How to Correctly Understand Strategy in the Online Casino Games of Skill
We can easily divide online casino games into two workable categories: games of chance and games of skill. Even in the games of skill, luck or chance plays an important role. In other words, there are no pure games of skill.
This is the case in all games of skill, not only in the games on offer at Everygame Casino. In sports, there is always an element of luck: a weakly hit ball in baseball becoming a game-winning hit; a shot in hockey that hits a crack in the ice and bounces over the goalie’s stick; a chess move that causes confusion in the mind of an international grandmaster who then blunders and loses the game!
We cannot get away from luck but as the evil husband-to-be says in the movie Titanic, “I make my own luck”, and gamers who play the games of skill have to find ways to maximize the chance that luck will help them win the hand or the session.
Following correct strategy is the only way to maximize the chances that luck will shine in the gamer’s direction.
Strategy is Both Simple and Complex
We find when we analyze strategy that it can be as complex as we want it to be. For instance, in most sports the stadium and playing field are the same. But the home field advantage is real. It is based on nuances in the playing field and the help the crowd gives to the home team.
Many people think that athletes are impervious to the fans in the stands but that is not so! A very interesting recent book called “The Arena” - https://www.amazon.com/Arena-Tailgating-Ticket-Scalping-Mascot-Racing-Dubiously/dp/163149127X - talks about the element the actual arena brings to many sporting events and the strategy coaches and managers have to apply to deal with the differences in the arenas.
Consistency is as Important as Luck
In some casino games of chance, strategy amounts to making non-contradictory bets. It is especially easy in roulette to bet for one set of numbers and then against some of the same numbers through another bet!
Still, the games of chance—which include slots, roulette, craps, keno and bingo, banana Jones and Fish Catch—are fundamentally games without any strategy for winning. In these games, luck is the primary factor in winning.
Awareness Can be Valuable
Gamers have to be aware that these games are games of chance. The random number generator takes away any aspect of strategy since it does not know what has happened in the last one or the last thousand hands or spins!
There is no such thing as a “due” slot in video slots run by a random number generator. Betting systems don’t work. Random jackpots come about randomly. The randomness of these games is one of the many reasons gamers like them. For our discussion, we need to accept that there is no real strategy in the games of chance.
Games of Skill Have Profound Strategies
Here is where we would like to talk about strategy. Many gamers know the correct strategy for a given hand in video poker or blackjack but find it hard to get away from the action they “want” to take. In other words, strategy in these games can be counter-intuitive!
One of the biggest elements in proper strategy for the games of skill is to make the counter-intuitive play! Strategy is a function of both knowledge and courage.
The Hero Shows a Great Deal of Courage
We tend to think of courage as something we can draw upon in a time of real crisis such as a military conflict, a flood or other natural disaster, or a sudden medical emergency. Certainly, courage is a lot more necessary in these situations than in a simple game of blackjack!
Nevertheless, it does take some courage to make the correct play instead of making the seemingly safe play. The most common of the many seemingly safe plays that many video poker and blackjack gamers fall into is standing with 12 points in all situations.
At any land-based casino, there will at least one other player at the blackjack table who will berate the player who actually hits with 12 points or more. Of course, hitting when the dealer shows a 7 or better is the correct strategy but the player who is committed to standing with 12 points no matter what the dealer is showing will accuse the player who plays correctly to be the direct cause of their own losses at the table!
This never happens in online blackjack at Everygame Casino Red but there are still many blackjack players who stand with 12 points!
To Surrender or Not to Surrender
Some blackjack variations offer the surrender option. This is a very valuable strategic tool gamers can use in specific situations to conserve bankroll and enhance their chances of finishing the session in the black.
Still, despite the manifest value of strategic surrender, many gamers refuse to use it. After all, they say, it means admitting defeat before finding out that we have truly lost!
In these instances, it does take a modicum of courage to make the correct play!
Have Faith in the Ability of Computers
Personal computers are not yet 50 years old! As much as we depend on our computers for everyday activities from email to social media to work to surfing the vast internet, many people have not yet fully embraced and accepted the vast power of computational; machines, namely, computers.
Where at one time it was widely thought that hitting with 14 points against a dealer’s seven was correct, it took computers to analyze millions of hands to determine that this is, indeed, the correct strategy. The correct strategy for any given hand may be a small fraction of one percent better than the alternative play but it is still the best strategy!
Making the strategically best play in blackjack and video poker amounts to knowing the best strategy, having faith in the computational skills of computers to arrive at the strategically best play, and, finally, having the courage to make that play even though you really want to make the opposite play!
Everygame Casino Offers Great Gaming
We at Everygame Casino offer over 300 games in both the games of chance category and the games of skill category. As an online casino, we also make it easy to move between games of chance and games of skill.
With the giant Welcome Package (check out our Promotions page) we offer new gamers, that can reach as high as $5555, new gamers can access all of our games over time. Gamers feel the pleasure of playing for pure fun in the games of chance and for the satisfaction of following the best strategy in the games of skill and then letting Lady Luck, aka the random number generator decide the final outcome of the hand.
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