There are more than 30 different table games available at casinos we have covered through our Advantage sites. Some require no skill. Others require a substantial strategy to receive a good return. Errors can be made in most of them. Here are some of the bigger ones that I have found over the years.
Roulette mistakes
Roulette may not be a skill game. However, there are several mistakes that a player can make. The clearest one is playing at a table with three zeros on it. The third zero may be disguised with the casino’s logo. I found these games at over 20 Las Vegas casinos. I also saw triple zero roulette at MGM National Harbor and Horseshoe in Maryland.
There is a bet at a double zero roulette table that is worse than any triple zero wager. That is betting both zeros with 1, 2, and 3. This is called a basket bet. Its house edge is 7.89%. Triple zero roulette has a house edge of 7.69%. A typical double zero roulette game has a house edge of 5.26%.
You can cut the house edge of double zero roulette in half when playing even money bets in Atlantic City casinos. These tables have la partage. The player receives half of an even money bet back when the ball lands on zero. Note that single zero roulette wheels in Atlantic City do not have this rule. In Las Vegas, this rule is only found at some high limit single zero tables.
Ultimate Texas Hold’em mistakes
One of the biggest mistakes I see at Ultimate Texas Hold’em is players not taking the four times raise before the flop. The house knows this. That is why they will let you play three or four times before the flop. If the hand is worth playing preflop, it is worth taking the four times raise.
This can increase the variance in the game. For players that do not want to do this, I recommend playing Heads Up Hold’em. This game plays just like Ultimate Texas Hold’em, except that players may only raise three times the ante preflop. It gives players a bad beat bonus that starts at a straight in exchange for this. If you are only max raising the biggest hands before the flop in Ultimate Texas Hold’em, you should find a casino that deals Heads Up Hold’em.
Playing the pass line at crapless craps instead of the traditional game
Crapless craps is available at more than half of Las Vegas Strip casinos these days. I also found it at two Ohio casinos. This game is much worse than the regular version unless you can get up to 10 times odds. We have only ever found crapless craps with 10 times odds at The Strat, once known as Stratosphere, in Las Vegas, and at two Ohio casinos.
If you can’t make it to a game with better than 3-4-5 times odds, or your bankroll can’t afford it, then we recommend choosing the regular game instead. We also have an entire article dedicated to common mistakes craps players make.
Not learning the strategy before sitting down
Most table games have low house edges. Table games that require skill are usually better than those that don’t, but you must know how to play them properly. I recommend checking out the table game section at Wizard of Odds. That site has the basic strategy for nearly any casino game.
Note that there can be more than one strategy for a game, depending on its rules. For example, a blackjack game that does not allow double down after splitting will have a different strategy for splits than one that does. A traditional blackjack strategy may be drastically different than a variant.
The best example of this may be Double Exposure, where both dealer cards are shown before the player acts. It is dealt at Circus Circus in Las Vegas. Don’t play this game unless you understand the major differences between its strategy and a normal game.
Not reading the rules before playing
There may be important rules to know before sitting down. That includes if a blackjack table pays 6:5 or does not permit double down after splitting, the craps odds permitted, the number of zeros on a roulette wheel, and the type of pai gow poker dealt. Always make sure that you know any rule variants that are not player-friendly. If the rule is bad enough, it is time to find something else to play.
Chasing progressive jackpots when the meter is too low
Many years ago, I was dealt a seven-card straight flush at pai gow poker. I did not bet the dollar for the progressive jackpot because it was about one-quarter of where it needed to be to return 100%. I would have played it if the return was reasonable, but in this case, it was under 50%. This is not a time to be results oriented. It was a terrible bet to make.
If your goal is to hit a massive table game progressive jackpot, it is important to know where the meter resets and how to compute the return. Otherwise, you are making what could be the worst bet in the casino at the time. Wizard of Odds keeps track of the table game progressive meter returns to help players determine when it is worth making the bet.
