If you have decided to take the plunge and indulge yourself in a little online casino action then you should have selected a quality casino offering you a new player bonus. Once you've made your deposit and activated the bonus, you now have a cash sum that you can play with at the casino.
Now is the time to sit back and consider how best to use this money, if you are to make it last as long as possible and perhaps even grow into a considerably larger sum. How can you do that when the casino consistently tips the odds in its favour to win?
The key to maximising your deposit cash and deposit bonus comes in identifying which casino games and individual bets within games, are the most profitable. To do that, we first need to understand a key tenet to all casino games, the house edge.
What is the house edge?
In simple terms, the house edge is the slight advantage that a casino holds on winning in any particular game or bet. This edge is often expressed as a percentage, where a 0 percent house edge means that it is 50/50 that a player will win a bet, whereas a 100 percent house edge means that the casino will win all the time.
What is not well understood by many novice players is that different casino games and bets within games can have wildly different house edges, meaning that certain bets and games are far less likely to provide you with a win.
The good news is that you don't need to understand all the complicated mathematics behind discovering what the house edge is for the most popular casino games and bets; this has all been done for you. What you do need to understand however, is that to make your cash and free deposit bonus stretch further, you should be targeting the bets and games with the lowest house edges.
What games and bets offer the lowest house edges in the casino?
A solid strategy for maximising the lifespan of your casino cash is to target the games and bets with the lowest house edge as this gives you, statistically, more chance of winning more often. Especially when allied with a sound strategy in some games. Outlined below are some of the more profitable games and bets to target
Poker - Poker is a rarity in that it is one of the few casino games played against other players, rather than the house, so if you are a strong (or lucky) poker player, then you can use your skills to increase your bankroll against lesser ability players. The casino does take a small fee from each hand (the rake), but even so, if you can win regularly enough, have a sound poker strategy and plenty of skill and chutzpah, then playing poker online can be profitable.
Video Poker - Many video poker games offer some of the smallest house edges in the casino and some offer close to a 100 percent payout rate. Develop a strong poker strategy when playing these games and you can cut the house edge to around 0.5 percent or less.
Craps - There are lots of different bets to consider in a typical game of craps, but wise casino players will always focus their efforts on two bets. The Come and Passline bets have a house edge of just 1.41 percent, but if you take double odds on the wager, you can lower this to just 0.61 percent. Similarly, the Don't Come and Don't Pass bets offer a house edge of 1.14 percent, which again can be lowered to 0.59 percent if you bet double odds.
Roulette - Like Craps, some roulette bets offer much better value than others and in addition, it is worth playing European Roulette (with a single zero slot), as opposed to American roulette (with a zero and double zero slot) as this drastically reduces the house edge on key bets. So playing European Roulette, stick to the outer bets of 1-18 or 19-36, Red or Black or Odd or Even to reduce the house edge considerably.
Blackjack - Serious gamblers realise that blackjack offers the lowest house edge of all casino games. Combined with a sound knowledge of blackjack strategy, you can reduce the house edge in these games considerably to between 0.2 percent and 0.63 percent. The number of decks used in a game does affect these odds however, so try and find games that use fewer decks to keep the odds in your favour and swot up on Blackjack strategy before you play.
Are there any types of games or bets that offer a big edge for the casino?
Although the house edge differs from game to game and from casino to casino, there are some games that do weigh the odds considerably in a casinos favour. Online slots are well known to casino veterans as being the real money-spinners for the casino as they can have a house edge of as much as 15 percent in some cases. Other games that are known to have a large house edge include Keno and scratchcard games.
An effective strategy to maximise your cash bonus?
Armed with the above knowledge, an effective strategy for you to maximise the lifespan of your cash and bonus is to focus predominantly on the games that offer a lower house edge and it is worth spending time learning the strategy involved in these games and bets.
Allied to minimising the cash spent on games with a much larger house edge, you should find that your deposit and your bonus cash lasts a lot longer at the casino and with a bit of luck, you may even start to build a nicely sized bankroll.
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