Guide To Casino Game Odds
When it comes to being successful in a casino, arguably the best thing that you can do is to understand the odds of the casino game that you are playing. When you know this, it means that you will be able to make up your mind for yourself which one you want to play. However, in some cases, players just have a game that they prefer over others, though whichever may be the reason, it is always good to know your chances of winning.
Which Casino Games have what Odds?
In order to ascertain which casino games might be your favourite, we must first find out what odds are associated with each one because this will help to give you a better idea of the ones that might appeal the most.
What is important to remember is that throughout any game, the odds can change significantly in either the house or player’s favour depending on a number of factors, such as how many cards are in play for example, while the house edge has a considerable influence on the odds in casino games as well. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at each game in more detail and shed some light on this for you.
Blackjack
While it would be fair to say that this game carries with it a significant amount of luck, in terms of being able to win big, there is still an element of skill involved, such as knowing when to ‘stand’.
When it comes to blackjack, the odds of the game are displayed as a percentage for the players and this means that they are used as a way to establish your probability of winning or losing at every point of the game. Due to the fact that they are governed by a number of variables, they have a habit of being quite dynamic. The odds here change based on the house edge, rules of the game at each stage, possible outcomes and also how many decks are being used.
Being able to understand your odds of going bust in a certain situation in blackjack (although extremely difficult!), can assist you in being able to make much more effective choices when it comes playing your next hand. If you feel that there is a good chance that you will go bust for example, because you are already on ‘20’, you can more or less work out the odds for yourself and know that by and large, it is not worth it.
In blackjack, one thing that is related to being able to ascertain the odds in each situation is your own strategy. While it may be hard to work out precisely what the odds are for every eventuality such as drawing a three if you are stood on ‘18’, you should know that you have quite good odds of winning.
Odds are essentially based on probability; a form of statistical mathematics that bamboozles even the brightest graduates. In simple terms, the probability formula is worked out using ‘the number of possible ways’ divided by the ‘number of possible events’, which is why in blackjack (in land-based casinos at least), they use multiple decks of cards, so even if you are ‘Good Will Hunting’, it is virtually impossible to calculate the odds at every stage of the game.
Should you be playing with one deck of cards then, of course, it is a lot easier to determine the odds in a certain situation, though you would still need to have strong mathematics skills and of course, this could be classed as card counting, which is illegal.
Roulette
This is a game where odds and probability feature considerably, with so many permutations for different situations and outcomes. And then this all depends on whether you are playing American roulette or European roulette because the former has two zeros, which means the house edge increases and as a result has an influence on the odds.
In roulette though, there are two different kinds of bets; inside bets and outside bets which are derived from the bet positions on the paytable.
Outside Bets in Roulette
In roulette, it is the people who prefer to play it safe who often prefer the outside bets, due to the fact that they have much better odds of winning associated with them. The most popular of these are the ‘even money’ bets because of the fact that they cover almost half of all possible outcomes, excluding the ‘zero’ and ‘double zero’ in American roulette. In roulette, all even bets are classed as ‘red or black’, ‘odds or evens’, ‘1 to 18’ or ‘19 to 36’.
Each of these bets has a 48.65 percent chance of winning in European roulette, while in American roulette it is 47.37 percent. Because the probability for these is so high, it means that the payout for them is 1:1.
The other outside bets in roulette are known as ‘column’ or ‘dozen’ and they both cover 12 numbers on the table which is about a third if you discount the ‘zero’ and ‘double zero’. The ‘dozen’ bet is self-explanatory enough, meaning you choose which set of dozen numbers that you want to make a bet on, for example, ‘1-12’, ‘12-24’ or ‘24-36’ also known as the first, second or third column.
For these bets, the winning odds are 32.43 percent in European roulette and 31.58 percent for the American style. The payout for a dozen or column bet is 2:1.
Inside Bets in Roulette
These kinds of bets are where you bet on a single number of a small group of them and as a result of this, there is a mix of ways that you can group them in order to make a relevant bet, however, they all share a relationship to that number’s position on the table. Although inside bets have much lower odds than outside bets in roulette, their payouts are much higher. Let’s take a look at the different ones that are available.
Straight: This is where you make a bet on one specific number and is also called single number betting. With the lowest probability of winning, this bet also has the highest payout at 35:1 and the odds of the ball landing on the specific number that you bet on is 2.70 percent in European roulette and 2.63 percent in American roulette.
Split: A bet which means betting on two numbers out of the 37 (or 38) that are available, however, the numbers that you choose have to be next to each other on the table. There is a 17:1 payout for this bet, while the odds of winning this are 5.41 percent in European roulette and 2.63 percent for American roulette.
Street: Relating to a three number bet in which players are able to bet on a row of numbers, such as four, five and six or 19, 20 and 21. With an 8.11 percent probability of winning in European roulette and 7.89 percent in American roulette, the payout is 11:1.
Corner: Where you are able to bet on four numbers which essentially make up a visual square on the table, this bet pays at 8:1 and in European roulette, you get odds of 10.81 percent, while it is 10.53 percent for its colonial cousin.
Double Street: Quite a popular bet in roulette, this is where you can bet on two rows of numbers which encompass a total of six numbers overall. Here, the payout stands at 5:1, while in European roulette, you get odds of 16.22 percent and 15.79 percent for the American version.
Basket: Also known as a ‘five number bet’, this is only available or American roulette which allows players to make bets on zero, double zero, one, two and three, while odds of winning are 13.16 percent with a 6:1 payout.
Baccarat
A game which befuddles even the brainiest of players, baccarat is actually the most played casino game in the world, despite the fact that it is perhaps overshadowed in Las Vegas by others.
In baccarat, the house edge plays a considerable part in determining the odds for the game, because there are so many different variations of bets that you can make. This means that each type of bet that you can make has a different house edge because there are so many different elements to the game. This is shown below:
- Banker bet house edge: 1.06%
- Player bet house edge: 1.24%
- Tie bet house edge: 14.36%
- Pair bet house edge: 10.36%
Delving deeper to translate this into the odds of this happening, these are as follows:
- Banker bet odds of winning: 50.68%
- Player bet odds of winning: 44.62%
- Tie bet odds of winning: 9.53%
- Pair bet odds of winning: 9.09%
When it comes to odds in baccarat, there are so many variables to factor in due to the fact that there are so many possible hands that you can play and also win with. Also, because (similar to blackjack), players are playing against the banker, the odds can fluctuate dramatically.
Poker
There are so many different forms of poker that you can play, though each one has similar principles; essentially the player with the best hand wins, check out our how to beat poker tips guide by Tadas Peckaitis. However, this is a game that arguably has the most amount of skill involved.
The most common form of poker, which is the most widely played is Texas Hold’Em and it is also the game that features in the major professional tournaments.
Where the odds in poker become complicated is throughout the various stages of the game, because even though you play with one deck of cards, players can only really guess the odds of different scenarios happening based on the cards that are in play, while trying to predict the cards that everyone else around the table has based on how they play.
The ‘how they play’ part is quite significant here because it is where the skill element of the game comes into it. This is known as ‘bluffing’ and is true in a lot of cases because players can influence the behaviour of other players based on how they play a hand, potentially leading other players to believe that they have better cards than they actually do.
Below, we look at each of the possibilities and the odds of making certain hands, using Texas Hold’Em as an example, which is an apt illustration to be able to give you an idea.
Key
A= Ace
K= King
Q= Queen
J= Jack
Odds and Probability of being dealt a certain hand in Texas Hold’Em
| Hand | Probability | Odds |
| A-K’s (or any suited hand) | 0.0032 | 333-1 |
| A-A (or any pair) | 0.00453 | 220-1 |
| A-K’s, K-Q’s, Q-J’s, J-10’s | 0.0121 | 81.9-1 |
| A-K (or any hand that isn’t a pair - suited) | 0.0121 | 81.9-1 |
| A-A, K-K, Q-Q | 0.0136 | 72.7-1 |
| A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J | 0.0181 | 54.3-1 |
| Suited cards or Jack and better | 0.0181 | 54.3-1 |
| A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, 10-10 | 0.0226 | 43.2-1 |
| Suited Cards, 10 or better | 0.0302 | 32.2-1 |
| Suited Connectors | 0.0392 | 32.2-1 |
| Any Pocket Pair | 0.0588 | 16-1 |
Summary
Knowing the odds for casino games can work in your favour considerably, however, more often than not, the majority of players take part in casino games, more for fun than to play them seriously. Also, because the games move so quickly unless you are a maths genius, the likelihood of being able to use these to your advantage is slim, especially when playing live casino.
If you are aware of odds in certain scenarios in games though it is always worth it, as this will help with your decision-making process considerably.
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