Casino Games - Keno

Keno is a popular game played in many casinos today. It is also offered in some lotteries as a game. Although the word keno has French or Latin roots, the game’s origin is China. There’s a legend that the game’s invention saved one of the ancient Chinese cities at a time of war.


Rules

Participants in the game wager by choosing numbers starting from 1 through 80. Typically, they
choose 20 numbers, although some variants allow for fewer numbers. Then a computer selects 20 numbers at random. A player is paid based on how many numbers they chose, the numbers that matched the ones chosen by the computer, and their wager. Each casino has its own set payout, also referred to as a paytable.

Probabilities

The probability of setttling on all 20 figures a ticket with 20 spots 1 in a whopping 3.5 quintillion.


Winners

Over the years, Keno has produced big winners in different countries, with Mark Roy of Groton winning a total of 300,000 at the same tavern twice in 2017.

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Casino Games - Bingo

Bingo is a popular game available in many casinos around the world. The game is played for either cash or various prizes. So popular is the game that close to $100 million is spent every week on the game in North America.

History

Bingo was first played in 1530 in Italy after the country was unified. At the time, it was called Lo Giuoco del Lotto d'Italia. Since then, the game has been played at weekly intervals in many countries around the world.

Rules

There are different variants of Casino Bingo, but the general rules aren’t very different across the games. Players start by buying bingo tickets that have a 5x5 grid. Then the caller randomly chooses numbers and calls each number as players check and mark it on the tickets they bought. A player that completes the winning pattern is determined to be the winner.

Notable winners

In January 2008, Christine Bradfield from Bargoed bagged £1.1 million, which is one of the biggest wins in recent years.

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Casino Games - Backgammon

Backgammon is a common casino game that's played between two players. The game is played on a board with each player starting out with 15 checkers that move between 24 triangles. The game also involves the rolling of two dice.

History

Backgammon is among the first board games ever invented, having been created about five thousand years ago in Mesopotamia and Persia. The game has garnered a lot of interest from players and scientists alike. Today, the game is still wildly popular in the Middle East and around the world.

Rules

Each player’s aim is to beat their opponent in removing their checkers out of the board. Players roll the dice in turns and move their checkers on the board till all pieces are home. The first to do so is the winner.

Probabilities

Some of the fixed probabilities in backgammon are as follows:

Odds of a direct roll of a certain number such as 4 are 30.55%

Odds of getting a given double, like 2-2 are 2.77%

The probability of rolling any double is 16.66%

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Casino Games - Baccarat

Baccarat has gained prominence as a favorite card game for many casino-goers over the years. The player competes against the dealer by aiming to form a hand with a point value closer to 9 than the dealer.

History

Baccarat originated in Italy in the 15th century before spreading to France and other countries over the centuries. Today, it’s wildly popular in the poker room.

Rules

Players first place a bet on the banker’s hand, the player’s hand or a tie. When a player’s first two hands add up to 6 or higher, then they do not draw an additional card, while less than a total of 6 means that they must draw another card. Whether the dealer draws a card or not after the first
two cards is also determined by the total value of their cards, and whether the player has drawn a card.

Odds

Baccarat is designed in such a way that the player wins about 44.62% of the average time played.

Biggest winner

Aussie tycoon Kerry Packer, the famous gambler, is said to have won up to $40 million in blackjack and baccarat.

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Casino Games - Roulette

When you mention casinos to people, often the first thing that will come to mind is a roulette wheel. The roulette wheel is a spinning disk that has demarcations along it. The croupier spins a ball around wheel, and eventually, both the ball and the wheel come to a  rest, with the ball falling in any of the wheel’s divisions (from numbers ranging from 0 -36).

History

Roulette is believed to have been invented by French scientist Blaise Pascal in 1655 and was first
played in Paris.

Rules

Players place bets on the number they think will come up. Then the wheel is spun in one direction. As soon as the ball rests, slots, the croupier announces which number or combination has won and then takes all lost bets. The player is then paid with the winning bet.

Probabilities

The odds of any number coming up are 2.70%, but one can increase the probabilities by choosing a
combination of numbers.

Biggest win

The biggest win of roulette was in 1891 by Charles Wells. He won 2 million francs.

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Casino Games - Red Dog

Red dog poker is a variant of acey-deucey that’s played in many casinos. The game, like other variations of poker, is played with cards and players rely on chance to win. Many casinos
feature this game online, although its popularity on land was at its peak years ago.

History

Red Dog’s History in the US goes back to the 1800s when it was called In-Between. But, due to its rules that made the game extremely easy to cheat, the game's popularity among the natives suffered. In 1931, the game was reintroduced upon legalization of gambling in Las Vegas. This time, new rules were formulated to go with the game’s new name.

Rules

Red dog poker is played with three cards at any given time. The cards are given the same ranking as in poker: aces being high and suit irrelevant. Then the players make a wager, and two cards
are put on the table, face up. From the three possible outcomes of the game, a decision is made on how to proceed.

Probability

When using a 6-card deck, the probability of a spread of one is 0.077419.


Other Games

Another popular non-poker related casino card game is blackjack. Click through to consider your blackjack playing options!

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Red or Black?

Putting it all on the line like this definitely takes guts. You've got to be half nuts as well though I'd say! Still, I'm happy it worked out for the guy. Just don't do it again ;).

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Casino Games - Sic Bo

Sic Bo is a casino game where players use three dice. The aim is to predict the outcome of the roll correctly. The game is wildly popular in Macau casinos, although you’ll still find it in casinos elsewhere around the world.

History

The game has its origins in ancient China, so it’s believed to be hundreds or even thousands of years old. Sic Bo found its way in the U.S. during the early 1900’s after the arrival of the Chinese immigrants. In the UK, the game started being legally played in casinos in 2002.

Rules

Players make a bet on the value of the three dice before they’re rolled. The dice are then shaken, and the outcome determined after they’ve come to rest. This game strictly depends on chance, and any bet can either result in a win or a loss.

Probabilities

Odds of winning in Sic Bo typically range from 1:1 for an outcome of a single dice to 180:1 for three of a kind.

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Casino Games - Craps

Craps is a popular casino game where participants roll a dice, having made a wager on the outcome. Typically, players in casino craps bet against the bank, not against each other line in street craps.

History

Craps has its origins in a more complex game played centuries ago in Western Europe called Hazard. The game was introduced in the US by Bernard Xavier Philippe de Marigny de Mandeville in the early 1800s.

Rules

Participants in casino craps play the game while standing around a rectangular table designed for the game. Players are discouraged from doing sitting. Two dice are rolled, players having already wagered on the outcome. Every player in casino crab has an opportunity to roll the dice. You
win when the sum of the outcome is a 7 or 11.

Probability

The odds of getting a first roll sum from 2 to 12 differs. for instance, the odds of hitting a sum of 2 are 1 in 36, while that of getting 10 is 3 in 36.

Biggest winners

Between 1992 and 1995, Archie Karas won over $40 million in craps and poker.

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Casino Games - Video Poker

Video poker is a popular casino game that is based on 5-card draw poker. The participant plays on a computerized console that’s the same size as a slot machine.

History

Charles Fey invented the first draw poker machine in 1901. At the time, machines used 50 cards, making the odds of getting a royal flash half of those in a 52-card full deck. The first video machine was developed in 1970 by Dale Electronics.

Rules

Most video poker players prefer the Jacks or Better mode of the game. In this mode the player is supposed to have a pair of jacks or better to win. The payout of any hand of superior value is based on the predetermined scale, but the typical payout of a royal flush is 250x,

Odds

The odds of getting a royal are 1 in 16,215.

Biggest win

One of the biggest winners at video poker was 42-year-old Huck Seed who won $670,665 in Las Vegas.

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Casino Games - Caribbean Poker

Caribbean poker is a popular casino game with the same rules as a five-card poker, except that players compete against the casino, not each other. This means you can’t use common strategies like bluffing.

History

While there are conflicting views regarding the origin of Caribbean Poker, there are many who attribute the game’s early beginnings to Michael Titus and Dane Jones. The two supposedly learned the game in the 1980s  in Las Vegas from another gambler.

Rules

After placing an ante, players, as well as the bank, are assigned five cards each drawn from a standard 52-card deck. Once the players look at their cards and have seen the face-up card that’s dealt the banker in the beginning, they can either decide to double their stake or surrender to the bank.

Probability

The probability of winning with royal flush is 0.000001.

Notable winners

Sam Greenwood, a Canadian, is one of the biggest winners in the game’s history, having walked away with $1 million in 2017.

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Casino Games - Pachinko

Pachinko is Japan’s most popular casino game where the player launches several balls on the machine, which are then dropped on a vertical board with network of pegs. The game is often played for both recreational and gambling purposes.

History

Pachinko has its origins in the Corinth Game played in Chicago long before appearing in Japan in the 1920s. The first Pachinko machines in Japan were built as a toy for children and were named the Corinth Game.  The game quickly became popular among adults around 1930 in Nagoya before
spreading from there.

Rules

Players must purchase pachinko balls to play the game. You can purchase any number of balls between five and a hundred. The player sets the cost of a ball before starting to play. The objective is to gain as many pachinko balls as possible. You then cash out money equal to the number of
remaining balls times the value you set on each ball.

Biggest win

The maximum winning in Pachinko has recently been set at ¥50,000.

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Casino Games - Scratch Cards

Scratch Cards are a popular game both in and out of a casino environment. A scratch card is merely a piece of cardboard that has squares printed on it. The squares are coated with silver concealing various prizes.

History

Scratch cards are one of the most recent gambling games developed. They became popular in the US in the 1980s. Today, scratch cards can be found in most state lotteries the world over.

Rules

The rules of playing scratch cards are really simple, which is part of the reason why they are so popular. You must, first of all, buy a scratch card. Once you’ve done that, you then scratch off the silver coating to reveal the symbols concealed underneath. If your card contains the correct
combination of the symbols needed, you’ve won.

Probability

The odds of winning the main prize in most states are usually 1 in several million.

Notable Wins

Nigel Moore from Vancouver became one of the most recent big winners of scratch cards after winning $675,000.

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Casino Games - Wheel of Fortune

Wheel of fortune has, since its creation, been right up there as one of the most popular slot games there is. The game consists of a vertical wheel with 54 slots that have dollar symbols ranging from $1 to $20 on them, besides the joker and casino logo. Players bet on the denomination they think will win
before the wheel is spun.

History

The first wheel of fortune machine was made by IGT in 1996 based on some elements taken off a TV show by the same name. Over the years, the game has spread to casinos everywhere.

Rules

A player must place a bet on a particular symbol among the ones on the wheel table. After the bet, the wheel is then spun. If it comes to a stop with the pointer indicating the symbol you had placed your bet on, you win.

Probability

The probability of the wheel resting on any chosen number is 0.052632

Big winners

Recently, Linda H. of Thornwood from New York became the biggest winner in the history of Empire City Casino when she won $961,411.81.

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Casino Games - Blackjack

Blackjack is only second in popularity to Poker when it comes to gambling card games. The game’s other common name is twenty-one and is

played between several players against a dealer. The game involves comparing cards between players who are competing against the dealer.

History

Blackjack originated in France in the 1760s. The game, which was called Vingt-et-Un, then evolved and spread over the centuries to many countries. Blackjack especially gained prominence during the World War II. Today, there’s hardly an American casino you won’t find it in.

Rules

The house, in the casino Black Jack is the deale. He remains standing while the rest of the participants sit down. The dealer is usually in control of shuffling the cards, dealing them and handling the bets. One or more 52 card decks are used in the game. All players must place a bet, usually in chips, before the dealer before the start of the deal. There’s a general limit between $2 and $50.

Biggest winners

Kerry Packer, the Australian billionaire with an outstanding gambling career, once won $20 million playing blackjack.

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Casino Games - Slot Machines

Before the 20th century, the term slot machine referred to all automatic vending machines and gambling devices. Today, the term is used for the latter. The first ever slot machine, called the Liberty Bell, was built by Charles Fey in 1895. Demand for the Liberty Machine grew exponentially, and today, the slot machines are still wildly popular, accounting for 70% of the average casino earnings.

Rules

One of the reasons slot machines are so popular with many people is the fact that their rules are quite simple. First of all, you choose the game you wish to play, then place a bet. To be eligible to win the jackpot, you must select the maximum bet. Then decide how many lines you wish to bet and click spin. Then sit back, watch, and collect your winnings.

Probabilities

The long-term return of a slot machine to players is 97.5%. The odds of winning the Megabucks are 1 in 50 million.

Notable Wins

Over the years, numerous people have walked away from slot machines millions of dollars rich, with Australian tycoon Kerry Packer winning somewhere between $20 and $40 million in 1997.

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Casino Games - Three Card Poker

Three card poker is one of the most popular modern casino table games. The game evolved from the British game of Brag which has been played as far back as the 16th century. However, it wasn’t until recently that the game made its way into the poker room at local casinos.

Rules

The rules of three card poker are quite straight forward. In basic terms there are two kinds of bets you can choose from: the ante and the pair plus. If you chose the ante, then you’re betting against the dealer. The pair plus bet, on the other hand, is independent of the dealer’s hand. The aim is to have a three card hand including a pair or higher. Your wager wins if you have a pair or better, and loses if you have less than a pair. The better the hand the more you win.

Probabilities

Probabilities of winning differ based on the hand played. A straight flush has a probability of 1 in 460, while the odds of 3 of a kind are 425. You have a 30 of hitting a Straight, 1 in 20 of a flush, and 1 in 5.9 for a pair.

Notable winners

One of the biggest winners of the game was Johnita Ejercito of California who won $1 million in 2012, thanks to a million-dollar 6-Card Bonus side be. To win this bonus game an additional 3 cards are dealt wgen $15+ is bet, with the jackpot paid out for (9,10,J,Q,K,A) in diamonds. The odds for this is over 20 million to 1.

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Casino - The Labouchere System

Popular among gamblers, Labouchere is a negative progression betting system commonly used in roulette even money propositions. Casinos also use it in baccarat and blackjack. Unlike the simple progression systems, Labouchere is more complex system based on an equal probability of two events, whereby a player increases stakes after a loss.

The theory behind is to be able to recover big losses with a small number of wins. Developed by Henry Labouchere, it has also received other names as the Cancellation system, the Split Martingale or the American Progression. However, unlike the Martingale that aims to recover losses with a single win, Labouchere does so with multiple wins. A player has to set a winning goal and has a chance to reach his goal if he wins almost half of the bets placed.


The concept

The player first bets on a number of units, allocate a value to the units and decides how many of those he can risk. A sequence of numbers is written down, which predicts the total potential profit. For each bet, the stake equals the sum of the first and last number. Therefore, if your sequence was 4-5-6; the stake equals $10(4+6). When you win, you cross off numbers 4 and 6 from the sequence. A lost wager means you add the losing number to the sequence. For each following wager, the stake is always the combined amount of the last and first number. If only one number remains, then that is the amount of the stake. Winning that wager ends the cycle and the original sequence is re-invoked.

Pros and cons of the system

Labouchere does not require constant wins to meet the set winning goal. With the system, you are confident of at least winning a third of the times in the long run.

Labouchere is an interactive and interesting system that can be very addictive especially if you are not good at losing. A losing streak means the sequence gets longer and you keep making larger bets.

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Casino - The Martingale Betting System

For gamblers who like to rely more on strategy than luck, the Martingale system is on technique I'm sure most have tried. Most new gamblers prefer to use it over others because it has the allure of winning you quick money and the (often incorrect!) perception that should have a loss or two it's easy enough to claw it all back. The other factor that makes it a 'go to' for many is that even though there are systems that work better, they require a lot more maths than most people can cope with.

This type of strategy was popularised in 18th century France. The basic idea of the strategy is that the bettor keeps doubling their bet until they win and a single win would recover all previous losses winning them a profit equal to their initial stake. The bettor then reverts to the initial bet doubling again until another win comes by. This means if you placed a $5 bet and won first time, you place another $5 bet and continue doubling until you win again after which you go back to a $5 bet.

The martingale system was first tried with a coin toss game where heads wins and tails losses. The strategy is also applicable to roulette where the chances of getting red or black are just about balanced (the bankers edge in this situation is the green 0, on European wheels there tends to be one 0, whereas in the US you often see two so the odds on near 50/50 bets and somewhere worse).

An example of how the system works:
In roulette, the system is applied when a player places the outside bets. The outer bets are 1-18 (Manque) or 19-36 (Passe); even(Pair) or odd(Impair); red (Rogue) or black (Noir). They have a higher chance of winning but fetch low rewards with a payout of 1:1. For instance, if you place the bet with a single chip you win a chip.

Supporters of the system rely on the inevitable win if a player keeps playing with a near 50/50 chance of winning. However, the Martingale System can only work well if the gambler has enough money to keep doubling their bet each time until they win. This usually becomes a problem because the likelihood of suffering a catastrophic loss sooner or later is immense. Aside from this, losing streaks often tend to occur more frequently than you might think. This is why most experienced gamblers shun the system as they understand that it would only guarantee wins if they held unlimited wealth, time and bets, which isn’t true in practice. Many casinos have limits too, so that's another factor that could end uch a stratgey.

It may be fun to occasionally 'go for it' with the Martingale betting system, but it's not a serious long term way of betting, because it will eventually in all likekihood result in a losing streak that will lose you everything!

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Casino - Card Counting

Card counting is a strategy principally used in the casino game blackjack. The system determines odds for player wins or house advantage. Card counting is a statistical tool effective in helping a player to keep track of density of cards over the course of a game of blackjack. Ideally, a higher density of high cards puts the player at a higher advantage for placing a higher bet. More low cards give the casino a high advantage. The beauty of card counting lies in the fact that you can alter bets depending on density of remaining cards as the game progresses.

System basics

The basic counting approach relies on a system of assigning a (-)ve, (+)ve, or (0) value to each card value available. Dealing a card of that value adjusts a card to its counting value. There are several card counting systems, ranging from very simple strategies that favour beginners to highly complex systems for experienced players. The most common among the level 1 (simple) is the Hi-Lo system, preferred for its accuracy. Other systems include the KISS, Knock out blackjack and the Red 7.
In the Hi-Lo system, all cards give a count of zero. A negative count means there are more low cards and the opposite is true for a positive count. The system subtracts 1 for each 10, King, Queen or Ace dealt and adds 1 for values between 2 and 6. Values between 7 and 9 are assigned zero and do not have an impact on the count. A high density of 10s and Aces is the player’s advantage as it implies a higher chance of smashing a natural blackjack with a 3:2 payout unless the house also has a blackjack.

The hi-lo approach is considered a basic system as the running count changes by a single predetermined value. Others like the Wong Halves and Zen count are multi-level counting mechanisms and are thus more accurate. Mid-level systems (level 2 and 3) like Omega II assign +2 and -2 values to cards and are considered more accurate than level 1 systems.
Your level of experience will determine which approach works to your advantage.

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