Oct 27, 2020 Blackjack is unique as a card game in the casino due to the required etiquette that should be known by the players before taking a seat and wagering on hands. As a general rule, it’s best to keep your hands away from anything they shouldn’t be messing with and make sure that everything you’re doing is in full view of the cameras above. With million-dollar prizes, progressive jackpots and quick wins it's one of the most lucrative casino card games to play, but does require skill to master. Learn more about online poker bonuses, or start playing a round now. Alternatively, discover some other popular poker games below: Texas Hold'em Read More. 1.Speaking of table games, three card poker is probably the most popular one. This is the most common played game in casinos. Invented in the 1990s and ever since then it is considered to be one of the best casino games ever. After you get three cards and take a look at them, it is your choice whether to play or fold.
Casino games are inherently exciting, thanks to their interactive nature. The prospect of correctly predicting a dice roll, or roulette spin is thoroughly entertaining. The anticipation of betting on slots, or calculating the probabilities of pulling the right card in blackjack or baccarat far outweigh the appeal of other social games. Nowadays, it’s entirely possible to play live dealer casino games in real time, courtesy of secure feeds from authentic venues. Our top 10 casino countdown begins in earnest!
10 – Blackjack
Blackjack is the quintessential skill-based casino card game. It is played fast and furious against the dealer, not against other players. With blackjack, the objective is simply to beat the dealer’s hand total without exceeding 21. Players are dealt 2 cards face up, but only 1 of the dealer’s cards is visible – the other is face down. Based on limited information, players are tasked with making decisions. These include hit, stand, double, split, insurance, or bet behind. The rules of play for each blackjack variant will determine the minimum and maximum bets players can place.
Blackjack is available in single deck and multi-deck variants, with multi-hand functionality available too. The most popular versions of blackjack include Classic Blackjack, Vegas Strip Blackjack, Atlantic City Blackjack, and Blackjack Switch. It is always a good idea for players to practice blackjack games in demo mode, before playing for real money. This game of skill is best played with specific blackjack rules in mind. These include blackjack payouts of 3:2, not 6:5. Additionally, it is always better if fewer decks are in play, making it easier for players to ‘count cards’ and use blackjack strategy charts and blackjack odds calculators.
09 – Baccarat
For many years Baccarat was perceived as a game exclusive to high rollers. This chance-based game is centuries in the making, and a house favourite with players at land-based casinos and online casinos alike. Baccarat is known by many different names, including Chemin de Fer, and Punto Banco. The name Baccarat is French for zero. In this game, all face cards (Jack, Queen, King) have a value of zero. The objective of the game is to pick the Banker Hand, the Player Hand, or a Tie Bet as the winner. There are specific rules of play, notably card values 1-9 retain their nominal value (face value), while face cards are valued at 0. The best number to achieve in baccarat is 9.
The house edge on these games is typically just 1.17% on banker hands and 1.36% on player hands. Tie bets are also available, although the odds are unfavorable to players. The goal is to place bets on 2 or 3 card hands and to determine which one will get closer to 9. If the hand value exceeds 9, then 10 is subtracted. For example, 7+7 = 14. 14-10 = 4. Player hands are played first, and if a total of 8 or 9 is reached, it is known as a natural and no more cards will be dealt. If the banker also draws a natural 9, or a natural 8, the naturals are automatically winners. Tie bets pay 8:1, but there is a 9.5% house edge. This game remains a hot favorite in 2018 for many reasons!
Popular Casino Card Games
European Roulette
08 – European Roulette
European Roulette is the creation of a French mathematician by the name of Blaise Pascal. Invented centuries ago, this perpetual spinning machine/gambling game has become the most popular game at casinos around the world. It is the poster child of gambling in Las Vegas, and certainly warrants a top berth on the most popular casino games of 2018. European Roulette features 37 numbers on the spinning wheel. These include a green 0, and numbers 1-36. There is a 1/37 chance of any individual number coming up in roulette. Each spin is fully independent of every other spin, making this the ideal chance-based casino game to play.
European Roulette features a house edge of 2.70%, with a range of bets available to players. These include inside bets on individual numbers or groups of numbers, and outside bets on various selections such as odds/evens, 1-18, 19-36, columns, first 12, second 12, third 12, red or black and other selections. European Roulette games are universally loved by casual players and high rollers. Various betting systems can be used to manage bankrolls more effectively such as Martingale, Fibonacci, or D’Alembert, etc. European Roulette has alternating red and black numbers.
07 – Santa’s Super Slot
Santa Claus is coming to town! With the Christmas season around the corner, this game has been enjoying rising popularity among slots fans. As we prepare to close out 2018 and usher in a New Year, Santa’s Super slot is cutting a swathe with players. The jolly old man in red and white is carrying a sack full of gifts as he blazes a trail across the midnight sky with his reindeer and sleigh. It’s mistletoe, free spins, progressive jackpots, bonus games, scatter symbols and wild symbols galore. With just 5 reels and 15 paylines, this game has everything players need to get into the festive spirit.
06 – French Roulette
French Roulette ranks above European Roulette in 2018. Players are continually seeking out games with a lower house edge which offer them the best opportunities to win money at the casino. French Roulette wheels are markedly different from European Roulette given the French wording in the game. However, there are intricate rule differences which make this variant of roulette much more enticing for players. Two rules in particular lower the house edge significantly – La Partage and En Prison.
Simply put, if players have an even money bet and the ball lands in the green 0 slot, La Partage results in 50% of the bet being lost. En Prison is a unique rule whereby even money bets can be locked away until the next spin, effectively allowing players another opportunity to walk away with winnings. Much like European Roulette, there are only 37 numbers on the wheel. These include a single green 0 and numbers 1-36. The odds remain at 2.70%, however when the specific rules are brought into play, the odds drop to just 1.35%. For this reason, French Roulette is quickly climbing the list of most popular games in 2018.
05 – American Roulette
This is the anomaly on the list since American Roulette has the highest house edge of all the roulette variants. With numbers 0 and 00, there are 38 numbers on the American Roulette wheel. This means that the probability of any single number coming up is 1/38, or 2.60%. The house edge in American roulette is actually 5.26%, notably higher than the 2.70% of European Roulette or French Roulette. What makes this game so appealing is its popularity in the US and Canada. The regulation of online casino gaming in the US – New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania – is boosting the popularity of American Roulette games. All the standard rules of play apply to American Roulette including inside bets and outside bets, with the same payouts offered.
04 – A Nightmare on Elm Street
Popular Gambling Card Games
1, 2, Freddy’s coming for you! 3, 4, better lock your door. 5, 6, grab the crucifix. 7, 8, don’t stay up late. A Nightmare on Elm Street is arguably one of the most terrifying slot machine games to hit the scene. It was released several years ago, but has gradually become one of the more popular slots on the scene. As its namesake suggests, this 888casino slot adventure is hauntingly eerie, scarily good, and freakishly fiendish. There are wilds and scatters, expanding symbols, real movie sequences, and payouts as much as 10,000 times the line bet. The Pick Me feature is particularly terrifying along with the musical score which will have you sitting on tenterhooks. A Nightmare on Elm Street has earned its rightful place at #5 for the most popular casino game in the world.
03 – Jacks or Better Video Poker
Jacks or Better Video Poker
2018 has been a year where players prefer skill-based games. Jacks or Better video poker offers
winning opportunities to players with an aptitude for video poker games. Players are dealt 5 cards face up. The objective is to score a pair of Jacks or Better. The ranking system includes Jacks or Better, two pairs, three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush, and a royal flush. The biggest payouts occur when 5 coins are wagered and a royal flush is struck. Then a 4,000-coin payout awaits players. Jacks or Better allows players to collect their winnings, or to double winnings by gambling on the outcome of the next card. Variable coin values start as low as 0.05 and go as high as 30.00 in demo play mode.
02 – Casino Hold’em Poker
Casino Hold’em is universally loved by poker fans. This game of skill pits player against dealer in a battle royale for the strongest-ranking hand. This game requires the placement of an ante bet. Next up, 2 cards are dealt to the player, and 2 cards are dealt to the dealer. The dealer’s cards are face down. This is followed by 3 community cards known as the Flop. The goal of this game is to form the strongest-ranking 5 card hand. This is made up of 2 pocket cards and 3 of the 5 community cards. Players have the option to fold, call, or bet. At each stage, additional community cards are dealt, known as the Turn and the River. Once the dealer flips over the 2 pocket cards, the player or the dealer wins the hand.
01 – Wild Saloon Slot
Wild Saloon is a Wild West-themed slot machine adventure featuring a bonus game and free spins. It’s pistol packing fun which is played fast and furious at the online casino. This thematic masterpiece of a slot game features 5 reels and 40 paylines of rampant action. Players go up against bandits in a thrill-a-minute adventure through a saloon. There’s drinks and brawls, shootouts and plenty of gold coin waiting for winners. With multipliers up for grabs, Wild Saloon is the game to beat.
Card games have entertained players across the world for hundreds of years and become an important part of many cultures. In this article, we’ll explore the basic rules and history of three of the most popular card games, and how they’ve stood the test of time.
Blackjack
Blackjack is a banking card game where each player individually competes against the banker. Each card in the game is assigned a value, with cards two through to ten retaining their pip value (the number of pip symbols printed on the cards). However, jacks, kings and queens are each valued at 10, while an ace has a value of either one or eleven. The aim of the game is to score more than the banker, but to not exceed a total value of 21. If any player in the game, including the banker, scores more than 21, they go “bust” and lose the game.
The origins of blackjack
Blackjack is a modern take on the game of Twenty-one. It’s exact origin is unknown, but multiple sources credit the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes (of Don Quixote fame) for the first written record of the game. In Novelas Ejemplares, which was first published around 1601, he references a game called veintiuna, the Spanish word for 21. In the story he describes the aim and rules of the game, which have much in common with modern day blackjack.
However, David Parlett, a games scholar and historian, believes its origins are more closely connected to the game of 31, which gained popularity in the 15th century across Western Europe. This game is first mentioned in a sermon translated in 1464, in which a monk preached about the problems he believed were caused by gaming.
The growing popularity of blackjack’s precursor, Vingt-et-Un
Over the 18th century, blackjack’s precursor, Twenty-one (known as Vingt-et-Un in French) would continue to grow in France, thanks to its popularity with Napoleon and the Royal Court of King Louis XV.
The game continued to spread across Europe, with the Germans referring to the game by three additional names: Siebzehn und Vier (Seventeen and Four), Einundzwanzig (Twenty-One), and Hoppsen. The game also made its way to Britain, where it evolved into the game of Pontoon.
Twenty-one first appeared in the United States in the early 1800s. It’s likely that the game was introduced to the region by French colonists who had recently arrived in the US.
Modern blackjack
However, the original game of Twenty-one wasn’t that popular with American players. With the legalization of gambling in Nevada in 1931, gambling houses decided to add bonus payouts to help spice up the game.
One of these payouts was more commonly known as a blackjack. If a player had an ace of spades, and a jack of clubs or spades, they would receive a 10 to 1 payout. This incentive helped push the game to new heights, as well as cementing it in modern culture as blackjack, and not Twenty-one.
Today, blackjack, and its many variations, has become the most popular banking card game in both the traditional and online casinos.
Poker
Poker is a betting game in which players each take turns to assess the value of their hand in relation to the cards revealed by the dealer on the table. There are many values of hands, depending on the pip of the cards, their suit, and their combination.
A game takes place over multiple rounds, during which each player can choose to match or raise their bet, or fold if they believe their hand to be weak. At the end of each round, the dealer reveals one of three cards on the table.
A new round of betting starts with players again deciding to match or raise their bets, or to fold. This ends when the third card, also known as the river, is revealed. The remaining players reveal their cards, and the player with the highest value of cards wins.
A player can also win if all the other players fold at any point during the game. If the player wins the game this way, they do not have to reveal their cards.
The origins of poker
Much like blackjack, the exact origin of poker is unknown. One theory is that poker grew from the game of poque, a game that, just like blackjack, was introduced by French colonists who settled in the southern states of America.
The game of poque was itself influenced by the Spanish game primero. Primero, much like poker, is a betting game where players won or lost based on the value of their hand. However, it was played with a 40 card deck and the value of the cards and hands were quite different.
The seeds of a global phenomenon are planted
The boat crews who traveled the Mississippi helped spread the game across the United States. As it grew in popularity, the game is believed to have been adapted by English speakers to suit a 52 card deck, as well as being given the English name of poker. The game became a regular past-time of soldiers during the civil war, with both the northern and southern soldiers playing in-between battles. It also spread to frontier towns in the west as people joined in the gold rush in the mid-1800s.
The game also made its way to Britain, supposedly thanks to General Schenck, the ambassador to Britain, who either shared the rules with a member of the royal court, or with Queen Victoria herself.
Poker in the 20th century
Poker may have caught on quickly in the US and attained some level of popularity in Britain in the 19th century, but was only introduced to Europe in the 20th century. This was thanks to American soldiers who were sent to fight on behalf of the Allies during World War 1.
Moving to the latter half of the 20th century, poker saw an increase in interest in poker thanks to the World Series of Poker (WSOP). The first WSOP tournament took place in 1970 and helped drive interest in the game in casinos across the US, but it wasn’t until the Californian legalization in 1987, and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988, that poker became more mainstream.
Poker continues to grow across the world, thanks to technology
However, poker’s growth doesn’t stop there. Many people didn’t originally take online poker seriously, but all of that changed when Chris Moneymaker qualified through an online poker room and went on to win WSOP 2003. Thanks to this win, the attitude towards online poker changed. Now there are numerous online casinos that allow you to play casino games and poker online, as well as dedicated online poker sites.
Baccarat
While it might not have the same reputation as blackjack or poker, Baccarat is still an incredibly popular card game. In Baccarat, players must place a bet on whether the banker or the player will achieve the closest score to nine, or if it will be a tie. It’s important to note that there are only ever two hands in the game, one for the player and one for the banker, but that multiple players can bet on the outcome.
Cards are scored according to their pip value, with an ace valued at one and a nine valued at nine. However, tens, jacks, queens, and kings have no value in Baccarat. If a player has a hand with an ace and a four, their score is five. If a player has a queen and a seven, the queen is ignored and the value of the player’s hand is totaled at seven.
The origins of Baccarat
Considering how long people have been playing card games for, it’s no surprise to hear that, again, little is known about the exact origins of Baccarat.
What is known is that the game became very popular during the 19th century amongst the French nobility. Baccarat, more commonly known as Chemin de fer, became more popular amongst the general French populace once casinos were legalized in specific locations in 1907.
The future of Baccarat
The game also spread to other parts of the world during the 20th century. In Britain, the game even became synonymous with the incredibly popular fictional spy, James Bond. Baccarat also gained popularity in South America, and North America. The United States version of Baccarat is believed to be highly influenced by the South American version of Baccarat known as Punto Banco.
Baccarat, unlike blackjack and poker, never managed to achieve the popularity of either of these games. However, the best online casinos with the best online casino games understand that the game has a dedicated, albeit niche, following, and ensure that Baccarat players can still enjoy the game online.