Tons of football fans love to place a bet on their favourite team. These bets may come down to superstition, good feelings or even some sort of mathematical prediction. But what about using maths to win casino games?
Some players try to increase their chances of winning with a welcome bonus - which gives them slightly more cash in their casino account. This equals more chances to win. Even then, maths is still a staple used by many people wishing to improve their luck with their favourite games.
In fact, you'll actually be surprised to know that using some simple maths is a really good option for getting better results next time you step foot in a casino. Don't worry though, you don't need to be a MENSA-level maths genius! Casino maths is actually really simple when you figure out a few key points.
Here are some quick and easy methods to use maths to improve your casino results.
1.Figure out the house edge
Two of the most important mathematical concepts to learn as a casino patron are the Return To Player percentage (RTP) and house edge. We’ll start with explaining the house edge.
The house edge is simply a good factor for comparing what casino game you’re going to play if you’re playing purely to leave with some cash in your pocket. It’s a percentage that represents the number of winnings on average a player gets back.
As an example, if you’re playing a casino game with a 4% house edge and you bet £100, you’ll be getting £96 - or 96% back - on average over a prolonged period of time. A key thing to note is that these house edges are calculated over an incredibly long period of games.
With this information, we can make a general rule to play the games with the lowest house edge. These include video poker, poker and blackjack, which can have house edges as low as 1%. Some of the worst offenders in terms of low house edge are slot machines, which can have a 10%+ house edge!
2.Find out the RTP
As mentioned above, next up on the list is Return To Player percentages or RTP. This is basically the house edge but reversed, so instead of a game having a 4% house edge, it could display an RTP of 96%. Adding both the house edge and RTP together will always equal 100%.
On most online casinos and land-based casinos, many table and card games use house edge whilst slot machines will display the RTP percentage.
Don’t forget that this number is an average, just like the house edge. This average is worked out over a huge amount of games or spins - sometimes millions!
3.Use a mathematically based strategy
After you’ve got the basics of understanding the house edge and RTP, it’s time to take things to the next level and learn some sort of maths based strategy to swing things in your favour slightly and lower the house edge.
Whilst you can’t really influence the RTP of a slot game with certain strategies (unless the game has built-in bonus modes that raise the RTP), table and card game strategies all use some sort of maths to help players win more.
The good news is you don’t need to be some sort of genius and figure out a strategy yourself - there are plenty of different strategies for different table games out there. You just need to pick the one that works best for you and run with it.
4.Master some basic card maths
Some really basic card maths that're good to learn include a few basic things you can do. One is knowing the number of cards in each suit - 13. This means for any card game you play, you know that if you have an ace in your hand, there are 3 more aces out there.
Add this to the fact there are only 52 cards in any deck. Then you can combine these two snippets of knowledge to work out that the next card that is drawn has 3 out of 51 chances.
Using simple strategies like this can help you figure out the probabilities and chances of getting a good hand - always handy! This in turn helps you work out your chances of winning - whether that’s against the dealer or another player.
5.Use maths with your bankroll as well
Finally, one of the most vital ways to use maths in your gambling is your bankroll.
The general rule for your bankroll in a casino is to play with as small of an amount as possible - and never more than you can afford to lose. A handy tip is to work out how much you want to bet per game and how many games you want to play. You can then divide the two to figure out how much you can bet per game whilst staying on target with your bets.
Conclusion
As you can tell by the 5 points above, you don’t need to be a maths whizz to be able to use some simple maths-based strategies in the casino. It’s more about preparation and looking at the maths behind the games before you even step foot into a casino, not having to do huge calculations on the fly.