A Guide to Playing Casino Poker Tables

Table play in either a small or large casino requires a number of things from the player; an understanding of game play, the house rules, opponents and an inclusive plan. Entering the poker room of a casino you’ll witness a number of different games including Pai Gow Poker, Caribbean Stud, Hold’em Tournaments and tables strictly for Hold’em and Omaha. If you carefully select you spot, learn your opponents and play with discipline you can move the advantage to you – but this requires analyzing your competition before laying down your chips.

Most table poker games offer a definite house advantage, but there are ways that can help you increase you chances of winning at the table, and may even enable you to come out ahead when casino comps and other perks are taken into consideration. Competitive poker players rely on playing against other players at traditional table games, (rather than the house) using their skill at the game coupled with intuition to play well.

Pai Gow and Caribbean Stud – House Poker Games

Casino dealer games have you competing directly against the house, and require a dominant strategy if you are going to minimize your potential for losses. Be aware that usually house games place the dealer at an advantage even when you practice your best plan of attack.

One of the most popular games is paid gow, or double hand, poker which is played with a standard 52-card deck including a joker. Pai gow tables are set for six players plus the dealer and the goal of the game is to get a better hand than the banker. Players build two poker hands based upon the seven cards, one based upon a five-card hand and another on a two-card hand. When compiling the hands, the player’s five card hand must be the smaller two card hand. Hand rankings are determined according to standard poker rules, with jokers being counted as an ace although they can be wild to make a flush or straight. In order to beat the dealer a player must have both a 5 and a 2-card hand better than the dealer’s, and the dealer wins on any tie hands – this gives the dealer a slight advantage, and some tables require antes or commissions in order to further solidify the advantage.

Also popular is Caribbean stud poker. In this table game, similar to stud poker, the players are dealt five cards and the dealer shows one of his cards. Players are not permitted to share hand information. After studying their hands player can place their bet (double their ante) or give up their initial bet (fold).Dealer hands at Ace-King or better are entered into play (or else the ante bets are returned) and the higest hand wins. This hand choice delivers a slight house advantage, but most players will choose to play all hands greater than Ace-King (at least a pair). Raising against a dealer’s week hand when your are holding strong cards can also result in the best possible play.

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Category: Recreation
Keywords: casino games, table games, pai gow, carribian stud, poker, gambling, casino, casino table games

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