Casino Table Games — Rules, Odds and the Bets to Avoid

Craps looks chaotic but the core is simple. The pass line bet carries a 1.41% house edge; don't pass is 1.36%. Behind either, the free odds bet is paid at true odds with a zero house edge, so backing a pass line with maximum odds drags the combined edge well under 1% — the best value on any casino floor.

The proposition bets in the middle of the layout are the opposite: any seven pays 4 to 1 against a true 5 to 1, giving a 16.67% edge. Hardways run 9-11%. Stick to line bets plus odds, place bets on 6 and 8 at 1.52%, and ignore the middle of the table entirely.

Sic bo, hugely popular in Asian-facing live casinos, uses three dice. The small and big bets carry about a 2.78% edge, which is respectable. Specific triples pay 180 to 1 with a house edge above 16%, which is not. The gap between the best and worst bet on a single sic bo table is larger than in almost any other game.

Related dice titles such as Lightning Dice and Super Sic Bo add multipliers funded by reducing the base payouts, so the headline excitement typically comes with a higher effective edge.

These are house-banked games that borrow poker hand rankings — you never play against other players. Casino hold'em runs roughly a 2.2% edge on the ante. Three card poker is about 3.4% on ante-play. Ultimate Texas Hold'em is around 2.2% but demands accurate raise timing: raising 4x with the right starting hands is where most of the return lives.

Caribbean stud sits near 5.2%, and its progressive side bet is usually worse still. Learn the basic decision rule for whichever variant you play — in these games incorrect play costs several percentage points, not fractions of one.

Perfect pairs, 21+3, bonus jackpots, tie bets in baccarat and dragon bonus wagers all share a pattern: a rare, exciting payout funded by an edge two to ten times higher than the base game. Blackjack's base game runs about 0.5% with correct strategy, while its typical side bets run 4-8%.

If you want variance, raise the base bet occasionally instead. It is strictly cheaper than paying a side-bet edge for the same swing.