The Online Casino Gambling Blog

5 Card Stud Poker is one of the simplest forms of poker to play, with logical rules and straightforward game play. Each player puts up their ante and then is dealt one card face up and one card face down. The lowest face-up card must put in either half the minimum bet or the full bet to start the game. At this point in the game the cards are ranked according to their face value as well as their suits – Clubs being the lowest with Diamonds and Hearts higher than that and Spades ranking the highest. (After this round cards are only ranked according to face value.) Then in a clockwise direction the other players either call or raise or fold their own hands. Round two begins when the players are dealt another card face up leaving them with three cards total now. The player with the highest card from here on out will be the first person to check or bet. Once all the players have finished calling or betting in a clockwise order once more a fourth card is dealt face up. The minimum bet is doubled in this round.

The fifth and final card is dealt after all the players have finished calling or betting, followed by another round of betting on their hands with the minimum bet doubled. The cards are turned over at this point and the best hand wins the pot. And there you have it now you know how to play Five card stud poker.

Five Card Stud poker is ideal for online casinos as it’s fast (over a hundred hands can be played in an hour!) and easy to grasp the concept of. It’s lost popularity over the years thanks to Texas Hold ‘Em but we foresee a resurgence for this game as online casinos become more established on the internet.

At its heart Blackjack is not a complicated game there are just a few simple rules for basic blackjack that I’ll cover in this article. Basic Blackjack begins with a wager – the player places whatever bet (usually the posted minimum at a casino table) they feel is appropriate along with everyone else in the game and then the hands are dealt around the table. Each hand is two cards – the players are either both face down or face up but the dealer is dealt one card face down and one card face up. The object of the game is to reach 21 by adding the face value of both cards in the cases of Kings, Queens and Jacks these are all valued at 10 while the Ace can either count as a 1 or an 11. If your hand adds up to more than 21 this is what’s known as a ‘bust’ and you have lost the game. At the end of the round whoever comes closest to 21 if no one has hit 21 wins. If the dealer and a player have both come up with ‘Blackjack” this is a tie.

Once a player has been dealt their cards they can either elect to ‘hit’ which means drawing another card in hopes of increasing their proximity to 21 without going over or the player can ‘stand’ which means keeping the hand that has been dealt. A dealer is required to ‘hit’ if his hand adds up to 16 and to ‘stand’ if his hand adds up to 17.

In certain blackjack games you may be allowed to “Surrender” before the round is over, this allows you to back out of the game and lose only half your original bet.

Blackjack can be played at home, in land based casinos or even at online casinos but be sure and read the instructions as with every gambling game as there are many variations to the traditional blackjack game. All differing rules will most likely be posted clearly on the tables at land based casinos and can be found in the FAQ or Frequently Asked Section at most online casinos.

As always have fun and gamble safely!

In a casino poker game the initial bet is called ‘the blind’ which is a required bet that must be placed by the players prior to the game beginning. This blind bet acts an incentive for the players to remain in the round. After this comes the ‘ante’ once players have been dealt their hands they place this bet of their own accord, usually this is the first bet in home games of Poker. Once everyone has placed their bets this becomes the ‘pot’ or winnings that everyone is playing for at the end of the hand. In casinos games with fixed limits (maximum and minimum wagers) are common while home poker games you will often find a spread limit.

In poker betting goes clockwise from the dealer’s left and is dependent on the variation of poker being played. After the initial pot has been set if you’re the first person to the dealer’s left and no bets have been made yet you have two options you can ‘Open’ which means simply that you’re making the first bet, or you can ‘Check’ or not bet on it but a “Check” in poker terms means that you don’t want to wager more money on your hand but you still want to keep it in the game.

Once betting is Opened you can do one of three things –

• You can “Call” which in poker terms means you don’t wish to bet a higher amount on your hand but to stay in the game you are required to match the bet that has been played since your last bet so if your ante up bet was $20 and the last player before you has bet $30 you’re required to throw in the extra $30.
• You can “Raise” which means you match the existing bet level and then increase it.
• Finally, you can “Fold” wherein you drop out of the round in progress and forfeit your chance at winning the pot. Most players choose to fold before the end of a hand if they feel they most likely will lose their money to players with better hands. Knowing when to fold is a valuable skill to have as a poker player.

The player with the highest ranking hand at the end of round will win the pot. If two players tie at the end of the round the pot is then divided between the two.

Summarizing the basic rules of poker is nearly impossible given the sheer number of different types of poker there are out there. Most poker games use the standard 52 card deck while others dependent on the type of poker being played can contain more or less for instance in the case of wild card variations the players may add in the two jokers. In poker all the card suits are of the same value and the player with the highest ranking hand wins. The cards are valued in typical numerical order from 2 being the lowest right on up through King but most typically the Aces are viewed as being higher ranked than the King although there are variations where the Ace serves as the lowest card.

In a game with wild cards the wild cards are viewed as blank in that they can take on the rank or suit of whatever the player desires. Mostly wild cards are signified by adding the jokers back into the pack but players can also specify a certain card is wild for example you could declare a poker rule that deuces (twos) are wild in a game and they would then be able to be manipulated to be any card.

Typically there are five cards in a hand of poker but there are some types of the game where the hands hold seven cards for example Seven Card Stud. In typical poker games like 5 Card Draw the hand is dealt all face down to the players while in others like Texas Hold ‘Em some cards called “hole cards” are dealt face up leading to a more exciting game.
 

So you want to learn to play Poker like a pro? Well there are two main parts this blog will cover. The first part is the basics of the game, the second - how to bet will be covered in the next.

Poker is one of the classic gambling games found at almost all casinos, played with a standard deck with all cards minus the two jokers. It’s almost impossible to discuss all the variations you can find of this simple game but I’ll try and keep my info on the general tenets of poker and you can find out the fancy stuff later.

In poker the object of the game is to arrange ‘hands’ of cards into winning variations. If you can’t do this, the next best thing is to ‘bluff’ your companions into thinking you have a straight flush (a winning hand). The player with the highest ranking hand at the end of the betting wins the game.

In most versions of the game and in the original “Straight” poker, each player is dealt five cards mostly face up, the players then wager on their own hand of cards being better than anyone else’s at the table and after everyone has bet players can then raise their bets. After this second round of betting players generally will show their hands and the winner is declared.  Sounds fairly simple right?

Not so when there are dozens of different games all under the single heading Poker – There’s Wild Card Poker, Stud Poker, Draw, Texas Hold-Em (this one is very popular in casinos) and dozens of others each with their own rules and customs to be followed strictly.

Roulette is one of the easiest games to pick up and it requires little to no skill as every spin of the wheel is independent of the last so trying to predict where the ball will land based on its previous spins is useless. In roulette you bet on the ball landing on a particular numbered slot of the 37-38 numbered slots on the wheel of a particular color of the alternating color slots on the wheel, the house automatically bets for the other color. Odd numbers are usually black while even numbers are usually red and the zero and or double zero sections are generally green. You the player don’t even have to do anything aside from choosing what to bet on as the dealer spins the wheel and takes the bets and handles giving out the winnings. At single zero wheels (European style) the house advantage is relatively low at 2.7%, whereas double zero wheels (American Style) the house advantage climbs to 5.25%

If you’re just planning on sitting in for a spin or two you can simply sit down at the roulette table and place your chips or your cash on the layout but if you’re planning on playing for a while it is best to ask the dealer to exchange your cash for colored chips that will mark your personal bets to differentiate them from the other players. There can be 6-8 roulette players at any given table and the color coding makes it easier on the dealer. Each chip represents a single unit so say you’re at a $5 wheel then each chip will represent $5, and your winnings will be paid out in these colored chips until you go cash out.

At each roulette table there is a minimum bet limit that you will be required to meet. You can wager on single numbers which is called an ‘inside bet’ or you can wager on a set of numbers which is called an ‘outside bet’. Most tables require that if you want to make both outside and inside bets that you bet the minimum amount on both sides rather than allowing you to split your minimum bet so if it’s a $5 wheel then you’re required to bet $5 on the inside bet and $5 on the outside bet instead of $2.50 on each.

So now you’ve made your bets and you’ve stepped away from the table. The dealer spins the wheel, calls out the winning number and color once the wheel stops and you collect your winnings and that’s it for roulette play! 

Here’s a quick and dirty lowdown on the basic rules for craps.    Craps is one of the few games where the player is the direct cause of the outcome – the numbers the dice lands on. Don’t let this intimidate you, there’s no right way for throwing a pair of dice. There is however a wrong way – don’t handle the dice with both hands before throwing this could lead the casino to suspect you’re trying to switch their dice with your own loaded pair, needless to say you don’t want them getting this idea. Other issues you may have when rolling the dice is that your throw may go wide and the dice fly off the table, don’t worry about this everyone does it. You want to be sure you don’t throw or ‘shoot’ the dice too softly either as in order for the roll to be valid the dice have to hit the opposite side of the craps table. Or if you’re a shy shooter you can simply bet on other people’s rolls, when it’s your turn just pass the dice to the next player on your left. 

 Any new shooter’s first roll is called their “Come Out” roll, your goal here is to make a point which you do by rolling a 4,5,6,8,9 or 10. If you roll a 2,3 or 12 then the roll is a loss, if you roll a 7 or 11 of course the roll is a winner. Your turn isn’t over until you roll a 7 after making your first point; this is called a “Seven Out”. Once you make your first point you are marked as “On” for that particular craps table and can then make wagers at that table. 

The best thing about baccarat is that it’s a lot easier than it looks to play. Most of the actual play is dictated by the rules and handled by the dealer, all you really need to be able to do is decide how much to bet.

Mini baccarat is much more popular than traditional baccarat which is actually more difficult and usually only played for very high stakes. Traditional baccarat requires the players to handle the cards themselves but beyond that they’re played about the same.

There’s not even a lot of strategizing to worry about in baccarat in general as there’s very little you can do to improve your chances of winning. Even the usually foolproof strategy of counting cards is useless to you here.

In baccarat kings, queens, jacks and 10s are all valued at 0, aces at 1 and all the other cards at face value. The object of the game is to pull a two or three card hand that adds up to 9 or as close to 9 as you can get. If your hand adds up to 10 or more, for example if you draw a 7 and a 6 giving you a hand of 13, 10 points are dropped off it thus leaving you with a 3. In baccarat there is no bust.

Play starts by dealing the Player and the Bank two cards apiece. If the player or the bank’s hands add up to 8 or 9 both hands will automatically stand. If the player has a 6 or 7 the player will stand. If the bank has a hand that equals to 5 and the player stands the bank draws a third card. If the bank has a 7 it is required to stand. If the player has a 5 or less then the player will draw another card. Any other combination the next move depends upon the value of the third card drawn by the player if the player chooses to draw. For a total of 0,1,2 or a total of 3 the bank will ask for a hit unless the third card drawn by the player brings that hand up to an 8. The bank will hit on a total of 4 if the player asked for a hit and the card was valued at 8,9 or 1. The bank will hit on a hand with a total of 5 if the player asked for a hit and the card was valued at 1,2,3,8,9 or 0. The bank will stand on a hand valued at a total of 6 unless the player has drawn a card valued at 6 or 7.

In baccarat you have three options for betting you can bet on the bank winning, you can bet on the player winning, or you can bet that both the hands will tie. The house edge on the bank depends on the house’s cut – a percentage of the bank’s winning is paid back to the house when the bank wins a bit, the house edge can be as low as .6% if the cut is 4%, however it’s more commonly 5% which gives the house an edge of 1.06%. For the bet on the player the house edge is usually 1.24%. Never bet the tie - depending on the pay out the tie bet can give the house an edge ranging between 5 to 14% thus the odds are much worse than betting on either the bank or the player. Unless you know where the 4% cut lies, bets on the bank or the player actually end up having about equal odds and are thus the better route to take.

Now you know how to play baccarat.