The arrival of web-based gambling platforms over the past decade or so has made casino gaming more popular, and more accessible, than ever before. It’s no surprise that as well as millions trying to make a fortune from beating the house, there are hundreds who have tried to make money by sharing their “fool proof strategies” for gambling success.
Take a moment to think about it and it becomes obvious that no such thing exists. Casinos are businesses, they need to pay salaries and deliver profits to their shareholders like everyone else. That means taking more money in wagers than they hand out in winnings. The House Always Wins is an axiom that can’t be circumvented.
Minimizing losses
When asked for gambling advice, an experienced croupier once said that instead of looking for ways to win as much as possible, which is a fool’s errand, gamblers should focus on losing as little as possible. When you look at it from that perspective, you improve your chances of sometimes cheating the law of averages and walking away with a profit.
It won’t happen every time, and in the long run, the house always wins remains an immutable truth. But by playing the right games and playing them smart, you’ll both minimize your losses and maximize your chances of an upset.
Video poker
A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Those who know a little about poker dismiss video poker as an over-simplified training tool that is beneath them. In fact, it is the only game in the casino where you can eliminate the house edge entirely.
Of course, to do so means playing the right variation and playing perfect strategy. Most players won’t do that, so the casino still makes its profit. But install a good training app on your phone and focus on deuces wild instead of jacks or better and you could have the last laugh.
Before you begin, always check the pay table is “full pay” – that means five to one for four of a kind and three to one for a full house. If a casino is offering anything less, walk away and try another – there are plenty of reputable platforms to choose from listed on the Gamble Online review site at https://www.gambleonline.co/.
Blackjack
Prefer something a little more interactive than a video poker terminal? Then head on over to the blackjack table. Everyone knows how to play blackjack, and if you sit down and face the dealer with a vague idea of what you are doing but no clear strategy, the house edge is about three percent.
You can knock that down to less than two percent by devoting an afternoon to learning half a dozen basic strategy rules on when to hit, stand, split pairs and so on. Take your studies a little deeper, and learn areas like compositional dependent strategy and the basics of rudimentary card counting, and the house edge reduces to less than one percent.
Good luck, and remember – the house always wins, but you can do plenty to minimize your losses!
