Casino Game Guides
Four categories, grouped by how much control you have over the outcome. Each guide covers the rules first, then the mathematics, then the strategy that follows from it.
Written by the Moes Almanac editorial team
The four categories, ranked
Every figure below is the best case for that category — the lowest house edge available to a player who chooses well and plays correctly. Ordinary play at the same tables costs considerably more, and the worst bets cost many times this.
| Category | Best house edge |
|---|---|
| Video poker 9/6 Jacks or Better, optimal play | 0.46% |
| Blackjack Basic strategy, standard rules | 0.50% |
| Table games Baccarat banker bet | 1.06% |
What actually separates the four
The categories are not four flavours of the same thing. They differ in how much of the outcome is still open once your money is down, and that single distinction explains every figure in the table above.
In blackjack and video poker the decisions happen DURING the hand — whether to draw, to split, which cards to hold — and each decision has a computable best answer. That is why both sit near half a percent for a player who knows them, and near two and a half for one who does not. The gap is skill, and it is the largest gap anywhere on this site.
At the table games the only decision happens BEFORE the round. Choose the bet and the rules take over; nothing you do afterwards affects anything. Playing well means picking the cheap bet and declining the expensive one, and the spread between those two at a single table is wider than the spread between whole games.
Live dealer is the odd one out, and it belongs in this list only because people look for it here. It is not a category of game but a way of delivering one: a live blackjack table is blackjack, and it carries blackjack's house edge. What the format changes is pace, and pace changes what an hour costs rather than what a round costs.
Frequently asked questions
- Which casino game should I learn first?
- Blackjack, because it is the only game where learning changes the price. Basic strategy takes an evening to learn and moves the house edge from roughly 2.5% to about 0.5%. Video poker rewards study similarly but demands a different strategy for every pay table, and the table games reward nothing beyond choosing the right bet.
- Is live dealer a different game or a different way of playing?
- A different way of playing. A live table deals an ordinary casino game from a studio, and the house edge belongs to that game — live blackjack is blackjack at the same 0.5%. What differs is speed: roughly 40 to 60 rounds an hour against 200 to 300 in software, which changes the cost of an hour without changing the cost of a round.
- Does a lower house edge mean I will lose less tonight?
- On average over a great many rounds, yes. In one session, no — a single evening is far too short for averages to assert themselves, and results scatter widely around them. House edge tells you the price of playing over time, not the outcome of any particular night.