If you’re already a fan of casino gaming, then you’ll be aware that choosing a card game with a low house edge will give you a bit of a headstart if you’re playing to win. The house edge refers to the percentage that the house (the casino) is likely to win, so the lower that number, the lesser amount the casino is likely to win from you.
If you’re looking to find some new card games to practice, want to simplify your collection of mobile apps and play only games with a great house edge, or you just like a mental challenge in your free time, then these games will provide you with what you’re looking for.
Vegas Three Card Rummy
Our first pick is one of the less well-known card games, but if it is played with the optimum strategy then the house edge is 1.93%, excluding in the bonus round where it rises to 3.46%. The card game is vegas three card rummy and while this isn’t the best house edge of all card games; we’ll come onto that next, it’s actually pretty good.
The game is played with a standard 52-card deck and involves just the player and the dealer. The two are both dealt three cards each, hence the name, with the player’s cards face-up and the dealer’s cards face-down. The aim of the game is to score fewer points than the dealer does. In order to do this, the sum of your cards is added, with cards 2-10 scoring their face value and picture cards scoring 10 points. Ace is equal to 1 and any pairs, triples, or runs have a value of zero. This means that by obtaining runs and pairs, you can bring your total down and hopefully beat the dealer.
Once you’ve seen your cards, you can place a bet as to whether the dealer’s hand will beat yours, or not. You win if the total of your hand is lower than the dealers, or if the dealer scores fewer than 20 points then the player wins too. However, the player loses if his cards total less than the dealer’s, or if his hand totals less than 12 points. When you factor in ante-wagering, and raising, then the house edge does start to sway in favour of the dealer, but with the correct strategy you can mostly negate this.
Blackjack
Blackjack is well known as the card game to play if you’re looking for the lowest possible house edge. Using the correct strategy, you can get the blackjack house edge down to just 0.5%, the lowest of any of the card games by some margin.
The reason for this is partly because of the format of the game, but also down to the pioneering attitude of some scientists who painstakingly worked out a table that teaches you exactly how to play blackjack correctly. They worked out where you should stick, double down, twist, every possible move, on every possible hand. This table provides a great ‘cheat sheet’ whilst you’re learning, and before long, you’ll probably have committed it to memory.
If you want to get started with Blackjack then it’s simple, you need to score as close to 21 as possible, without going over that target. Just like Vegas three-card rummy, blackjack is a game between you and the dealer. To begin, you place your initial bet, then the dealer will deal you one card, face-up, as well as one card face-up to themselves. This is followed by another round of cards dealt face-up to the player, but this time face-down to the dealer. At this point it’s up to you whether you want to stand (remain where you are), or hit (receive another card). The only other option is to double down, when you double your bet if you’re confident in your cards.
Once all of the players have finished, the dealer turns his cards and must either stand if he’s on a 17, or hit if he’s on a 16 or lower. If the dealer beats the player’s total, the dealer wins, if he doesn’t, then all bets are paid out. The only time that this changes is if a player has scored 21 exactly, in which case they win regardless of the dealer’s hand, or if the dealer reaches exactly the same total as a player, in which case the dealer wins.
Some players can play what is known as an insurance bet, which can happen only if the dealer’s face-up card is an Ace. An insurance bet can be only half the value of their original bet and pays out only if the remaining face-down card in the dealer’s hand is a 10, thus scoring the dealer 21. An insurance bet pays out at 2-1, so it can be lucrative if it comes in, but the odds of it doing so are comparatively high.
