A Comparison of Various Casino and Online Video Poker Games

Anyone entering the world of online gaming for the first time can’t help but be struck by the variety and number of games and casinos on offer. A great way to help cut through the sheer immensity of online casino choice is to read the reviews and advice of sites in the know, such as CrazyAboutCasino.com! But once you’ve followed our guides to selecting the right casino for you, what game should you play? TL;DR – Online Video Poker Games are the best!

What’s the best game?

Well, what do you mean by ‘best’? The best game, in our eyes, is the one that lets you have the most fun. So if you’re a James Bond purist, who remembers that ‘in the original Casino Royale book, he played baccarat, actually’. Then…go for it dude! If you are a big fan of flashing lights and zombies, there’s probably a walking dead progressive slots game out there for you also! If you just can’t get enough of the Wild West, or bullet-related puns Gunsbet Casino is going to be the one for you!

It’s impossible for us to say what’s exactly going to be the most fun for you, all the time. However, the reality is, after a while in the online gambling space – for most people, it becomes a challenge to say that any game is ’best’, if you never win! So why are Online Video Poker Games ‘better’ than the others?

Rates of Return, and Payout Ratios

This is what winning boils down to. Not giving the casino your money! A game that we all know demonstrates this pretty well, with only minimum math.

Roulette has 36 numbers around the wheel. 18 are red, 18 are black. So if you bet on red all of the time, you should win, half the time, right? Wrong! There’s still the one pesky green slot, the zero (aka Snake Eyes). That’s why, even though a win on black pays 2x your money, the ‘rate of return’ on roulette is 97.5%, not 100%.

If you bet numbers on roulette, you can get 35x or 36x your stake back (the max payout ratio). But again, those snake eyes will, a few times in a hundred, snake your money away from you, and back to the casino.  If the Rate of return is low, it doesn’t matter how big the top payout is, playing for a long time will end up with you losing money!

This is for European Roulette, by the way, which is friendlier than American, which has even lower odds! If you love to play real roulette on the go though, HandyVegas.com  is optimised for mobile, and has a great range of live games as well as the classic online casino versions. On tablet, phone or desktop, their interface and live roulette wheels will truly let you bring the casino with you in your pocket!

If you like big payouts, then slots might attract your attention. Even the most basic slot machines pay something in the range of 500-1 for the top jackpot, and that can go up to 10,000-1 for some of the wilder progressive slots! If you hit that, amazing! Remember that betting the max bet is usually necessary to get the top jackpots! But even the most generous online slots have a rate of return less than 96%. Even lower than roulette!

Top returners 

If you play perfectly, the online versions of baccarat, blackjack & online video poker have 99% rate of return. This is the highest rate of return out there, because (we all know this) the casinos don’t really let you play for free! But a 99% rate of return means that if you are trying to follow our strategies and quit while you’re ahead, you’re going to have a lot more chances than playing those games where you’ll always be behind the bank.

Baccarat

If you’re the James Bond type, and want to play baccarat – check out BaoCasino.com, they have both Live Baccarat dealers, and Online Baccarat. Payout on a win in baccarat is even money or even money moins Cinq for baccarat. Playing live and/or with side bets can lead to more, but still, the basic payouts aren’t that high, even though the rate of return is great.

Blackjack

The classic gambler’s card game, and one with strategies we’re all sure we know. Perfect play gives you a 99% rate of return. Payout is even money, or 150% on a ‘BlackJack’ win. These are going to be key to getting and staying ahead when you play BlackJack online, and really, there’s not much you can do to increase their likelihood. Sometimes your strategy will make you win, sometimes you’ll lose. Marginally more times than you win, you’ll lose (hence the 99%, not 100%). It comes down to how many of those wins are ‘blackjack’ and give you enough of a payout to beat the banker!

Online Video Poker Games

Reading our guide to playing video poker online means you should have worked out you need to max bet, if you’re going to win big. The payout on video poker is up to 800x your stake (if doing max bets and you get a Royal Flush), the lowest payout is even money (A pair of Jacks, Queens or Kings). There is more volatility in Video Poker, there are going to be more hands that you don’t win on (which means it feels like a challenge, another reason to say Online Video Poker is the best game). But as you can see, the minimum win is the same level as Blackjack and Baccarat’s standard win. Better hands make much bigger payouts, and if you play well, you’re still hitting Rates of Return at 98-99%. It’s the best of all possible worlds!

To conclude, find a game that’s fun for you and you enjoy! Be responsible and stick to a strategy, but if you’re looking for the perfect blend of big payout, risk and return, online video poker games have to be the best!