The two most popular casino table games are roulette and blackjack

There are really only two types of casino games which are table games and casino slots although there are other categories found at online casinos such as lotteries or so called numbers games such as Bingo and Keno. You can also find the odd TV game such as Deal or No Deal although many of the so called TV games end up being slots anyway. Casino slots are definitely the most played at any online casino and there are often hundreds to choose from but they are all basically the same three or five reel slots with different symbols and themes although some do have some interesting features such as Jack Hammer™ or Gonzo’s Quest™. Table games on the other hand provide very different gambling opportunities for the Irish casino player some of which are very simple and others which require a little bit of thought. Some use dice and others use cards or in the case of roulette neither.

Roulette has got to be one of the simplest casino games available at all online casinos and even at the live casino option and is a game of pure luck as there are no strategies and despite some people thinking that studying previous winning numbers gives an insight into what might be coming up there is no relationship whatsoever. Just because there have been 12 red numbers does not mean that the next one or the one after that will be black. Each spin has a 50/50 chance of being red or black. That statement is not exactly true as there is always a zero which is neither red nor black. There are 36 numbers on a European roulette wheel plus a zero so there are 37 numbered slots where the ball can end up. There are the same numbers on the roulette table where bets can be placed in a variety of ways. There is a difference between European roulette and American roulette as American roulette which is offered at online casinos has a second zero called double zero which therefore increases the available sots to 38. The odds paid however are the same as in European roulette so if you have the choice stick with European versions as your winning chances are better. 18 of the 36 numbers are black and 18 are red with the zero being neither and often coloured green. This is important as bets placed on red or black will lose of the zero comes up but you can place a bet on the zero in the same way as any other number. The numbers are laid in three columns of 12 or 12 rows of three depending on how you want to look at it. This enables bets to be placed on a column or on a row which wins when any number in that column/row comes up. You can also bet on the winning number being odd or even but again zero is neither odd nor even. Another popular bet is for the number to be in the first, second or third section which are 1 to 12, 13 to 24 and 25 to 36 respectively with again zero being none of the above. Other bets include a single number or by placing a chip on the line between two numbers you are backing them both or by placing a chip on the corner where four numbers come together you are backing all four. The combinations are endless but the good thing is that the odds paid are always proportional to the number of numbers backed. There are no good or bad bets so as a simple example let’s suppose that you placed one chip on each 17 and 20 which are adjacent numbers. If one of those numbers wins it will pay at odds of 35:1 but your wining chip remains so having bet two chips you now have 36 chips. If you had put two chips on the line between 17 and 20 also backing both numbers, that bet pays at odds of 17:1. This means that you would receive 34 chips from the dealer but again your winning stake remains which in this case was two chips so you still end up with 36 chips.

Online casinos will not allow to place chips in the wrong place so do not worry if you are not sure where to place them. This is a game of pure chance so spreading your chips around in a random fashion is as good as any way of winning. Blackjack on the other hand which is the second most popular table game at online casinos requires a little bit of thought to play properly and by doing so increases your chances of winning. Luck still plays a major part in Blackjack so there is no guarantee of winning but as you are only playing against the dealer and a tied hand results in your money back you might think that your chances are 50/50. The problem is that you as the player must play first and if you go over 21 or bust as it is called then you lose regardless of what happens or might have happened to the dealer. The dealer may well have gone bust too but it is all too late for you. This really is the only advantage that the dealer has in Blackjack which is why it is recognised as the table game with the smallest casino edge. To capitalise on this when playing blackjack you have to make a decision on when the dealer is likely to bust and play accordingly. The dealer in blackjack at online casinos must play to certain rules which are draw a card to anything less than 17 and stand on 17 or above. This makes a six showing in the dealers hand a very weak card as the second card may well result in the dealer having 15 or 16 to which they must draw a card. On 16 there are 8 of the thirteen cards which will result in the dealer going bust which means you win if you are still in the game and even on 15 there are 7 cards which will take the dealer over 21 which is still better than 50/50. If you have a weak hand you can stand on any number which if the dealer busts will still win.