Bad Casino Bets

Submitted by HollyJoy on Wed, 07/29/2009 - 17:42
Casino Floor

Casino Bets

While most of us know which casino bets to avoid like the plague, new players often place particularly bad bets. To clarify, when we say bad bet, we mean a wager which results in essentially handing money over to the casino. Bad bets, for us, are wagers which have a high house edge and a minimal chance of return.

Sometimes known as sucker bets, it used to be that only tourists in Las Vegas fell foul of these casino-friendly wagers. However, as online casinos are incredibly popular nowadays, more and more players are unwittingly placing bets which are low on skill and high when it comes to casino advantage. Below you’ll find out what we think are key bets to avoid.

Loss Chasing Bets

This sort of wager applies to any and all casino games. The worst type of bet you can place is any casino is one where you’re chasing your losses. If you’re experiencing an unlucky streak, simply walk away and take a breather, as placing aggressive wagers which you can’t afford will put you on a road to ruin.

Placing one Coin Bets on a Multiple Coin Machines

While this strictly isn’t a sucker bet, it’s pointless playing one credit on a multiple credit machine, as in order to receive the biggest return, you must wager the max credit. Multiple coin games such as video poker come in a variety of coin denominations, so if you can only play $1 on a game which has a max coin amount of $5, consider playing a 25 cents machine instead, where the max coin amount totals in at $1.

Terrible Craps Bets

We recommend craps bets such as pass, don’t pass, come and don’t come and, for all the right reasons, we suggest you avoid betting on the Big 6 and Big 8, as these wagers have a house edge of 9.90%. Similarly, make sure to avoid horn bets in craps, as these wagers also come with a sky high house edge of 11.1%.

Check out the Payout for Blackjack

The Las Vegas Sun recently reported that casinos in Las Vegas had started to lower their blackjack table limits in order to attract more players. Such generosity of course comes at a price in the world of casinos though, and to offset the lower table limits, blackjack payouts have been modified, paying out 6:5 instead of 3:2.

While it might seem that little differentiates these two payouts, if you placed a $10 bet and uncovered natural blackjack on a table which has a payout of 3:2 you’d win $15, on a 6:5 table though you’d bag a measly $12. Always check the payouts for natural blackjack and if it’s lower than 3:2, you should reconsider playing at that table.

The Silver Lining: The Best Casino Bets

After reading about just a few of the bad bets available in online casinos, you might be wondering about how you can avoid being taken in for a sucker bet. Well, we recommend that you research all of your options, investigate the house edge and read up on the games you’re planning to play. To find out which of our featured casinos offer the best odds, make sure to check out our casino house edge section.