Whether you’re a weekly visitor or someone who only goes once a year, almost all of us like to head to a casino every now and then for a night of entertainment. That entertainment probably includes drinks, dinner, and maybe even a show, but the real star attractions of the night are all the games which are waiting to be played inside the casino.
Most people – other than professional gamblers – consider a good night at the casino to be one in which they’ve broken even. A professional player will expect to come out in profit. A player who knows (or believes) that they’re a poor player expects to come out having made a loss. The casino tends to be the big winner on the evening – there’s a reason that the industry is currently posting record profits.
Does it have to be that way, though? Are there a few tricks that even the most inexperienced player can add to their game and increase their chances of walking away from the night without suffering any undue losses? Of course there are – and as you’ve already guessed from the title of this article, we’re here to bring them to you!
Practice, Practice, Practice
Thanks to the internet, you no longer have to step inside a casino to play casino games. You can play them from wherever you are, whenever you like. Crucially, you can play them for free. If you’re playing a certain type of casino games for the first time, you can look up the basic rules of the game, and then you can find a place to play it with no money on the line.
Many websites will allow you to play poker or other card games with zero stakes at beginners tables until you feel comfortable with the rules. For slots, it’s even easier – you can log on to Vegas Slots website, and play mobile slots whenever you get five minutes free on your way to or from work, or at home in front of the television. There are demonstration versions of several popular mobile slots online to play, or you can simply play for the minimum amount the mobile slots games allow in order to get used to the functions and features. The more you practice, the better you’ll be.
Stay Sober
One of the perks of top-class casinos is that they offer free drinks when you’re playing. Nothing feels more debonair than sitting at a table, sipping free cocktails while placing your bets. Given all the money that casinos make, and taking into account the fact that you could win a huge amount of money from them on your very next bet, you might be wondering why they’d literally give money away by keeping drinks flowing in your direction. We’ll give you a clue:- notice how they don’t make the same offer to people who aren’t gambling.
Every drink you have, your confidence grows, and your sense of logic and reason diminishes. You’re more likely to bet big. You’re more likely to overestimate the value of the cards in your hand. Simply put, you’re more likely to make bad decisions – and when you do that, you lose. Keep a clear head. You’ll perform better.
Set Yourself A Limit
Nobody likes to feel like they’re twelve years old and being given pocket money again, but sometimes it’s necessary to keep a curb on our spending. Before you head out to the casino, conduct an honest assessment of your finances, and set yourself a spending limit. Have the discipline to walk away from the games the moment this spending limit has been reached. If possible, bring someone with you who’ll remind you when you’ve reached that point!
One of the helpful side effects of setting yourself a spending limit is that you’ll find yourself making smaller bets. As you know you have a finite amount of cash to deal with and you don’t want to run out of money too quickly, you’ll place lower stakes in order to make your stash last longer.
Don’t Make Emotional Choices
There’s one well-known bluff that every experienced poker player around a table knows to look out for, and it has nothing to do with twitching, scratching, coughing, or blinking. It has to do with the size of the bet you put into play. If you’ve just taken a heavy loss and then go big on your next hand, everyone around the table knows you’re bluffing.
This is an emotional choice. You’re annoyed you’ve lost money, and so you try to win back as much as possible as fast as you can. It’s the most common bluff in poker, and any player worth their salt will know they should call you on it. They might even raise you and draw you into losing even more money. Poker requires a cool head – you should have the same betting strategy whether you’re the chip leader or you’re down to your final chips.
Spot The Dummy
Any card table has a pecking order of players. Somebody will clearly be the best player there, and somebody will clearly be the worst. If you’re an inexperienced player, you’re obviously not going to be the best player at a table unless you’ve pulled up a chair alongside a set of fellow rookies. Your job is, therefore, to identify the worst player as fast as you can. This is the person you need to call, push, and generally exploit and take money from whenever the chance presents itself.
If a few hands have passed without you being able to identify who the dummy around the table is, we have bad news for you. It’s you. You’re the dummy, and everyone else is gunning for you because they think you’re a sucker. The moment you become aware that this is the case, take your chips and get off the table as quickly as possible.
Count Your Blessings
As well as having a spending limit, as strange as it sounds, you should also consider imposing a winning limit on yourself, too. You can choose where that limit should be based on how useful it would be to you. Would you be happy if you walked out of the casino with 50% more money than you walked in with? How about 25%, or 75%?
If the answer to any of these questions is ‘yes,’ then immediately stop when you’ve reached the magic figure. That’s the point to accept that you’ve had a lucky break, you’ve beaten the casino at their own game, and it’s time to take your winnings and run home before you’re tempted to bet all your profits and lose them!
There’s no such thing as a guaranteed win in a casino – but you can boost your chances of avoiding losses, and we just showed you how. Good luck in there!
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