Blackjack is one of the most popular casino games, but there are other casino games out there that involve a lot less stress than blackjack on the amateur gambler, the three we have in mind being baccarat. craps and roulette in particular. When played correctly, the odds are almost .5 per cent in playing blackjack, but the strain on your nerves can be brutal. Therefore, we’ll start with the least stressful, low house edge game in the casino, which is baccarat.
Baccarat
The house edge on baccarat is 1.06 per cent if you bet on the banker to win and 1.24 per cent if you bet on the player to win, not as good theoretically as blackjack, but what makes this still very low house advantage game worthy of play is its simplicity. How is baccarat simple? In this discussion, we’ll skip betting on the tie, which is a suckers bet, where the house advantage is 14.36 per cent, the simplicity of the game is that the rules are completely automatic. What do you mean by automatic? In baccarat First, you are dealt two cards. Picture cards and 10s count as 0, Aces count as 1, and 2-9 cards are worth their total. The highest point score is a 9, called a natural, so if you have a jack and a 9 for example, your score is 9 and whichever stance you took, banker or player wins. Once you go over 10, you drop 10 points, so a 9 and a 6 would be 15 total, but your points in baccarat would be 5. If either player gets either an 8 or a 9 it’s considered a natural and they win unless you have an 8 natural and the opposing player has a 9. For the player, they stand on 6 or 7 automatically, and if you have from zero to five you draw a card. For the player, the rules of drawing a third card are somewhat more complicated, but again the dealer will follow the rules as to when to give the dealers a third card. The magic of the game is that baccarat is low stress, with only one essential decision, whether to bet for the player or the house. And by the way, the somewhat lower odds for the banker are evened out by charing a small commission for betting for the banker. There being no difficult decision like in blackjack when you have a 12, 13, or 14 in deciding whether to stay or hit, after a few rounds of baccarat, blackjack players will wonder how they ever missed this game. And by the way, don’t be put off by the roped-off area of a casino for baccarat. The area is roped off because a lot of high rollers like to play the game. But if you are in a physical casino and the roped off area intimidates you, look for mini-baccarat tables, which are just like blackjack tables and less intimidating. One tip though. At the casino, they pass out tally sheets for baccarat players to keep track of who is winning, the player or the banker. However, just as in flipping coin which lands sometimes 4 or 5 times on heads, in baccarat, the result of a new game will always be the same, with a slight advantage for the banker, but over thousands of plays, pretty much one to one. The best way to win? Play fewer games with bigger stakes and hope you get lucky.
Craps
Our second game is craps, which is one of the most popular casino games in the world. One of the reasons for the popularity is that there are 120 different bets in craps making it a game with tremendous variety. However, here we’re only talking about 4 different bets, two of which are almost identical. Let’s say a new shooter comes out (it doesn’t have to be you by the way. ) The shooter rolls two dice, and you bet $10 in chips on the pass line, which is an area in green on the outer edge of the table. If the shooter rolls 7 or 11, the pass line bet wins. If the shooter 2, 3 or 12 he (and you) lose. If the shooter rolls any number other than a 7, 11, 2, 3, or 12, that becomes his point. Then the shooter continues to roll, and if he rolls his point, he wins, and if he rolls a 7 he loses. The odds of this simple bet are a house edge of only 1.41 per cent. Although less popular as some fellow betters feel betting on the don’t pass bet, which is just the opposite of the pass line bet, is a house advantage of 1.36 per cent. Both these bets are extremely good odds, and if you stick to pass or don’t pass bets, or the second of two bets, come and don’t come after a point is established you’ll at the very have a relaxing time at the tables with little or no stress.
Roulette
Compared to baccarat or basic craps, the game of roulette is not nearly as good of odds. The European version of Roulette with one zero has a house advantage of 2.7 per cent, while the house advantage of typical American double-zero roulette is 5.4 per cent. Never the less, with 38 possible combinations of bets and the illusion that with red and black or odd or even you have a 50=50 chance (don’t forget those pesky zeros) the game of roulette is quite relaxing and can be a great alternative to a high-stress game like blackjack or poker, and is certainly a better play than your typical slot machine.