To many card players, online poker means bluffing your way to glory against anonymous avatars, but what is poker like when you play against the dealer in a casino?
Long before Texas Hold’em took the internet by storm, stud and draw poker were the hot games in casinos and riverboat casinos, and the DNA of those games is still alive in the Caribbean Stud, Three Card Poker and Casino Hold’em today. And luckily for you, you don’t need to bluff, riffle your chips or wear sunglasses indoors either!
What is poker and why play it?
Poker is the general term for a card game where the aim is to make the best hand from a list of poker hands that includes pairs, straights, flushes and the like. Most types of poker fall into one of two categories – stud poker and draw poker. In stud poker, you get your entire hand dealt straight away, while draw games give you an extra chance to improve your hand.
Poker is a fascinating mix of luck and skill, where anything can happen but you also get the chance to bet more or fold.
Poker games against the dealer are faster because there’s no waiting for other players to play. They’re also easier as you only face one decision – Play or Fold – and the rest is up to the poker gods. No bluffing, no reading your opponent’s tells, just the luck of the deal, a bit of strategy and then cross your fingers that the dealer ‘qualifies’ so you can get paid!
How to play poker
Though each type of poker has its own rules, they’re all based on the universal poker hand rankings, which means you should really know a flush from a straight if you’re going to put down your hard-earned cash.
Poker Hand Rankings
Knowing how to win is the key to poker, so you must know which hands are better than others – in other words, you should learn the hand rankings in poker. The strongest hand in poker is the Royal Flush, while the weakest hand is the High Card i.e. no pair! High ranking hands like straight flushes are a rare beast, but they also carry the biggest payout odds of up to 100 to 1.
Betting
In almost all online poker played against the house, you need to place an ante bet (literally a ‘before’ bet) to receive your cards and see one of the dealer’s cards. Then you need to decide whether to play on – which will cost you 1 or more bets depending on the game type – or fold if you think your hand is so weak it’s not worth spending more on. If you play on, the dealer will reveal the rest of their hand, compare it to yours and settle any winning bets if the dealer qualified.
Dealer Qualifies
This rule only applies to the Play portion of your bet, not the Ante. If your hand is higher than the dealer’s, you win the Ante bet regardless. But to win the Play bet, the dealer must ‘qualify’ which means they need to have a minimum hand strength e.g. a Pair of 4s. If you have Two Pair and the dealer has a Pair of 5s, you win the Play bet. But if the dealer had Ace-high, they don’t qualify and your Play bet is refunded. Boo!
Most Popular Poker Games
If you’re looking for an authentic of poker at an online casino, these three poker variants are a great introduction you can try for less than £1 a hand.
Caribbean Stud Poker
Caribbean Stud from Evolution Gaming is classic 5 card stud game with an Ante bet, a 2x Play bet after you get your cards and a showdown against the dealer’s 5 card hand. Simples!
Ante bets are paid at 1 to 1 odds, and if the dealer ‘qualifies’ by making at least Ace-King, you’ll win your Play bet too with odds ranging from 2 to 1 for 2 Pair up to 100 to 1 for a Royal Flush. Caribbean Stud Poker has an RTP of around 98%.
Casino Hold’em
Stud has been around since the mid-1800s while Texas Hold’em was late to the party, arriving in the ‘60s. But since then, it’s become the world’s most popular type of poker. Walk into any casino now and you’re just as likely to see a dealer version called Casino Hold’em as you are a Blackjack table.
In standard Casino Hold’em rules, you place your Ante to see 2 hole cards and 3 community cards (‘the flop’), then decide if you want to bet 2x more to see the turn and river cards. The dealer needs a pair of 4s to qualify, and the RTP is a humungous 99.18%.
Three Card Poker
Thanks to a wild session at the Venetian in Las Vegas where I hit a Running Flush, this is my favourite type of casino poker! Evolution call it Three Card Poker, while Playtech go for old poker terminology with 3 Card Brag. With only High card, Pair, Run (a straight), Flush, Running Flush and Prial (3 of a Kind), Three Card Poker is even simpler (and quicker) than Caribbean Stud but it still pays out 40 to 1 for a Prial. The RTP is around 98%, and if you’re interested, my fellow writer Sarah has done a great piece on how to play 3 card poker.
Bet On Poker
Imaging walking up to a Texas Hold’em poker game between 6 friends where they each show you their cards. You can bet on any of them to win, and the odds you get are related to their mathematical chances of winning.
Despite the uninspiring name and the most complicated poker rules of our quartet, this game is ingenious. You can bet on any of the 6 poker positions before the hole cards are dealt (where they all have the same 5.29 to 1 odds), before the flop or after the flop, with the odds changing dramatically as the hand develops.
Our Verdict
What is poker without bluffing, big egos and million-dollar paydays? Well, the online casino versions are fast, fascinating and still full of surprises! As well as the games we’ve mentioned here, look out for Ultimate Texas Hold’em, 2 Hand Casino Hold’em, Side Bet City and even Video Poker.
Sign up now at PlayOJO, hit the card table for as little as 50p a hand and feel the fun with these awesome types of poker.
FAQs
Online poker sites offer cash games and tournaments where the house takes a fee for running the table, and the rest of the cash is wagered between the players. In casino poker games like Three Card Brag, you play directly against the house. There’s no chance to make the dealer fold, so it’s all about hitting good poker hands and making the right folds when you don’t.
In all types of poker at PlayOJO, there is an element of strategy, because after you place the Ante bet, you need to decide whether to bet more money or fold. That said, it’s only one decision and even if you don’t follow the optimal strategy, luck is still by far the most important factor. It’s still worth checking out the best raise/fold strategy for each game you play, so you have a rule of thumb to go by, and you’ll find many of those on the OJO blog.
Casino Hold’em is the fastest of the poker games and as a result, the RTP is over 99%, which means a house edge of less than 1%.
Video poker is simple 5 card draw poker, and games are mostly RNG, rather than live dealer. In video poker the aim of the game is to hold cards you like, and draw new cards to try and make the best possible 5 card poker hand. Want more video poker tips? Read our guide to how to play video poker.
