Which Online Casino Game Should I Play?

If you're looking forward to 2008 and wondering which online casino game you should focus on, hopefully the following article will help you decide.

There are now literally hundreds of online casino games for players to choose from, with popular card and table games and lots of variations on these, dozens of variations of online slots with huge progressive jackpots, wide ranges of video poker games, arcade games, unique games (like Roshambo) and more. With all these games to choose from, how does a player decide which game is for them?

The most obvious point is that you should be playing online casino games primarily for fun, so you should play the games you find the most enjoyable. All casino games have inherent house advantage – this means the mathematics of each game are designed to favor the online casino hosting the game.

Of course, you can win large amounts playing any game, regardless of the house advantage. But you will have a better chance of winning playing games with low house advantage as opposed to games which heavily favor the house.

Here is a ranking of some of the most popular online casino games and their respective house advantage, listed from worst to best:

Slots - Generally speaking, Slot games are mathematically very bad for the player. Whilst they are a lot of fun to play, and you can win huge progressive jackpots if you are one of the few lucky ones, the machines are programmed to return a large percentage of wagers to the house, and online casinos make a lot of money on their Slot games. Online Slot games are almost always more fair than their land-based colleagues, however you will still be facing between 5-10% house advantage whenever you play Slots.

Caribbean Stud / Three Card Poker / Let It Ride - These three card games are popular and fun to play, but they usually have pretty high house advantage. You will be looking at around 3% minimum and as high as 10% for some Caribbean Stud variations.

Roulette - European Roulette (with only one Zero) has 2.7% house advantage, no matter where you place your bets on the layout. American Roulette (with Zero and Double Zero) has 5.4% house edge.

Online Poker - The house takes a very small percentage from each pot as you are not playing the house, but rather other players. The rake is usually 5% with a low cap, and the higher you play, the lower the rake will be in relation to pot size. Be wary though, the online poker games of the world are full of talented players armed with mathematic and strategical advantage – you may be simply better off playing a casino game.

Craps - House advantage varies depending on what bets you make. You can play Craps with as low as 1% house advantage, but the bets on the inside of the layout will hurt you badly in the long run.

Baccarat - There is no skill in Baccarat, but the game has a very low house advantage of between 1 and 1.5%.

Blackjack - Still the most popular online casino game in the world, Blackjack also enjoys a very low house advantage. Playing perfect strategy, you can easily be playing with as low as half a percent house advantage.

Video Poker - Video Poker games like Jacks or Better have very low house advantage if you're playing perfect strategy, but playing perfectly is very hard and requires extensive knowledge and good rules. Nonetheless, Video Poker games are very enjoyable and you can play with as little as 0.4% house advantage – you can also win large amounts if you can get some Royal and Straight Flushes.

• 
• 
• Email to a friend
• Print