5 Easiest Table Games for New Casino Gamblers

When you walk into a land-based casino for the first time, you’ll likely head to a slot or video poker machine. These machines provide a low-pressure introduction to live gaming by allowing you to gamble by yourself.

Eventually, though, you might become interested in table games. If so, you’ll want an easy way to get started without dealing with the more complex games.

The following post discusses the five easiest table games for beginners to learn. Before getting into this list, though, I’d like to cover the criteria I use when chooosing which casino games to play for beginners.

Criteria for Selecting the Easiest Casino Games

Some casino games have in-depth rules and dozens of bets. You may appreciate these options if you’re an experienced gambler who wants a challenge.

Assuming you’re in the beginner category, though, then you want the simplest rules possible. This way, you can jump on a table and start playing like a gambling veteran immediately.

Etiquette is a aspect that you need to worry about with table games. Some casino games feature unspoken rules that, if violated, will draw the ire from players.

When playing craps, for example, you’re not supposed to say the word “seven.” Otherwise, you’re thought to be bringing bad luck to the shooter.

Strategy is one more piece of criteria for determining easy games. Simply put, the more basic the strategy, the easier time you’ll have achieving high RTP immediately.

Blackjack, for instance, is notorious for featuring difficult strategy. You must know how to handle situations like an expert to enjoy high RTP.

Baccarat, as I’ll cover next, is much friendlier on the strategy side. You need only choose a certain bet to achieve the highest payback.

1 – Baccarat

Baccarat appears to be a complicated game at first glance. After all, it features one of the most complex scoring structures in all of gaming.

In reality, though, you don’t need to know anything about the scoring to play. Instead, you simply have to place your chips in one of the three available betting circles.

The available betting circles include:

• Banker – You’re wagering that the banker hand will win; pays 1 to 1.
• Player – You’re wagering that the player hand will win: pays 1 to 1.
• Tie – You think that the two hands will tie; pays 8 to 1 or 9 to 1.

The winning hand is the side that gets closest to a score of nine. Based on the rules by which the banker and player draw for cards, the banker has a slightly better chance of winning.

Not accounting for ties, the banker wins 50.68% of the time. Casinos take out a 5% commission from winning banker bets to retain their house advantage. Even still, you’re looking at 98.94% RTP with this wager.

The player side, meanwhile, has a 49.32% chance of winning when ignoring ties. It also features respectable RTP at 98.76%.

Ties only happen 9.5% of the time. Even with a 9 to 1 payout, you’re only looking at 96.16% RTP with a tie wager. With an 8 to 1 payout, you’ll be facing atrocious 85.66% payback.

To summarize baccarat, you merely need to place your chips in the banker circle to play and achieve perfect strategy. If you feel like shaking things up, though, the player bet isn’t bad either.

Additionally, the dealer handles everything to do with the cards, including figuring out when hands receiving additional cards. You merely sit back and watch after making your bet.

2 – Roulette

The roulette table looks intimidating at first glance. It features a wide variety of bets that you can place.

However, you can simplify the betting process by focusing on the “outside” wagers, meaning are those located outside the numbered grid.

Here’s a look at three outside bets that pay even money:

• 1-18/19-36 – You wager on the ball landing on either the 1-18 (low) range or 19-36 (high) range.
• Odd/Even – You bet on whether the winning pocket will be odd or even.
• Red/Black – You wager on if the winning pocket will be red or black.

You should, of course, consider the other betting opportunities as you dive more into playing roulette. But these three even-money wagers are enough to quickly get you started.

When possible, you should choose the European Roulette wheel over the American Roulette wheel. European Roulette, which features 37 pockets, offers 97.30% RTP. American Roulette, which has 38 pockets, only offers 94.74% payback.

3 – Casino War

Many people have played War at some point in their lives. It’s a basic game that revolves around drawing a higher card than the opponent.

The casino version isn’t much different. It’s just slighted modified to give the casino a small advantage.

Here are the basic steps to playing this game:

• You place a bet to begin the round.
• You and the dealer each receive one card.
• If your card beats the dealer’s card, you win 1 to 1 on the original stake.
• If the dealer’s card is higher, you lose the bet.
• In the event of a tie, you can either “surrender” or “go to war.” Surrendering forfeits half of your bet and ends the round.
• When going to war, you’ll make a second wager equal to your first one.

Card rankings are based on a standard poker game, where ace is high and two features the lowest value.

The War RTP is 97.3%, although this figure can vary if bonuses are involved. Casinos draw their 2.70% edge from when you go to war.

When placing the second wager, you can only win profit on your original stake. Here’s an example to explain:

• Your first bet is $5 to win $5.
• Your second bet (war) is $5 just to stay in the round.
• You’re now risking $10 to win a $5 profit.

4 – Big Six Wheel (a.k.a. Dream Catcher)

If you’ve seen the game show Wheel of Fortune or the Price Is Right wheel before, then you’ll have a good idea on how Big Six works.

Also referred to as Dream Catcher in Evolution Gaming casinos, this game features a wheel with different slices. Each slice represents a dollar amount.

The small dollar amounts (i.e. $1 and $5) appear with greater frequency on the wheel. Meanwhile, only two of the high-value slices (i.e. $20 and game logo) are available.

You begin a Big Six round by placing your chips on the dollar amount that you think will win. If you believe that one of the $5 slices will win, then you put your chips on the $5 spot.

When the betting round is over, the dealer will spin the wheel. A pointer will indicate the winning slice/dollar amount when the wheel comes to a stop.

Big Six is an extremely easy game to play. However, its payout percentages can vary wildly from one bet to the next.

You’ll also notice large RTP discrepancies when moving from land-based to online games. Here’s a comparison between a common land-based version and the Gamesys variation, which is found at online casinos:

Land Based Big Six

• $1 – 88.89% RTP
• $2 – 83.33%
• $5 – 77.78%
• $10 – 81.48%
• $20 – 77.78%
• Logo – 75.93%

Gamesys Online Big Six

• $1 – 97.96% RTP
• $3 – 97.96%
• $7 – 97.96%
• $15 – 97.96%
• $23 – 97.96%
• Joker – 97.96%
• Logo – 97.96%

5 – Three-Card Poker

Three-Card poker isn’t as easy as the games covered above to get started with. Nevertheless, it’s still one of the simpler table games.

Here’s a quick rundown on how to play Three-Card Poker:

• You place an ante bet; at this time, you can also make an optional side bet.
• You receive three face-down cards.
• You decide whether to make the play bet (same size as ante) or fold, which forfeits the ante and side bet (if made).
• If you make the play bet, then you’ll reach the showdown.
• You and the dealer compare hands.
• The dealer must have queen-high or better to “qualify.”
• If the dealer doesn’t qualify, then you win 1 to 1 on the ante, while the play bet pushes.
• If the dealer qualifies and you win, then you’ll earn 1 to 1 on the ante and play bets.
• If the dealer qualifies and wins, then you lose your ante and play bets.

You just need to place the ante wager to start out. Afterward, you’ll have a decision on whether or not to make the play bet.

Also, you don’t have to form hands like in Texas Hold’em. Instead, you merely look at your three cards and decide if they’re good enough before betting again.

You should also note that Three-Card Poker offers “ante bonuses” for really strong hands. Here are the bonuses that you can earn:

• 1 to 1 for a straight
• 4 to 1 for a three of a kind
• 5 to 1 for a straight flush

The jackpot side bet is entirely dependent on your hand strength. You can win the jackpot and other payouts with the following hands:

• Mini royal (AKQ), all spades = 100% of jackpot
• Mini royal, any other suit = 10% of jackpot
• Straight flush = 70:1 payout
• Three of a kind = 60:1
• Straight = 6:1

Three-Card Poker also offers a “pair plus” side bet. Here are the payouts for this side wager:

• Pair = 1:1 payout
• Flush = 4:1
• Straight = 5:1
• Three of a kind = 30:1
• Straight flush = 40:1

The strategy for Three-Card Poker is really easy. Simply put, you make the play bet on any hand with Q-6-4 or better and fold Q-6-3- or worse. You can achieve 96.63% RTP with this strategy.

Conclusion

You don’t have to avoid table games when visiting brick and mortar casinos. Instead, you can choose any of the five options covered above.

Baccarat is quite possibly the easiest table game ever. You simply place a bet, watch the dealer work their magic, and wait for the result.

Casino War is pretty simple, too. The only decision you need to make is on a tie, where you decide whether to fold or bet again.

Roulette looks scary at first glance. It’s actually quite easy to play, though, when you stick with three basic bets in the beginning.

Again, any of the options on this list are great when you’re experiencing table games for the first time. None of them are much more difficult than playing a slot machine.