Table games can be a good alternative to online casino slots

Without doubt the most popular casino games at online casinos are casino slots but there are also many Irish casino players who feel that they have a better chance of winning if they concentrate on table games where more often than not the player has an input into the result. The problem with casino slots is that all you do is decide on how many lines you are playing and for what stakes and then press a button whereas even with the simplest of table games such as roulette it is the player that decides where to place the chips and therefore it is the player that either wins or loses. Roulette is a casino game of pure luck, of course, but at least the player is deciding something rightly or wrongly. There are other casino table games available at online casinos everywhere such as Blackjack where the player has a very strong input which can affect the result of winning and losing quite dramatically. Make wrong decision when playing blackjack and you reduce your chances of winning. Blackjack as with any other card game does have an element of luck but you can increase your chances by following a simple strategy.

The idea of the table game of roulette is not, as some people would have it, getting as close to 21 as possible without going bust (going over 21) but rather to beat the dealer. You can win a hand of blackjack with any hand when the dealer goes bust as long as you are still in the hand and therein lays the dealers biggest advantage; you play first. The dealer in Blackjack must follow certain rules and one of those is drawing cards to 17 which means that with any total under 17 the dealer will draw a card. If you follow the same strategy you will notice that you bust on a good number of occasions and so will the dealer but if you have played first and are bust then you have already lost regardless of whether the dealer also busts or not because you have played first. The strategy therefore is to recognise when the dealer might bust and stay in the game regardless of your hand. You can of course never know for sure when the dealer will bust especially as you can only see one card of the dealers but a six for example is a very weak card. Any card between 6 and King will take the dealer into the territory of 12 to 16 which means just one card can bust the dealer and 8 out of every 13 cards come into that category so the chances are high. If you have 15 or 16 in your hand is it worth the risk of drawing a card knowing the there is a realistic chance of the dealer going bust?

Baccarat is another interesting online casino table game but in this game the player has no input whatsoever, in fact the player does not even touch the cards as they are all played by the dealer. There are only two hands dealt which are generally called the bank and the player which is where the alternative name for this table game comes from. The alternative name is Punto Banco which could be construed as meaning the punter and the banker and it is called this at some online casinos such as All Irish Casino. It does not matter what it is called as it is exactly the same game. There are very strict rules which cover every contingency of when a card should be drawn and when not so it does not matter that the dealer plays both hands. The advantage of Baccarat is that as the player you can back either hand to win or for the result to be a tie. In fact those are the only three bets available at Baccarat so it really is very simple. The only slightly unusual thing about Baccarat is the counting of the value of the cards but a quick read through the rules will soon sort that out for you. You may also come across Pontoon in the table games section of an online casino but be warned that this is not the same game as blackjack even though it appears to be very similar. One of the biggest differences is that a tie in blackjack is a push with your money being returned but a tie in pontoon is a win for the dealer.

Another of the table games that is shunned by many people for no good reason is Caribbean Stud Poker. Maybe it is because it is called poker that puts people off with them thinking of the poker that we can see on TV where a player can be bluffed out of a hand or simply lose their whole stack on a single hand. Caribbean stud has very little to do with that kind of poker other than the idea is to form a poker hand of 5 cards. There is no bluffing and no changing of cards and the player sets the stakes for each hand. Caribbean stud starts with the player placing an ante bet but be careful when choosing the size of that ante bet as if you want to play you will be playing for three times that amount. To explain, after the ante bet is placed 5 cards are dealt to the player and 5 to the dealer but only one of the dealer’s cards is face up. Based on that information the player must decide whether to play or fold. Deciding to play triggers the additional bet after which the dealers cards are revealed and the winner decided. In order to be fully in the game the dealer must have an Ace/King or better. If that is not the case after the player has decided to play the ante bet is paid at even money and the additional bet is returned. If the dealer does have the minimum hand or better then both bets are ether won or list depending on who has the better hand.