House Advantage Casino
No matter what casino game you play, it is helpful to remember that they all have a house advantage or more commonly called the “house edge” built into the game. The simplest definition for the house advantage or edge is it is a measure of how much the casino expects to win and this is expressed as a percentage of the money wagered by the player. So if the house edge is 1%, then the house expects to earn $1 for every $100 dollars wagered on that game.
Players will be amazed at how small most house edges are, but billions of dollars are made every year by these tiny edges multiplied by thousands of players at casinos all over the world. What does this mean to you as a casino bonus hunter? If you know the house edge in the games offered, you can play perfect blackjack for instance, to fulfill your hand requirement to clear a bonus. If you are reading over this article, then it is assumed you are interested in minimizing the houses edge. Understand that the house edge in games like blackjack are based on a player playing blackjack according to a blackjack cheat sheet. Video Poker is another game that a player can play a good strategy to drop the house’s edge to the minimums listed here. A casino player who plays games with a strategy that minimize the house edge, stands a great chance of cashing in on bonuses and promotions without going broke trying.
This table shows the house advantage, and expected loss per $1000 wagered of some popular casino games, the exact house advantage varies slightly with differing rules from casino to casino, but these figures should be good enough for our purposes. All figures assume you are playing the optimum strategy for the game. We’ve provided a blackjack strategy card, but a quick search on Google will yield you a strategy card for many of these other games!
When you play a game in the casino, the casino has a mathematical advantage over the player called the house edge or house advantage. This is what keeps the casino alive and running. The house edge (also known as house take, or house advantage) is the major source of income for casinos. In fact, establishments such as these have predetermined payout odds for every table game they offer in order to profit from each bet placed by their visitors. The house edge is a mathematical advantage that ensures that the casino—online or in-person—makes money off of your bets. At the end of the day, a casino is a business and the house edge is a built-in mechanism that ensures they make money off of you. It is often said that the reason you can't win in the long run against a casino game such as craps is the house advantage. Based on what your saying, the house advantage has nothing to do with not being able to beat the game in the long run, the root cause is that there isn't a players advantage.
| House Advantage | Expected Loss per $1000 | |
|---|---|---|
| Blackjack | 0.1% to 0.5% | $1 to $5 |
| Videopoker | 0.1% to 1% | $1 to $10 |
| 3 card poker | 2% to 3% | $20 to $30 |
| Roulette (American double 0) | 5.26% | $53 |
| Roulette (European single 0) | 2.7% | $27 |
| Roulette (French, La Partage) | 1.35% | $14 |
| Baccarat (banker bet) | 0.5% to 1% | $5 to $10 |
| Pai Gow (using house way) | 2.7% | $27 |
| Casino War | 2.7% | $27 |
| Texas bonus hold’em | 0.5% | $5 |
May 13, 2014
Casino Edge In Blackjack
The house edge and the hold percentage are two often confused concepts. It is important to understand the difference as well as recognize how they apply to you.
The most important number relevant to a casino gambler is the house edge. That is the built-in advantage that the casino has in any given game. Even if the player makes flawless decisions throughout, over time the house will win money anyway. The edge refers to the cards being stacked against the player before they even enter the casino.
While that number is crucial for a casino manager as well, there is another that matters even more. That figure is the hold percentage, which refers to how many of the chips purchased are returned to the casino, regardless of the inherent advantage in the game. While these two concepts are often mixed up, this piece will analyze them in detail to eliminate any confusion.
The Edge
House edge is a theoretical number made up by mathematical analysts. It assumes that the player uses flawless casino strategy and that action plays out in the long-term. That is why a player might win big money in an evening even if the edge is weighted heavily in favor of the house.
Casino House Advantage Percentages
For example, lets say that you bring $100 to the casino and leave with $110. You won 10 percent of what you wagered. But the house edge calculates the casinos winnings over thousands of wagers made by thousands of people. The edge is determined by both the player’s odds of winning and the amount of money which is paid out relative to the amount bet.
Many games have a low house edge precisely because the casino wants you to win occasionally. That way you will keep playing and the house slowly drains your bankroll.
Hold Percentage
Hold percentage is a more tangible concept, based not on theory but on how much money actually flows into the casino’s coffers. The hold is always higher than the edge, meaning that casinos always make more money than they theoretically should in each game. Sometimes the disparity can be great, with the hold being multiples of the edge (we’ll discuss some examples later).
Why? Edge assumes that player’s make logical decisions. Hold doesn’t. Most players are not experts in their chosen game. Many don’t know what they are doing, many play intoxicated, and many are just stupid in general. Casinos count on players making poor decisions.
Edge versus hold in blackjack
In a standard blackjack game in which the player is not using a card counting system the house edge is .5 percent. This means that if you wager $1,000 on blackjack, you should theoretically leave the casino with $995. Not great for the house, because it takes them all night to get only enough money off of you to buy a burger and fries at McDonald’s.
But most likely you aren’t a blackjack expert. You make some mistakes, hit when you should stand, misread the dealer’s upcard, foolishly buy insurance against the dealer’s blackjack. So you lose more money than mathematical theory says you should. That’s where the human factor comes in.
While the blackjack house edge is a paltry .5 percent, in most casinos the hold percentage is about 14 percent. Real life human beings lose a lot more than a robot programmed to play strategically flawless blackjack would, and that’s how casinos make a lot of their money.
Casino’s affect the blackjack edge, and by extension the average hold, buy playing with both rules and payouts. For example, some Vegas casinos have recently begun paying only 6-5, rather than 3-2, on blackjack hands. This has been shown to increase the edge by 1.39 percent. And given that most players at these tables make strategic errors, one can bet that the hold is very high as well.
Hold in Baccarat
The popular game of baccarat has made casino gambling news in Vegas and Macau casinos, with the Daily Mail reporting that in 2013 it overtook blackjack as the main source of revenue for Vegas casinos.
While the house edge in baccarat is almost nil on this game of chance, the hold percentage can be huge. Vegas casinos generally report making 11 percent of all money wagered on the game. How can the hold be huge on a game with a small house edge?
Baccarat is the game of choice for Asian high-rollers, many of whom come to Vegas and wager millions of dollars in a single night. An unlucky evening for one of these “whales” can keep a casino operating in the black for an entire month. Casinos also charge a 5 percent commission when the banker wins a bet, which can potentially be a huge amount.
However, the gargantuan nature of baccarat betting causes major variance in the hold, as players can just as likely win huge amounts from the house in a given night. While Vegas casinos reported an average take of 11 percent on the game, some casinos reported a hold as low as 3.6 percent. Just as a huge night can pay for an entire month, it can also wipe out a month of profit.
Tags: card counting system, casino gambling news, casino strategy, hold percentage, house edge
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