Plenty of poker game variants that can be played in a casino environment and if you are interested in playing against the house our guide to the Top 10 Casino Poker Games. Playing against the dealer is slightly different. This type of play begins with an Ante Wager. After looking at their hand, they may fold or place an equal Play Wager to stay in the game. If a player’s hand beats the dealer’s qualifying hand of a Queen-high or better, they win both wagers. Poker One of the newest casino table games popping up in casinos across the country is the 'Texas Hold'em Bonus' game. Simply, it pits each player against the dealer in heads-up hands of Texas Hold'em poker. Whoever has the best five-card poker hand at the end, wins.
For this series of articles specifically aimed at players who have experience with poker in a home game or online, but are new to poker in brick-and-mortar casinos, I decided to ask a couple of my poker dealer friends to address this question: “What do you wish those new to poker in casinos knew that they usually don’t know?”
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Kristi Smith (@AlaskaGal1 on Twitter) is a dealer in Las Vegas. She submitted an excellent list of items in response to my question. I have followed some of her points with comments of my own.
1. Don’t worry too much about it being your first time. Everyone starts somewhere.
Absolutely. No matter how hard you try, you will not be able to disguise from experienced players the fact that you’re new, so don’t even try.
When you’re not sure what to do, or even what your options are, it’s better and less stressful to say to the dealer, “This is my first time playing, and I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do here.” As long as that question is about rules and procedures, and not about a decision regarding how to play your hand, he or she will be happy to explain.
2. The cards shouldn’t be picked up off the table to look at them. The dealer needs to be able to see your cards at all times.
Only bad things happen when you lift cards off of the table. They get seen by other players. They get dropped on the floor. They get overlooked by the dealer and other players who are visually scanning the table for cards in order to know where the action is.
3. Cover your cards while you peek at them so you don’t accidentally show your neighbor.
4. Don’t comment on the current hand. Don’t say what you folded or comment that a flush or straight is possible.
Definitely. And you should keep following this rule even though you’ll frequently hear others violate it. It is, unfortunately, a very common transgression.
5. If you want to raise, say “raise” before you put an oversized chip in. Or if you’re using multiple chips, put them all out at once.
6. It is important to wait your turn. The dealer will look at you or signal you when it’s your turn.
If you’re ever unsure, it’s fine to ask the dealer, “Is it my turn?” Or, “Is it on me?” Or, “Where is the action?”
7. Your large denomination chips must be in the front of your stack.
This is so that other players, eyeing your stack, don’t make a big mistake about how many chips you have because some high-value chips are out of sight. Some shady players deliberately hide them specifically to induce such mistakes by others. It’s against the rules and highly unethical.
8. Most rooms will give you a quick free lesson to give you a rundown on the mechanics of the game. However, the best way to learn is to just sit down in a low-limit cash game or cheap tournament and play.
9. Dealers work for tips. If you’re playing cash it’s customary to tip the dealer $1 if you win a pot. In a tournament, the winners will often leave a small percentage of their winnings for all the dealers to share.
When your tournament payout comes in a bunch of small denomination chips, that’s the casino giving you subtle encouragement and help to leave something in the tip jar for the dealers.
10. If a dealer has to correct you for a rule violation, don’t take it personally. We want you to have fun. It’s just part of the dealer’s job to keep the game going and to make sure the players abide by the rules.
If you think it kills the fun of a game when a dealer enforces the rules, you should try playing when a dealer does NOT enforce them. It becomes chaotic, unfair, and no fun at all!
Dominick Muzio (@dmuzio on Twitter) is also a Vegas dealer. Unlike Kristi, he had just one thing on his mind when I emailed him with my question:
I wish more new players knew that there is no need for them to justify their actions or play. When they say things like “I had pot odds” (they usually don’t), or “I can’t call with this junk hand” (they probably should because of odds), they immediately alter how the game will be played. More savvy players will pick up on this weakness and exploit it. It’s just as dangerous in affecting play as talking about the hand in play.
I agree. People do this to save face. But poker is one social circumstance where saving face is counterproductive. To more experienced players, your comments reveal how little you know. To less experienced players, such talk causes them either to feel like they don’t know enough to be playing, and thus not come back, or to get better educated about the game. Neither outcome is good for your bankroll.
If another player thinks you did something stupid — whether you actually did or not — let him! Then find a way to use that false image in your favor, rather than try to correct the false impression. Making money matters more than impressing people with your skill. So never complain, and never explain!
Much thanks to Kristi and Dominick for contributing their hard-won observations.
Robert Woolley lives in Asheville, NC. He spent several years in Las Vegas and chronicled his life in poker on the “Poker Grump” blog.
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Casino Hold'em® / Caribbean Hold'em™ / GRAND HOLD'EM® (Casino Hold'em® Poker™ / Caribbean Hold'em Poker™ / GRAND HOLD'EM® POKER™) is a casinogambling game. This banking game, introduced by Stephen Au-Yeung in 2000 (First Texas Hold'em Poker play against the casino and not other players) and now played in live casinos worldwide. It was licensed for use in the United Kingdom in 2007. In addition online casinos offer the game, which is based on the traditional multi-player Texas Hold'em Poker.
Free Casino Poker Games
Casino Hold'em is a house game designed to be dealt by a croupier for casino patrons to play in the main casino. Players play the house and not other players in this variant. Subject to the dealer qualifying, it is a straight contest between the dealer's hand and the player's, player may also get paid an AnteWin Bonus on his Ante bet.Player can also place an AA Bonus side bet which is based on the poker value of his two personal cards and the first three flop cards.
History[edit]
Stephen Au-Yeung devised the game in the late 1990's as a tool to assist in training his partner of the time to play Texas Hold 'Em poker. After this the training tool was developed into a House game and launched in 2000.[1] It first appeared as a live casino game in Egypt, Russia and South Africa. It was shown in 2001 at the World Gaming Congress Expo, Las-Vegas, US and in 2002 at the International Casino Exhibition held at Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London, UK.
Today the game is marketed by the Gaming Supplies Company, TCS-JohnHuxley and over ten online-gaming software and is played in over one hundred live casinos and over one thousand online Casinos worldwide. It was licensed/Approved for use in the USA (Nevada/Las-Vegas) in 2006 and VERSION-2 in 2013, also Approved in the United Kingdom in 2007. In 2017 Golden Nugget's Live-Dealer Online-Casino (Atlantic-City/New-Jersey) launched the game, making it the first Live-Dealer Online-Poker, play in USA.
Rules[edit]
- The game is played with a standard 52 card deck.
- Each player makes an Ante bet and may make an optional AA bonus side bet.
- The player and dealer are both dealt two cards (face down).
- Three cards are then dealt to the board and will eventually contain five cards.
- After checking his/her cards, the player has to decide (a) to fold with no further play losing the Ante bet or (b) to make a Call bet of double the Ante bet.
- If one or more players makes a Call bet the dealer will deal two more cards to the board, for a total of five.
- Players and dealer make their best five card poker hand from their own two personal cards and five board cards.
- Each player’s hand are compared with the dealer’s.
- The dealer must have a pair of 4s or better to qualify.
- If the dealer does not qualify, the Ante bet pays according to the AnteWin pay table and the Call bet is a push (stand off).
- If the dealer qualifies, and the player's hand is better than the dealer's, the Ante bet pays according to the Ante-Win pay table and the Call bet pays 1 to 1.
- If the dealer qualifies, and the dealer's hand is equal to the player's, all bets are push (it doesn't win or lose).
- If the dealer qualifies, and the dealer's hand is better than the player's, the player loses all bets.
Strategy[edit]
There is no easy way to quantify optimal strategy for this game since the optimal decision for each hand is based on the combination of all 7 cards (two personal cards and five board cards) dealt. As such while computer programs can easily deal with the calculations required to make the correct play in any particular hand, it is difficult to make a set of general rules which can be memorized such as exists for Blackjack. The optimal strategy player will raise 82% of the time. So only in the worst 18% of hands should the player fold. These are broadly when the player has two singletons in the hole that are low compared to the flop, with little or no chance for a straight or flush.[2]
AnteWin pay table[edit]
In Casino Hold'em the player not only wins a standard 1 to 1 sum if they have the stronger hand, but for rare hands a higher sum. This pay table typically pays a royal flush 100 to 1, straight flush 20 to 1, four of a kind 10 to 1, full house 3 to 1, flush 2 to 1, and straight or less the standard 1 to 1.
House edge[edit]
The house edge of Casino Hold'em excluding the side bet (that is, the percentage of each bet the casino will on average win, assuming perfect play on the part of the player) varies depending on the specific rules in the casino but is the most common pay tables result in a house edge varying from just below 2% to around 2.5%. Using the ante pay table above, the house edge is 2.16%.
Side bets[edit]
A side bet known as the AA Bonus is based on the poker value of the player's two cards and the first three flop cards.
Free Casino Poker Card Games
A pair of aces to a straight pays 7 to 1, flush 20 to 1, full house 30 to 1, four of a kind 40 to 1, straight flush 50 to 1 and royal flush 100 to 1. A variations to this pay table, A pair of aces to a straight pays 7 to 1, flush or higher 25 to 1.
References[edit]
- ^ThePOGG (26 February 2014). 'ThePOGG Interviews – Stephen Au-Yeung – Creator of Casino Hold 'Em'.
- ^wizardofodds.com