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If you have never been to a casino or public poker room before, your first trip can be filled with excitement, anticipation, and exhilaration. It may also cause you a little fear and apprehension. This article gives you a few pointers and some information about how things work in most casinos and public poker rooms. Let's get started with a major part of any casino experience -- the staff.

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One of the most important things to remember is that the staff of a casino or poker room is there to make your visit as comfortable as possible because they want you to come back. If you can't find the card room or if you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to ask a staff member.

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The dealer is also part of the staff. If you are sitting down at a poker game in a casino or card room for the first time, tell the dealer that it is your first time and ask them to please keep an eye on you to make sure you aren't doing anything incorrectly. You may be amazed at how helpful and useful someone can be when you show them a little respect and ask for their help. Many times, especially at the lower-limit tables, other players are also helpful.

Also, most poker rooms have a place to sign a waiting list for a particular game. Some have a white board with the games and limits available along with the waiting players' initials. Others will just have someone who writes initials or names on a sheet of paper. The card room calls the next person on the list when a seat becomes available. Simply ask whoever is in charge of the board -- or a staff member -- to place you on the list for all of the games you are willing to play. If you are in a small poker room with no visible sign-up area, ask a dealer how to enter a game.

Well, now that you've found your table and you're ready to play, here are some general tips for casino poker:

Wait for the big blind (The big blind is the largest forced bet at the beginning of a game designed to stimulate betting. The player who has to contribute the big blind rotates one position to the left after each game.) to get to you before playing. Use this time to watch your opponents, and get a feel for the way they are playing. It's amazing how much some players reveal if you just pay attention.
Most players tip the dealer when they win a pot. This is not required, but if the dealer is doing a competent job, you should tip. Dealers are like waitstaff in that they make most of their money from tips. A sample plan would be to tip the dealer .50 on average size pots and possibly $1.00 on larger pots if the dealer is doing a good job. Also, you can watch what the other players are tipping to get an idea. Remember though that every dollar that goes to the dealer is reducing your winnings. You should be able to come to a happy medium with experience.
Act when it's your turn. Never act before your turn. This is very poor etiquette and can change the outcome of a hand. The other players will understandably get upset with you.
Make sure your cards are in plain sight.
It is a good idea to place a chip on them to show that they are still live and protect them because the dealer won't take them when the chip is on them. If you leave your cards unprotected, the dealer might muck them (mix with discards) by mistake, and there is no way you can retrieve them. Most players keep their hand on their cards.
When you win a pot (the total amount of money bet in a single game), don't reach for it. Let the dealer push the pot to you. Do not surrender your cards until the pot has been awarded to you on a winning hand.
If you aren't sure whether you have the best hand at the end of a round, turn your cards face up, and let the dealer read the hands. If the dealer makes a mistake, it can often be corrected. If you throw your hand into the discard pile (often called the 'muck'), you are not eligible for any of the pot even if you made a mistake and had the best hand.
Don't throw your chips into the pot (called 'splashing' the pot). Place all bets in front of you, and let the dealer pull them into the pot.

For more information on playing poker and other casino games, try the following links:

To see all of our articles on poker rules and advice, go to our main article on How To Play Poker.
Learn How to Play Texas Hold 'Em Poker, and you'll be ready for the most common poker game.
If you think you're good enough, you might want to test your skills in a high-pressure situation. Be sure you know How to Play Poker in a Tournament before you ante up.
As long as you're in the casino, you might as well drop a few bucks on some other games. Keep these Casino Gambling Basics handy.

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Introduction

The following table shows the house edge of most casino games. For games partially of skill perfect play is assumed. See below the table for a definition of the house edge.

Casino Game House Edge

Game	Bet/Rules	House Edge	Standard Deviation
Baccarat	Banker	1.06%	0.93
	Player	1.24%	0.95
	Tie	14.36%	2.64
Big Six	$1	11.11%	0.99
	$2	16.67%	1.34
	$5	22.22%	2.02
	$10	18.52%	2.88
	$20	22.22%	3.97
	Joker/Logo	24.07%	5.35
Bonus Six	No insurance	10.42%	5.79
Bonus Six	With insurance	23.83%	6.51
Blackjack^a	Liberal Vegas rules	0.28%	1.15
Caribbean Stud Poker	5.22%	2.24
Casino War	Go to war on ties	2.88%	1.05
	Surrender on ties	3.70%	0.94
	Bet on tie	18.65%	8.32
Catch a Wave	0.50%	d
Craps	Pass/Come	1.41%	1.00
	Don't pass/don't come	1.36%	0.99
	Odds — 4 or 10	0.00%	1.41
	Odds — 5 or 9	0.00%	1.22
	Odds — 6 or 8	0.00%	1.10
	Field (2:1 on 12)	5.56%	1.08
	Field (3:1 on 12)	2.78%	1.14
	Any craps	11.11%	2.51
	Big 6,8	9.09%	1.00
	Hard 4,10	11.11%	2.51
	Hard 6,8	9.09%	2.87
	Place 6,8	1.52%	1.08
	Place 5,9	4.00%	1.18
	Place 4,10	6.67%	1.32
	Place (to lose) 4,10	3.03%	0.69
	2, 12, & all hard hops	13.89%	5.09
	3, 11, & all easy hops	11.11%	3.66
	Any seven	16.67%	1.86
Double Down Stud	2.67%	2.97
Heads Up Hold 'Em	Blind pay table #1 (500-50-10-8-5)	2.36%	4.56
Keno	25%-29%	1.30-46.04
Let it Ride	3.51%	5.17
Pai Gow^c	1.50%	0.75
Pai Gow Poker^c	1.46%	0.75
Pick ’em Poker	0% - 10%	3.87
Red Dog	Six decks	2.80%	1.60
Roulette	Single Zero	2.70%	e
Roulette	Double Zero	5.26%	e
Sic-Bo	2.78%-33.33%	e
Slot Machines	2%-15%^f	8.74^g
Spanish 21	Dealer hits soft 17	0.76%	d
Spanish 21	Dealer stands on soft 17	0.40%	d
Super Fun 21	0.94%	d
Three Card Poker	Pairplus	7.28%	2.85
Three Card Poker	Ante & play	3.37%	1.64
Video Poker	Jacks or Better (Full Pay)	0.46%	4.42
Wild Hold ’em Fold ’em	6.86%	d

Notes

a	Liberal Vegas Strip rules: Dealer stands on soft 17, player may double on any two cards, player may double after splitting, resplit aces, late surrender.
b	Las Vegas single deck rules are dealer hits on soft 17, player may double on any two cards, player may not double after splitting, one card to split aces, no surrender.
c	Assuming player plays the house way, playing one on one against dealer, and half of bets made are as banker.
d	Yet to be determined.
e	Standard deviation depends on bet made.
f	Slot machine range is based on available returns from a major manufacturer
g	Slot machine standard deviation based on just one machine. While this can vary, the standard deviation on slot machines are very high.

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House Edge

The house edge is defined as the ratio of the average loss to the initial bet. The house edge is not the ratio of money lost to total money wagered. In some games the beginning wager is not necessarily the ending wager. For example in blackjack, let it ride, and Caribbean stud poker, the player may increase their bet when the odds favor doing so. In these cases the additional money wagered is not figured into the denominator for the purpose of determining the house edge, thus increasing the measure of risk.

The reason that the house edge is relative to the original wager, not the average wager, is that it makes it easier for the player to estimate how much they will lose. For example if a player knows the house edge in blackjack is 0.6% he can assume that for every $10 wager original wager he makes he will lose 6 cents on the average. Most players are not going to know how much their average wager will be in games like blackjack relative to the original wager, thus any statistic based on the average wager would be difficult to apply to real life questions.

The conventional definition can be helpful for players determine how much it will cost them to play, given the information they already know. However the statistic is very biased as a measure of risk. In Caribbean stud poker, for example, the house edge is 5.22%, which is close to that of double zero roulette at 5.26%. However the ratio of average money lost to average money wagered in Caribbean stud is only 2.56%. The player only looking at the house edge may be indifferent between roulette and Caribbean stud poker, based only the house edge. If one wants to compare one game against another I believe it is better to look at the ratio of money lost to money wagered, which would show Caribbean stud poker to be a much better gamble than roulette.

Many other sources do not count ties in the house edge calculation, especially for the Don’t Pass bet in craps and the banker and player bets in baccarat. The rationale is that if a bet isn’t resolved then it should be ignored. I personally opt to include ties although I respect the other definition.

Element of Risk

For purposes of comparing one game to another I would like to propose a different measurement of risk, which I call the 'element of risk.' This measurement is defined as the average loss divided by total money bet. For bets in which the initial bet is always the final bet there would be no difference between this statistic and the house edge. Bets in which there is a difference are listed below.

Element of Risk

Game	Bet	House Edge	Element of Risk
Blackjack	Atlantic City rules	0.43%	0.38%
Bonus 6	No insurance	10.42%	5.41%
Bonus 6	With insurance	23.83%	6.42%
Caribbean Stud Poker	5.22%	2.56%
Casino War	Go to war on ties	2.88%	2.68%
Heads Up Hold 'Em	Pay Table #1 (500-50-10-8-5)	2.36%	0.64%
Double Down Stud	2.67%	2.13%
Let it Ride	3.51%	2.85%
Spanish 21	Dealer hits soft 17	0.76%	0.65%
Spanish 21	Dealer stands on soft 17	0.40%	0.30%
Three Card Poker	Ante & play	3.37%	2.01%
Wild Hold ’em Fold ’em	6.86%	3.23%

Standard Deviation

The standard deviation is a measure of how volatile your bankroll will be playing a given game. This statistic is commonly used to calculate the probability that the end result of a session of a defined number of bets will be within certain bounds.

The standard deviation of the final result over n bets is the product of the standard deviation for one bet (see table) and the square root of the number of initial bets made in the session. This assumes that all bets made are of equal size. The probability that the session outcome will be within one standard deviation is 68.26%. The probability that the session outcome will be within two standard deviations is 95.46%. The probability that the session outcome will be within three standard deviations is 99.74%. The following table shows the probability that a session outcome will come within various numbers of standard deviations.

I realize that this explanation may not make much sense to someone who is not well versed in the basics of statistics. If this is the case I would recommend enriching yourself with a good introductory statistics book.

Standard Deviation

Number	Probability
0.25	0.1974
0.50	0.3830
0.75	0.5468
1.00	0.6826
1.25	0.7888
1.50	0.8664
1.75	0.9198
2.00	0.9546
2.25	0.9756
2.50	0.9876
2.75	0.9940
3.00	0.9974
3.25	0.9988
3.50	0.9996
3.75	0.9998

Hold

Although I do not mention hold percentages on my site the term is worth defining because it comes up a lot. The hold percentage is the ratio of chips the casino keeps to the total chips sold. This is generally measured over an entire shift. For example if blackjack table x takes in $1000 in the drop box and of the $1000 in chips sold the table keeps $300 of them (players walked away with the other $700) then the game's hold is 30%. If every player loses their entire purchase of chips then the hold will be 100%. It is possible for the hold to exceed 100% if players carry to the table chips purchased at another table. A mathematician alone can not determine the hold because it depends on how long the player will sit at the table and the same money circulates back and forth. There is a lot of confusion between the house edge and hold, especially among casino personnel.

Hands per Hour, House Edge for Comp Purposes