Ten best casino games

I've been to doing some projects I have been putting off during this time of self confinement. One of them is cleaning out my Email in box. When the Nevada casinos closed, I had about 400 in there. There are now 52, although many of them are not easy to clear off.

One project I've been putting off is making a 10 Best Casino Games video. I know top and bottom ten videos and articles do well, but I think I can speak for most writers that they hate them. However, duty calls.

A major problem in such a list with casino games is what rules, strategy, and conditions does assume? Personally, I'm going by most of the MGM properties and assume the gambler is comfortable with high-limit tables. I'll of course comment on this in the video.

I prefer to use the element of risk when comparing one game to another.

That said, here is my tentative list.

Game	Rules	House edge	Element of Risk
Blackjack	2d, S17, DAS	0.26%	0.23%
Craps	345x	0.27%	0.27%
Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em	Ante	2.19%	0.53%
Video poker	9-6 Jacks	0.54%	0.54%
Spanish 21	Dealer hits soft 17	0.76%	0.68%
Pai gow	Banking half	1.03%	1.03%
Baccarat	Banker	1.06%	1.06%
Crazy 4 Poker	Base game	3.42%	1.09%
Roulette	French rules, even money bets	1.35%	1.35%
Mississippi Stud	Base game	4.91%	1.37%

I'm posting this to give the forum a chance to challenge it.

I would substitute High Card Flush for Mississippi Stud. House edge much lower. How many people actually bank Pai Gow? Does Spanish 21 have enough "installs" to qualify?

Ultimate Texas Hold'em is too high. Its low element of risk means that you must wager more money to chase a promising hand, resulting in high variance. I get weary of watching the dealer get great hand after great hand and scooping the pot.

Indeed, I think you should factor in variance when developing your list.

And I agree, High Card Flush is a better game than several on your list.

It's a very interesting idea and not easy to define a measure.

I know there's a difference of opinion about Element of Risk and House Edge. While I prefer how much it costs on average to play a game at (say) a $100 table, some games need you to stump up either multiple initial bets or additional bets to complete the game, so the average wager can vastly exceed $100. Also some games take a while to resolve the bet: Craps many rolls, Punto Banco has Stand Offs on egalitie. Personally the question is to help decide, for example, whether they should play at the $100 single-zero Roulette or $100 Crazy-4 Poker: Roulette is the cheaper cost per game.

btw
(i) 1.10% : Trente et Quarante has a House Edge of 1.10% although it's probably not found in Vegas!
(ii) 1.40% : Craps has a base House Edge of about 1.41%-1.36% ( based on the outcome/bet made, since your Pass line bet is a contract and can't be removed ).
(iii) 0.42% : Sydney Pontoon has a House Edge of 0.42% ( https://wizardofodds.com/games/pontoon/australian/ )
(iv) 0:5% Is it worth adding average Blackjack or a range usually found....
(v) 0.40% (I thought Spanish 21 was better in most places, whereas that isn't obvious from your list as you've given the worst option from https://wizardofodds.com/games/spanish-21/ ).
(vi) 0.62% Double-Up Blackjack ( https://www.ukcasinotablegames.info/blackjackdoubleup.html )
(vii) 1.01% Free-Bet Blackjack ( https://www.ukcasinotablegames.info/blackjackfreebet.html )

Quote: Wizard

I've been to doing some projects I have been putting off during this time of self confinement. One of them is cleaning out my Email in box. When the Nevada casinos closed, I had about 400 in there. There are now 52, although many of them are not easy to clear off.

One project I've been putting off is making a 10 Best Casino Games video. I know top and bottom ten videos and articles do well, but I think I can speak for most writers that they hate them. However, duty calls.

A major problem in such a list with casino games is what rules, strategy, and conditions does assume? Personally, I'm going by most of the MGM properties and assume the gambler is comfortable with high-limit tables. I'll of course comment on this in the video.

I prefer to use the element of risk when comparing one game to another.

That said, here is my tentative list.

Game	Rules	House edge	Element of Risk
Blackjack	2d, S17, DAS	0.26%	0.23%
Craps	345x	0.27%	0.27%
Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em	Ante	2.19%	0.53%
Video poker	9-6 Jacks	0.54%	0.54%
Spanish 21	Dealer hits soft 17	0.76%	0.68%
Pai gow	Banking half	1.03%	1.03%
Baccarat	Banker	1.06%	1.06%
Crazy 4 Poker	Base game	3.42%	1.09%
Roulette	French rules, even money bets	1.35%	1.35%
Mississippi Stud	Base game	4.91%	1.37%

I'm posting this to give the forum a chance to challenge it.

99.9 % of people play the basic side bets of a poker variant. Unless you are going to specifically and emphatically say do not play side bets, you almost have to include them in your analysis. I do when figuring out theoretic win.


ZCore13

The majority of Spanish 21 games in California, if not all of them, are H17 as you list above, but they also are re-double. So lower than .76%.

Quote: DeMango

I would substitute High Card Flush for Mississippi Stud. House edge much lower. How many people actually bank Pai Gow? Does Spanish 21 have enough "installs" to qualify?

Good points. I struggled with myself about putting pai gow on the list, because of the low number of tables and you have to bank every other hand to get that low edge. Spanish 21 I will defend as it has a lot of installs in California and Washington. If we do drop pai gow, then High Card Flush would be next.

Game	Rules	House edge	Element of Risk
Blackjack	2d, S17, DAS	0.26%	0.23%
Craps	345x	0.27%	0.27%
Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em	Ante	2.19%	0.53%
Video poker	9-6 Jacks	0.54%	0.54%
Spanish 21	H17	0.76%	0.68%
Baccarat	Banker	1.06%	1.06%
Crazy 4 Poker	Base game	3.42%	1.09%
Roulette	French rule	1.35%	1.35%
Mississippi Stud	Base game	4.91%	1.37%
High Card Flush	Base game	2.64%	1.54%

Quote: gordonm888

Ultimate Texas Hold'em is too high. Its low element of risk means that you must wager more money to chase a promising hand, resulting in high variance. I get weary of watching the dealer get great hand after great hand and scooping the pot.

Indeed, I think you should factor in variance when developing your list.

Many recreational players LIKE variance. I submit that is why side bets are so popular. This video will be targeted towards recreational players.

However, I have thought about introducing a statistic that factors in variance. Maybe house edge * standard deviation, but that is another topic. For this video, I will bring up variance tangentially, but it won't affect the ranking.

Quote:

And I agree, High Card Flush is a better game than several on your list.

High Card Flush has an element of risk of 1.544%. Which game is it better than, using that as the metric?

Quote: bobbartop

The majority of Spanish 21 games in California, if not all of them, are H17 as you list above, but they also are re-double. So lower than .76%.

That is a good point! I checked an old Current Blackjack Newsletter and it had about half the games in California allowing DDD. However, that is enough. Here is my new ranking factoring that in.

Game	Rules	House edge	Element of Risk
Blackjack	2d, S17, DAS	0.26%	0.23%
Craps	345x	0.27%	0.27%
Spanish 21	H17, DDD	0.42%	0.37%
Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em	Ante	2.19%	0.53%
Video poker	9-6 Jacks	0.54%	0.54%
Baccarat	Banker	1.06%	1.06%
Crazy 4 Poker	Base game	3.42%	1.09%
Roulette	French rule	1.35%	1.35%
Mississippi Stud	Base game	4.91%	1.37%
High Card Flush	Base game	2.64%	1.54%

I realize I'm in the minority, but I challenge the omission of Pai Gow. I bank all the time when I play. Even if you never bank it's still one of the best games oddswise, no?