Understand the Casino Odds

November 12, 2009 | Article Category: Casino Games

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When online casino gamblers are starting out, they may not know much about gambling. It is possible to play in online casinos without knowledge of a number of things that you may come across, such as the "odds." Of course, for those wishing to make more informed decisions, it is important to have a basic knowledge about the odds of the games you are playing, and how they are worked out. Once you have this understanding, you may make quite a different game choice than you would have without this knowledge.

Since odds are always designed to benefit the online casino, and not the online casino player, they are often referred to as the "house advantage," which is the financial advantage that the house, or casino, will have over the player. If the house advantage is 10 percent, then for every $10 that you wager, you can expect to lose $1, while the online casino can expect to profit by $1 on every $10 that is wagered on that game. The greater the odds, or the house advantage, is, the more a player should expect to lose on a game.

The odds for different casino games varies greatly, as they can within a single game. In certain games, such as blackjack, the odds for each hand will be different, depending on the card that you are holding. When quoting odds, one of the easiest ways to understand them is by quoting them as a ratio. For example, if the odds are 5:1 (5 to 1), the player needs to bet $1 in order to have a possible win of $5. When games, such as blackjack, are played, the odds vary because there is a measure of skill involved in the game.

To calculate the odds in a craps game, you simply need to work out what the chance of a specific number being rolled is. The total number of possible outcomes when rolling two dice is equal to 36. Therefore, divide 36 by the number of possible combinations for your chosen number. Should you want to work out the odds for rolling a 3 in craps, it is quite simple. A 3 can be rolled by either 2+1 or 1+2. 36 divided by 2 (the two possible combinations to roll a three) is equal to 18. This means that there is a 1 in 18 chance (18:1) of rolling your chosen number, 3. Seven is the craps number that has the highest odds. The odds of rolling a 7 are 30:6, which can also be expressed as odds of 5:1, or as a percentage of 16.7%. This means that a seven can be rolled in six possible combinations: 1+6; 6+1; 2+5; 5+2; 4+3; and 3+4. Placing bets on numbers that are more likely, rather than less likely, to come up will increase your chance of winning.

The craps odds explained above are the true odds that can be calculated for the next throw. There are, of course, various rules in every game that will affect how the odds can be used in order to make the most effective choices.