Humanity has been gambling for so many years. Centuries, to be almost exact. See, it was even mentioned in the Bible. So as humanity advanced in knowledge, people applied mathematics in gambling, too. People were always led to believe that the outcome of gambling is pure luck. But wiser people know, especially in card games, that there is a way to know right off the bat how to win.
The application of mathematics, which is a science by itself, in gambling was done in the sixteenth century by a man named Gironimo Cardano. What he did was to study the frequency of a desired result from events that seem to be random. This study led to the theory of probability.
Later on, one person released a book called Reasoning in Games of Chance. This book contained very valuable information on Expected Value or EV. And this is what casinos use to determine if the amount of wager or what you can win will actually benefit them because the result is measured against the odds. This is called the House Edge.
Let me give you a simple analysis what the House of Edge is. It is less than the amount of what you should win or the amount of the wager against your bet. Let us say if you bet one dollar, you also win one dollar, that is what we call the true odd. But if you bet one dollar and you win five dollars, this is where the House of Edge applies. Take Roulette as an example. There is a total of 36 numbers plus a zero and a double zero. That gives you 38 choices. If you win your bet, the casino will pay you only 35 dollars for one dollar. That is the wager. So you keep your one dollar, plus you keep 35 dollars. That gives you a total of 36 dollars.
In reality, the ‘true odds’ 38 dollars. That is because one dollar should be equivalent to each choice. So since you only have 36 dollars in total, there is a difference of 2 dollars. Two dollars divided by 38 choices is 5.26%. That is the House of Edge: 5.26%. The higher the House of Edge is, the lesser the odds of winning are.
Once you take this seriously, you will then know by heart the best casino bets and best casino payouts.
The best casino odds for a player who want to win based on skills is blackjack and video poker. These games require skills to win and not luck or chance. With Blackjack, a player always has the option whether to split, double down, or hit.
So remember, the best casino odds are in the skill games, not in the games of chance.