots can be fun, but they do not belong in a best casino strategy guide for beginners.
Slot machines have a high house edge, with some real money slots as high as 15%. This is not a casino strategy for success.
Other casino games that have a higher house edge include in-person and online Keno and the Big Six Wheel. These are both lousy bets with no strategy involved. Sic Bo is a popular Asian table game online, which should be avoided as well.
What Casino Game Has The Best Odds (Lowest House Edge)?
3. Play At Tables or Machines With The Best Rules
After establishing the games in the casino with the lowest house edge, it is important to sit down at tables that have the best rules.
This is especially important for blackjack tables. The rules can vary greatly from table to table. As a general rule for beginners, whether it’s in person or you want to play blackjack online, search for the tables that pay 3:2 for a blackjack.
The fewer decks in the game, the lower the house edge will be for the player. A single or double-deck 3:2 blackjack game is the holy grail of gambling.
Try to avoid 6:5 blackjack as much as possible. These games often come with a six or eight-deck shoe. This is a horrible trap for beginners.
If you cannot find 3:2 blackjack, consider playing Spanish 21 or Blackjack Switch instead. Even Double Exposure Blackjack is a better bet than 6:5 blackjack.
Our favorite online gambling site for Blackjack is BetOnline. This casino has over 20 different blackjack games to choose from including Blackjack Switch, Spanish 21, and Double Exposure. But, the best part of it all, BetOnline also has single deck 3:2 blackjack.
You can start your blackjack journey at BetOnline with some incredible casino bonuses that include a 100% matching welcome bonus to first time players and 100% crypto bonus for those that deposit with crypto for the first time.
Run Away From Triple-Zero Roulette
For roulette, one of the best casino strategies is to walk away from double zero (American) roulette and run away from triple zero roulette. If you want to play roulette online or in-person, single zero (European) has the most player-friendly rules and the better odds since there’s only one green zero on the roulette wheel.
Video Poker With The Best Pay Tables
Lastly, video poker players should look for the machines with the best pay tables in the casino. The pay tables are on the machine, above where the cards are dealt. The best Jacks or Better paytable is a 9/6 game, followed by 9/5, and 8/5. This includes looking for the best video poker app as well. Make sure the app has the best pay tables as well.
4. Use A Basic Blackjack Strategy Cheat Card
There is nothing against the rules about using a blackjack strategy card. In fact, land-based casinos will allow you to use the basic strategy card at tables.
If you are too intimidated by using a cheat card inside a casino, there is no pressure at online casinos. Have the tip card in front of you or in a browser for when you play blackjack online.
Simply put, the card will inform you of the correct statistical move to hit or stand. It will also suggest if the player should double down or split.
Basic strategy does not give the player an advantage over the house, but it does ensure they are playing as close to the house edge as possible.
Blackjack has a terrific house edge as far as casino games go, so this puts you well ahead of most players in the casino. Playing without following basic blackjack strategy skews the odds heavily in favor of the house.
5. Never Take Insurance Or Side Bets In Blackjack
Your casino strategy should not include taking insurance or side bets at the blackjack table. Side bets that have jackpots, in particular, can be tempting. However, the odds suggest passing on all side bets and insurance.
Casinos do not offer these side bets for your benefit. Like introducing 6:5 blackjack tables, side bets are the house’s advantage.
For the bonus side bets, the house edge can tip over 2% if you decide to play these wagers. Taking insurance can be even worse for blackjack players.
The house edge eclipses 7.5% when you opt for insurance in an eight-deck blackjack game. The odds are not too much better for single and double-deck blackjack either.
6. Bet On The Banker In Baccarat
Beginners might avoid baccarat because it is not the most mainstream casino game, despite its popularity in James Bond movies. However, the concept is easy to pick up and learn fast. It is one of the best games in the casino that is based entirely on luck with no strategy involved, like blackjack.
In-person and online baccarat is the closest thing to a flip of the coin that you are going to find in the casino. This is the best casino strategy if you don’t want to do much thinking while gambling.
There are three bets available to make in baccarat:
- Banker
- Player
- Tie
The Banker bet has the lowest house edge at 1.06%. The Player bet follows at 1.24%. NEVER consider betting on a Tie. The Tie bet is a horrible wager. The house edge pushes well over 10% to 14.36% for a Tie wager. We have a handy baccarat strategy guide that further expands on these bets and odds.
Our favorite place to play baccarat at is Wild Casino. There are several baccarat games to choose from at Wild Casino with all of them providing an exciting gaming experience. This site is also one of the best live dealer casinos for baccarat as there are multiple live tables to choose from as well.
Wild Casino offers a 100% welcome bonus to new players of up to $5,000, a staggering crypto bonus matching up to $9,000, weekly rebates, free spins and so much more. You will definitely be able extend your baccarat ventures with all of the bonuses offered at Wild Casino.
7. Stick To The Pass Line and Don’t Pass Bets In Craps
Craps online or in person can be incredibly intimidating for gamblers just starting out. They usually shy away from craps because the layout can be confusing.
However, there are only two bets that beginners should be concerned with at craps:
The Pass Line is arguably the most popular craps bet. If you hear big cheers and a commotion coming from craps, it is probably because they are on a hot run on the Pass Line. The house edge for the Pass Line is 1.41%.
The Don’t Pass is the opposite of the Pass Line bet. While you are not going to make friends at the craps table, the Don’t Pass has a house edge of 1.36%. Remember, the majority of people want the Pass Line to win, but the odds suggest betting on Don’t Pass.
Avoid The Exotic Craps Bets
The purpose of this casino strategy is to avoid the exotic bets scattered around the craps table. There are some terrible bets out there.
For instance, the Any Craps bet has a house edge of 11.11%. A hard 4, 10 craps bet has the same house edge. A hard 6,8 bet? That has a house edge of 9.09%.
The worst craps bets you can make are the 2, 12, all hard hops bet (13.89% house edge) and Any Seven is the absolute worst, with a house edge of 16.67%.
Keep It Simple When Playing Craps
The simplest way to play craps is by wagering on the Pass and Don’t Pass bets. Additionally, that simplicity also extends to choosing Bovada as your site to play craps at. This online casino is perfect for beginners looking to try their hand at craps because Bovada allows users to play for free. That’s right! You can practice all you want, before playing for real money.
The craps game itself, simplifies the layout and provides details on the odds for each type of craps bet. Furthermore, Bovada lists rules on how to play the game and a payout table that details how much money you can win on any craps wager.
If that wasn’t enough to convince you to play craps at Bovada, this casino also offers a welcome bonus up to $3,000. Additionally, Bovada is also one of the top online sportsbooks. So, you can not only play craps, but also wager on your favorite sports games or events.