When it comes to playing the games on offer at casinos, both land-based and online, people are always in search of the ideal strategy that will enable them to overcome the house advantage. However, as with so many other things in life, it is very easy for bad habits to creep into your gambling strategy and these can prove to be costly and hard to get rid of. This article will provide a guide to some of the most common errors that people commit when playing casino games, so that you can clear them from your strategy and perfect winning techniques.

Blackjack

Blackjack is not the easiest of casino games to win at, being very much a game of strategy and skill, but there are common mistakes that will make winning even harder. One particularly egregious one is simply being overly cautious by opting to take even money or insurance, which costs a premium to play safe. The point of being at the blackjack table is to gamble and the odds are 7/10 against the dealer having blackjack, so it is worth doing so. A far better strategy is to decide how much you gamble based on the circumstances – for example if the dealer is showing 6, you should do nothing instead of splitting 10s, as you will likely win either way, but win much more by the latter strategy. On the other hand, if you are in possession of 11 when the dealer isn’t that is one time to go for broke and put down more money – as you will can get $18 up per $100 bet, compared with just $12 if you hit.

Craps

As with blackjack, the first rule to bear in mind with craps is to learn the game inside out before starting to bet money. This way you will understand the concept of the house edge and get an idea of which types of craps bets favour the casino in order to remove any mistakes from your craps game – notably the Field, Any 7, the Hardways, the Whirl and the Horn. These have house advantages of anything up to 25 percent, which makes them bad news for you. By comparison, if you opt for Don’t Come, Come Don’t Pass or Pass Line betting, you will find house advantages of roughly 1.4 percent – about as good as it gets. You should also avoid decimating a limited bankroll by laying down multiple bets on a single game. Keep going for longer – and learn a lot more in the process – by placing one bet per game.

Roulette

With roulette, the first step towards a successful strategy is to be clear on the differences between say American and European roulette and pick the game wisely. European roulette has a far lower house edge, around 2.7 percent compared with 5.26 percent for American roulette, so stick with the former. Secondly, select tables offering the smallest possible bets to start with, so that you don’t suffer huge losses while you are learning and make sure you understand the risks of different systems – like the fact that the Martingale strategy requires you to double down on losses – before using them.

Gambling always comes with a degree of risk, but being clear about what you are doing will help stack the odds in your favour.