Understanding The Live Casino Experience

Blackjack is one of the quintessential casino games. The aim is simple: you compete against the dealer in the race to 21 without going bust, with a predefined set of player/dealer actions completing the game.

Live blackjack first expanded by offering additional side bets, played independently from the standard game. For example, the ‘Perfect Pair’ side bet pays out if your first two cards are of equal value.

From here, further adaptations of the game have emerged using innovative betting techniques and the potential for extensive payouts.

Let’s take a look at one of these in more detail:

Game Review: Lightning Blackjack

When you win a hand in Lightning Blackjack, a randomly generated multiplier between 2x and 25x is applied to your stake. This multiplier continues to the next game round, further enhancing your winnings. However, this provision comes with a 100% fee on your original stake.

Live roulette is a massively popular game owing to its simplistic nature, iconic wheel and suspenseful gameplay. Numerous players can join the same table, all of whom place chips on the betting table in anticipation of where the ball will land.

You can bet on roulette in various ways, from placing a chip on a single number to opting for an ‘outside’ bet such as red or black. It is a fixed odds game creating a set payout for each winning spin, with the house edge represented by the green zero.

More and more versions of roulette have emerged over the years, each looking to add its own twist to one of the classic table games.

One of these includes:

Game Review: Double Ball Roulette

Double ball roulette does exactly what the name suggests. The dealer launches two balls from a custom device, revealing dual winning numbers in a single spin. This introduces exciting betting opportunities and more frequent payouts worth up to 1,300x your bet – notably if the two balls land in the same pocket of the wheel.

Baccarat is widely popular in Asia and recognised for its straightforward gameplay. You simply bet on the ‘Player’ or ‘Banker’ outcome, each of whom are dealt cards in turn. The winner is the side that achieves a total closest to nine. A ‘Draw’ option is also available.

The game follows fixed odds with predetermined payouts, with standard versions applying a 5% commission onto successful ‘Banker’ bets. This is to compensate for the banker side’s higher probability of winning.  

The emergence of different baccarat versions has created new tactical approaches and betting opportunities for players, such as:

Game Review: Peek Baccarat

With the exclusive ‘peek’ feature, you can view between one and four cards midway through the game. If you like what you see, you can double or even triple your initial stake to boost your winnings. Be aware that a 20% fee is applied to this version of Baccarat.

Live game shows offer a unique blend of entertainment and interactive gameplay. These games are hosted by more of a live ‘presenter’ as opposed to a live dealer, bringing a more entertaining experience to proceedings.

Most game shows use a giant prize wheel to generate results, each with its own design and payout structure.

The list of live gameshows is ever-expanding, but one of the first releases provides a good model of how they work:

Game Review: Crazy Time

On Crazy Time, you bet on regular numbers (1, 2, 5 or 10) to receive the corresponding multiplier payout, or on a bonus feature. There are four to choose from – Coin Flip, Cash Hunt, Pachinko or Crazy Time – that can award substantial wins. Each game round also has the potential to be combined with a random multiplier.

Dice games, notably Craps, are a symbol of many Las Vegas land-based casinos and are renowned for their dynamic, fast-paced nature. You place bets on the outcome of the dice roll, with predetermined payouts for different results.

Another example comes with Sic Bo where you place bets on the outcome of three dice. Options include predicting whether the final total will be odd/even, small (4-10) or big (5-11), or the exact score for a bigger payout.

In a live casino setting, poker games aren’t the same as at dedicated poker websites. Instead of competing against other players in a game of Texas Hold’em, for example, you’ll be pitted against the dealer to see who can obtain the best poker hand.

Whilst there are different poker variations at online casinos, it’s not the real deal. Poker aficionados may be best off playing at dedicated poker websites.