Top Casino Table Games That You Must Try at Least Once

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Last Updated: January 17, 2024

Written by: Ivan Potocki

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The answer to what the best casino table game is will vary from gambler to gambler, depending on who you ask.

This is perfectly understandable, as every casino player has different preferences, bankrolls, and what they consider to be entertaining.

At the end of the day, only you can tell which casino table game is worth your attention and money.

That said, some table games are just too good and too enjoyable to pass up. With that in mind, here’s our list of the top casino table games that you should try playing at least once.

Blackjack

Blackjack is undoubtedly one of the best-known and most popular gambling table games. It’s very easy to learn, and you can start playing it within minutes, even if you have never tried it before.

Blackjack falls into the rare category of casino table games in which you actually make decisions that directly impact the outcome.

While it’s still a heavily luck-based game, your choices play a significant role in determining your success.

Another reason why blackjack is one of the top casino table games is that it has an incredibly low house edge compared to most gambling games.

If you play the game with an optimal betting strategy, blackjack can have a house edge of less than half a percent.

This is the lowest casino edge you can get with any table game and generally the lowest in any casino game, barring video poker machines.

Even if you play it as a complete beginner, without any betting strategy, you can still expect a house edge between 1.5% and 3.5%.

On the other hand, if you’re skilled and bold enough to try counting cards, you can even obtain an edge over the casino.

This makes blackjack unique in this regard compared to other casino table games.

Of course, blackjack doesn’t come without its drawbacks, so it’s only fair to mention them as well.

Primarily, it’s a relatively fast game, meaning that you potentially stand to lose more money than you would in some other casino games in the same amount of time.

Moreover, it does involve some skill as we mentioned before, a gameplay element certain gamblers that just want to have fun don’t want in their table game.

That said, these are the biggest disadvantages of blackjack, and they aren’t that significant on their own.

The advantages heavily outweigh the disadvantages, making blackjack one of the top live and online casino table games every gambler must try at least once.

Texas Hold’Em

Texas Hold’em poker is the most popular poker variation you’ll find in any casino poker room.

If you want to try poker and don’t know which variation is best for you, we recommend playing Texas Hold’em first.

It’s a community card poker game, meaning that it includes shared cards all players can use and combine with their hole cards to make their strongest hand.

It differs from most other casino table games in that you’re playing against other players and not the casino.

In other words, there’s no house edge in Texas Hold’em.

Texas Hold’em uses a standard French 52-card deck and standard card rankings from 2 to Ace. The Ace is the highest-valued card in the game but can also serve as the lowest-valued card in an A, 2, 3, 4, 5 straight.

Each Texas Hold’em player receives two cards at the start of the game. Then, five additional cards are dealt face-up on the community board in three stages.

The first stage sees three cards on the community board and is called the flop. The second and third stages add one more card each and are called the turn and the river, respectively.

The betting rounds occur before the flop and after each card deal.

During the game, you can check, call, raise, or fold. You can also engage in psychological games like bluffing to get the edge over your opponents.

The game’s strategic element makes poker the most complex casino table game and, overall, the most challenging casino game to master.

Moreover, the complicated and strategically-oriented nature of poker means that skill is the more important element in poker than luck.

This also makes poker a great choice for professional gamblers that are willing to constantly improve and learn, as it can provide sustained profits if you have a good long-term strategy.

Craps

Many beginner gamblers avoid playing craps due to the complicated layout of the game’s table and the many available bets.

However, no matter how intimidating craps might seem at first glance, it’s actually one of the simplest table games you can play.

There are only two dice in play, and only one person can be the shooter at the time. The rules are simple. You just need to pay attention to whether the dealer is on the come-out roll or whether they’ve set a point.

Moreover, if you stick to the simplest craps bets, pass/don’t pass bets, you can easily follow every round.

Additionally, craps is one of the best table games to play if you want to experience the full atmosphere and excitement of playing in a casino.

The craps tables are always among the liveliest in any venue, as players are often cheering for each other, jumping up and down, and yelling.

The main disadvantage is that craps gameplay can be overwhelming if you don’t know what to focus on. There are a lot of bet types and moving parts, but you can easily master craps strategy with our guide.

But again, if you’re a beginner playing at one of the casino craps gambling tables, you only need to focus on three aspects.

These include placing a bet, watching another player shoot the dice, and checking the outcome. Everything else is irrelevant to your situation.

Craps is also a very streaky game, which isn’t a pro or con on its own but is important to keep in mind. In other words, you can equally quickly lose a couple of hundred dollars at the craps table as you can win it.

This makes it a great game for those who want excitement and don’t mind risking money and not a very suitable option for conservative gamblers.

Overall, craps offers some of the best and some of the worst odds you can find in any casino in terms of the house edge.

So, it all comes down to picking the right bets, which is not that complicated. There’s no strategy or skill involved, so why not try it even if you have absolutely zero experience?

Baccarat

Baccarat has been a favorite of casino high rollers for a couple of centuries and is nowadays available for casino players with all sizes of bankrolls.

There are three main baccarat variations. These are punto banco, baccarat chemin de fer, and baccarat banque.

Baccarat is essentially a guessing game in which you aim to get as close to 9 as possible. If your total for the hand is over nine, you take ten away. Players can use up to three cards on each hand.

Each baccarat round has three possible outcomes you can bet on, the player wins, the banker wins, or there’s a tie.

The game uses a standard 52-card deck, and six to eight decks are used depending on the casino it’s played in.

Compared to other casino table games, baccarat comes off like a blackjack game, but without any significant decision-making.

Because of this, baccarat is an excellent choice for casino table game fans that want a simple card game without any strategy involved.

Still, baccarat has an excellent house edge. An eight-deck punto banco baccarat game has a house edge of 1.06% if the banker wins, 1.24% if the player wins, and 14.4% if there’s a tie.

The tie pays out substantially better, but the significantly higher house makes it a bad bet.

Roulette

Roulette is a unique casino game unlike any other table game you can find in a land-based and online casino.

Plus, it’s one of the simplest casino games available, as it doesn’t involve any skill, being an entirely luck-based gambling game. I

It has two distinct elements, the roulette wheel and the roulette betting board.

There’s not much to talk about the rules of this game, as you’re likely already familiar with the basic concept.

All you’re doing in the game is choosing the number or combination of numbers that you think will come up on the next spin.

Then, the croupier spins the wheel, and you watch in anticipation as the ball spins around, hoping that it will land in a pocket with the number you’ve bet one.

When it comes to roulette variations, there are two main types of roulette games, European and American roulette. Both are very entertaining and similar in many ways, but they do have their differences.

Most notably, American roulette has an extra 00 symbol, meaning that it has more pockets on the roulette wheel and a higher house edge.

More precisely, while the European roulette version has a house edge of 2.7, American roulette has a house edge of 5.26%.

So, while both games are worth trying out, we recommend focusing on European roulette primarily. It simply has better odds than the American variation, so you’ll make sure you’re giving yourself the best winning chances.

This is particularly important if you decide to stick to roulette as your long-term casino game of choice.

Spanish 21

Spanish 21 is a casino table game similar to standard blackjack but with a few very interesting twists that make it worth trying out when you have a chance.

It has many of the benefits and advantages that we’ve listed above when discussing blackjack, so we won’t go over them again.

Instead, we’ll focus on the differences that make Spanish 21 a different game and a great pick for blackjack enthusiasts.

For starters, the main difference that separates Spanish 21 from classic blackjack is that this variation uses a deck with all of the number 10 cards removed. This is known as a Spanish deck.

Spanish 21 has one great advantage over blackjack. This is that a player 21 total always wins, no matter what hand the dealer has.

What’s more, Spanish 21 players always have the option of late surrender, which is not available in most other blackjack games.

Lastly, Spanish 21 players can also re-split Aces and double after splitting whenever they want, both of which are limited in traditional blackjack.

All of these differences make Spanish 21 one of the top casino table games. While it’s available in many casinos, make sure it’s present in the casino you want to play in, as it’s not as widespread as classic blackjack.

Pai Gow Poker

Pai Gow Poker is a version of pai gow and is played with a standard deck of playing cards instead of Chinese dominoes. It also includes a single joker card.

Unlike the other poker variation on our list, Pai Gow Poker can be played either against the dealer or a player.

This is because the main goal is to defeat the banker, who may be the casino dealer or one of the players. In some casinos, the banker can even be a player-dealer tandem.

Pai Gow Poker has fairly straightforward and easy-to-understand gameplay.

Each player at the table gets seven cards. With that, they need to create a five-card hand and a two-card hand. The former must exceed the latter in rank. The standard poker hand rankings apply.

The joker card serves as the “bug”, meaning that it can help you complete a straight or flush. In other situations, it’s counted as an Ace card.

The house edge for Pai Gow Poker is around 1.5%, ranking it close to the top as one of the best games in this sense.

Moreover, this game is relatively slow-paced, and push situations are more common than in other casino table games. Because of this, it’s a great table game for beginners and those with a tight bankroll.